-I've been in class a week. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the air conditioner in the classroom emits humid, cold air that smells like swamp-cheese.
-The ice cream here is great, but best enjoyed at night to avoid getting an ice cream headache from trying to eat it before it all melts in your hands/on your shirt.
-The best way of getting around Damascus is on public taxi minivans, called the 'services' or 'microbuses.' These vary in quality from rustbucket Chinese taxi rejects from the 70's (if you know anything about the Chinese car industry, you understand why the "Chang-he Express" is anything but express) to brand new Korean minivans, glammed up with religios icons (swords of Zulfiqar, a suura or two, or more rarely a Virgin Mary), rugs and neon lights. Variance aside, these minivans have several features in common: Bare flourescent bulbs, one sliding door on the side, one to many benches, including one that faces backwards, and the Shotgun Pew. Foreigners and women should not sit in the Shotgun Pew. I took the service in the wrong direction on Tuesday and wound up alone with the driver five miles across town in bad traffic, roasting in the heat. It is good form to sit in the frontseat (the pew) if it's just you and the driver, so I hopped up front. He drove all the way back to my neighborhood at an average of about 7 miles an hour, stopping every few blocks to pick up new passengers until the van was overloaded. By the time we were halfway there, I was in good company with two other passengers in the front-bench, along with the driver. I learned some Arabic on the way, and showered with extra soap when I got back. Lesson learned.
-There are five different types of backgammon played in Damascus. The most popular one is called "al-maghrebiye," which women don't play. They have a different kind of backgammon just for women, which for a man to play would be tantamount to crossdressing.
-The ice cream here is great, but best enjoyed at night to avoid getting an ice cream headache from trying to eat it before it all melts in your hands/on your shirt.
-The best way of getting around Damascus is on public taxi minivans, called the 'services' or 'microbuses.' These vary in quality from rustbucket Chinese taxi rejects from the 70's (if you know anything about the Chinese car industry, you understand why the "Chang-he Express" is anything but express) to brand new Korean minivans, glammed up with religios icons (swords of Zulfiqar, a suura or two, or more rarely a Virgin Mary), rugs and neon lights. Variance aside, these minivans have several features in common: Bare flourescent bulbs, one sliding door on the side, one to many benches, including one that faces backwards, and the Shotgun Pew. Foreigners and women should not sit in the Shotgun Pew. I took the service in the wrong direction on Tuesday and wound up alone with the driver five miles across town in bad traffic, roasting in the heat. It is good form to sit in the frontseat (the pew) if it's just you and the driver, so I hopped up front. He drove all the way back to my neighborhood at an average of about 7 miles an hour, stopping every few blocks to pick up new passengers until the van was overloaded. By the time we were halfway there, I was in good company with two other passengers in the front-bench, along with the driver. I learned some Arabic on the way, and showered with extra soap when I got back. Lesson learned.
-There are five different types of backgammon played in Damascus. The most popular one is called "al-maghrebiye," which women don't play. They have a different kind of backgammon just for women, which for a man to play would be tantamount to crossdressing.
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