Danny D the Demon of Damascus

I've been pretty lax on my writing because, I think, I'm becoming less conscious of home and more engaged in where I am. Good for me, bad for you all.

Yesterday I took a bus to a monastary in the Syrian mountains founded by a guy named Father Paolo 50 years ago to prove that inter-religous dialogue is possible. There I played the most scenic game of football ever-- down the mountain from the monastary as the sun was setting and the moon rising with a bunch of Syrian guys. One of them everyone kept telling me was crazy-- he kept trying to give me a red card, and then when I said he could kill me in 3 moves. Hm. We came up in time for evening mass, and then a communal meal, afterwhich I watched football on the roof with a bunch of monks loudly rooting for Ghana. During the halftime, I found the crazy Syrian standing by himself, listening to Tupac. After talking to him about Hip Hop, he said he was a rapper, and wrote for a Palestinian undergound artist. I asked him to rap for me, which was pretty hilarious.

Today we woke up, and had a long Sunday mass led by Father Paolo himself, afterwhich we hung around. Spent an hour with the crazy Syrian watching Three Six Mafia videos on his laptop and having him try to convince me to spend the night again-- I take it the rest of the monastary wasn't to big on his music choices. After saying goodbye to everyone (including an Italian named Danny D the Demon of Damascus, who kissed my neck a little sensually when we left..)I crammed into a microbus (read:very micro) with: two italians, a french priest, two germans, a swede, a brit, and 3 syrian boys and made it back to Damascus.
Now, to have my first shower and change of clothes in 2 days, and to drink in the Christian quarter and watch the game England/Germany game. I'm with two germans and a brit; I'm looking forward to it.