November days

It’s mid-November and cold has definitely set in here in Damascus. The cold isn’t very extreme (around 16 degrees Celsius or 60 degrees Farenheit on average), it’s just that we don’t have heat! When sitting in class or at home studying, one’s extremities tend to get a little chilly. (The picture you see is of eggplants which were cored and are now being dried; they are then used during the winter when vegetables are not as readily available).

Josh & I just finished our second month of classes at the University of Damascus. We both did very well and be able to continue into next month’s class. So far we’ve learned the present, past, future and imperative verb tenses, several hundred vocabulary words, three cases (the genitive, accusative and nominative), simple sentence formation, and other random things like adverbs of place and time, how to tell time, prepositions, conjunctions, formation of the dual (2 persons or things) and formation of plurals (masculine, feminine and irregular). Whew! And yes, I still greet men incorrectly with the “you” feminine form!

Next week we will enjoy Thanksgiving with our pastor and his wife, who have recently moved to Damascus from Alabama. It’s going to be an international pot-luck, with turkey and dressing provided.

We found a new coffee shop chain recently which has suspicious similarities to the US chain dominating every other street corner (namely, Starbucks). Ah Syria, the place where no one worries about trademark infringements! (There are not many international chain restaurants here, but plenty of copy cats – one restaurant blatantly calls itself Sub Way). In House Coffee is a chic place where the up-and-coming go to see and be seen. It also serves as a nice reprieve from all things Syrian, which we need every once in a while. The large TV screens dominating the café alternate between showing Friends and racy music videos: the entertainment of choice for youth in Syria who are breaking from traditional mores. If you can block out the music, it can also be a lovely place to study or read a good book.