Day 6: Taybanah wa Mareedah-Me So Sick

Day 6: On Assignment From Damascus
Getting sick sucks, but getting sick in a foreign country with no water at night, intermittent electricity (which means no AC in 107 degree weather), a foreign country experiencing it's hottest summer on record and no dependable Internet connection is a death sentence. Ok, perhaps I'm being a little Paris Hilton bougie-esque about this

From the limited view of my bedside view I'd like to ask, why is it that every Damascene seems to have premium satellite television, flat-screen TVs, high-end cellphones, badays!, and yet considers it normal that there is no water at night, that it takes 10 minutes to open up one page (that is if you are stricken with a virus to shut down all your operations in the quarter of your ten minutes of loading), and that the electricity goes off on and on whimsically.

To be fair, as aforementioned, this is the hottest summer on record for Syria. With temperatures 107 and 108 consistently hit for the past week, Damascus is experiencing hotter temperatures than Abu Dhabi! Who knew that was possible! As such, the Minister of Electricity has warned, that because of the unexpected heatwave, water shutdowns and electricity cut-offs will increase in the month of August and will continue through September 15!

Wow, didn't I pick a perfect time to visit Damascus for the first time in my life!

As stated, I have been horribly ill for the past 4 days (out of the 6 I have been here). Today marking the first day I had solid food and didn't vomit water, and today also marking the last day to register for classes for Arabic language training. As such, my plans for Syria have been significantly altered. That will be discussed in a future post (assuming that my next location will have Internet access!).

Anxiety-Ridden Hesitation and Excitement

These are the polar sensations I drift back and forth from as I think about words that I need to learn to explain my father's Syrian citizenship should airport security prevent me from entering the country, as I envision a life without the faces in frames around me, and as internalize what it means to step in the watan of my parents as my own without them...

All these thoughts and many more careen into each other the night before I leave for Damascus.