Beirut and the bar bill of 72K!!

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Nope - the 72k bit is not a joke, but fortunately as there is about 2500 Lebanese Pounds to 1GBP and the bill was between 2 of us, I'm not broke yet!! Even with the Pound decreasing all the time!! My trip to Lebanon last weekend was a nice break from the chaos that is Damascus, even if it was only for 48 hours! I met an expat in Beirut in a bar who was a consultant for one of the many banks over there who was on a ridiculous salary, put up in 5* hotels and with a whole host of other perks so I'm now thinking I may have quit the finacial world a bit early!!

Back in Damascus, I passed level 1 at the University with a 95% score and am now well into level 2. It's definitely a big step up from level 1 and the grammarcan be a little perplexing at times but shway, shway (slowly, slowly) I am getting there.

I really feel like a proper student now, a) because I'm studying 8-10 hours a day and b) because I'm really poor!! I've had to slash my weekly budget by a third so I can stay here til next summer. The need for a job at Christmas has definitely increased from wanting to needing!

As one of my housemates is a political refugee from Chad, I went to a Chadean (sic?) student party last week at the Political Science Dept at the Damascus University. It was a succession of lectures which I didnt understand a word of, and 10 minute long dances but it was still fun. The only slightly uncomfortable moment was when I was shown clips of car bombs going off and when I asked where this was being shot the answer came back of Iraq, Afghanistan etc. After this came the question of whether I was a friend of Israel as Tony Blair was, a subject I really didnt want to get into, considering the audience. We quickly made our excuses and left. The level of hatred towards Israel here is pretty shocking, even from liberal educated guys that I have spoken to. They believe America and Britain to be mild irritants to their way of life compared to Israel.

Talking about the US, the Syrians really aren't too happy with you guys right now after that cross border incursion a few weeks ago. The fuss seems to have died down a bit now but at the time I was warned off going to see the demonstration as there was a lot of strong feelings going on.

Another slightly uncomfortable experience I have had was the time a few weeks ago I was approached by a Syrian guy from the local internet cafe and asked if I would consider becoming a partner in his web hosting business. The only problem was that as he was Syrian and had a Syrian address he couldnt register for a paypal account so could he have my bank details to registerme for the business account and he would split the profits with me. I quickly declined and left pretty sharpish but haventbeen back since!! haha

2 weeks ago I went to the ruins of Palmyra on a daytrip which was pretty stunning and my first experience of the Desert. Tomorrow I'm really excited to be going to Krak Des Chevaliers (a Crusaders Castle) which TE Lawrence decribed as the "best castle in the world' - heady praise indeed. Hopefully when I get home for Christmas I can start putting up some photos of my travels.

The only other thing of any note was that it finally rained here. Twice. And boy when it rains here, it really means it. We had flash flooding, torrential downpours, thunder and lightning - the whole works!!

Anyway, I must dash as I have lessons this afternoon and I can hear the wail of arabic grammar calling! Will hopefully speak to some of you soon, thanks for all the emails/messages. Oh and everyone in Twyford, Im back on the 14th if anyone fancies a crafty pint or 2?

Dom

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Comments

[Ali]

WOW!
Hey hun u're trip so far sounds amazing although the fact u still going to u lessons has me puzzled. Do they make u attend by force? Lol. Hope u adventure just keeps getting better and better look forward to the next chapter. Take care and see you in the summer sometime if u don't extend u stay. x x P.s How gutted r u that u missing out title winning season lol x