Damascus

So I made it.
I'm in Damascus, Dimashq or Shaam.
It went a lot quicker than I thought and I haven't quite grasped yet that my journey has come to an end (for the time being at least - of course the real journey will never end).

It is strange not to have to pack your backpack again every other morning, not to have to consider the weight and space everything that you might buy would take up in it and not to have to pitch the tent anymore.

I'm sitting in a formidably equipped internet cafe in al-Mujtahid street. On my right the owner of the cafe, a young man in jeans, just rolled out a little silky carpet and, facing the aircondition on the wall in front of him, is performing the salaat - the Muslim prayer. His friend is sitting at the computer only a few inches away quietly surfing the web.

I arrived in Syria 3 days ago and I literally walked in. I hitchhiked from Antakya in Turkey (the former Crusader state of Antioch) in the morning, but the guys in the car didn't manage to get permission to cross, so I got my backpack from the boot and walked through the border. Welcome to Syria! - Ahlan wa sahlan fi Syria!!!
Since the everything went as smooth as smooth can be, really, and I don't quite understand why. I met Bashar in Homs, where the bus from Aleppo stopped for 10 minutes on his way south to Damascus. He was also going to Damascus, just on a different bus. I spent the last two days with him here in Damascus and gained a wonderful friend in him and a marvellous introduction to Syrian food and culture from him.

The university course I was planning to take here turned out to be not quite what I need and/or want, so I quit it before it really started and before I paid. In the meantime I have found an excellent teacher, a room in the beautiful old part of town called al-Qaymariya, a handful of friends that have been incredibly helpful and kind to me and... some time to write a blog entry or two.
I just travelled and lived in the last few weeks and didn't find or take the time to write much about what I as experiencing. I did start two entries, but never finished - they'll come in the next few days.

The only bad thing I experienced in Syria so far was trying to access my paypal account... this is what I got - a little welcome note to Syria from the corporate world:


Account Service Request

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Error 3028. You have accessed your account from a sanctioned country. In accordance with international sanctions regulations, you are not authorised to access the PayPal system. For more information about your PayPal account, contact ofacappeal@paypal.com. For further information regarding international sanctions, please refer to the respective websites of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control and/or the Bank of England.