First Few Days

After our long layover in Milan, with still a bit of jet lag in our bodies, we have found ourselves in the magical country of Syria. It has been a wonderful experience thus far. On our way back from our outing today, we asked the students to share highlights, so here they are:

Chloe: picking up a baby in the mosque and playing with the kids and talking to the mothers (Chloe and all the others loved the Umayyad mosque in the centre of the Old City - they seemed to make many friends easily and quickly).

Melissa: walking through the crack in the mountain (which was said to be opened by a saint) and climbing high on the rocks above the Aramaic speaking village of Ma'alula, and drinking Arabic coffee (although I don't think she really liked it).

Erin: climbing and exploring the Crak de Chevalier (a famous crusader castle north of Damascus) and learning to use the squat toilets at the restaurants.

Kiera: just being in the mosque and talking to all the friendly people here and drinking the Arabic coffee (she actually liked it!).

Christina: hearing the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic at the monastery and viewing Damascus from the roof of our hotel.

Steven: meeting people in the Old City. Steven agreed with one of the travellers at our hotel that everyone needs to meet these people to realize how friendly they are.

Nick: climbing around the Crak de Chevalier.

Cory: "mosque socializing" - "they just come and sit down with you."

Jordan: the Arabic music which Jordan actually likes!

Linda: seeing old friends in Amman and hearing the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic.

LeAnn: watching our girls converse to people in the mosque.

LeAnn's sentiment relates to mine as well. It has truly been delightful to watch our students immerse themselves in this culture, to stumble through some Arabic, and to fearlessly meet and greet people. Furthermore, they have tried food that I would have run away from at their age - we had a wonderful meal last night in an old-house-turned-restaurant, featuring about 16 plates of different appetizers before the main course.

On another note, yesterday morning we visited the chapel built within the house of Ananias. Under the ground in the house just north of Straight Street, we read through the story of Paul and Ananias (Jordan and Chloe acted it out). It was in this chapel that we also prayed a prayer of thanks for the safe travelling and the wonderful experiences we had already had. We appreciate your prayers as well.

Tomorrow we are off to a church service in the morning which will be done in Syriac, a language very close to the Aramaic spoken by Jesus. After that, it is off to the Turkish baths.

Next entry in a few days after we return from Lebanon.