Fitness in Aleppo

After 1 week of asking around and inspecting some gyms in Aleppo, I pick one who meets best the criteria. It is clean and the coaches are nice and friendly and seem to be knowledgeable.

On Saturday, I went for the first time on my own. And for sure, the coaches are knowledgeable. They explained all the exercises and were astonished about the number of kilos that I take and that I insist on doing 3 or 4 series.

I can understand their astonishment. Syrian women are not of the athletic kind.

Anyway, after 40 minutes training, a fitness session starts and I have to join in. They leave me no choice. And I did. I need to, because a good stepmachine is not available.
And, it wasn't that bad. It is actually gymnastics at a relatively high speed.

I discovered something I do not like about Syria. As the gym is not for mixed audience, it is open for women only 3 days a week from 10 til 15 o'clock. I don't like the restriction in time, because if you miss 1 day, it means you cannot go for 3 or 4 days. But, I have to accept it.

What I do like about this system is, that it is women only. Some come in completely covered in black and change into a very glittery training, some start to dance, others bring their small children and some hang around for the company.

Today, I went for the second time, and some start having conversations with me. Them with 2 words of English and me with 2 words of Arabic and the rest is non-verbal. With a lot of smiles.

Unexpected stay at the village

I have arrived in Syria only 1 week ago and have had already some unforgettable experiences.

On Monday, Abdel took me to his village which I have been visiting every time I am in Aleppo. This time was different though.

As usual, we find Abdel's 106-year old father on the porch. After having said hello to him and "fauwzie" who is taking care of everything (house, garden, father), a whole lot of nieces and nephews arrive. Actually, Fauwzie is their auntie and she is also taking care of them while their mother is in Mekka.
The wheather is great, the countryside is beautiful and time goes by quickly.
Some of the younger children speak a few words of English. All the rest is in Arabic. Nevertheless, communication is possible.
When time comes to leave and we stand up to go, they all turn to Abdel with questioning eyes. When I ask what is happening, it seems they want me to stay the night. The next day, there would be a big family gathering anyway to welcome back the children's mother.
After some hesitation, because I do not have anything with me (really not anything but myself and the cloths I am wearing), I stay. The absence of a toothbrush and hairgel does not add up to such an experience.

So, Abdel gone, I spend the night with everybody on the porch playing games and eating a lot until it is time to go to sleep.
They are all excited because I want to sleep on the terrace with them and not in a separate room.
After having looked for a matrass (the most comfortable one, of course) and some other stuff and taking it upstairs, we find all the children bundled up together on 3 matrasses. It is adorable !

Next morning, I wake up some time after sunrise. Everybody's gone except the 11-year old twin brothers who are still sleeping. Downstairs, I greet the Pater Familias and as I desperately want a coffee, I try to make an arabic coffee myself with success, because Grandfather drinks it without complaining.
The rest of the morning I gaze at the surroundings and teach the twins a cardgame.
At noon, all the others appear again in their best clothing and with food.
The house is full of live again. We eat a lot, go visit the neighbours, eat and drink a lot.

It seems I'm not big enough and the women tell me all the time. They put food in my hands and they urge me to eat when I do not eat quickly enough - so they can put some more food in my hands. Every 15 minutes, someone asks me whether I'm hungry.

In the afternoon, the children's mother arrives and a lot of family. Suddenly, it is all busy in the kitchen. Some more people arrive. A lot of talking. Me, I spend most of the time with the younger children, because they now all want to learn the new cardgame from this Belgian lady with the strange hairdo.

Then, the food is ready... so, we eat a lot. And - again - I do not eat enough.
During teatime, it is decided that most of them will go and visit family which are badly injured in a traffic accident and in a few minutes, piece and tranquility is back. I'm staying with Fauwzie until the evening.
Children come by and at night some nephews, nieuces, grandchildren, ... visit Grandfather. Never a dull moment, until it is time to leave for Aleppo.

I am a little bit sad to be back in town.

Full moon at Euphrate riverside

Have arrived 2 days ago in Aleppo (Syria).
First thing to do was and is getting used to the heath. It is 20 Celsius degrees warmer/hotter than in Belgium.

So, first day I spent hanging around and talking to the tourists in the hotel. Have been practising German a lot. A little bit of Spanish. Used English and french a lot. But no Arabic... That will come. Will take up where I left off 6 weeks ago by practising with the Assimil course for at least 1 hour a day, and he rest will be spending as much time with Syrians talking their own version of the Standard Arabic.

The second day, I joined 5 Germans to spend a night on the Euphrate. It was not the first time for me, but again it was an unforgettable night with the full moon watching over us and a multitude of stars in the sky. And let's not forget swimming in water that is never too cold, not even at night or at sunrise.

I'm sure it was a good idea to come over here for a longer period and will enjoy every minute of it.

Cool !!!

I'm all ready to go. Nothing to keep me from taking the plane on Wednesday. Certainly not the Belgian wheather.

It's been a quiet week, sometimes a bit boring which probably means that all things are settled and it is really time to move on.

What has been surprisingly obvious to me last week is that life is calm and simple for a lot of people. An important factor, most probably, is that when you go into a store, a bank or alike, and you need help, the people behind the counter are happy to serve you as you are one of the few that comes by. A really big difference with "just before closing time", lunchtime or Saturdays.

If that could be in combination with long hot summers, Belgium would be paradise for me.

Last month, some colleagues told me that I will miss going to the office, but I don't think so. I will prove them wrong, because my impression is that I might get used to this car(e)less life.

Monsoon

The start of my sabbatical year has been a disaster.
It was not what I had expected at the least.

On Friday night, the goodbye drink in Brussels with a few colleagues lasted - as expected - that long that I missed out on Brian Ferry and Roxy Music at Sugarrock (Suikerrock), a 3-day festival right at my doorstep.
I had the occasion to attend to a concert of his 20 years ago and loved it. Maybe I will have another occasion to see him in another 20 years.

On Saturday, I was feeling quite ill and it was not because of the goodbye drink. I hardly drank any alcohol.

During the weekends, friends kept calling that they had the same symptoms and my only conclusion could be that the "monsoon" that we were experiencing for more than a week already, had brought us disease(s).

On Monday, I was feeling better and found out at the library that as a member I was allowed to 3 hours free surfing a week on the internet. It is not only cheap, but also convenient, because round the corner from where I'm living.

So, read my e-mails, typed an article for this diary and right at the moment I pushed the button to publish it, the server was down. Article lost and session time expired...

For the rest of the week, I have been very ill and as of today I'm starting to get better.

So, here I am trying to publish a new article. With ups and downs. Probably has something to do with the security rules. I think I found a work around... Boy, I must be feeling better ;-)

As of now, things can only get better.