Day 5 & 6 - Syria (Palmyra) & Jordan (Travel)

May 20, 2007

Marhaba (Hello) from Ihrbid, Jordan. We crossed the border today into Jordan from Syria. I can hear an e-sigh all across the Internet from various family and friends who were not so certain about our group going to Syria in the first place. Well, as I said before, whatever the state of relations between our governments, the people of Syria are extremely welcoming to American tourists. Sometimes we were treated better than we ought to have been (but more on that later).

Today we traveled from Syria to Jordan and didn't do or see much. We did stop at the highway sign to Bagdad to take pictures (the picture at the right is especially taken for Jonathan's mom!). We were about 100 miles from Iraq. We also stopped at the Bagdad Cafe for the second time (we stopped there yesterday as well). It is a tourist trap run by Bedouins that we used as a bathroom stop. The bargaining inside was furious. As we came through Damascus, we went up the mountain (I can't remember the name right now) that overlooks Damascus because the first time we went up the mountain a couple of days ago it was raining. It was a great panoramic view of Damascus (and the smog!). Eventually we got to Jordan and made our way through effortlessly. As I said, today was not very exciting, but yesterday was one of the best...

May 19, 2007

Yesterday we experienced an amazing ancient Roman city called Palmyra (picture above right taken from the Arabic Castle). It is deep in the dessert on an oasis in Eastern Syria. The dry weather and difficult location have amazingly preserved the city. We began with a tour of the Temple of Bel (Baal). We then moved on to the colonnade which has two unusual bends in it of about 30 degrees. This is due to parts of the city being built before the temple and the colonnade. So the colonnade had to snake its way through the city dodging various buildings and eventually ending at the entrance to the Temple of Bel. Normally a colonnade would be straight and end at the temple.

After the colonnade we visited the theater. It is a very small theater for the size of the city, either due to the lack of patrons or a wooden upper deck that has subsequently deteriorated. Earlier in the day we had been invited to a festival at the theater later that night (more about that later).

After the theater we visited the Agropolis, a market place and auction block. We had a unique treat from a member of our group, Allen. Allen is a certified auctioneer. He stood on the old auction stump and auctioned off a rug. It was a great moment hearing him run up the numbers!

After the Agropolis, we visited the bath house (the water had since dried up). All of these places were along the colonnade. After seeing these places we got in the bus and headed down the street a ways to the tombs. The wealthy citizens of Palmyra had two kinds of tombs: expensive and more expensive. The first were underground and the later were above ground in towers. The were essentially mausoleums.

As I was going into one of the tombs a man was playing on an instrument and I asked him to play a bit more so I could record some audio. I tipped him for music. I apparently a large tip because when I came out he wanted to dress me up, play some more, and give me a photo op. Then he followed me all the way back to the bus trying to sell me the instrument!

After the tombs we drove up a hill to the Arabic Citadel. We took some time to worship together and then watched the sunset from this amazing vantage point.

After a quick trip back to the hotel for showers and a change, we went back to the colonnade for the festival. What we didn't know was that we were about to experience the grand finale of a culturally lavish celebration that had been taking place for a couple of weeks. It included dancing and music from many groups all over Syria. The pieces were both traditional and contemporary. I am generally not much of a high cultured kind of person but dance like this is a favorite of mine. I'd say that what we got was a Syrian version of River Dance. At the end of the evening an Arabic pop-singer came out and sang with all the dance groups behind him. The whole theater had been lit up with colored lights and movie cameras were all around to film the event. The local governor was there as well as many students from the local university. It was a stunning display of ancient and contemporary cultural Syrian creativity.

Being Americans, we often find that we are treated better than we feel we ought to be treated. An example of this took place at the theater. As we came into the theater the "ushers" ushered us in on the side by the stage down in the first few rows. It was a great seat (there was no bad seat in the place). But soon we were being asked to move. We weren't sure what was going on but came to realize that the ushers were moving people out of the middle so that we could have better seats. I suspect most of us would have been comfortable sitting where we were originally seated, but the producers would not have the Americans sitting in less than what they considered better seats. We felt a bit sheepish and guilty about this rearrangement, but there was little we could do. Despite this we had an unforgettable evening that took us all by surprise.

Peace and grace,

Tom

P.S. Cops is playing on the TV in the Internet cafe right now!

P.S.S. Check out another student who is blogging at: http://www.christiemiddleeast.blogspot.com

Day 4 - Syria (Hama)

Greetings from Hama, Syria. I am currently sitting in a very nice Internet Cafe enjoying the irony of the evening. Right now a musical rendition of an old Michael W. Smith (or Amy Grant) song is playing over the speakers. Moments ago was some American R&B (Beyonce, I think) and Rap (I don't know the artist but they were going to party and dance all night long). Hama is a very conservative large city in Syria, and surprisingly is 40% Christian! See my next post for a little more info on the hospitality of those in Hama.

Today has been my favorite day so far, even if it was exhausting. We began waking up at the Al Wadi Hotel and then hiked up to the Crac de Chevaliers, the best preserved medieval castle in the world. It was a crusader castle that was only defeated by trickery (a great Trojan Horse kind of story). Even Saladin passed up trying to siege this castle. It is beautiful. The architecture and engineering are stunning. The castle held 2000 soldiers and 1000 horses. It could withstand a siege of five years.

On the hike up the mountain I was taking a slow pace and had fell to the back of the line. I eventually caught up with a couple of other women on the trip. As the three of us walked up a tractor came up and stopped. The man motioned for us to get on the back. I was quite content walking up the mountain and was enjoying the exercise, but how could I pass up a Syrian tractor trailer ride up the mountain! So we hopped in and quickly were passing everyone else along the road! It was great and another example of amazing Syrian hospitality. The man seemed to revel in giving us the ride.

After spending most of the morning at the castle, we got on the bus and headed to the City of Catba a huge archaeological dig of a city from about 2000 B.C. Our American professor was beaming with delight at this "tell" (a mound that designates where an ancient city used to be). But I think most of us would have been happy to leave more quickly. What are old mud bricks when compared to a medieval castle? Well, I suppose that could be debated.

After Catba we drove on to Hama and visited the water wheels (two pictures at left, one at night). These are spectacular ancient wooden wheels that take water up to an aqueduct. They creak and moan very loudly. Young men would hold on to them as they went into the air and would jump from them. It was quite a sight!

While in Hama we visited the Atelier, a small artists' colony that had beautiful art work of the area (the picture below of Bethel and Amy is just outside the Atelier). We also visited the acropolis tell at the center of the ancient city of Hama. It is just amazing how old things are here. I was struck by this when we visited Italy, but these places are even older! America is but a drop in the water in the time chart history of the world. (parenthetical comment: Aerosmith just came on over the speakers!...oh...somebody just changed the channel!...now its Air Supply!). Probably the most interesting thing during this time was the attention the women received from the men of Hama, or I should say the young men of Hama. Literally, about 15 men followed us around the park staring at the women. They are apparently not used to seeing women without head scarves, or with long blond hair and colorful clothing (very modest by our standards). Some of the men of our group became rather protective (I kept an eye out myself). I do not believe anyone intended any harm. As Steve said, this was probably a once in a lifetime moment for most of these young men. It was interesting nonetheless, and we spent a good deal of time talking about it all.

I continue to reflect upon the conversation we had the other evening in Damascus. What does it mean to be a Christian and American or Christian and Syrian/Arab? What does it mean for our faith to interact with our culture? When does our faith critique our culture and what does that mean when there is no way for us to get outside ourselves and see things from a stance that is not in a particular culture? I suspect a very important answer to these questions includes building relationships with Christians in very different cultures than our own (i.e. Syrian Christians). In fact, I'm beginning to think that it is essential for us to stay honest in our own culture. This is one of the gifts of God's ever shrinking planet: the gift of Christians who experience the world very different than we do.

P.S. If you've got questions, leave them in the comments section, and I'll do my best to answer them.

P.S.S. I forgot to mention that one other little piece of trouble we had crossing the border was that the Syrian authorities found a banned book in my suitcase. It was a little red booked called "What's on Your Mind." I don't know how it got there. But eventually they let me into the country and I even got to keep the book for a good read on the way home. (Note to everyone except those few people who understand this inside joke: this didn't really happen. There was no problem getting in the country. Though a little red book by the above title did somehow mysteriously end up in my luggage. The last time I saw it was at Neill's wedding.)

Day 3 - Syria (Meshtayeh)

Dear Friends,

I'm in a Hama tonight. Last night in Meshtayeh, no internet cafes were to be found. Its way out in the wilderness. Tonight as I was looking for an internet cafe in Hama, I went to one that I saw as we were walking through the city earlier. It was in the process of remodeling. One spoke a little English and walked me down the street and around the corner to another one! This is the kind of hospitality that the Syrian people show. Whatever the differences there are in our governments, the people of Syria are incredibly hospitable and giving. I continue to learn that each day.

Well, back to yesterday and Meshtayeh. We began in Damascus at the train station that is no train station. It was intended to be a station to take pilgrims to Mecca, but money ran short and the station was built with no train going to it. So go things in the middle east! After the train station we went to the National Museum in Damascus. It is purported to be one of the most important in the world. It certainly has some old artifacts. One is a small clay tablet with the world's first alphabet on it. We spent more time at each display with more instruction than I have ever had before in a museum. When we left, I was glad to be moving on, even if the museum housed some amazing things. After the museum we went to Maaloula (picture at left with some of our group) for lunch and to visit the convent of St. Serge and Bacchus, both Christian Martyrs. This is also in a town that still speaks Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke! A woman came in and prayed the Lord's prayer for us in Aramaic. It is very close to Hebrew, which I have been studying for two years but it was still incomprehensible (all the definite articles are at the end of words). After this we went to another convent of St. Takla. She also was a Christian martyr (If I'm remembering correctly). The story is told of many miraculous ways God saved her. One story tells of God opening a gorge in a mountain for her to pass through as she was being pursued by persecutors (Picture at left). We began walking up and ran into an unusual problem. It has been usually rainy in Syria. The gorge was impassable! So we had to turn around, as God did not open the mountain to us that day. The convent was beautiful (but in many such places we are unable to take pictures! I did take a picture just outside the convent and posted it below. You can see how the convent is built right into the mountain.). We ended the day at that Al Wadi Hotel (which looks like a castle).

It was a long day out and about seeing the sights.

I've decided to post a different post for today. So read on...

Peace and grace,

Tom (From Hama, Syria)

Day 1 & 2 - Syria (Travel) & Damascus

The flight was to Damascus was long. But the surprising thing was that I sat next to a Syrian Presbyterian family on the flight from Paris to Damascus! It was an opportunity to begin breaking down any stereotypes I have of Syrians. And they said they were from a church with 300 families! We spent a lot of the flight with him tutoring me in Arabic. It was a good flight.We had some trouble getting into Syria. The manifest and visa was a little mixed up. But we finally got in after about an hour or so of waiting. We met our guide and went to the hotel. I went to bed almost immediately. I stayed up during the flight from Atlanta to Paris so that I would be exhausted by the time we finally got to Syria. I think it worked. I'm about on time with Syrian time.

My roomate's name is Kip (picture at right in the Cham Palace lobby). He is a retired trial lawyer. He's been working on starting a legal outsourcing buiness in India.

So today we went to all sorts of places. We first walked through the Suq. The Suq is their covered street bazzar. All sorts of clothing and other items to buy. I didn't buy anything thought I was tempted at the spice market section of the Sug (picture at right).

Next we went to the palace of Al Azam, a former governor. It was beautiful. It was separated into two courtyards. One for the women and one for the men. The women's courtyard was more beautiful than the men's (it is pictured at right.

We also visited the Umayyad Mosque. It was originally the church of St. John the Baptist, but when the Muslims recaptured the area at some point (I think it was during the Crusades...all the details of history are mixing in my brain right now), they turned it into a mosque. But the shrine of John's head is still in the mosque (picture at right). It is a beautiful building and the call to prayer took place while we were there. An interesting moment came when the women had to put on coverings to enter the mosque. They all ended up looking like monks (or characters from Robinhood). They seemed to enjoy it even though it was a bit of an inconvenience (see picture at right).

We also visited Ananias' house. It is a little church now in the Christian quarter of the city. It is underground at this point; not because it was built underground but because over the centuries each generation kept building on top of the next (see picture at right).

Apparently about 15% of the population is Christian (and Presybterians are 25% of that). We also saw the monument to Paul and his escape out the window in the wall of Damascus.After all this and a little more we came back to the hotel and had a conversation with a Syrian family. They asked us some frank questions about Syrian/American relations. I think I was somewhat misunderstood when I asked whether there was any tension between their faith and their culture (they are both Christians). They answered that they were Arab first and Christian second. I did not fully understand this response. But they gave me one clue to this answer: the culture of this area is so old that it predates Christianity while American culture is so new and individuals were Christians before they came to America. I'm not sure I'm satisfied with this answer, but it has given me something to think about.
The Syrians are very hospitable people. They have been very welcoming. And everyone who has talked to us about it has guessed that we were either German, French, Canadian, or Australian. They aren't expecting Americans to be traveling in the country. I am enjoying the time here greatly and it is expanding my view of the world and Syria. Thanks be to God.

P.S. The internet connection at this cafe is very slow so I don't think I can get pictures up right now. I will work on it later if I have a better connection.

P.S.S. From Hama - I was able to upload pictures on this computer. Not because the connection was faster but this computer had software to shrink my photos!

Orientation Continues

Today was a full day of orientation. It began at 9AM and finished at 9PM. We started the day with worship outside under the trees (picture to left). Taking the lectionary reading to new heights, there were two sermons this morning - one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament! Both of them were great sermons. Its good to be among so many other seminary students. But there are also 20 other lay persons from churches and they provide a nice balance to our group. As one person said tonight, "Y'all help us remember we can have normal conversations!"

After worship this morning, we had an overview lecture on the entire history of the middle east beginning with the prehistoric, bronze age, iron age, and so on all the way up to the modern age. It was quite a whirlwind ride with Steve McKenzie, our professor for the trip from Rhodes College. After the lecture we took a much needed lunch followed by more meetings, dinner, and a final conversation on listening to each other. Apparently conversations among the theological diversity of the group have gotten tense in ages past. So we're encouraged to practice our best active listening skills. I'm looking forward to the opportunity for diverse conversation. I think the Socratic Club has probably trained me well in listening (unless you ask Wilson!).

Tomorrow we have more orientation and then we fly out at 9PM! I don't know if I'll get a post in tomorrow. So the next time you hear from me may be in the Middle East!

P.S. At some point in the trip I'm supposed to be prepared to present on the Krak des Chevaliers. Here's the link.

Orientation Begins

Neill and Charissa dropped me off this afternoon at the Stone Mountain Hampton Inn for orientation to METS. We began with a brief intro to the program and a brief overview of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean history. I began meeting everyone here. Its a little overwhelming trying to get to know all these new people. There are a little over 40 people all together. 20 students and 20 laypeople.

After orientation we went to a local Lebanese restaurant called Nicola's. The food was spectacular. It was a lot of food I was familiar with: tabolui, humus, babaganosh, dolmades, etc. (I have no idea how to spell most of that). After dinner the real spice began. Apparently at this restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights there is belly dancing. Two belly dancers came out and entertained the group (picture at left). It was quite an ironic moment watching these two young women sway their bellies in front of a bunch of seminary students getting ready to go to the Middle East!

Well, back to the hotel and I've roped a couple of people into doing morning prayer tomorrow at 7:30 AM.

Saturday in Atlanta

Just a quick post to say that Neill, Charissa, and I went for a game of disc golf in the morning before they took me to stone mountain. It was a challenging course that was not marked very well. Thankfully, a guy named Jason ended up playing with us and showed us the course. It was a great morning trying to dodge poison ivy while getting a disc to go in the basket. Here's a picture of Neill teeing off.