Trying to fit in

Al salaam aleikoem (my own personal way of writing it),

Thank you all for your messages, its so nice to read them all.

@ Elly, het lukt me neit om je te smsen en ben je email kwijt. Kan je hem sturen?
@ Yvette, Dat zei mama ook al... hoe kan dat nou, cito makkelijk?
@ tante annelies, my skype name is: nienke.verhoeks

For the people who followed my malawi adventure a small update. I got an email this week saying that in December 120 people used the library. Isn't that amazing!

Anyways, back to Syria :) The weather is different every day. One day its raining, the other its sunny. But generally its still pretty cold. That also have to do with the fact that technically its winter here.

First of all I would like to respond to concerns I got from several people. Syria is very calm, there was supposed to be a demonstration for Egypt, but hardly anyone showed up. People here tell me they are generally satisfied and will not protest. So all is well :)

My typical week looks like this:
Breakfast with my host during which we try to talk and I try to make jokes :)
To school at 11, because at 12 I have either private class or we meet up with some girls from the class to discuss our work.
When I go to school I usually use the microbus which gets me there in 10 min, but is quite scary. Everything which is considerd a-social in the Netherlands concerning driving is here normal... but I'm getting used to it.
Classes are tough and I'm very tired at the end of it. Luckely if I don't get things I have my friends to translate or explain. I'm starting to be able to communicate with my host :)
From 5-6 we recite the Qu'ran which is going pretty well. This is also because one of the girls from my class gave me a english Qu'ran which also has the way to pronounce the arabic (Tajweed) in it. So now I understand how to pronounce every word!
At 10 I watch a soap oprah with my host (baab al harra --> door to the alley) and go to bed at 11.

On saturday I have a class from 2 to 4 about the Qu'ran. its just any question we have (muslim and non-muslims). Very interesting! Though it is still difficult for me to know what is culture and what is religion in Syria. Its so intertwined!
For instance our teacher in class explained what a (razjoel=man) is by gesturing strong, mustage, and a hitting movement with the hand. And this they continue to explain man by. And women they explain as having to be good at coocking, cleaning and have lots of babies :) Sometimes I get some feministic feelings due to this hahahaha

Something which is clearly culture is the non organization. Me and a friend went to the migration office because our visa said we had to renue it after 15 days. When we got there it was a mess (no lines, no information) and they sad we had a month.... We also got lost on the way down there and all the police officers we saw along the way helped us to find the way to the migration office. And yes we talked in arabic :)
So, thank you police officers!
On the same trip my friend who is muslim and wears a hijab (headscarf) and matching clothing got asked for marriage.... very interesting how they just think because she doesn't look arabic that she is an easy target... But when I said can you please stop in arabic, he did. Me myself, I had no problems. Get stared at a lot, but a smile solves everthing :D ^^

When we were taking a taxi back we tried to settle the price before hand. He didn't agree and a police officer came to our rescue. Trying to understand eachother while speaking partly arabic and partly english he sad a certain price was ok. I thought (and am still sure) it was 50 lira. When we got out and I paid he said it was not enough and started yelling in arabic and eventually kind of spat at me.... Well, that's an experience... But I hear they also do that to syrians. So for whoever wants to travel syria, I recommend you to speak basic arabic, because hardly anyone speaks english here... But besides the police officer I've only met nice syrians!

One of the girls from my class knows a lot about history and the actual mountain behind my house is the house where the first religious murder (by Kain, both in the Qur'an as in the Bible) is commited. there is supposed to be a cave up there which looks like a mouth. This because the mountain started screaming out of shock when the murder was commited and gabriel came own to calm it.

Well, I think that is enough for now. I don't think I will update much, since its really mostly school. But anything interesting I find out I will put it on the blog.

A big hug!
Take care of yourself wherever you are!

nienke