I recently returned to the states after spending a couple of weeks during the summer break in Syria. The reason for the trip was to study Arabic and to learn how to become a better devoted worshipper of Bashar al-Asad. This is the first in a series of observations I have about Damascus:
PLEASANT:
ASHTA
Ahhh-the creamy but crunchy magical-ness that is ASHTA!!!
UNPLEASANT:
WANTON ASS-GRABBING 
This is a picture I tried to snap of the Sal al-Din statue outside of Souk al-Hamidiyeh. However, a "slight interference" startled me, and, as such, this is the image I took when displaced from balance by the almost daily run-by ass-grabbing: 
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Top Pleasant and Unpleasant experiences in Damascus
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4 comments:
RE: ass-grabbing
The way I figure it, unsolicited grabbing of any manner is never a compliment, unless the touched is comfortable and consents to it (re: saw you coming and isn't stressed).
My body is my territory, I don't care if some people's customs are to kiss someone on the cheek, if I'm not comfortable with it, they need to respect that and STFU about what I chose to do with my with damn body.
...and I swear, some of these jerks does it on purpose, you just don't grab a woman from behind, even the shoulder. Would actually addressing her with a friendly hello kill you?
- Mercurial Georgia
May,
I do not want to sound like I'm doubting your recollection of ass-grabbing, but I do know that in Hallab (Aleppo), ass-grabbing is a friendly gesture. It is common there to welcome strangers by a slight, unanticipated pinch to the tush. I read that hard groping is reserved for close friends and family (Patai, Rafael 'The Arab Mind' Hatherleigh Press, 1983 edition, pg 242).
Maybe, just maybe, the offenders were visiting Hallabis unaware of the boundaries of their customs.
Yours,
Will
PS - mmm... Ashta is very tasty.
a devoted worshipper of bashar al assad? so you must be a satanist. you might as well as worship sharon while you are at it. blah.
Wow-apparently sarcasm doesn't come across so well over the internet.
That was a Colbertian statement of mine, as in:
I heart Bashar :
Colbert hearts Huckabee
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