Fariha's Dimashq

I could do this forever...

ramadan is very near
and im so excited and i came back to syria after travelling to turkey and the feeling or reentering, after not being sure if i would be able to do so was the most amazing thing

seeing perfect sunsets in syria is so amazing too
and eating at lovely restaurants at the coast is so relaxing and picturesque
i could go on, but i wont make this sappy!

turkey is so beautiful especially istanbul
seeing mountains side by side with teh coast and greenery everywhere is spectacular and i had such a blast and it felt so many emotions walking and contemplating in Ottoman built mosques

okay,
thats it i wont expand but everything is Turkey was great!!!

but many people stil continue to ask if im Arab because of my Arabic ;)
and even though im not I LOVE IT because i dont think my arabic is that great!!
and Im continuing to do Tajweed and private lessons as well

Also, this is my last week teaching and I've really bonded with my scholarship students and I actually do like teaching, which I'd never thought would happen!

and i have 2.5 months left in syria and I've never felt more happy to be here for Ramadan


tc

So, I'm redoing this entry

I haven't updated for a few weeks
But lots has happened.

I turned 21, went to Ras Al Baseet, my fav. beach here so far, and realized I'm getting too tan!
But I do absolutely love the beaches here, it's something I can't describe, even though I may have already tried.

Also, Riham came and went =( and I wish she was still here she's missing out an all the fun.
But I went with her to old Christian towns in the mountain and saw some of the oldest churches in the world, and probably the only village left that speaks Aramaic since the time of Prophet Jesus!

yes, quite amazing

Teaching a scholarship class at Amideast, that I'm doing for 5 week's has also been great and is definately a change from young kids who speak Syrian Arabic and are sometimes too hard to handle.
These kids are around 16 and there English is way advanced and I like how they like to learn and have different attituded and takes than I would or any kid in the West at a highschool age.

I've also realized that private tutoring is amazing, adn takes up 3x the amount of study time than AbuNour which is a lot more slow nad alot of review still.

Other than that I communicated with Syrian families when we visit them, and the tailor and the shop keepers and girls in my class and yada yada, so it seems as if my urdu and arabic are on the same level which is QUITE SCARY!

Alhumdullilah for everthing
and I'm also super crazy excited about RAmadan and have already started planning and getting into the mode, I cant wait

Lastly I've realized, what I love about Syrian lifestyle, truly is how its so laid back and chill, not lazy but how stress doesn't really exist and everyone is calm and its so wonderful and exactly what I needed!

Okay thats an update over the last month,
I could write a lot more about everything else, but everyone can hear my tales when I return!!

over the last month

i went to Syeda Ruquaya and Syeda Zaynub which are funded by the Iranian government and man are the mosques crazy wonderfully pretty and have diamonds eveyrwhere
but i did feel like i was in iran and the mosques were so packed i felt as if i was in a diff. country and we met some desi ppl and its funny when everyone wears black and u go inside wearing white taking pics , oopps.

i like seeing desi ppl we saw soem at masjid ummawee too
and i wanted to run up to them and talk but they spoke something liek pastu.

just last weekend we went ot lataki and raas al baseet and ras al shamra and umm tuyoor and i dont think i can ever go to a beach again and feel wonderful after i've been oteh such amazing beautiful beaches in syria

black sand crystal blue sparkling water
so beautiful
and then others are green water and islands

and some becahes are rocky
and its so nice and i luv it luv it luv it

jumping off the boat to go swimming
jet skiing around all these syrian surfer ppl
and sitting there watchign sun rise nad set is the greatest feeling ever

and i luv it in syria and we have so many ppl offer us so many services and are so nice nad so wnoderful and have much khushee to meet us.

i hope i dont leave
regardless fo the situation
cz nothing can compare to syria

=)muah

there aren't many days, or any day at all that I am saddened in Damascus.

But over the last few days, the thought and action of maybe having to come home, truly did depress me for it's only been close to 2 months and I still haven't gotten everything out of Damascus.

Just a few days ago I went to Sami Yousaf's first concert in Syria was amazing and we had a blast, now I think Sami is more fascinating than before =) he's truly an artist

Also, going to the top of a mountain close to where we live and seeing the mosque where the first Murder of Habil and Kabil was, was something beyond what words can describe.

Same goes for sitting on top of a mountain and seeing each minaret light up one by one until there are so many your lost in contemplation.

When my British flatmates left, they took me along to visit famous maqam's including those of 3 of the wives of Rasrullah (saw) as well as Bilal, which was something I'd never thought I'd be able to do until coming here. Moments of walking through grave yards fill you with emotion and at the same time aware you of your lack thereof. It's sad, there was once a time when not a day went by that people did not think of death and prepare, and now here we are so far away from so much...

I don't want to think about what will come when I have to leave.

salaam to all,

i dont feel like updating all the time, because I can't express what I'm really experiencing here without getting emotional or saying I love it 100 times, because I think I'll always say that!

But I started my Arabic, Level 2, and I'm still so familiar with all the grammer that I tend to at soem points get bored, even though I do not necessarily follow the entire speech of the teacher.

I DEFINATELY need to expand my vocabulary and start using it.
Also in arabic classes we memorize pages per week and thats VERY time consuming for me, since its not the norm in the West.

Alhumdullilah, I do have lots of time in a day and then no time in another, so May Allah swt give me more barakah on my time and help me with my discipline.

I definately need to have a set schedule for studying everyday, but that varies. Since some days I go to lectures, or halaqa's and other days I dont, and some days work and school take up my whole day and then some days we go places, and the list continues.

There's lots going on in the summer in Damascus and inshallah I hope to grasp as much as I can out of this city!

take care my ppl =)

from now on, i will update every so often, since my schedule is one i must maintain and get the most out of =)

but i love damascus

and after one month i can say maybe 10 things,

- i speak arabic on the streets and its not weird or time consuming anymore

- i conversate on the phone and they actually understand

- rather than waking up after fajr i sleep after, since its at 340am

- i completely understand my teachers when they teach during class, its so great

- i'm learning to much syrian slang from shopkeepers and my students

- tajweed is still VERY HARD and harder than they make it out to be in the US

- people are really nice and offer help in many ways, like literally they go completely out of there way to help you

- when i say im american, i get jokes on Bush, too bad i cant disagree

- my vocabulary is picking up at a crazy fast rate ;)

- and the only thing that makes me sad is the thought of leaving here

When I first came, it was in low 100's and I just wanted out I really thought I would burn here, I never thought I'd pick up arabic and if I did it would be little, I was frustrated in class because everyone only speaks arabic and I was having a hard time understanding and the city reminded me a lot of others.

But now, well after a few days that all changed, and I have 5 months left, of which I will waste no time and absorb knowledge and see as many things as I can.

now time to study and hang out with all my houston relations that are here.

Visiting other cities is also fun, and certain places remind me of Pakistan or Makkah more than Damascus.

But I do like Damascus, its more hustle bustle and posh city atmosphere versus the other places, where people stare at us like we are Zoo Animals or something, and then we tell them and they get all excited and etc.

Hama was nice, where we went yesterday we saw a really nice modern mosque and at the same time a really old one all reminding us of the reign of the Ummayad's and the beauty that lies with it.

Syria is so full of history, it would be amazing if I already knew so much going into it, like being a history major or something but I'll just have to save that for later.

Working is a really good experience for me for the future inshallah and now that its July I will be seeing EVERYONE from Houston except my tour guide who is already back!

things ive noticed in damascus are, regardless if we dress syrian or not, we are loud on the streets, and syrian woman don't roll like that at all, they have very conservative behavior on the streets. Here I feel more American than ever, probably because US is one of the few places where people are so open, thast my take, I dont know.

also, people invite you everywhere even if they dont know you, like a man in Hama who told us to come over, why ? because they are genuinely sweet and appreciate your prescence in their country

Also men here have adab, I find it so honorable how they always get up on the bus for you , I really do, because I've had a pre-set notion of Arab boys/men and here I get a very different image, which is really good!

But people do stare, stare ALOT, especially since I'm black and far from a white Syrian, I get more, but it usually just ends there =)

oh yeah, and people here are BIG fans of the world cup, i like seeing flags of different colors up on everyone's balcony...

okay, time to hit the books for a week of exams.

I now have a set summer schedule for July and August mainly consisting of my Arabic classes in the morning and work 3 days a week.

So its like my life in US, but not because is so much more wonderful and is really helping me for the future, inshallah.

I teach children at this American Language Institute named Amideast, you can check out their site its pretty neat. This takes up most of the remainder of my day for I teach 2 classes of beginner/intermediate arabic, but I really do enjoy it! Some of the kids are so cute and have better english than I do arabic and some of them are so notty, well only like 2 in my first class and one of them said 'She's from US she'll send you to Iraq' =(. This is why all around Syria you tell people you are a student and that you are from Pakistan, they like it more, and there's no room for tension.

My roomates are British, well half of my friends here for that matter and they are basically under the notion that we describe every American because we are so loud, touchy, outgoing, friendly and our speech consists of 'like,wow and omg' hahaha, sadly thats true, but I have my own jokes about them.

Okay, so this is a more practical entry, but in July the remainder of my Houston people are coming so that will be wonderful for me and I will do more Syrian house visiting, for that is really fun with all thier yummy food and 'Ammeyah' non fushah arabic!

I really love it here, I like the traditional setting and Muslim culture in the air and the fact that its not Westernized and moreover that its not everyone's obsession here for it to be.

Venturing around Damascus at night, I really have come to like the traditional city life and the hustle bustle traffic that always exists in this city.

Going up the mountains outside Homs to a Crusader castle conquered later by the Ottomans, I love this country filled with so much history and barakah, I cant say enough, but that after going all the way up into the mountains where everything around you is green and you can feel the breeze blowing so gently across your face, and adhan in your ears, I want live those moments forever, thanks to my friends for taking me.

I miss it, I miss the adhan and sitting hearing duahs echo in your ears in every direction while you listen to a khudbah, that you dont normally hear about the ummah and the blessed countries and people all around the globe. So far I've been to two Jummah prayers one at my school the other at Khalid bin Waleed mosque and the great feelings that once arose in me while I lived in the Middle East have come back, Alhumdullilah.

Oddly you think living in a third world country would make one homesick but rather the opposite has happened, and I already feel like I've been here for a long while and only have a short while more to go.

On a more routine note, I have completely moved in and settled down in my apartment with my friends and live with 2 other British students of knowledge as well here and its great, because I seem to be picking up on more than the Syrian culture alone.

Alhumdullilah for everything and all my experiences that I already know have started to mold me.

so its been 10 days in damascus...

the temperature is still in the 100's but Alhumdullilah its getting better and we are getting more used to it.

Arabic classes, since Im on a beginner level are review, but since everything is in arabic its pretty hard, but im getting used to it over time, I just really need to work on speaking, since it takes me a while to process things and here things are fast track.

I'm also doing sira, hadith, tajweed, tafsir and daf classes, which takes up a lot and in a few days we'll be moving into our own place so hopefully I can start a daily routine.

Also the Syrian people here in North Damascus have a set standard, since most people here are students of knowledge or teachers if they arent businessmen and local families, its actually pretty interesting how people transform into the Syrian standard or don't, we'll see what happens with us!

This weekend I will go to Homs and next weekend we'll go to Latakia and more around the outskits of Damascus, with my fabulous tour guide.

Lets see how much Syria changes my heart, as the process has already begun.

salaam to everyone=)

after a 21 hour flight i arrived in damascus Alhumdullilah tuesday afternoon. the flight wasn't great, i spent most of it alone on the plane or jumping from one airport/hotel to another but i got lots to time to stay awake for that 30 hr period and reflect on things, which I always love about airplanes since you feel like your on top of the world when you look outside.

Damascus remind me of both Pakistan and Makkah, but more MAkkah because the sun burns you and i live in ruknideen (corder of Deen) and its all mountanious! also for 3 prayer out of the day we alway go to the mosque and its so beautiful mashallah, 11 floors of ibaadat, imagine that. So, this brings back lots of memories

Soon I will update picture inshallah on my flickr account.
I visited Masjid Ummawe (ummayad mosque)and Souk Al Hamideyah and walked a bit around the old city and that was pleasant.

Also, I started Arabic classes and Subhanallah in my class alone of about 20 there are at least students from 15 different countries its so beautiful. That is also the reaon why all 3 session are in arabic and I have to work more on conversation

Damacus so far has been FUN!!! and ive learned to be more thankful!