Arrival in Syria, VIP style

We left Cairo on Friday, and jumped on a plane to Damascus. The flight was the strangest I’ve ever experienced in my travels. An hour and a half long, we were served a complete meal and treated to pro-Egypt television programming whose audio was piped over the cabin’s speakers for all to hear.

 

A representative from the Department of Higher Education greeted us at the airport, and ushered us through security into a VIP waiting area. After that we were rushed through customs and filed onto a bus where we met our ever-present tour guide, Osama.

 

“Just think of Obama, and then you have the right sound.”

 

Osama gave us a long welcoming speech that included a number of digs against the former administration.

 

“There is a nation in this area that has been destroyed which is the United State, I mean Iraq.”

 

He then described the richness of Syria’s culture and history. He passed around pastries of filo, honey and pistachios, an example of Syria’s amazing cuisine.

 

Osama told us to help ourselves to the fruit and water on the bus because after all “that is the American way.”

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