TravelChick

Mike the Fantastic

I've been fortunate to meet a lot of really nice people in the past few months but one of the nicest people I've met was also the first person I met, Mike. He came with my friend Stephanie to pick me up at the airport, even though he had never met me, paid for our cab back to Damascus from the airport, and carried my two large suitcases up four flights of stairs at 5 in the morning. That alone makes him a great guy, but he's not afraid to stop there.

Mike's from a suburb of Atlanta; he's half-Syrian, half-American and lived in Switzerland for several years when he was growing up. He studied biology and he loves talking about evolution; it's one of my favorite things about him because he ties it into everything rather fluidly and convincingly.

The way Mike acted when I met him was actually indiciative of the sort of person he is. He's quite caring. I just spent a long weekend with him and our friends Hilary and Rami in Tartous, a city on the Mediterranean coast. His father's family is from there and Mike seems to know half the people in the city, and if he doesn't know them, he's friendly enough that he'll know them eventually. Walking around with him is a little like what I'd imagine walking around with a celebrity is like. I felt a little like a princess, being in Tartous with him. He made sure that we had a place to stay and were well fed, comfortable, and happy.

He's not just like that in Tartous, though. From the moment I got to Damascus he's made me feel at home here, which is one of the reasons why I do feel so comfortable here. He introduces me to people, he shows me nice places, we make silly bets (which I always win), he helps me out with Arabic, we go play backgammon, and we make each other laugh a lot. I know my life in Damascus would be much less fun without him.

When you have such fantastic friends, I think you have to let them know how fantastic they are. My friend Jessica from college likes to make toasts when she goes out to dinner with friends, and I really like her method: she toasts each person individually. When Rami, Mike, Hilary, and I went out to dinner in Tartous one night I suggested we do that, and Mike said one of the sweetest things I've heard someone say about me. He said I have one of the most beautiful personalities of anyone he's ever met, which is just wonderfully nice. I get tremendously bashful when people say things like that about me.

I did toast Mike but feel that my toast perhaps didn't match his. So I'll say that Mike's one of the most caring, fun, exuberant, and wonderful people I've met And I'll tell him that when he finally gets back from Tartous, which I hope is soon.

posted by Travel Chick @ 8:04 PM