March 4: Proverbs

DAMASCUS and Outside Damascus, Syria

This Sunday morning (it's a workday here) started off with another obstinate taxi driver. ‘Take us to the Meridien.’ ‘Look, there is the Four Seasons!’ Like, what the EF?

1. Riding to the university (I tagged along to a friend's workplace about an hour away), a grown man flirted with me from another bus window. ‘Flirted’ is not really the right word... contorted himself? Sure, I'm getting attention here, but people are pretty low-key, so behaviour like this sticks out. This was discontinued when the men on my bus had to disembark in order to collectively lift a stalled pickup truck off the road. Sights for sore eyes!

2. I taught part of a class. Threw in some proverbs for discussion. It was a great time with the students. Later, on a break, I wandered into the campus mosque for some silence and warmth (the desert is cooler than I expected it would be).

3. After a ride back (a good thing in itself, but even better with eyes closed), dinner at the best Indian restaurant in town.

Quick! ‘The road to hell is paved with __________.’ [what?]