foiled again

I'll easily admit one of my main reasons for leaving my beloved prairie homeland was to escape rednecks. I soon learned the redneck character comes in all shapes, sizes, colours, religions and cultures. Since early on in my time here, I have seen boys aged about 14-17 riding their quads along the gulf road, doing wheelies, roaring the engines...very similar to what the boys in rural SK would be doing, except the Sask kids would be disturbing few people and not putting others in danger.

If you are up on Middle East politics, you will know there are currently elections going on here. Last night in celebration of something regarding the election, gunfire began at 3:30am. That's right, shoot your rifles in the air in celebration of elections. Rednecks, I say, rednecks. I suppose waking up to celebratory gunfire is preferable to conflict induced gunfire, though I would have been glad to have the extra hour of sleep and wake to my alarm. So now I am tired.

The gunfire is an odd phenomenon. A month or so ago, following wedding celebrations, men were shooting off rifles and as bullets travel upwards also they must fall. One bullet hit and killed a young girl. But why stop shooting guns and making a racket a putting people in danger? It's fun. I guess I'm a little bit grumpy from being waken.

A comment on the elections- one of my colleagues who is Kuwaiti and and attended American schools here, went to college in the USA, and returned to teach here, said she is not voting as she hates all the candidates. "We're Arabs, we're not good at democracy. We're used to being ruled and trust the ruling family. The ministers are a waste of time." Wonder what Mr. Bush would think of that?

And those are my thoughts for today. I am mostly amused, but in my special sarcastic, eye rolling way.

A bit about Syria

I loved Syria. I loved being there by myself. I was expecting an excess of harassment but since I was able to ignore the cat calls and kissing sounds when I walked by groups of guys (most of the time) I just enjoyed being told I am beautiful (which is what they say to all the foreign girls). I met some fun guys who work at the souks in the old city in Damascus and they took me out dancing and out to dinner almost every night. One of them is from Aleppo in the north and I took the bus up there with him. It was convenient- he booked my hotel for me, made sure I got back safely and showed me the best places to drink strawberry juice and eat felafel. Needless to say our love of food (and everything I ate in Syria was fresh) made us good friends.

Syria is more traditional than other countries I have visited in the Middle East. Not much in the way of fast food or chains, which is particularly refreshing after Kuwait where there is nothing but. The sites, like the Roman ruins of Palmyra, were awesome. The countryside is great- Damascus and surrounding area is essentially desert and heading up to Aleppo, the landscape becomes more green and fertile. It was beautiful. My friend/tour guide took me to the Basilica of St. Simeon, where the eccentric St. Simeon in around 400AD sat atop pillars of various heights. It was a gorgeous site, the view from the top of the hill was spectacular.