they say that in order to learn a language you have to really get into the sounds and writings of that language. one way for me was to just listen to the people speak. i would watch TV or would try to listen to people talking on the streets or i would listen to the countles meetings we had in our apartment with the friends from the uni.
last one was one of my favourite activities. these meetings were some of THE most cultural shocking events i ever participated. in germany if we would meet to discuss some topic we would sit down drink tea or coffee or even beer and talk about something in a good and ordered way. you would never dare to cut into somebody talking (exceptions made) or dare to raise your voice. the first time they came over i was super exited. it was all so new to me like walking to a child. we prepared dinner and served arabic coffee. it was nice to have the room full of students and to talk about life. only guys came to these meetings and they usually stayed until late at night. for some strange reason they would always sit split up. the christians at one side of the room and the muslims on the other. as the conversation moved on we would always after about an hour hit the "Religion" topic. it was funny to see that no matter how often we met or what topic we talked about we always ended at the same stuff. at first one of the locals translated for me but soon i asked him to stop as i wanted to just listen to this beautiful language. no really it fascinate me so much that i could not stop listening to them even if was deadly tired and just wanted to rest. the syrien culture is such a different world compared to the german almost boring and disciplined way of living. at first the conversation was quiet and peaceful but it wouldn't take long and the volume would be raised up to a point where i expected the house owner or even the police to come in. most of the time i didn't know what they talked about in detail but it wasn't hard to follow along the main points. it was always about jesus, mohammed, god ect. ect. it touched my heart to see how intensed they aruged about something so important and to see how passionate they got about it all. it made me re-think my faith, my believes. seeing them so passionate made me wane be like them. i have to admit that sometimes i was even a bit scared. they would jump up and use their intire body to make a point almost yelling at the other person. the tension rose until a lever where i as a german would have left the conversation long ago but they kept going until suddenly it was all quiet. after a few seconds of silence they would all laugh and hug each other. it amazed me to see how, i don't even know how to say it as i would say angry they got, yelling at each other but then a second later they would "love" each other again. seeing this made me realise many things. i loved these meetings as each time i got to understand a new part of their lives, their culture and their believes. i now could imagine the apostles sitting nex to each other arguing about who is the greates among them up to a point where jesus intervened. and i got to see how christians and muslims could "fight" in a peaceful way.
body language is a huge thing in the arab world and it is so different to ours. also physical touch. in germany and on the ship i was concidered a touchy person which got me into trouble to many times but here in syria i was not even close to that. the guys would hold hands, lay on each others lap, touch each others hair or kiss each other on the cheek all that just to show that they care about each other. as gay as it sounds as amazing it was to watch. i think that we as western people have a weird and almost pathetic way of dealing with physical touch between guys. and as gay as it may sound i got to love the way the syriens are. think about it for a second it is so normal for girls to hold hands or to show affection but for guys it is immediately considered gay. in germany at the uni i once stood with another guy a few meters away from the others looking at a beautiful sunset talking about god. it didn't take long and we heard the others talking about us makind suggestions that we are gay. they only made a joke but it does show the thinking.
if i think about this topic i have to think about david and jonathan. even i if i read the story about them sometimes ask myself if there friendship wasn't a relationship. and here you see that even i am part of this kulture that marks good and healthy friendships between guys as gay and un acceptable. it really does frustrates me as it does mean that i will have a hard time finding somone that i can be as good as a friend as jonathan was to david. they never cared about what others thought but their friendship only worked as both of them thought the same and loved each other the same way.
now i am somone who struggles a lot with guy friendships. in school i was always the guy who stood with the girls or who got invited to their birthdays. i had many so called "girlfriends" but never guyfriends. i struggle to open up with guys and right now there is only one guy in my age that i trust enough to tell him my heart issues (yep its you;) i don't struggle so much to open up with older man but then again its different as these friendships are more like mentor menti relationships. this was and always will be i guess one of my biggest issues and struggles but i am growing and learning and syria played a big role in that change.
back to syria again.
all of these new impressions amazed me but what amazed me the most was to see how god was in everything i experienced and got to see or smell or hear. he was with me always and i never felt alone even if i was parted from all my so close friends from the ship. i really had peace about where i was and what i was doing. jesus was with me where ever i went and he never did let go of my hands. i was in such a peace that even the future events that took place did not get me to a point of danger or frustration rather to a point of happiness and overflowing joy.
jesus was and is with me and he had ans has everything under control. amen
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