Thursday, October 30, 2008

caveat pt. 2

this semi-accessibility means that we often can't read your blog either.

Friday, October 10, 2008

caveat

blogspot is only semi-accessible here. for example, i can sometimes publish a post without being able to view the actual blog, as happened when i completed the post below. so i can't always vouch for the finished product.

branching out

i have developed at least two new habits in the last month. neither of these habits is due to anything unique about Syria; they just weren't things I had ever gotten around to in the States.

1. going to the gym. there's a really good health club about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, which we just joined. this is nice, particularly as the showers there have some of the best water pressure around.

2. using fabric softener. i may be way out of the ordinary for not having done this before, but it's true: i don't recall ever having purchased fabric softener before. all of our laundry is hung out to dry here, and i believed that air-dried laundry was always crispy. Ethan, who is semi-fanatical about softener, has convinced me otherwise. with a large-enough dose, even air-dried laundry can stay soft.

Monday, October 6, 2008

would you put your child on this?


traveling in style

over Eid Al-Fitr, we went to visit friends in Aleppo.


there's a new "City Train" that offers first-class tickets at 240 lira - about $5 - for the 4.5 hour trip. it's really a pretty nice train, but what was most amazing was that in a single first-class car, seating only about 50 people, there could be such a high proportion of children, all of whom seemed to be (noisily) awake for the entire trip.


one of these children spent much of his time checking out/touching the back of Ethan's head.