Qatari life and final thoughts…

To steal Jon’s words, Qatar is the America of the Middle East. Actually, it’s more like a strange combination of both regions, with a futuristic twist.

SUVs fill parking lots, but sidewalks remain barren of people. Hotels and office buildings twist high, while a thick layer of humidity hangs low on the city. The ocean glimmers on the left, while construction sites rattle on the right. After the hustle of Cairo and the serenity of Damascus, Doha is like Miami in 2090 with far fewer people and less personality.

I don’t particularly like this about Doha. I mean, don’t get me wrong: With complementary Jasmine tea and figs, a sauna, and a gorgeous view from our huge hotel room, Doha has been two days of fabulous luxury. Maybe it just reminds me a little too much of America.

And in some ways, that’s a great thing. Qatar has proven to be much more like the west when it comes to press freedom than the rest of what we’ve experienced in the Middle East. Yesterday’s visit to Al Jazeera was incredible. As a well-established professional media institution, it’s unfortunate that it’s been unfairly branded in America as having a terrorist affiliation. That no doubt has to do with its airing of Osama bin Laden video statements and graphic coverage of the Iraq war. If American television companies would take a chance and air Al Jazeera (it’s availability is currently very limited in American markets), then maybe that would help break down some of those stereotypes plenty of Americans hold about the Middle East.

Since visiting the station, we’ve been watching some Al Jazeera in our hotel room, and, as far as I can tell, it holds up to the code of ethics that are so proudly displayed next to the front door at the television station. One story on Al Jazeera about the West Bank actually portrayed an Israeli perspective – something I had yet to see here.

I should mention that the institution is government funded – and BBC notes that they are less critical of Qatar’s governmentand that of Qatar’s Gulf allies. But nonetheless, Al Jazeera remains a progressive representative of free speech in the Middle East and a voice to the many in the region who otherwise have none.

Our trip to the Doha Debates today further confirmed the freedoms exercised in Qatar. A BBC show, the Doha Debates picks one controversial, mostly political issue monthly in the fall and spring and brings on four guests, with two arguing for each side. Audience members can ask questions, giving Arab citizens a chance to vocalize their take on issues. At the end of the show, the audience votes for a side.

Qatar still has a royal family leading the country, so I’m sure it has work to do in terms of progressing. But it’s clear that it’s a possible model of development in the Middle East – not only structurally, but in terms of freedom as well.

However, I find it kind of funny that Doha’s futuristic feel gives me the overwhelming feeling that Qatar is less than authentic. But then again, what’s authentic? Doha just lacks the character that Damascus and Cairo had.

Cairo was certainly grimier than the other two, but the streets were filled with people happy to see American visitors. Emulating a professional journalist in the country was an interesting balance of pushing the boundaries as much as possible without pushing hard enough to get in any real trouble. It took a certain level of intellect to scope out the information we were seeking and get the average Egyptian to speak to us about touchy subjects. It also took strength to adjust to an entirely different culture – actually multiple different cultures - as we moved around. We were fortunate enough to have almost a full three weeks in Cairo, which allowed me to fall in love with the place and meet people my age who showed us what Egypt was really like for a college student.

Damascus was another story. It was cleaner than Cairo, but that easily could have been just the parts we were allowed to see. Right away it was clear that we wouldn’t have the same freedom with reporting as we did in Cairo – we couldn’t even ride the bus without someone trying to bombard us with propaganda. And underhanded comments made by a certain handler were hints that our blog posts were pushing the limits, though there was nothing the government could feasibly do about it.

More than anything, though, I left Syria with a certain sadness. I feel like I wasn’t able to get a full enough picture of life there for the average person. Maybe we just weren’t there long enough for Damascus to resonate with me the way Cairo did, or maybe it was the limited access that got to me.  It wasn’t until the last day that I was able to get a glimpse of the beauty and humanity of the country, but even then it was clear that those opportunities would be few and far between had we stayed longer.

As for Qatar, it’s been the perfect place to wrap up. With significantly more press freedom, but almost no opportunities for person-to-person interaction, it has been an invaluable professional experience, but not a great personal one, other than the relaxation elements. I like it here, but I don’t think I could do it for more than the three nights we’re spending, and I have a feeling I’ll be leaving without a real sense of what the Gulfies are like beyond just wealthy Middle Easterners.

As our trip comes to an end, I can’t help but reflect on all of the revelations and lessons I have had and wonder if an opportunity like this will ever come up again. I know there’s time for more life-changing experiences, but this has truly opened my eyes in a way that no regular traveling would allow. Being on the ground, talking to people, living the life of citizens and sometimes just looking at it from a distance has challenged me to open my mind to another world and see the different gradations within that world. It has also led me to learn more about myself and what I want out of life. As time speeds past us, it becomes abundantly clear how conceptual time is – and how important it is to make the most of the time we have.

Final story

Check out Dani and my story on the main blog.

Photos from the weekend

 

Ma'loula

 

Ma'loula

Ma'loula

Krak des Chevaliers (Fortress of Knights) in Homs

Christina, Dani and me at the highest point on Krak des Chevaliers.

A new Syrian city

Our excursion to Aleppo has been a much needed break from Damascus. Aleppo has a certain charm about it. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s one of the oldest inhabited cities. Or that it houses an expansive medieval palace. Or possibly that we are in the heart of the city, staying in a gorgeous Syrian house turned hotel, with no malls in sight (from the malls near us in Damascus, you’d think we were in Chestnut Hill).

Everything about Damascus has been a thought-provoking learning experience. But Aleppo has been therapeutic. Especially the drive here. It took us five hours to get here, split between two nights, with a pit stop to the Ma’loula, one of the few cities where they still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Our bus, almost too big for the roads, somehow navigated up the steep mountain side town to a church, where we heard a priest say the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. We then continued to a castle, where we saw the most stunning view.

Last night, we stayed in the city of Homs at the hotel Al Wayda, or The Valley. We spent our night on a search for Internet and wound up at an old-school Internet “café,” where we used frustratingly slow PCs. I ended up playing hearts while waiting for Dani and Carlene, but the experience was certainly fit the Middle Eastern Internet bill. It didn’t ruin my experience, though. It’s actually become more of a running joke. But all of this is beside the point – I just had to include it to continue sharing my long list of Internet experiences.

When we arrived in Aleppo today, we immediately got lunch. I ordered beans with tahini, and was a taken aback to get a mostly liquid dish. I somehow got the idea to fish the beans out of the dish and put it in a pita with pickles, tomatoes and onion:  a makeshift burrito, and a delicious one at that! Syria, more so than Egypt, has taught me to be more resourceful.

But I digress. I am desparate to post pictures showing scenes of our trip to Ma’loula and Aleppo, but the Internet at our hotel here is going painfully slow. I’ll upload several tomorrow.

A visit to Golan Heights

Two days ago, we visited the Golan Heights, a surprisingly serene spot for a contentious area. Like many places here, we were afforded the opportunity to see a spot that most civilians are denied access to. In fact, if a Syrian woman chooses to marry a man from across the dividing line, she can never return to see her family. While it was certainly a remarkable experience to see the area, I also felt a little guilty. It means so much more to so many people who don’t have the same chance.

Dani and me. Israel lies 200 feet behind the barbed wire we’re standing in front of.

A photo from inside a former Syrian hospital that was taken over by the Israeli army and used as a training ground, possibly in 1974. (It’s hard to double-check the date since numerous websites on the topic are blocked.)

A view of the Israeli check point from the Syrian check point. A UN check point is in between.

Substantiated hope

I thought about my last post a lot, and I don’t agree with everything I said. I still know that communication is fundamental to breaking down stereotypes, but I want to make it clear that I do not know enough about this embargo to make a sound judgment on it. I’ve been so focused on staying neutral to what I hear about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that I have failed to keep my guard up about everything else that’s being told to us on this trip.

I feel like I can’t express myself to the extent that I would like to right now, but I will say one more thing: Being here has made me realize how lucky we are to live in a country that gives us the freedom to say and do what we like. That might sound a little Sesame Street-esque. But when I open my eyes to what’s really going on in every situation here, it’s clear that life here and life in America are much different. While, as a country, we may not always make the wisest decisions, the fact that we have the possibility to change something that is wrong, the fact that people can have substantiated hope, means something.

Breaking down stereotypes

On May 8, the Obama administration announced that it was going to renew sanctions on Syria, implemented first by the Bush administration.

It’s disheartening that Syrians don’t have access to anything that’s 10 percent or more American, including things as simple as Google Earth.

What’s even more disheartening is how this hinders cross-cultural discussions which are necessary to break intense stereotypes held by both sides.

“It breaks the cycle of communication,” Ghitath Barakat, Syria’s minister of higher education, said to us today.

And communication is key. Before meeting with Barakat, we met with Syrian college students. One told us that, in his view, American life was like the “Pursuit of Happyness” or “Devil’s Advocate.” Another student was determined to push across her view of Americans as cold to Syrians and not placing enough emphasis on family values.

It’s obviously very important for me not to generalize the whole group as having these exact feelings. Some students disagreed with the movie comparison. One student, who had been to the United States before, explained to us that Syria is a country where people are more dependent on each other – not necessarily in a bad way – but many may not understand our strong concept of individualism.

Every student who voiced his or her opinion felt that Americans viewed Syrians as terrorists. And it’s sad that this has basis. The Bush administration used the Middle East as a scapegoat for the fear Americans felt in the aftermath of September 11. From that point forward, the Middle East became equated with fear. The fact that many of our parents were a little scared to send us on the trip proves that point.

The most important way of breaking down these stereotypes and understanding each other’s backgrounds is through communication.

“[No communication] leads to more hatred of people in countries which is very dangerous,” Barakat said.

One of the students in our group today also made the valid point that before college, American students learn very little about current affairs in other countries. As far as Syrian history goes, few learn past the Ottoman Empire.

I am blessed to have been able to engage in such eye-opening discussions in a part of the world that many know little to nothing about. It’s upsetting that the people who might benefit the most from such conversations may not ever have this opportunity. Even more upsetting is that this association between fear and Syria is being supported by the Obama administration’s policy, one which, in reality, does little to affect the government, while significantly limits the options of civilians.

A shy president?

During our social with Syrian college students today, I asked Lemond, the most liberal student who spoke out at our dialogue with students today, about President Bashar al-Assad’s picture being everywhere. She told me she doesn’t even notice. She also said she thinks he’s a great president. (She didn’t give me details).

Someone else said that al-Assad was never supposed to be president; his brother, the former president, died, and al-Assad, a trained optomologist, had to take over. Apparently, he’s pretty soft spoken, maybe even shy. I’d post his interview with Dianne Sawyer to let you decide for yourself, but YouTube is blocked in Syria.

This billboard depicts the Syrian president with the words "I believe in Syria"

According to one Syrian student we spoke to, family is the foundation of all morality in Syria. Maybe that has something to do with the reason the president's family photo is hanging in this shop window?

Higher education in Syria

(May 25)

 “It’s because it’s a police state,” my dad said over Skype to me earlier today. His comment was in response to my description of Damascus as a lot quieter, cleaner, and more closed than Cairo.

Today we went to the National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS), “a people’s organization that works for organizing students at Universities, the higher and intermediate institutes with a view to realize the goals of our people in the unity, freedom and socialism,” according a pamphlet handed out to us about the organization. NUSS was started by “the late immortal leader President Hafez al-Assad.”

One bullet point on the pamphlet said, “The Union fights for the liberation of all occupied Arab territories and the expulsion of the Israeli enemy from Palestine, the occupied Syrian Golan and all the occupied Arab territories from Israeli nazism and racism.

Sean asked what they meant by “Israeli nazism.”

“I promised not to talk about politics. It will take long hours,” said NUSS president Ammar Saatti, with a painting of current president Bashar al-Assad looming on the wall behind him. “It’s worth it to watch a short film of what has happened to the very flesh [of people] in Gaza.”

Saatti told us that the pamphlet wasn’t “conciliatory” toward Israeli-Palestinian relations because the students who are part of the union would be angry if it was.

“There’s not a single house in Syria that hasn’t sacrificed a family member to the cause,” he said.

In discussing how Syrians view Americans, he said that Americans tend to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a single side, referring to the Israeli side.

“I do hope that in addressing every issue, one looks at both sides of the equation,” he said.

I found this comment ironic. It’s not that I don’t agree, but I’m betting that the $10-a-year college education is not the best well-rounded education a student can get. Though it’s commendable that higher education is accessible to all classes, and fascinating that there are statistically more women in college than men, I highly doubt that the education includes intellectual digressions of policies and politics. Even as American students, we have spies watching us (If I had more details, I’d make this an entirely separate post.)

Adjusting to Syria

(May 25)

It hit me yesterday, while recovering from round two of travel sickness, that I hadn’t prepared well for Syria.

Before heading to Egypt, I was ready to take on the challenges of adjusting to a new setting. After three weeks in the Middle East, having finally felt comfortable and situated in Cairo, it didn’t even occur to me that coming to Syria would require a whole new round of adjustments, and harder ones at that.

I feel like I mastered life in Cairo as much as I could in my time there. Now in Syria, I find myself trying to fit Damascus to a Cairo mold. Living in Cairo set the Middle East standard for me, even though the Middle East is a vast region and nothing can realistically be generalized about it.

The market is a perfect example. At the Khan in Cairo, you can’t show interest in something without being harassed into buying it. I entered the market in Damascus prepared to aggressively ward off pushy merchants. It was a little shocking when they allowed me to browse their shops without buying anything.  Merchants also sell goods starting at much lower prices, and they are more willing to negotiate, which actually makes me feel guilty since I’ve bought a ridiculous amount of things for nearly nothing.

The currency has also been tough to adjust to. One U.S. dollar is equal to roughly 45 Syrian pounds. While everything is cheap, I’ve managed to spend a ton of money, not fully aware of how much I’m spending due to the new exchange rate.

In Egypt, I felt like it took at least a week for me to grow to love it. I hope that even with the new adjustments, I’ll be able to get a full Syrian experience, and love it, in 10 days.