Blockbuster in Damascus??!!

lol all our blogs end up starting with an apology since we are unable to update our blog as frequently as we had hoped but iA hopefully with time that will change...we came last week to the internet cafe but the connection was way to slow to do anything...anyhow here we are some days later with a lot more adventure! Jaffer should also be posting something today he's at computer 6 and i'm at 7 lol.

sooo get this! the first week we were here we were introduced to a movie store...Jaffer and I were super excited - we can keep up to date with our movies...we can buy them for a $1 - lol yes 1$!!! and a bonus when we go get our movies is there this exceptional milkshake place around the corner - okay wait a minute, we are actually studying here for real and not just having fun! its quite a balance alhamd.

anyhow, so for the past few nights - since the beginning of ramadhan (our month of fasting) we've had several brilliant reciters join us every night to recite the du'as (prayers) for this special month. It's a great way for us to pracitice our spoken arabic ofcourse as well as practise reciting the dua's ... for now we've primarily been listening...but i think we're more than ready to actually starting reading and having the recitors help us refine our recitation...as we've been reciting these du'as for years back home and have already become fluent....anyhow iA soon. So the other night one of our teachers brought his family, wife and 2 little girls. His wife spoke NO english at all! wow what a task...you all know that normally i have no problem talking lol but that night i really had to think before i spoke. But you know what, i didnt do so badly at all, i was able to converse with her in choppy sentances, i asked her about her family, how old her kids were, where she was orginally from etc..and alhamd was able to understand most of what she asked and communicated back as well...i suppose that is the best way to practise!

last thursday, one of our teachers took us on a field trip...we only have class half day on thursday, so in the afternoon he took us to 'baabe sagheer' - this place is actually and area where there are a lot of shrines and prominent historical figures are burried there...so we went to pay our respects to bibi fizza, hazrat bilal, saw a place where our fourth imam used to conduct khutba's and lead prayers...it was definitely unreal...we went with our colleagues ofcourse....all of us were fasting on that day and wow i don't think i've ever had such a tough fast - it was super super hot and there was a lot of walking...but we managed. The best part was after we were done our teacher left and the 4 of us (jaffer and i, and the other couple studying with us) decided to stay back and adventure out on our own for the first time. We had planned to go to this restaurant for dinner and needed to make our way to that area, we luckily asked our teacher about how much a taxi would cost, he advised us not to pay more than 100 - 150 syrian pounds...so we headed to the street and waved down a cab...we explained to him where we needed to go and he told us 200, straight away we said no and we were hoping he would change his mind but instead he drove off lol so we kept walking and finally decided to ask some locals for help, they were really nice and get this, they got us on this mini bus which is the local transportation...lol we paid 5 syrian pounds per person, lol so 20 instead of 150 or 200! crazy huh! anyhow, we had a great time venturing out; ate at this really good authentic syrian restaurant...we had a 7 course meal - no joke, appetizers, then cream of mushroom soup,then chicken dish, rice with peppers stuffed with ground beef, mashed potatoes and steak in this white sauce, and then syrian sweet pastries and fruit - it was fabulous!

so this is now our third week of class and we're definitely picking up speed with all our classes which is great. with several different institutions we've heard that their school days are only 4 hours long...whereas ours are more like 8 hours...so you can imagine how much we learn and how much home work we have...but we definitely prefer it this way! i cant emphasize how lucky we are, we are really being taken care of...we've heard of other students who have come through different institutions and have had a hard tiem settling in...where as we had a lot ready for us and prepared when we came, i.e a place to stay and meals etc..alhamd.

anyhow,i know this is a lot to read so i shall wrap up, besides the cafe is closing for iftar(the time when we break our fast) - its really cool how everyone is fasting here lol no temptation by watching others eat lol well, hopefully our next post will be much sooner ... stay tuned .... :)