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Other entries in Damascus

al harb

Things have been tense and difficult... the city is flooded with Lebonese refugees, and some days we have to stop classes to let the loud demonstrations pass by... It is hard to know what to think or say - I am appreciative of a new perspective on Hezbollah and Israel, though the news here is no less saturated with propaganda and rhetoric than what we're fed in the UK or in Canada.

Many of our colleagues have left the country, but so far no one from my class has... we're sticking things out; however wise that may/may not be. I feel angry and sad for the people here who don't have the choice to leave - don't want to have to leave - their home because of the mess.

Nevertheless we've had to continue on; classes as usual. We've travelled to Salamiyeh, Masyef, Palmyra, Homs, Hosn... and we're off to Aleppo/Halab tomorrow for a couple of days. I am exhausted, hot and tired of a meat-carbohydrate diet. I am tired of the men calling (and the cars honking) at us women in the streets. (Yes I said there are some sweet men here, and their are - but in the streets.... oy vay!).

Went to the National Museum yesterday, and sat in the gardens outside:

hear the call of sparrows

from hanging globes of twig and moss;

muted pearls of hope amid the chaos of the city.

the trees twist up like wrinkled fingers

stopped in places with gnarled knots -

the knuckles in their slow progress.

others straight as straws,

their shiny stalks only slightly freckled,

bloom their top-hats flimsily

and wiggle in the wind.

then, majestic ripples current along heavy bows:

a eucalyptus sighs in the gentle wind, and

towering, it dwarfs the graveyard displays

of ancient artifacts

unidentified, row upon row.