an (islamic) wedding story

so i have been here about 10 days or so now, and i must say i am pretty smitten with this country as a whole. so far the only thing i truly dislike is the damn guy that walks our streets at ungodly morning hours selling something that looks like laundry detergent or flour. the only problem is nobody buys his stuff and he just constantly yells what he selling while we are sleeping. otherwise, syria is pretty great.

this weekend we ventured to aleppo, the second biggest city in syria, a few hours north of damascus. we went because ryan was invited to a wedding being held there for the son of a good acquaintence of his, and we thought it'd be a pretty interesting experience (we were pretty accurate)

we took a 6 am train to aleppo from damascus (5 dollar first-class ticket, incredibly nice and comfortable train especially compared to egyptian public transport). we found a hotel with the people we traveled with (5 italians, 1 german), and headed out for a great feast. we ate at a beautiful restaurant that overlooked the huge ummayad mosque and had pretty much every stereotypical middle eastern food (kibbeh, hummos, baba ghanoush, tahini, kebab...oh and that arab favorite, french fries). then we headed up to this huge fortified castle that overlooks the city for a little while and headed to the hotel to change for the wedding

despite ryan and i not having what we thought we wedding-appropriate clothes (i wore sandals, horrible i know), we got to the hotel, found his friend, and were immediately treated like honored guests for the next 8 hours. the wedding was fascinating and completely contrasted western weddings i am accustomed to. there were no women at the ceremony (they had their own separate party that night), but ryan and i were the only white/western males among about 50 arab men ranging in age. to make things more interesting i sat right next to the shiekh (muslim religious scholar) who performed the 'ceremony' and spoke beautiful arabic that i could at least partially understand (hard to explain what makes arabic beautiful to most people, but he spoke the formal language as opposed to the dialects which are often unintelligible for students of arabic)

so after hanging with the sheikh for an hour or so, he began a sermon-like speech that ended with the fathers of the bride and groom sitting at a table together and essentially blessing the union of their kids. we all drank this odd drink that tasted oddly like suntan lotion (though i kinda liked it...ryan loved it), and the end of the ceremony consisted the men joining in this insane chant in arabic (no idea what they were saying) that essentially blessed the couple (even though the bride wasn't there)...then they pulled ryan and i in the huge circle to cheer for us, i suppose to bless our future weddings and just be nice in general. that marked the end of the men's ceremony and we spent the rest of the evening hanging with the groom and his dad until the groom had to go pick up his bride, bring her to the hotel and endure the women's party

the only men permitted in the women's party are the groom and the groom's father (but only for a few minutes). the groom drives in a huge procession of cars to pick up his bride and her entourage (all-in-all about 15 women...yikes). they arrived to a band playing and walked up to the party room to approximately 70 arab women yelling and bleeting like you wouldn't believe. needless to say, the groom must have been terrified, i know i would have been. but that essentially marked the end of our night (approx 1 a.m.) and i must say it was pretty cool

it is difficult to describe, you almost HAVE to see it to understand and appreciate it. but they thing ryan and i noticed was how we were treated. we were introduced to literally 25 men and treated like long lost relatives. people went out of there way to greet us, practice their english on us (hilarious), give us their phone numbers in case we needed anything, offer their homes to sleep if we return (which we will), and essentially offer any help they could to us. awfully strange behavior for a country that the u.s. government insists no americans travel to, even stranger for all these 'radical, arab, muslims' to treat us with respect and the renound hospitality found all over the middle east and the islamic world, don't you think? the point is syrians, like most everyone, are able to look past their political qualms with the US and give us an incredible experience that few will ever witness. just one reason why i love this country

the wedding may very well end up being the highlight of the trip, though there is lots left to experience and see. but i strongly recommend that any of you reading this attend an islamic wedding if the opportunity presents itself.

we begin our private lessons today and have already learned a great deal from all the people we have met here. everyone we spend time with has treated us with unparalleled hospitality and its been amazing so far. 6 weeks here will hardly be sufficient. as usual, i will end with a few random notes.

-its hot here. really freaking hot. though the weather at night is incomparable to anything i have ever seen. its just perfect

-the view from our roof overlooks all of damascus and its absolutely incredible. pictures will come eventually

-in general, syria isn't as picturesque as many countries i have seen. there are no pyramids to blow you away, but what syria lacks in monuments, it makes up for with the people. don't get me wrong, there are some pretty incredible castles and mosques, but that's about the extent of it.

-syrians certainly know how to barbeque. i think i gained 11 pounds in 23 minutes last night.

-i am naturally astonished that michael jackson died. and so is a huge part of the middle east. amazing to see how far his influence reached

until next time, fii aman allah

todd