october 2006
blurry on alnasser street.
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the medieval citadel (left) and ottoman entrance to souk hamadiya (right). (citadel was actively used as a prison until 1982).
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"syria god embraces you."
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ummayad mosque from the 8th century. inside: st. john the baptist's head.
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old city.
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remanants of roman jupiter temple, entrance to souk hamadiye
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souk hamadiye, late ottoman structure.
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alhijaz station at night (my meeting spot).
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love is strong in dee & i found an idea from a spring in my mind: global capitalism provides consumers products for syrians: maybe i can get a syrian charger for my cellphone. when i saw my phone drink up the electricity like it was honey i knew i was in a safe place. hell - anywhere that royal dutch airlines flies daily has to be all right in someone's nook.
readin comix i just made the cutoff for level 4 which i wasn't sure if it was good but zoe & allison seemed to think this was outstanding. where i had been more than a year and a half behind i have crept up towards just one month lang lag. no sweat as i mantrize. fasting during the day (not on purpose) makes me consider trying to find a more routine route to sustenance. this kid rami picks up rino -- spots him out of crowd and ends up with a few 1000 of his lira not long after. i refrain from judgement, though i tacitly approve with a nod. obviously i'm too hungry to try to convince rino otherwise. i am hungryjust thinkin about it. time well spent tho', wandering in and out of apts in the old city. somethin charming about a place so intolerantly old. revelations follow each other : paul johnson from minneapolis has spent way too much time in souk hamadiyeh, and speaks like a rat. i see the appeal but this rat's a loser if he tries to talk to someone with green.
im going to teach rami's mom arabic, even though truly he's a philastine -- but what love for the qur'an he still has, pumping that bass in the taxi. not a weasel completely (he paid for the wheels) but i'm unfortunately sure this won't be the time we have to balding his beard.
snoozes and fried chicken (praised pistachs) an all of sudden there's allison and the girls chillin in our homestead. the legend of the embassy bombing was way hardcore. jebreel eats it all up. thems off to turkey and i'm grabbin zs.