Blogs from West, Syria, Middle East

It has been a little over a year since I returned from a summer long visit to Syria in late August 2011. I was twenty years old, and it was perhaps one of the best summers I had in a very long time. I traveled, I explored, I learned some Arabic, but more importantly I learned the values from a society that promotes generosity, love, family, peace, and friendship- values not easily learned when living alone. Last summer I was shown through numerous people, friends and family alike, that it is a hundred times better to give and to love with your heart even if you have little to offer, than to hold back or hold in any adoring emotions or possessions. The love I received from my family that summer is enough to empower me ... read more

Dear All Wow – I'm having such an amazing time, and I have done so much since I last wrote that I really don't know where to start, or whether I'll be able to get it all down in one go without writing reams! I'll try. Greetings from Tartus, Syria's second port city to the south of Lattakia – the latter being a place which is certainly not on my itinerary given the current state of affairs there. Speaking of which, and I guess a good place to start this blog: despite what's being reported in the news from this part of the world at the moment, it feels remarkably safe and peaceful. This might be because I'm certainly sticking to places which are not making headlines, but also perhaps because the media does tend to ... read more

El pasado viernes fue el bautizo de dos sobrinos de Yasmin en la iglesia de Mar Elias, el lugar donde según la tradición vivió el profeta Elías. Geçen cuma günü Yasmin'in yegenlerini vaftiz ettirdik Mar Ilias kilisesinde, Ilias peygamber efendimiz kaldigi yerinde. Last Friday we had the baptism of two nephwes of Yasmin in the church of Mar Elias, the place where once lived the prophet Elias.... read more

Then to Hamma - a good base for Aleppo and the Dead Cities, so we stayed for a few days. It's a small, working town - friendly and pretty, but ( a big but) there was a massacre back in the 80s. Difficult to believe it could have ever have happened while you're actually there, it all seems so relaxed and laid back. Most tourists come for the Nourias - huge wooden wheels that dot the river. It was so hot - over 47 degrees in the evening - that once we got to the restaurant on the river bank, we just stayed put for the rest of the afternoon and left in the dark...a quiet, magical, yellow lamplit walk back through the town afterwards, with fairground lights strung along the side of the water... ... read more

Ten wpis wklepalam przedwczoraj ale nie poszedl. Udalo nam sie znalezc knajpke internet. Wysylam jeszcze raz. Wczoraj wjechalismy do Syrii. Wyadalo mi sie ze wiele juz widzialam ale teraz pierwszy raz w zyciu przywam szok kulturowy. Pierwszy raz jestem w kraju trzeciego swiata (jak sie okazalo na miejscu). Takiego syfu jeszcze nigdy nie widzialam, a to dopiero przeciez poczatek ....Niebywale wrażenie robi tez to jak nisko w hierarchii stoja kobiety.Upal jest niemilosierny,ledwo sie slaniamy a one w tych czarnych namiotach przemykaja sie bezszelestnie po rozpalonych sloncem ulicach. troche to wszytsko na razie wydaje mi sie straszne! Wczoraj dowiedzieliśmy sie ze w Aleppo to jest niesamowita wolnosc i swoboda- "its to much free" mowil nasz miejscowy informator. Dzis zwiedziliśmy to miasto i nie widziemismy ani jednej odkrytej kobiety, zobaczylismy za to hardcore jakiego po liberaln... read more