dust storms and iraqi students

A few friends and I visited the amphitheater at Bosra a few weeks ago, and I just got back from a weekend in Palmyra yesterday. I think I've been to most of the famous Syrian sights now... all I have to say is that Europe doesn't have shit on the Middle East. Our weekends mix requesting Jay-Z tirelessly at clubs with jumping around sandy ruins at the world's oldest civilizations. Even simply driving through the desert, past the “Iraq: 100 KM” sign, you can find beauty in a dust storm. About an hour of my drive to Palmyra was made up of limited vision and thick, gray dust surrounding the bus. When we got to Palmyra, dust made the light around us switch seamlessly from day to night, even though the sunset was brief and in the distance.

I am currently about half way through this session at Damascus University, and also teaching a class at an organization called the Iraqi Student Project. It's a program started by two Americans, Theresa and Gabe, after they had traveled all over Iraq in the 1990's. It is designed to prepare exceptional Iraqi students for university in the United States, and network with universities in order to obtain scholarships for the students. ISP reminds me so much of Banaa, an organization started at GW, with similar scholarships for Sudanese students. These two groups give incredible opportunities to students living as refugees from two of the most politically unstable and violent countries in the world, with the goal of providing empowerment through education, and ultimately the hope that these students will provide new, peaceful leadership in their home countries. I am truly inspired by both ISP and Banaa.

My class at ISP is Advanced Writing... I'm actually sort of shocked that Theresa thought I was qualified to teach this class. The students in my class are all applying, with realistic expectations, to Ivy League universities. However, while they could school me any day on the laws of physics, they have trouble with the meanings of words like “personification” and “hyperbole.” Their written and spoken English is beautiful, but they obviously all have to push a little harder to cut out some linguistic mistakes. This class is definitely bringing out the literary-nerd side that I've always had. The students are all around my age, some slightly younger, and everyone in my class grew up in Baghdad. These are some of the most naturally talented people I've ever met, and also some of the sweetest. And I think they actually find my awkward jokes funny, which is always a plus.