getting lost is not half the fun - its all the fun on my first day in the old city of damascus my photo ethic paid off, financially. When I asked people if I could take their photo they gave me appricots and cherries. on the evening of my second night when i was looking at a map in my travel book an older man came and asked me if he could help me. I told him I was looking for Al-Nafura (the foundation place) and he said he would show me. As we walked w...

camera ethics-- Camera ethics pay off big time. When asking to take peoples photos along the street that had many fruit and vegetable photos, not only did people say YES! but I was given plenty of free fruit. One woman said no, but when I said "le, anti hellua" (why, you are beautiful) she agreed. I had to dash back to the hotel to download my photos and clear my memory card!

I finally managed to leave the comfort and safety of Ayn Moussa. It got so famillar with the place and the people that when I needed a cab to go from the city back to the village I would just wait to see a famillar face (of one of the many drivers I know) and hail them down. I am happy to be in a new country that has its own unique cultures, people, and ally ways waiting to be discovered. I'm staying in the Al-Rabie Hotel which is just outside of the old ci...

Bad bokerah, bad bokerah. Every day someone tells me don't leave tomorrow, bad bokerah (the day after tomorrow). This has been going for almost a week and now it is finally time to leave. Tomorrow I will take a 5 am bus to Amman and then a 7 hour bus to damascus. I recently attended 3 or the 4 day bedouin wedding. day one was dancing. the women danced inside in small room with the doors closed and the men danced outside. after a while the women gather...

After three flights, which crossed multiple time zones, I arrived in Amman -- the capital of Jordan -- at 3am on the 23rd. After some negotiations, a bunch of waiting around, and two cab rides, I arrived in Ayn Moussa, which is supposedly the well of Moses. I was welcomed by famillair faces who recognized me from last year. As soon as I arrived tea is put to boil. It is almost bedouin tea, minus the sugar (I'm trying to kill, and not feed, the single-celle...