« Exhausted. | Main | Confirmed. »
July 11, 2005
Syria here I come...
The EU's rubber-stamp is inked and poised over the paper. Nothing moves until the bureaucrat puts the stamped form into his out tray. Still, it's looking like I'm leaving for Damascus on Wednesday afternoon, I'll know for sure tomorrow.
The afternoon flight means arriving at 3.30am on Thursday. With a 2-3 hour wait for a visa once I arrive, I hope I'm not expected to be too productive on my first day. Friday is the local day off, and I'm not expected to work on Saturday, so once I get the introductory meetings out of the way I should have a day or two to acclimatise.
Ahead of me lies 30 days of, well, I'm not quite sure what. Sweat for sure, either from the heat (38C today) or the job itself. Culture shock too. The place is about 10% Christian, so there should be such basics as beer available. All the literature I've read has been positive about the people and of course the place is steeped in history, so it's going to be quite a trip.
Posted by Richard at July 11, 2005 10:15 PM