Pressure and Pause

****Please see new pictures on yesterday’s post “Birds and bombs”.

Today we met with the Minister of Information, another cabinet member and obviously a very high ranking member of Syrian government. It was a different format than we have been used to here. The set up was more like a press conference, with plenty of Syrian media there. The tables were turned on us (mostly on Professor Sullivan) a bit as well, since the Syrian media asked us many questions about US policy in Syria, about Obama, and of course about the Israeli occupation. Professor Sullivan did a really good job answering some tough questions. For example, how we differentiate between resistance and terrorism. It is an important question, as the saying goes, one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Professor Sullivan’s answer was simple and accurate in my opinion. “When innocent civilians are being killed, it is terrorism”.

Our group here has had many discussions about how we feel as ambassadors or at least representatives of our country here. The pressure is even greater since Americans do not often visit the area, let alone visit with Syrian cabinet members, and so we know that our viewpoints are very important. It is a lot of pressure for a group of young students to have, as we try to represent our country well, maintain our personal opinions, and also remain objective (as journalists and political scientists) in our assessments.

In order to release some of the intense pressure we have been feeling, a bunch of us decided to take part in the ultimate relaxation experience, a Turkish bath or hammam. We were guided tonight through some winding and strange smelling streets to a random door. We were led inside by our guide Osama, and separated into men and women changing areas (in the same room, but separated by hanging towels). I am pretty sure that normally people go naked but we were all much more comfortable wearing our bathing suits. They rented out the whole place for us, so we could go in together. Normally, it is only men in the bath and women have specially allocated hours twice a week. Also, normally a woman would go with the women in the spa, to wrap them in towels and scrub/massage them. But, since we had men with us, none of the female workers were allowed in. Despite all this protocol, we had an amazing time. The bath consisted of several rooms full of varying levels of steam, lots of faucets with cold and hot water, and a room for the scrub and massage. The soap was about 100% olive soap, it was lovely. The scrub was a bit harsh but replenishing and of course very cleansing. I would definitely recommend the experience to anyone. After about an hour, we left the spa and had dinner (while all wrapped in our towels).

Relaxing after the bath experience

Me, Christina and Honor eating some dinner. The bananas were from Ecuador.

James and others enjoying themselves

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