TravelChick

The Unexpected, as Always

Today I went to the hammam for the last time. It was so relaxing but also sad knowing that I won't be able to indulge in a good steam, sauna, and scrub for a long time. The woman who scrubbed me and my mom when we were there a few weeks ago was there again today and she asked about my mom, about how she is doing. She's not only thorough with her scrubbing; she's also really nice. Since this is one of the few times in my life when I've been able to do so, I gave her a really generous tip. She definitely deserves it.

While at the hammam I was thinking about how comfortable women here, the women at the hammam are with their bodies. Hijabed woman walk into the hammam and go into the hamman in just their underwear to be scrubbed really thoroughly by other women. In a society where quite a few women cover up, it's nice to see women so comfortable in their skin.

Afterwards I got juice, met my friend in the souk, and headed to pick up some items my parents had ordered while they were here. While we were at the store one of them men there handed a photo album to my friend and, thinking that it might be an album of pictures of his family, I moved my chair next to his to look. These were not family photos. It was an album of women in belly-dancing costumes. The man makes them and wanted my friend to buy them from him.

We headed back to his shop and, while sitting outside, we saw a little boy no more than 3 years old wandering around. He and my friend exchanged hellos and the little kid kept walking. Despite having been here seven months and knowing that Damascus is a safe city, I was still a little surprised. I love it, though. I love that little kids can wander around by themselves. Even better, about ten minutes after the kid walked past, the shopkeeper I usually buy water from walked by, holding the kid's hand. It turned out he was taking him home. The little boy was lost.

Walking to the internet cafe, I saw that a lot of stores were empty, as many shopkeepers had gone for the afternoon prayer. Some stores were locked while others were just empty. I had several people point out to me that it's not just the police presence that makes Syria so safe, it's also that Syrians have a strong concept of family and they value the idea of community. While I still think that the police presence greatly adds to the safety here, it's absolutely right that Syrians just see their society in a different way than we in the US or Europe see society. That's what makes is possible for little kids to wander around the streets of the souk by themselves and for shopkeepers to run to the mosque to pray, leaving their shops unattended.

Things in Syria are changing; I've seen a lot of changes since I arrived here in November. More about that tomorrow.

posted by Travel Chick @ 4:43 PM