marhaba! (hello!)
this seems completely unbelievable to me: tomorrow I am leaving st. elias for the last time. we head out from the monastery at 7:15 tomorrow morning for a weekend trip to Aleppo and Palmyra - we will return to Damascus on Saturday night and leave for Jordan monday morning. In between we are staying in a hotel.
i feel like i just arrived here. has it really been almost a month? a month of riding the bus to Arabic class, trips to Lebanon, Bosra, Mar Musa, amazing food (shwarma! falafel! pomegranate juice!), friendly faces, exploring, visiting churches, visiting mosques...
i guess i should do a somewhat more thorough update ~ i have no idea what my access to internet will be like after i leave this place. so. where to start.
on monday we went on a field trip with our Arabic teachers from Berlitz. first we went to a monastery called Mar Musa. it is hidden up on a mountain: 350 steps to reach the old monastery (the new, actually inhabited one is further up). we were priveleged to meet with several interesting people while we were there. first we spoke with a spaniard named Luis who is in the beginning process of becoming a monk. he spoke of his vocation as a call to overcome hatred with love; his deep desire is to bring Christians and Muslims into real dialogue, to help create safe space to do that. After Luis told us about some of the history of the monastery (which was so, so cool - there were murals on the walls dating back to the 1100s) he said he would go see if Father Pauli would be able to come speak with us. Luckily he wasn't too busy to meet with us, and we got to spend probably an hour listening to him talk about theology, what it means to be a Christian in the Middle East, mysticism, peace-building...lots of stuff about Jesus. Linford said it was like a seminary class. :) I've decided after some books I've read recently and after meeting with this priest that I would really like to learn more about the Jesuit tradition. One thing that Father Pauli said at the very beginning of his 'lecture' that I found interesting was something about how he bears on his shoulders the weight of his church's long centuries... he said "i can see in your faces you feel more free." We were also treated to Syrian hospitality - they gave us pita and the most delicious goat cheese I have ever eaten, as well as apricot jam, olives, and hot tea. mmm.
anyway, i took copious notes as he was talking and have lots of thinky-thoughts rattling around in my head, so anyone who wants to know more can talk to me when i get home.
after leaving mar musa we headed to a village that is almost entirely Christian - it's claim to fame is that the people there speak Aramaic. The village was called Maalula and it is one of the very few places in Syria that Aramaic is spoken fluently, as the people's mother tongue.
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what else? i'm done with arabic studies and passed the class, hamdullah (praise God). yesterday i started to pack up all my stuff that somehow got spread all around my room ... I still have space in my backpack, so I guess I haven't bought too much stuff - but I have so many things! it is so hard to keep track of. oh wait! my shampoo! and the keychain I bought in Lebanon! and the notebook under my bed! and my earrings on the bathroom counter! argh.
on sunday i went to the Armenian orthodox church. the service was beautiful but confusing (also there was way, way too much incense. that stuff gives me a headache). I went with Joel and we arrived at 10:00. One interesting thing I noticed about the syrian orthodox church two weeks ago that held true today is that people keep coming in until about 11:00. And apparently it isn't rude or considered disruptive... When we arrived there were only a handfull of people in the church, mostly a few old men in suits and a woman and her daughter. By 11:30 the church was packed and there were people standing in the back. What made me think of that is this: about 10:15 when there were still only a few people in the church, the boys shaking incense and two priests (I guess) started walking around the edge of the church. one held a small metal cross and when they passed people in the church, the people in the pews would kiss the cross - and then cross themselves. When it got to us we kissed it and forgot to cross ourselves after; I was so embarrassed and was starkly reminded how difficult it is to really understand and infiltrate other people's culture. other interesting thing: at the beginning of the church service there was a man wearing army fatigues and combat boots standing in the back. I was actually wondering if he was there as a church member or as a sort of threatening 'peace-keeper' at first; he sort of just stood there even though there were lots of empty pews. Then I saw him cross himself and before long he slipped out the back door.
today we took a brief tour through two mosques. the tour was given by the same guide who showed us the different churches last week. one of the most interesting things was seeing the pilgrims from Iran and Iraq. One of the mosques in Damascus (the Umayyad mosque) is one of the four most important mosques in the world. I believe the order is Mecca, Medina, Dome of the Rock, and then the Umayyad. This mosque here is important to Shia muslims because one of the men important to the founding of the Shia sect of Islam was beheaded and his head displayed at this mosque. So, a lot of pilgrims from (predominately Shia) Iran and Iraq come to the Umayyad. They travel in large groups and the women are usually either wearing all black with only their eyes exposed, or in the complete veil - no skin shown at all, with a thin black silk piece thown over the eyes.
I can't really think of anything else worth writing right now...whenever I am able, I will contine to post blog updates, but remember that they will probably be less frequent from here through the end of the trip.
this seems completely unbelievable to me: tomorrow I am leaving st. elias for the last time. we head out from the monastery at 7:15 tomorrow morning for a weekend trip to Aleppo and Palmyra - we will return to Damascus on Saturday night and leave for Jordan monday morning. In between we are staying in a hotel.
i feel like i just arrived here. has it really been almost a month? a month of riding the bus to Arabic class, trips to Lebanon, Bosra, Mar Musa, amazing food (shwarma! falafel! pomegranate juice!), friendly faces, exploring, visiting churches, visiting mosques...
i guess i should do a somewhat more thorough update ~ i have no idea what my access to internet will be like after i leave this place. so. where to start.
on monday we went on a field trip with our Arabic teachers from Berlitz. first we went to a monastery called Mar Musa. it is hidden up on a mountain: 350 steps to reach the old monastery (the new, actually inhabited one is further up). we were priveleged to meet with several interesting people while we were there. first we spoke with a spaniard named Luis who is in the beginning process of becoming a monk. he spoke of his vocation as a call to overcome hatred with love; his deep desire is to bring Christians and Muslims into real dialogue, to help create safe space to do that. After Luis told us about some of the history of the monastery (which was so, so cool - there were murals on the walls dating back to the 1100s) he said he would go see if Father Pauli would be able to come speak with us. Luckily he wasn't too busy to meet with us, and we got to spend probably an hour listening to him talk about theology, what it means to be a Christian in the Middle East, mysticism, peace-building...lots of stuff about Jesus. Linford said it was like a seminary class. :) I've decided after some books I've read recently and after meeting with this priest that I would really like to learn more about the Jesuit tradition. One thing that Father Pauli said at the very beginning of his 'lecture' that I found interesting was something about how he bears on his shoulders the weight of his church's long centuries... he said "i can see in your faces you feel more free." We were also treated to Syrian hospitality - they gave us pita and the most delicious goat cheese I have ever eaten, as well as apricot jam, olives, and hot tea. mmm.
anyway, i took copious notes as he was talking and have lots of thinky-thoughts rattling around in my head, so anyone who wants to know more can talk to me when i get home.
after leaving mar musa we headed to a village that is almost entirely Christian - it's claim to fame is that the people there speak Aramaic. The village was called Maalula and it is one of the very few places in Syria that Aramaic is spoken fluently, as the people's mother tongue.
---
what else? i'm done with arabic studies and passed the class, hamdullah (praise God). yesterday i started to pack up all my stuff that somehow got spread all around my room ... I still have space in my backpack, so I guess I haven't bought too much stuff - but I have so many things! it is so hard to keep track of. oh wait! my shampoo! and the keychain I bought in Lebanon! and the notebook under my bed! and my earrings on the bathroom counter! argh.
on sunday i went to the Armenian orthodox church. the service was beautiful but confusing (also there was way, way too much incense. that stuff gives me a headache). I went with Joel and we arrived at 10:00. One interesting thing I noticed about the syrian orthodox church two weeks ago that held true today is that people keep coming in until about 11:00. And apparently it isn't rude or considered disruptive... When we arrived there were only a handfull of people in the church, mostly a few old men in suits and a woman and her daughter. By 11:30 the church was packed and there were people standing in the back. What made me think of that is this: about 10:15 when there were still only a few people in the church, the boys shaking incense and two priests (I guess) started walking around the edge of the church. one held a small metal cross and when they passed people in the church, the people in the pews would kiss the cross - and then cross themselves. When it got to us we kissed it and forgot to cross ourselves after; I was so embarrassed and was starkly reminded how difficult it is to really understand and infiltrate other people's culture. other interesting thing: at the beginning of the church service there was a man wearing army fatigues and combat boots standing in the back. I was actually wondering if he was there as a church member or as a sort of threatening 'peace-keeper' at first; he sort of just stood there even though there were lots of empty pews. Then I saw him cross himself and before long he slipped out the back door.
today we took a brief tour through two mosques. the tour was given by the same guide who showed us the different churches last week. one of the most interesting things was seeing the pilgrims from Iran and Iraq. One of the mosques in Damascus (the Umayyad mosque) is one of the four most important mosques in the world. I believe the order is Mecca, Medina, Dome of the Rock, and then the Umayyad. This mosque here is important to Shia muslims because one of the men important to the founding of the Shia sect of Islam was beheaded and his head displayed at this mosque. So, a lot of pilgrims from (predominately Shia) Iran and Iraq come to the Umayyad. They travel in large groups and the women are usually either wearing all black with only their eyes exposed, or in the complete veil - no skin shown at all, with a thin black silk piece thown over the eyes.
I can't really think of anything else worth writing right now...whenever I am able, I will contine to post blog updates, but remember that they will probably be less frequent from here through the end of the trip.
Awesome! I love the stories...
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