TV debut - coming soon! last sunday I was roused from slumber by a phone call from a friend (Iraqi whose father was something high up in government and so his family is high on the list for kidnappings and ransoms. This being the case they all live outside of Iraq...) who told me to hurry to meet him for, er, filming. Now, this being a sunday I was due for a Farsi class which made me even quicker to take him up on his offer, despite extreme heat. That and...

My new abode in Bab Sareeje is a wonderously small flat inhabited by a brother and sister, 27 and 30 respectively. Paying the extortionate sum of 4,000 SYP (under half what I was paying before and the equivalent of about 56 british pounds stirling) appears also to include a lot of food and middle eastern cooking lessons which is rather nice I must admit... So one fine friday evening Wissam and Minal (my new flatmates) announced that they were going to a wedding...

So, this fine and rather windy weekend I went out to sing with the choir of random British students and ex-pats to Deir Mar Musa, bout an hour from Damascus. Like a jolly school trip we all met at the cham palace hotel and snacked on sugared almonds and cashews as we trundled off in our green minibus compliments of petro-canada. We arrived excited after a pitstop in the middle of nowhere in a gangster-like exchange of transport and transfer of passengers. ...

The first thing that confronted me on my way to see the festivities today was a giant yellow chick made predominantly out of yellow pom poms riding on the back of a miniature glittery lilac open top car. Initially it stunned me somewhat as personally it is not one of the things I'd expect to pop up on these ancient straight street of biblical fame. Still, I followed this odd object around the corner, where it parked, ever so slightly menacingly, just up the roa...

Sham sham sham - what a place to return to. Essentially the same city but full of new and exciting people along with a few treasures still here from before. It is astonishing how many people recognise you and greet you smiling and saying - 'kayfik? Kana zamen!' My favourite fruit juice man has a new obsession with Michael Jackson and now has a couple of pictures up of him and wears a red bandana when he works. I don't quite know what this has to do with Michael...