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!).
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Day 6: On Assignment From Damascus
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6 comments:
dear maytha. sorry about your nightmare excursion to the dark side. hopefully you will have the patience to see the other side of syria. i always said "would the last person to leave this country please turn off the light!" now there is no need.
1) be careful where you eat. do not eat greens like parsley or lettuce or salads in general from outside. do not randomly choose shawarma vendors.
2) do not drink the tap water. drink the bottles of bouqein.
3) if damascenes had a choice, they wouldn't be living this way. in any case the bougier areas have power outages less often, and some buildings have private generators, not to mention water and faster internet cafes!
i hope you enjoy the rest of your time there, hate to hear about people having bad experiences!
Thanks for reporting live from the "Axis of Evil." Remember that any man who hits on you just wants a green card.
I was just in Kuwait it was 120 so I hear you about the heat!
Sorry you are having such a poor view of Syria. The people in damascus certainly wish the water and electricity was more reliable, and yet it isn't. Instead of complaining about it, perhaps you could look on the bright side?
Damascus is the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world and despite the traffic and poor public services, there is some fantastic architecture.
You are also in the Arab country with the best food, no contest - so go to town! the service industry isn't much better than the infrastructure, but the food itself is to die for...so long as you don't mind the wait.
Perhaps things will improve if Syria is ever lucky enough to emerge from the long shadow of the ruling family. But then one could say the same about a number of countries in this region, no?
Oh no-I didn't me to come off as assaulting the integrity of the city.
I understand I had a couple of bad experiences that certainly don't fully reflect what the city has to offer. Perhaps I came off as exceedingly incensed because my illness prevented me from partaking in the much raved about food-I did have one night of real eating and I will attest to the city's amazing cuisine (head and shoulders above all other Arab cities I've visited!).
There will be a followup post shortly explaining the otherside of the post and giving all an update of the changes in my outlook!
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