Of course, traveling to Syria in May and planning only to stay into the fall called for summer clothes. By the end of October, Dania was feeling slightly chilly. By the end of November, she was COLD. So, my goal was to bring wool clothes and a winter coat so that she could survive December, January and February when it really does get cold and sometimes even snows!
Once she knew that I was coming, the list of items to bring expanded to include US toothpaste, dental floss, and many other drugstore type things. Then, her cousin Dima, with whom Dania had lived for the past month or so, learned of my trip. Sure, why not bring some things she would order online, right? It was the least I could do. But then the packages kept arriving and the weight of my suitcases grew and grew. I knew that European airlines only allowed one checked-in bag at only 40-some odd pounds. Plus, I was told that, upon arriving at Heathrow, I'd be required to pick up my baggage, go through customs and re-check on the next leg of my trip. Well, it got to a point where I rationalized that a little extra baggage charge was OK; but it kept niggling at the back of my mind that it would be hard to lug all the stuff from one terminal to another. Anyway, I kept packing and weighing the bags as the boxes arrived and as Dania's list grew; and finally the day of departure arrived.
The smartest move I made as I arrived at the airport was to agree with the Virgin Atlantic woman who suggested that I upgrade to what she called business class. Once I was assured that my checked bag would actually be transported to the other airline, I thought, well it saves me all that hassle of lugging it all over Heathrow, it'll be a far more comfortable 10 hours in a more spacious seat, and the cost of upgrading pretty much equaled what I figured I'd be forced to pay for the weight overage. So, I boarded the plane and immediately started my Christmas holiday with glass after glass of champagne that was provided to all us "Premium Economy" customers. I hadn't flown long distances in so many years that I was totally unprepared for the fancy TV and game gadgets that were part of my seat. It took me almost the entire flight to figure out how to play backgammon!!! Anyway, it was a very pleasant, but LONG flight, and I was totally prepared for my 5 hour wait at Heathrow for the flight to Damascus.
After having checked in to BMI (an airline that I do NOT ever recommend to anyone!), I wandered around some of the duty-free shops, used the pounds Dania had left from when she had been in England 10 years ago(!) to buy food, and even found an area of about 8 computers that were available to use w/o charge. I don't know why I did what I did, but I logged onto my return itinerary to discover that the return leg from Damascus to London seemed to have disappeared from when I had checked it before leaving home. Of course, by the time I discovered that, it was too late to go back to the other terminal to figure out what had happened. But that information was definitely at the back of my mind from that moment on. It was great, though, to have logged on to my Gmail account and find Dania at the other end for a little chat. She assured me that she'd be at the Damascus airport that evening with bells on!
So, my flight was finally called and I was curious to see the kinds of people boarding with me. Most were obviously Syrians returning home, but there were quite a few European-looking couples who seemed to be headed out on an adventure, just like me! My complaint about BMI revolves only around their cancellation of that leg of my flight home. The service aboard was lovely (as the British might say!). I happened to sit right next to a young Syrian who is in medical school in Boston and was returning home for a visit. After we talked for a while, he asked my last name as I did his. His name meant nothing to me; however, mine made him very excited - not because of Moustapha, but because he grew up with Dima in Aleppo! He kept telling me how much fun she was/is....small world. (When I mentioned his name to her, she recognized the family name, but was surprised at his effusiveness about her. He's much, much younger. But I guess Dima has a reputation as a busy, popular Aleppan!)
BMI, just like Virgin, was right on time when we arrived at 11 p.m. at the Damascus airport. Unfortunately for all concerned, particularly Dania and the two drivers Dima had sent for me, it took 2 hours to clear customs and wait for the bags to come off the plane. Each time more were loaded onto the conveyor belt and mine weren't there, I kept asking myself why I had gambled in San Francisco. But, it was the time of year for miracles and eventually both of them appeared! I loaded them on my carrier and headed with everyone else to what I hoped was the tail end of this part of my trip. Lo and behold, right after I made a turn to the right, who should I see but a smiling Dania with an incredibly LARGE bouquet of flowers for me! She introduced the two men whom Dima had "assigned" to make the airport run with Dania and we headed for the car and our drive into the city
Even though it was close to 1 a.m. at that point, there were many, many cars on the road. We passed the largest restaurant in the world (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7435424.stm/)that seemed still to be very busy! After about 35 minutes, we finally made it to Dania's neighborhood, Afif. She's still not sure what street she lives on; but she knows Afif and the fact that the French Embassy is right across the street. I didn't realize until this visit that Damascus is sort of like Carmel-by-the-Sea: neither has street addresses. It appears as though the Damascenes really don't bother too much with street names; people (mainly the poor taxi drivers) just go by major landmarks (ergo the French Embassy).
It was great to enter Dania's apartment, a place we were able to help her with, thanks to friends here who happen to have it become vacant just when Dania was ready to live on her own. It's on the third floor of the building, with a doctor's office inside on the ground floor and a very nice juice man down in front on the unnamed street. Each day we'd pass him, he'd say hello, and I'd be amazed that the net bags of oranges, lemons and whatever he'd placed up in trees were still hanging where he'd put them the night before! Anyway, we trudged upstairs with the luggage, thanked our drivers, and Dania immediately turned on the lights to her Christmas tree!
She has a seven room apartment: 2 bedrooms, a living room (where the tree was/apparently still is), an adjoining dining room; another adjoining TV room; a nice size kitchen and a western style bathroom with the HOTTEST water you could ever imagine coming out the faucets! The floors are marble and the walls are high with very ornate decorations. Each room was already furnished with pretty elaborate couches, tables, wardrobes, whatever she'd need. The apartment also has two balconies, the one off her bedroom has a washing machine and clothesline for drying. I'm going to place some photos here of her apartment.
Kitchen; Bathroom; Dania in bed; Living room/TV
I think she's very happy with it particularly in comparison to where some of her friends live. She has a German roommate, Helene, who is determined to master Arabic as her 4th language! She's a very lively young woman who dates a UN peacekeeper from Australia and is rarely at home. She had already left for Germany by the time I arrived, but came back for the new year's celebration. So, I had first-hand proof that she's a fun-loving, slightly crazy person! Dania's lucky to have met her in the first Arabic class they both took at the University of Damascus.
Anyway, the trip had started and it was good finally to fall asleep in Damascus, well after all the traffic noise had stopped for that night, December 19th!
BY THE WAY, I DON'T SEEM TO BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHY SOME LINKS ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE AND OTHERS ARE JUST UNDERLINED IN THE SAME TAN COLOR AS THE REST OF THE TEXT. SO, WHENEVER YOU SEE EITHER BLUE OR UNDERLINED WORDS, PLEASE CONSIDER THEM LINKS TO SOMEWHERE ELSE.
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