Chez Umm Mohammed!

I finally moved last night! And it was an adventure.

Well first I went and looked at a few more apartments in Bab Touma in the Old City which has a lot of "Arabic" style houses. This means there is a courtyard surrounded by lots of rooms. I'm sure they'd be lovely if there was better up keep but they are mainly filled with foreign students and kind of look like squatters live there with trash and stray cats in the courtyard. I said no and decided to go back to the homestay I had seen on Monday.

Well Umm Mohammed and her daughter (an Arabic tutor getting her degree in English translation) were not there when I called so I had to wait until they got home around 10 pm. I proceeded to get a taxi because of all my bags and I ended up in a verrrrry little taxi driven by a verrrrry large man (so large that I could not see the meter from the back seat). This detail proved very significant when we got to the steep part of the hill and couldn't make it up. I don't think gravity was on our side. I also don't think it's possible to describe the terror I felt when this small car filled with one large taxi driver, myself, and all my bags would try to start up, start to roll backwards, then stall. Luckily the man behind us pushed the car forward and we were able to get to a level street (and burned some rubber in the process). The driver was not pleased that is car wouldn't work (Kay, "sayarrah matat" came in handy!) and made me get out afterwards

I ended up back at my hotel and one of Umm Mohammed's friends came to pick me up and direct a cab up to her place which was beyond nice of him to do--most Syrians go above and beyond to be helpful. I got there shortly after midnight which is early by Syrian time because neighbors were in and out until 2 am. Hopefully this will not be an issue when class starts next week. However, this place is so clean and nice and Umm Mohammed is so helpful and patient that it will definitely be worth it!

This is the front entry so Umm Mohammed can hide/put on her hijab to answer the door. There is also a fun button in the bathroom which I initially thought was the light. It sounds like a bird and she explained that it's there so that a woman can properly exit after a shower if a non-family member is in the house:

Sitting/TV Room (lots of time will be spent here!)

My room = huge.

View down the hill to central Damascus.

Next round of stairs.

I'll try counting the stairs at some point...