Resuming writing in my blog on returning from the summer vacation is usually a formidable challenge for three main reasons. First: I have too many things to write about that I simply don’t know where to start, what to include and what to leave out. Second: On coming back to DC after a long absence I am overwhelmed by a large backload of work, meetings, reports, memos and a variety of issues that I need to address, which leave me very little time or energy to come back to my blog. Third: I could not have resumed blogging before I first sorted out and organized the large amount of photos I have taken during this vacation. Being a photography aficionado, I usually end up with loads of pictures that need an earnest effort in archiving and filing. If I procrastinate, the effort to catch up with the photo organizing chore at a later stage becomes Herculean.
This summer vacation included Syria only (besides the short London stays back and forth). We did not travel elsewhere because we thought that traveling with two children (which is a first for us) would not be easy. And indeed it was not. We soon discovered that the effort required for taking care of two children when traveling exceeds by far double the amount of effort needed to take care of one only. Saree, god bless him, is a very active baby. However, the synergy created by him and his tsunami of a sister definitely tests the fortitude of any parents.
As usual, the highlight of the whole visit was the family. All four grandparents were delighted to meet their new grandson and enchanted by the charms of Sidra. We were keen on spending as much time as possible with the family despite the enormous pressure on our time by the numerous friends who will not take no for an answer when they insist that we must accept their invitations for lunches, dinners, iftars and souhurs.
Highlights from our stay in Damascus included an evening with
Ahmad Mualla, Yasser Hammoud and Rima Salmon- all three are prominent artists- as well as
Yarub Badr, the minister of transport, and
Nabil Asswad. Naturally Ahmad presented his latest artistic creations, and the discussion focused mostly on art, culture and architecture. Good food and drinks made these thorny issues more palatable.
Dr.
Sabah Kabbani, the former Syrian ambassador to the
U.S., with his customary generosity and polish, honored me with a sumptuous lunch to which he invited a number of retired ambassadors. I was humbled by their warmth and conviviality and entertained by the many anecdotes they had for me from their erstwhile diplomatic life.
An escape to the sea shore was the only exception from the rituals of social life in Damascus. We went to the newly opened Rotana resort near Afamia (Apamea), and stayed there for five days. Yet it was not a total escape. There also, we encountered hordes of friends. This is just life in Syria. In Lattakia I had the chance to meet for the first time Zeina, Rafif’s cousin who I have known for years through phone conversations and email exchanges, but never met in person before.
While there, every body told us that we should go for lunch or dinner to a newly opened mountainous resort up on the coastal mountains, which we did. Fifty minutes drive from Lattakia, we reached ‘Mountain Breez’ amidst a breathtaking mountainous landscape near the village of al-Kulaila. The trip there was a unique experience that reminded us of our excursion in the Spanish mountainous regions between Andalusia and the Costa del Sol.
When in Syria, I revert to my original reading habits, that is, reading in Arabic. A wonderful book that I have always wanted to read but never had time for was Rifat al-Jadirji’s masterful treatise on the dialectics of Arabic architecture. The huge volume is entitled “AL-Ukhaydar and the Glass Palace”. Al Jadirji (also written: Chadirji) is a renowned Iraqi architect that has previously introduced me to the world of architecture through his splendid book “Taha Street and Hammersmith” and to whom I owe my ever-increasing architectural awareness. Additionally, I read half a dozen political books and biographies, including those by Yussef Faisal, Muhamad Maarouf, Muhamad Haidar and Abdullah al-Khani. My summer readings included only one novel, Azazeel, by Youssef Zeidan, which rightly deserves its own entry in the books section of my blog. Having said all this, I have to admit that this vacation was not particularly about art, culture and friends as we used to do in the past. I can state that it was primarily about spending time with our parents and our little ones.
