All of these experiences have deeply moved me and changed my perspective on the world. I’ve learned how to interact in Middle Eastern culture, how to open my mind to people I wouldn’t normally interact with, and how to discern between a balanced and unbalanced news story. I have also seen a lot of things that have made me question my role as an American and what I can/should do to help relieve suffering and poverty. Visiting the Zebaleen in Cairo, seeing the destruction in the Golan Heights, and contrasting it to the excessive displays of wealth in Doha has opened my eyes to the injustices present in this region of the world. I don’t know if I will ever return to the Middle East, but I know I can and will take these lessons home with me to America and hope that all I learned will help me personally and professionally in the future.

Qatar, like many other Gulf States, has experienced an exponential boom in wealth and construction over the past few decades due to its rich natural resources. I think Wikipedia even called Qatar the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas,” alluding to its huge stake in trade of this commodity. The hotel we are staying in is the most upscale hotel I have ever stayed at in my life, and it is not unique—downtown Doha is basically a sea of dozens of five-star hotels towering 20 or 30 stories over the streets, overlooking the water.

Everything here is kind of surreal and next to every towering resort complex lies a plot of land under construction for another massive tower. Our hotel has 26 floors, a fitness center, 3 restaurants, a pool on the top floor, spa/salon, and a wide variety of other services available (for an astronomical fee, of course). The mall is a ten minute walk from our hotel, and has five floors, hundreds of luxury stores, a “hypermarket” (as opposed to a smaller “supermarket”), and an ice rink in the center. This is definitely a contrast from Cairo. Instead of walking outside of our hotel and being asked for money by beggars, we are asked if we would like someone to carry our bags or any other service to make our day more convenient. It will be interesting to see how the rest of this trip plays out, and whether my bank account will have any money left when I return to the U.S.

On a more academic note, today we also made our most important visit of our trip to Qatar: a tour of Al Jazeera networks. We met with several of the people who head production, public relations, international affairs, and other departments of the huge network, and got tours of the newsrooms and an in-depth history lesson on the origins of Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera is truly a unique creature. It is one of the newest major media sources in the world, as Al Jazeera Arabic was started in 1996 and Al Jazeera English just created in 2006. The network is almost fully funded by the Qatari royal family, which theoretically frees it from many of the “commercial constraints” on networks such as ABC and BBC by the companies that sponsor them. This was very interesting to learn about because not relying on advertisement and other forms of generating revenue is a huge help in producing a balanced voice and avoiding the media bias found in many other media conglomerates.

Of course, it could be (and has been) argued that Al Jazeera’s reliance on the Qatari government for funding creates an inherent bias, but everyone we met with today made it very clear that Al Jazeera was free from any sort of censorship, direct or indirect. This was an extremely interesting point of view to hear, as what we have heard about Al Jazeera in the West now seems to be anti-Middle Eastern propaganda perpetuated by the Bush Administration and the major corporations that own American media groups.

This visit brought our trip full circle for me, as one of the things I really wanted to see for myself was whether Middle Eastern media was as biased as Western media portrays it to be. From what I gather, there are upsides and downsides of any media source, but what is most important is that the reader is aware of this and keeps an open mind to what other information is out there. I know that now I feel better informed about choosing what I read wisely, and hopefully I can now share this knowledge with people back home.

Usually if I go to a deli or bakery I smile a polite hello, place my order, receive my order, and continue on my way. This was not the case in this supermarket. The man working behind the nut counter engaged me in conversation, asking me what I was doing in Damascus and how long I would stay, etc., and gave me samples of at least half a dozen different nuts and candies before he would take my order. As we were talking, a British woman came to place an order, so he invited her to join us for a cup of coffee, but she said she was in a hurry so my new friend took care of her before returning to finish his conversation with me. We talked some more, then I thanked him and left to finish my shopping.

Continuing down the aisles, I was thinking about how different that experience was from any I’d had in any other supermarket when my friend, the nut guy, reappeared with a carafe of coffee in hand. He invited me to have a cup of Arabic coffee with him and I had time to spare, so we returned to the nut counter to chat over the tiny but potently spiced brew. I finished my second cup of coffee (he had refilled it after I was almost done with my first), thanked him, and said goodbye. As I was about to leave, he filled another bag with nuts and candies and gave it to me free as a gift.

As effusively friendly as my friend was in the store, this was not the end of his gift-giving. A few hours later when I was in the lobby of the hotel, Rich (another student on our trip) came up to me with a small candy shaped like a red rose that he had been given by the nut guy to give to me.

Reflecting on this experience made me realize several things. First of all, I had opened up a bit to the culture since arriving in the Middle East. I would never have stayed and chatted with this man had I not gone to the markets with Clarice and other students who threw caution to the wind and accepted the hospitality of random shopkeepers. Just the day before in Aleppo, Clarice and some others and I went to the market and ended up sitting in a scarf shop for hours drinking tea and talking to the shopkeeper and about half a dozen of his family members that strayed into the shop at various intervals to introduce themselves and see what was going on. Before this trip, I would quickly refuse any sort of invitation from a random man, assuming that he had sketchy intentions in mind. After this trip I feel I am more willing to “stop and smell the roses” and give attention to people whom I would normally not pay more attention than necessary. I’ll be cautious of those who end up not having the best intentions in talking to me, but through market excursions, cab rides, and other adventures I have learned that strangers may have more insight and interesting experiences to share than would meet the eye on first glance.

The second thing I realized was that this kind of warmth and hospitality is not usually present in the West. Watching the British woman place her order was a moment of epiphany, as that is when I realized that I would have acted just like her and rushed through my shopping had it not been for this trip. This gives me a deeper understanding of how other cultures may view American culture as shallow or too fast-paced. I’m not sure whether the fast-paced environment in the U.S. will allow me to act on my desire to talk to random people more, but I guess I’ll just have to try it out and see what happens.

            The hotels we stayed in last night and tonight are amazing—the one in Ma’loula overlooked the hill with the castle and had huge suites, and the one we’re staying in tonight in Aleppo used to be a house a few hundred years ago. Its really cool because all of the rooms are different and the house is very large but separated into compartments with a few rooms around courtyards hidden up or down small winding stone staircases. One of the rooms looks like the interior of a castle, with high vaulted stone ceilings and red brocade textiles decorating the walls.

            The past few days have been a complete assault on my senses and I have experienced way to much to do a good job relating all of it. I did take lots of pictures though, so I’m excited to share them with my family in a week when I’m home and have had some time to mentally process everything. The next few days will be a blur—tomorrow we travel back to Damascus for the night, then fly to Doha for four days before we travel back to Boston. I can’t believe our trip is almost over, so I’ll try to make the most of it!

>Hello Y’all,

>    Muhammad, one of the students from yesterday’s dialogue, wrote

>this e-mail to us. He only had a couple of our addresses so he asked

>if it could be sent along. It’s pretty interesting. A less happy and

>sugar-coated version of his beliefs than what was said at the

>university.

>Enjoy,

>      Rich

> 

> 

>———- Forwarded message ———-

>From: أبو طلحة <xxxx@gmail.com>

>Date: 2009/5/27

>Subject: FW: hi

>To: xxxx@gmail.com

>From: أبو طلحة [mailto:xxxx@gmail.com]

>Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 3:55 PM

>To: xxxx@gmail.com’

>Subject: hi

>Hi  or ( salamoalicom ) in Arabic

> 

>How are you all

>Let me introduce myself again my name is Muhammad Shourbage

> 

>I was in the meeting today, it was really inspiring to me and my

>friends and I hope it was the same for you

> 

>However, I was told before I went to the meeting today that I should

>be very friendly and I hope I was.

> 

>Because I wanted to be very friendly and there was no enough time, so

>I could not say my idea very clear

> 

>Before I start I would say that I am not talking as individual ( as

>Muhammad Shourbage ) I am talking as Syrian or Arabic or Muslim people

> 

>Today I asked a question about Israel, the question was:

> 

>( we all know that American government gives unlimited  support to

>Israel, so are you ( as American people ) the same  ? )

> 

>And I noticed that some ( or  I can say most) of you said no and, one

>of you talked about ( the very rich lobbies ) which put a lot of

>pressure on the government to do that .

> 

>So I want to ask a question

> 

>Your elected government is controlled by who???

> 

>Is it controlled by these ( very rich lobbies ) ? or by the people ?

> 

>So there are two possibilities :

> 

>If it was controlled by  these lobbies then ( and I am very sorry to

>say that ) you are not free as much as you think, and you can say

>whatever you want, but you cannot do whatever you want!!!

> 

>If you did not believe in ( holocaust ), would you say that in public

>? I think ( and I hope it is a stereotype ) you do not say it in

>public

> 

>You were talking about the dictatorship here and you said we are not

>free enough to say whatever we want, and I say yes that totally true,

>but you are not free as much as you think.

> 

>You are free in a side, we are free in another

> 

>But in general all of us can not cross the red lines in our society.

> 

>The difference between us and you is

> 

>We are not free and we know that but you are not free as well but you

>did not notice!!!

> 

>Your freedom is limited, and our freedom is more limited than you .

> 

>We( and I have heard it many times here in Syria ) think ( and I hope

>it is a stereotype )  U.S.A is totally controlled by these lobbies

>The second possibility is:

> 

>If the government was controlled by the people

> 

>then the people  agree(or at least more than 50 percent ) with the

>unlimited support to Israel, so we have the right to heat you

> 

>because you( as American people ) support our enemy and the supporter

>of our enemy should be our enemy too.

> 

>Ok you will say the government is telling us lies

> 

>So I want to ask

> 

>Is it our fault if you are so fool ( sorry for the word )  to believe

>what the government tells you ????

>We ( as Arab and Muslim people ) did not benefit from you at all, and

>all what we have got from you (till now ) is war (in Iraq  in

>Palestine in afagenstan ) , bloodshed  and disasters

> 

>We were very happy when you elected a new administration, but we have

>not seen any changes yet, I hope we will.

> 

> That is my opinion  and we hope there is  any third possibility

>Again I am not talking as individual, I am talking as Arabic or Muslim people.

> 

>I (as individual ) think you ( as American people ) have the chance to

>make the world a better place, but unfortunately you are missing it.

> 

>For me I love you all and I wish you great future

> 

>And I wish you will be journalists of truth and humanity.

>For other issues we can discuss them later by email ( if you want )

> 

>I hope I could view my point and I am  sorry if I hurt you ( I just

>wanted to talk frankly ) and sorry for my broken language.

>Best regards

> 

>Bye or in Arabic ( salamoalicom )

> 

>Muhammad Rushdie Shourbage

> 

>26/5/2009

>p.s : this message is sent to four of you because I do not have the

>emails of the others so it would be better if you forward  it to the

>others.

Hi Muhammad:

    Thank you for sending us your e-mail—it is very helpful to us and I know we all appreciate hearing your frank opinion. I think that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of your two ideas, and it is an interesting point that you think we are not as free as we think we are.

   From my point of view, politics is much less about your nationality or what type of government you have, and much more about money. Whoever has the money (generally) also has the power. This is true not only in our American society, but also in the World in general—the rich countries often have more power than the poor countries.

    That said, I personally believe that America’s foreign policy in the Middle East has been largely based off of oil trade and other business deals that maintain the wealth of the few in power both in the U.S. and abroad. This is not an excuse for the American people not speaking up, but my second point is that what Americans lack is a genuine representation of the world outside America.

    When it comes down to it, money controls government and inevitably the media as well. The mainstream media most Americans view is skewed in favor of Israel to suit our government’s desires to influence the American public’s support. There are many reasons for this, but one big reason is that the media industry depends on advertisement as a major source of revenue, and many newspapers and other media outlets receive pressure from the executives of their client companies to support the same point of view. Many business executives in the U.S. are doing well financially, and want to maintain the status quo that our government has created, so they may put pressure on the media to support the government as well.

    As Americans, it is our duty to make sure we are well-informed of everything our country is doing, and to seek alternative means to accomplish our goals through peace rather than War. This is the point of our group’s journey here. Many of us, myself included, have been educated well enough to know that there are always at least two sides to any story. Both sides must always be explored to gain an accurate knowledge of world events and to produce a thoughtful opinion on what should be done to combat injustice.

    Unfortunately, not all Americans are as lucky as we are. Northeastern’s tuition including room and board is I think over $40,000/year, and many Americans simply are not able to afford this type of education that allows us to travel outside the country and meet with informed people who can give us an alternative point of view. While this may seem bleak, I do agree with you that our generation has a unique opportunity to change the way our two countries interact.

    Meeting with you and your colleagues was a great privilege, and our group has experienced things here in Syria that most Americans will never get the chance to participate in. Today we visited the Golan Heights, and I still can’t believe that we were able to see for ourselves what we have only read about in history books. Seeing the bombed out buildings and minefield separating Syria and its Israeli-occupied lands was an incredible experience that I will share with my friends and family when I return home to the U.S.

    I hope that the rest of my fellow students will join me in realizing the gravity of the opinions we have heard here, and take responsibility for spreading knowledge of all we have learned. I cannot promise you that things will change quickly, but I know that for me at least this trip has changed my life and the way I view the world. I intend to do whatever I can in the future to help combat ignorance and the injustices it perpetuates.

    Thank so much again for sharing your knowledge with us! I hope that our responses help you understand our points of view as well.

Sincerely,

Gabriela Swider

            This sentiment was also expressed in our next meeting with the President of Damascus University. He gave us an overview of the school then opened the floor for Q&A. One thing that was discussed that I never knew about was the Syrian Accountability Act recently passed in the U.S. This act makes life in Syria very difficult for civilians as they are cut off from many products made in the U.S. due to sanctions the U.S. has put on Syria. I’m not sure what the goal of these sanctions is, but they have prevented Syria from importing things like medical equipment, plane engine parts to update their non-military airplanes, and many internet sites and technological necessities. Criticizing Syria for its lack of internet availability and Facebook now makes me feel ignorant since many people here seem eager to engage in these new communication technologies but are restricted because of U.S. Laws.

            Our third meeting was with the Minister of Higher Education. He clarified a lot of our questions about how the University system works, but often digressed into politics—mostly about how the education system here could be better if Syria didn’t have to allocate so many funds to defense against Israel.

            At all of our meetings we’ve been met with incredible hospitality (and some amazing beverages such as fresh fruit juices and VERY strong Turkish coffee). At the Ministry of Higher Education we even got t-shirts and baseball caps. Many people here seem eager to make a good impression on us because there is so little dialogue between Syria and the U.S., and they are doing a great job so far—and seem very genuine in their desire to change the way our countries and cultures interact, even if its only one step at a time.

            Apparently there are an unknown amount of plainclothes undercover policemen watching us wherever we go. Two nights ago some of our group went to a nightclub and got into some trouble because they were passing around a cigarette, which the staff mistakenly took for hashish or some other illegal substance. The next morning, our tour guide and security officers assigned to us asked how the club was the night before. It was interesting that they knew the name of the club the students were at; I guess the club owner called the police, which then in turn called our tour guide to complain about the student’s behavior.

            We aren’t doing anything illegal, and we’re hosts of the government so we’re very safe here, but it’s interesting how the government here is able to monitor everyone. I wonder what it would be like to be a normal citizen living in Syria, and if it would bother me to have the government always watching. As one of our hosts put it, “nothing is prohibited in Syria, and nothing is allowed.”

            This morning we met with the president of the National Union of Syrian Students (N.U.S.S.), who explained how the organization is kind of like a national student government association. The group serves as a forum for dialogue and debate on various topics important to students, such as college admissions requirements, required military service upon graduation, and maintaining the higher education system that provides education free of charge to all students.

N.U.S.S. is also very politically active, and takes a firm stance against the Israeli occupation of Syrian land. We didn’t debate politics too much this time, but the Syrians explained how this issue is inevitably intertwined with their daily lives as most families in Syria have suffered at least one “martyrdom” of a family member serving in the military. Clearly this conflict is very near to the hearts of the Syrians and many other Arabs, and its good that we’re hearing their point of view to contrast what information Western media has provided us.

Despite their political stances, the Syrians we have met so far have made it clear that they distinguish between the American people and the late Bush Administration. We have been welcomed very warmly here, and I think that the U.S. should definitely take Syria off its list of members of the “Axis of Evil”— as long as they unblock Facebook first

His Excellency explained how important the stability of its neighbors is to Syria itself. With over 1.5 million Iraqi refugees now living within its borders, the War in Iraq has greatly affected Syria. The Lebanese civil war and Israeli occupation of Syrian/Lebanese territory have also helped to shape Syria’s foreign policy.

It seems that Syria promotes peace in the region, but His Excellency noted that “peace [with Israel] is impossible” with the new right-wing Israeli administration and the recent war in Gaza. Peace can only come when Israel returns land that the Syrians consider to be part of Lebanon. His Excellency was critical of the recent Bush Administration, but said that they were waiting for the Obama Administration to make the first move in normalizing U.S. relations with the Middle East.

After we returned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I went to get lunch with some other students in the main marketplace of “Old Damascus.” I ended up getting some shawarma, shaved meat wrapped with pickled vegetables and garlic sauce inside of a pita. As we ate our lunch we perused the marketplace to see what it had to offer. The markets here are very different than the Khan in Cairo. It was nice to not be yelled at or grabbed or asked for money every few minutes. Some of the goods such as wooden clogs also seemed to be hand-made there in the shops rather than imported from China, as a lot of the things sold in Cairo were.

We popped into a very popular ice cream shop to get scoops of ice cream covered in pistachios. The ice cream here tastes a bit different than in the states, and more like frozen yogurt than ice cream. After the ice cream and a bit more shopping we hopped in cabs to return to the hotel. I’m blogging now with hopes of uploading this post later, perhaps at an internet cafe. We’re supposed to get wireless in our hotel lobby, but its pretty choppy and we are in kind of a suburban area where things are far apart, so I will have to venture out to find good internet to upload my blog posts. Hopefully I’ll get this one up soon!

        Less people speak English here than in Egypt, and there are a lot of French cultural influences in cuisine and language. Damascus is a hodgepodge of cultures, and walking around makes me feel like I’m somewhere in between Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. We visited the Syrian National Museum, a large mosque near the main marketplace, and a palace/museum before breaking for lunch. Everything was beautiful and very different in architecture and decoration from the buildings in Egypt.

        The rest of our group continued touring the city after lunch, but I skipped lunch and hopped in a cab back to the hotel to rest because I was feeling really hot and dehydrated. Drinking water and taking a nap in my air-conditioned room helped, but I still have a bit of a headache and may stay in tonight instead of going out to nightclubs with the other students. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back to 100% and ready to explore the city again.