What's the plan?

My last week has possibly been eventful enough to warrant a couple of entries here but time has confined me to this one entry. Last thursday was the goodbye party for a lot of my fellow foreign students. They're all gone now so let's not speak more about them... There were also three random Swedes at Cave that night. It felt kind of strange to not be the tallest guy in place but at least one of them lives here in Damascus so I might still get to speak Swedish every now and then. Good times since Annika was one of the people that left last week.

Friday was going to Turkey day. It will from now on always be a famous day in the chronicles of mankind. It was that kind of trip that didn't even start out well. First me and Jamie met up at Bab Touma to get a cab to Al-Medina Al-Jamaia. Think really old Russian student houses with squat toilets and no kitchens and you'll be pretty close to what it looks like. We chatted some hours away in Chaldesh's room before meeting up with Sonja and Dana at the local restaurant for a quick snack before leaving for the bus station. For the first time in the history of the Middle East a large group of people were actually heading out in good time. All we had to do was to convince some service-driver to drive us to the big bus-garage. that wasn't even close to a problem. Getting ten people and all they're luggage in to the car was a piece of cake for a practiced Tetris-player. The driver though was completely crazy and took us for a ride that most certainly should have ended with at least a carload of dead Turks. But we were lucky, or kind of, he drove around the city not knowing where we were going or listening to directions. That he admittedly couldn't read wasn't making things easier either. Good to know that you don't have to know that to get a driver's license in Syria, it explains a lot.

We were really lucky that we had a good marginal to reach the station because in the end we had less than ten minutes to spare. And the bad things had only just begun. The bus-ride to the Syrian border was mostly uneventful except for a random stop in the middle of nowhere with all the lights turned off. It's amazing how well a dark bus get lit up by camera-flashes. Good times indeed. The Syrian border was passed mostly without any difficulties, except for that the border guard guy didn't look for Suleiman's visa in his passport and just told him that he didn't have a valid visa and that he had to go back to Damascus to get one. It was all quickly resolved when someone opened the passport and showed him the visa. It was 2 am so it can be forgiven but we were a bit worried for a while. The shortest part of our journey should have been the distance between the Syrian border-station and the Turkish one, but then again, we didn't consider the possibility that it would be blocked by a million large trucks. Apparently goods traffic between Syria and Turkey isn't that important so the truck can just wait and wait and wait. It also meant that we had to wait and wait and wait in a yet again completely dark bus only illuminated by intermittent camera-flashes. Ah how fun it was. For some other unknown reason we had to keep our phones of during the trip. They apparently could disturb some equipment on the bus. Despite my three years working as a bus-mechanic I have no idea what that would be. My best guess is that the driver just liked to pretend he's a pilot. Some very funny conversations did occur during our extended stay in no-man's land. One of them between the driver and the guy who was afraid that there would be a jam at the passport-check when we were allowed through and that he should be allowed to walk there in stead. It went like this:

Man: There will be a jam tomorrow, let's walk there instead.
Driver: It's forbidden to walk here.
Man: But let's just go there now.
Driver: The road is blocked and it's forbidden to walk here. How are you going to get there?

It all turned out for the better when we just backed up and took a secret path around the place instead. Other good things include me not having to pay for the Turkish visa, neither did Sonja or Jamie. Jamie should have but that's a later thing. Good things doesn't include me bringing the good news of free visas to the five Italian girls on the bus because they got very upset with me when they all had to pay 15 dollars each. Don't blame the messenger I say.

We finally reached Antakya at about six am. Only eight hours after our departure from Damascus. I for one doesn't like long bus-rides but no one asked for my opinion on that matter. After all, it was up to me to go to Turkey or not. In Antakya we first went to a place by the sea for some morning tea before heading to Said Ali's grandparents house for breakfast. Four of the Italians were continuing to Istanbul later in the day so they just hung out with us until midday or so. We all agreed on that it was against human nature to go on a 15 hour bus-ride straight after our first ordeal, but those Italians were though enough to do it.

Crossing the border into Turkey made all the Turks forget their Arabic and since they don't speak English either communications became a bit of a hassle. So for the first day the non-Turks on the trip were always left a bit in the dark. I do know that it was decided that we should rent cars and go around Antakya looking at all the sights instead of sleeping. I might be of the opinion that people that hasn't slept for thirty hours shouldn't drive. But I was to tired to comment on it, I just went with the flow which took us to a very old church, a museum, a kebab-restaurant and a waterfall. It was all very appreciated. After driving around all day half of the group went to Chaldesh's relatives' house and the other half to Said Ali's mother's. His mother spoke German so mine and Sonja's secret language wasn't that secret anymore. Not that I speak German or anything but I can at least pretend to. Then we went back to his grandparent's house to sleep, or rather to hang out in the kitchen speaking Arabic. It does seem that everyone in the older generation in Antakya speaks Arabic, which is good since no one speaks English.

The next day we went to See Titus' Tunnel. It also meant taking a wrong turn somewhere ending up on the top of a mountain. It was a good and nice hike though. After that we went to Iskenderun, had kebab, ice-cream and bought some beers to bring to Chaldesh's summerhouse. It was a bit outside of Iskenderun in one of many summer settlements they have out there. We were so many people that it was good that his Aunt owns the house next to his. it was also nice that it was right next to the Sea.

After that not many things happened. We did a lot of swimming and beer-drinking. We also came up with a great way to drive Dana insane. Whenever the Turks conspired against us in Turkish we'd just turn to her and ask: "So Dana, what's the plan?" Americans are crazy. We also had a fair amount of kebabs over the days. At some point I asked one of the Turks if there existed any other kind of food in Turkey. I just got a sad stare as a reply and then the comment: "That's not kebab that's döner". If anyone knows the difference, please inform me.

We didn't really do that many more trips around the area. Just hanging around the sea and burning my poor body in to a smoldering heap red flesh was good enough for me though.

As we started out I had decided to go home last Wednesday but I ended up staying until yesterday, Friday. A week in Turkey was just what I needed.

So yesterday I and Jamie left Iskenderun heading for Damascus. The rest wanted to stay an extra day but I really wanted to do some studying today as well as say good bye to Maurice yesterday evening. Traveling with Jamie wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done though. Getting back to Antakya by micro was easy but it took much, much longer than we expected so we didn't have time to buy breakfast before getting the bus to Damascus. Yet again getting to the border wasn't a problem. Yet again the Turkish border was the problem. Apparently Jamie should have paid for his visa and that he hadn't was a big problem. When everyone else at the bus had sorted out all their issues at the border the clock was about 12.30 pm and then they told Jamie he had to wait till 2 pm to find out what he should pay.Counting doesn't seem to be the quickest thing in Turkey. I of course stayed with him but also did this random Jordanian guy that thought Jamie needed someone that spoke Turkish around. That was so nice we couldn't believe it.Then again that guy would amaze us many times over. So we got our bags and stuff of the bus and proceeded to wait at the passport-booth. There being no shade around didn't make it anymore fun to wait. At about half past one a police came out and told Jamie he could either pay 85 dollars or be banned from Turkey for five years. Since he didn't have any money there wasn't really much of an option now was there? Oh, think again, the Jordanian guy instantly offered to lend him the money. Who does that really? I would never do it. While they paid I ran to look for the bus and since there was a traffic jam yesterday too it had only moved about ten meters in that hour. We all felt better back on the bus. Especially after another Jordanian guy bought us lunch. Good thing since none of us had any Turkish money left. At about half past three we reached the Syrian border. One of the guys on the bus had ran ahead of us and handed in our passports so it was just to collect them on arrival. Not Jamie though. His visa extension wasn't valid for reentering Syria. Please pay another 52 dollars for a new visa. Guess what, the same Jordanian guy offered to pay that as well. The craziest thing about that was that he was going to Aleppo and not to Damascus so half an hour after the border he just got off and left us. Jamie did get his contact information first. Somethings you just have to pay.

We finally reached Damascus at 8 pm. A good ten and a half hours after leaving Iskenderun. Of course we were courted by cab drivers but when I told them that we live in Damascus and that we know the prices around here they lost all interest in us. Being cheap we got in to a service-taxi but got off in the wrong place. Not knowing where we were we stopped a cab and asked to go to Bab Touma by taximeter but the driver just shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't want any money for the ride. Never having heard that one before we just got in the cab wondering what it would end up costing us. At Bab Touma I asked him again what it costed and again he said it was free and "God be with you". It was indeed a strange journey.

I had about enough time to get home and notice that everyone had moved out and a lot of new people moved in while I was gone and have a shower before I had to go out again. The night at Serail was ok and I didn't get home until way to late. Damascus is a crazy town sometimes.

Now I can focus on my studies again, tomorrow is a new day and a new course and most certainly new people.