Confused thoughts

We are in Damascus! We both had the sensation to be in a 'real' city when we arrived, but none of us could actually then describe what that means. The suqs of this city are ancient and run by a frenzy that I now suppose being typical of the whole Middle East world.

We shared a taxi with an Iraqi father and daughter on the way from Amman to Damascus, and she (Rasha) told us their family history and together with it the history of a nation and of the region of the world we are in at the moment. It has been like a punch in the stomach. Some of the things she said about politics and dynamics of relationships between countries in the Middle East have opened up for me a whole new universe of possibilities (unfortunately though, none of them is optimistic).

It took me a while (and a very posh hotel) to recover from yesterday's mosque experience in Damascus. As a woman (not only turists), unless you are already wrapped up in a potato-sack, you not only need to wear decent clothes and cover your head (fair enough), but you have to put on top a sort of blanket and cover your head so as not to show even the smallest portion of hair (some women cover their face COMPLETELY, and I still struggle t understand how they actually see!). To be honest, I think it is a humiliating experience, especially seeing the man counterpart walking around normally without any hassle.
On the other hand, Damascus seems to me to be very liberated, so I haven't really worked out this contrast (will I?). I guess for some reason I thought I could fit in this reality in my cathegories, but I can't, so I'll have togo through the painful process of creating new ones. Or get rid of cathegories all together.

Our main problem here was the fact that, contrary to Jordan, very few people speak English, but after having payed half a kilo of nuts the equivalent of a dinner for two, we are now becoming professional arabic speakers (wishing..!).