Today we were on to our last of the countries on the 'travel ban' list: Syria. I didn't really do the countries in any particular order, except I tried to seperate doing the countries that began with the same letter (usually I think that helps them remember, but I felt like doing 'Iran' and 'Iraq' right together might get confusing.) But, I knew I wanted to do Syria last, simply because I told them their 'activity' for Syria day would be something really awesome if they did a good job all week.
Syria was a tough one for me. Obviously, I like to present the boys with what life is like within these countries, and every country we do, and while we don't ignore the negative, we also really like to focus on the positive, and right now, it's hard to find those things in Syria. We all know how war-torn the country is, and the massive amount of Syrians who are now displaced. But, beyond how horrifying all of that is, Syria had some really great historical sites to see in the form of ancient temples, gorgeous mosques, and abandoned fortresses, most of which have been damaged or destroyed.
The basics here:
Damascus is the capital of Syria. Though Alleppo was once the biggest city in Syria population wise, it is now believed that Damascus has the largest population.
Only about 83% of the population is Muslim, making it the least Muslim-majority out of all the countries we did this week.
The official language is Arabic.
Peyton noticed the flag was green, red, white and black, like half the countries on the board. I had never really thought about it before, so we googled it. Apparently those are the 'Pan-Arab' colors, each representing a different Arab dynasty, or era.
Some other fun facts for you:
Syria was once upon a time along the Silk Road, which the boys knew all about thanks to lessons by dad.
The Damascus Gate resturant is the biggest in the world! More than 6,000 people can dine there at a time. The rooms are filled with replica's of Syrian archaeological ruins, and water falls.
Syria is also home to water wheels from the 12th century, which were made to dump river water into canals for irrigation.
And Damascus steel is apparently legendary, and unbreakable. It was once said that a sword made from the steel could slice a scarf in half mid-air. Modern-day blacksmiths have been a bit baffled by just exactly how these swords were made without today's technology. There's all kinds of theories, and one involves burning hot metal and urine, so there's that.
But, we all know Syria is one of the most dangerous places on earth. The Arab Spring in 2011 started the violence between the Assad regime and the rebels ('Free Syrian Army). Bashar al-Assad is their current president, and has been so since 2000, but before then his father had been president since 1971, so the Assad regime has been around for quite some time The younger Assad seemed like he was ready to be a reformer, until the Arab Spring, and now while the UN accuses him of war crimes. Of course he rejects them, as all people guilty of war crimes do, and blames America for their interference in his country. Making matters worse is the strong presence of ISIS in Syria (although their control has been dwindling over the last year- occupying nearly 7,000 square miles at the end of 2016 as it was in the begining), and Assad's possible collusion with the terrorist organization.
Russia, meanwhile seems to be siding with the Assad regime (Apparently among other things Russia's only port in the Mediterranean is in Syria), and the result has been bombings by Russia.
Assad, the 'Free Syrian Army', and ISIS have all made life very unsafe for the average citizen. Syrian's civil war has been called 'the worst humanitarian disaster of our time'. Neighborhoods have been leveled, over 10 million people have become refugees, and though reports vary, somewhere around 400,000 people have died. Food and water are hard to come by, medical supplies and electricity are sometimes non-existent in places, and that's if you're lucky enough to get out of the opposition-held areas.
Whatever you think about this travel ban, you have to know there are people who's problems aren't scheduling conflicts and a late fee on a utility bill. These people worry every day about a bomb being dropped on their house. THEIR HOUSE!
But, while we were learning about life in Syria, we also learned about the Netherlands taking in refugees. Apparently, their crime rate is lower than it has been in years, so they had prisons sitting empty. They've opened these prisons up to refugees as if they are apartments. Is living in a prison ideal? Not exactly, but you can come and go safely, wash their laundry, and have warm food to eat. So good on you, Netherlands.
The boys made their postcards, but they said they didn't feel like they had a lot to work with that wasn't just depressing and sad. But, I mean, they did get a lot of perspective this week.
For dinner we had Dawood Basha (Syrian Meatballs) , Fattoush, hummus, pita bread, and oranges.
The salad was fun, because as Hayden said, 'You eat it like a taco!'
This dinner earns two spoons up, sort of.
Asa really liked it. Calib and I liked it, so we're combining for a spoon, but we were iffy on it because it seems like we've been eating the same kind of food over and over again, which was just going to happen when we did countries so close together. But we did talk about how a lot of countries in Europe, though close together, have evolved enough to have varying cuisines, where that hasn't so much been the case in the middle east, so I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.
Hayden and Peyton didn't eat much of it. Peyton said the salad was good, but 'we've been eating cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers like every night!', and Hayden liked the pita and the oranges, so there's that.
The meatballs were really good, and on top of pasta, I would TOTALLY ask for it again. (I am not a huge rice fan, which might be my downfall this year)
Anyway, that was dinner.
So, our activity? Well, true story: Syrian hamsters are the most popular species kept as pets, and you can trace almost all Syrian hamsters back to a hamster mom and her 12 pups caught in Aleppo by a professor in 1930!
Meet Damascus!
The boys said it was some kind of miracle I got Asa to agree to another pet, but they were thrilled. I mean, I've been lobbying for a sugar glider, but to no avail. So, I presented the hamster as (1) educational, and (2) she could be an office mascot. And we could build Tube City! And Asa liked the idea of his own little mascot.
That's it for our banned countries. As someone with social anxiety, this was my little protest in the whole matter. Get back at them with education, right? At any rate, it can't hurt. Anyway, I hope you learned a little something about these places, which for now, are no longer banned. And the saga continues..
We were planning on China tomorrow with a trip to Epcot, but for the love of God, we HAVE to stop passing this illness around to each other. We're back around to Calib. I have to get out of the house to do something, so we'll see.
22 countries down, 171 to go!
Next Up: A break from countries for a bit while we have our usual Valentines Meal, an annual trip to the state fair, and Asa is back in the office.
Then, it's on to Religion Week!
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