TravelChick

Lazy Friday

Fridays in Damascus are the equivalent of Sundays in the US or the UK. Friday prayers are especially important, shops are closed, people have the day off, and since Thursday is the big party night here, many of my friends and I spend the day lazing around, studying, eating a big lunch or brunch, and enjoying some calm.

Today I woke up ready to do some work, so I sat down with my textbook and studied vocabulary while eating Syrian flatbread and some honeycomb honey. I turned the tv on to an Arabic music channel and watched several videos of Gulfi, probably Omani or Bahraini, singers in gallabieh (the long, white robes worn by many male Gulfi Arabs) dancing around with other men in gallabieh and waving and twirling sticks or rifles. These shots were intercut with shots of women with straight, long hair leaning forward and moving their heads around so their hair swirled around them. They're interesting videos not because of their production value but because they're different from Lebanese or American or European videos. Women are objectified in a completely different way: in one of these videos one of the women was shown drawing a veil around her head very slowly. Men are shown dancing arm in arm with friends, something foreign to American and European videos. They're fascinating to watch for a few minutes.

Around 1 several friends and I went over to a friend's house in the Old City for lunch. She had prepared a massive amount of delicious food and we sat around eating and talking about politics and the media for a few hours. She lives in an old house, renting a room from a fifty-something woman who has never married.

It's one of my last days here so, while walking to this internet cafe in order to do some work, I looked up at the beautiful old houses, some of them crumbling, and tried to appreciate everything I've seen for seven months just a little bit more. The houses lean in and almost touch each other in the alleyways, people leave their doors open to let in whatever breeze might be blowing by as they smoke nargileh, and strains of Arabic pop float through the streets. I miss seeing these things sometimes when I'm walking purposefully, so it's nice to have a somewhat imposed day of laziness so I can enjoy some of the things that make Damascus pretty.

posted by Travel Chick @ 5:45 PM