Aleppo

So, I'm finally here in aleppo, syria. today i went to latakkia with wahib which was kind of a bust-- we went to this really nice beach to swim, but theyd only let me in because im american, so wahib wasnt allowed. then i took a bus to aleppo this evening, home of maybe the biggest souk in the middle east, as well as the head of zacharia, the father of john the baptist, who a psychic once told me i was in my past life. har har har.

not sure what you'd call it, but i felt strangely lonely on the bus ride to aleppo. not for seattle, or for my family (although i miss you), but rather for the people i've met on my journey thus far. i've met so many cool people from all over the world-- denmark, sweden, the uk, switzerland, germany-- that, while i have their email and facebook and shit, i'll probably not see again. to a certain degree, that's the same with everyone in your life, that people come in and out, you share an experience with, and then you seperate. for some reason, that fact hit me harder than it has before. maybe it was because, for the first time since i left damascus, i'm again on my own. it feels good-- the freedom is intoxicating-- but i find myself missing the warmth of al rabie, or the complete chaos of talals. oh well, to new adventures.

i have more time on the computer, so i'll post a few things that i've noticed while here:

prostitution. yep, i said it. sorry grandma. prostitution is huge in syria, at least among the kids my age. since everyone is so religious, no one has sex before marriage, so they all go to "bitch" to fulfill their more carnal needs. and guess how much it costs? between 2 dollars and 10 dollars, not for what your getting, but for the attractiveness of the girl. wtf, syria.

also, the asses in syria. sorry grandma. lebanese girls have the most beautiful faces, but the girls in syria have the most incredible asses. add this to the fact that everyone is celibate before marriage (except for bitch), and i don't understand how the entire country hasn't just exploded from sexual frustration.

on a less sexual note, the sense of community here is also something i think we could take back to the states. in kfarbou, the small town where i was staying, everyone hung out around someones home in groups of like 15 or 16, young, old, neighbors and friends. drinking tea, smoking sheesha or cigarettes or both, chatting and laughing. wahib told me that, "in syria, relationships are the most important thing". maybe that's wishful, but after two days in kfarbou, i can see it. everyone eats togethers, smokes together, drinks together, kisses each other, hugs each other, sings together. people ride around on little honda bikes from house to house until like three in the morning. it's a different lifestyle than in seattle for sure, but in comparison, the states seem a little cold.

Also, the family i stayed with in kfarbou. the father was some kind of renouned arabic singer, so he'd just break out into song, or bust out his lute, and sing these warbling, haunting songs. the mother makes this super heavy syrian food that i swear is cooked with like a pound of clarified butter. super good, but when i get back to the states i think i'll eat nothing but kale for like a week.

anyways, thats all for now.