Leaving behind the idyllic village of Goreme in Turkey, we were finally motivated to pull ourselves away when we spent all of the money we had budgeted. It was a bit sad to leave but we knew it was time to start what we came here for, learning Arabic in Damascus.
In order for us to get there from Goreme, we took an hour long bus to Kayseri and then waited there for about 4 hours. At midnight we got on a bus to Antakya (Formerly known as Antioch) which got us there at about 7:30am. After 3.5 hour layover, we finally got on the bus to Damascus. It sounds hectic but it was surprisingly tranquil.
Everybody was unbelievably nice. We had heard it time and time again but it still is surprising when you experience it first hand. Even the soldier who was reprimanding me for sleeping on the benches did it kindly. The only tense moment came when we were going through Syrian immigration. There was a tour group of Australians at the same time as us and from what I gather, our bus attendant was trying to have the officials expedite our papers because the whole bus was outside waiting for us so we can continue the trip. We have no idea what was said but there was a lot of shouting being exchanged and pointing at us but all was resolved in the end, we got our visa stamped, that’s all that matters.
When we got on the bus again, the whole atmosphere changed. The people who were quiet the whole first part were now lively. We were served tea or coffee, so this was my chance to use some of the few Arabic words that I know. “Chay” (tea). I got a big smile in response, then he points to the sugar cubes, here comes one of the other 5 words I know, waahid (one). Then he exclaims something to the bus like “She speaks Arabic” or something to that effect and then everyone is trying to teach us more in Turkish and Arabic. People were also sharing their snacks with us. It was a fantastic ride.
The scenery really struck me also. At first glance it seems so harsh and inhospitable; craggy and arid. As we drove on there were orchards of olive trees stretching on for hours. Some spots we could see the freshly tilled soil, it was a rich chocolate color. It reminded me that this isn’t really the desert as I think of it, but had once been the breadbasket of civilization.
Just as the sun had set we arrived in the bus terminal in Damascus. We were a bit worried about getting a taxi as we didn’t yet have any Syrian Pounds. We found a driver who spoke a little English and would take our dollars…he seemed nice enough. I tried my best to tell him where we wanted to go, I was trying to read the book as I though it would sound but there was no Arabic letters for him to read. I just kept saying names of places in the area we wanted to go hoping he would recognize something. Thanks to our poor map and even poorer pronunciation he still had no idea where we were going. When the traffic got too bad, he suddenly jumped out of the car and we saw him go over to a road block and dismantle it to speed things along, he just started tossing the metal barriers and bricks to the side. Nope, nothing could deter this cab driver, not even one way streets. He would drive the wrong way into the one way street and was asking pedestrians for the directions to the hotel or the street. It turns out we were on the street we wanted, but none of us knew it because the streets don’t actually have signs, it was just further up the one way. Finally, he found somebody on the street who speaks English and they told us where to go from there, just 100 meters away walking distance and told us “Next time don’t pick a stupid driver”.
We are finally settled in a hotel room, got Syrian Pounds and had a schwarma and shish kebab dinner. Tomorrow we are going to set out to find our Arabic school and explore the city.
