I finally made it to Damascus. It feels like it’s been a long road, but also ridiculously quick considering how much has gone on, especially in the past few weeks. My parents visited me in Ottawa for the last time, the good-bye parties with my FSDP group, finishing up projects at HQ, doing the inventory and pack-up and then one by one we all started to leave on our adventures. Before I knew it, I was on a plane. I had an easier time than most staying in my bubble for a bit longer because I was taking the first plane to well known territory to visit some friends in Europe. Then a rather nice vacation in Croatia later, I was in the airport waiting to fly to Syria. That’s when it really sank in that I was moving to the Middle East, somewhere I’ve never been and couldn’t even really imagine being. Maybe that’s what kept any fear and nervousness in check, the fact that I actually had no idea how things would turn out, so there wasn’t anything concrete to be scared of. So I waited patiently in the BMI business lounge (and waited….for 5 extra hours) and eventually boarded my flight, ate my selection of cheeses and drank some port, then fell asleep and woke up in Damascus. Initial impression: it is 5am, how can it be this hot?!! (for some reason I was under the impression deserts were cold at night…)
Happily I had an embassy ‘handler’ who whisked me through passport control and helped me get to my new home, a tiny marble palace kept on ice by aircon units in each room. I was feeling a bit buzzed at this point, so investigated all the rooms that were now mine for the next two years before passing out in bed.
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