Wednesday, 3 September 2003, Jaramana, Syria
90 degrees, SUNNY

Today, it's all about swimming at the very swanky Elba Cham Palace outside Damascus.

Fourat comes to pick us up, and we're joined by Walid. We're going to the Elba Cham, outside Damascus. They have a very swank pool, you can get a day pass for US $8, which includes a towel and a lounge chair - and there is a bar with drinks and snacks.

We spent the entire day here, swimming, lounging, laughing a lot, drinking coffee, eating sandwiches and drinking orange juice. The guys are tanning, but I'm safely shielded under a shady cabana umbrella - yet with SPF 30 applied - observing the action when I'm not in the pool. For the Damascus sun, however - if you were actually so silly as to want to lay OUT in it - would require, I believe SPF 500. It's brutal. This swimming plan, however is great - an alternative to lounging and hiding from the sun. Plus, it's like a hammam - I think I finally got rid of all the dust and dirt I was constantly covered with in Jaramana.

After we get home, there is a commotion in the street - a wedding is taking place tomorrow, and today is the day that the brides family packs up her possessions, loads them into pickup trucks and drives thru Jaramana, followed by a couple buses filled with wedding guests.

After that, we're off to Naeif's uncle's house for a barbeque. Omar's sister and her husband, and also his brother and his wife - and the adorable new baby, Selma are there, as well as little Miera - the worlds cutest girl. A friend of Naeif's who lives in London is there also with his wife and twin daughters - a relief to find an English speaker! We sit around under an enormous grape arbor, heavy with grapes, and drink Arak, smoke nargilah and snack on mezzeh - cut up raw vegetables, kibbeh nayeh (delicious, made with more spices here), the nut/seed mixture, hummus and homemade french fries. It seems I'm exempt, as an arrajnabe (foreigner), from the flurry of activity by the women in the kitchen, as I always seem to end up hanging out with the men and Naeif, smoking nargilah.

Everyone here seems to have a large outdoor area - and huge grape arbors are quite common (and extremely coveted by me). People's porches are made for sitting in the evenings, drinking tea and chatting. Everyone is out at night, either running around in the street shopping or eating dessert or watching the action from the terraces above the street. Jaramana is a city of predominately 4 or 5 story buildings, one apartment per floor, and growing fast. People have babies like mad here - I think Jaramana may have a chaos problem looming. There are way too many people to keep the same "free for all" condition of the streets, and driving a few minutes on the outskirts of town will get you a whiff of some mighty aromatic open sewers.