While skimming through my journal, I came across a lovely night that I had before the uprising taking place in my beloved country Syria. I'd like to share it with you.
Feeling very bored that I couldn't study nor do anything else, I proposed to my family to have a tour around Aleppo Castle. After some discussions, we set off to the castle. Horaaay!!! I was so excited and happy. You may be wondering why that much?!! Well, it's because this's my chance to meet some tourists and practice my English.
Reaching the wanted place, we got off the car and started the journey. I walked with my sister arm in arm in the lead while my parents were strolling behind us. The first group I came across weren't, to my greatest disappointment, foreigners. Ooops!!! Seeing their outward appearances, I judged they must have been tourists, but I was wrong unfortunately. I started with them as following,"Hello, are you tourists?! Do you speak English?!!" They turned saying somehow loudly,"What do you want?!!!" in Arabic. Oops!!! What an embarrassment!! I heartly apologized for the disturbance and resumed my search.
It took me awhile to find some tourists; however, at last I spotted a young couple walking around. This time, I was certain that they were true foreigners. I dared to ask if they spoke English and, to my great satisfaction, they did very well. Being overwhelmed with happiness, I started a conversation with them. They were a newly married couple from Paris, France. They met at a bank where they both worked. They were really kind and friendly. We chatted for about 20 minutes and then, wishing them a happy journey, I proceeded my search for others.
Well, not all the people that I met were as nice as this couple. I, for instance, came across two girls from Holland. They were so unfriendly. They ignored me:-( and didn't wanna chat. I don't know the reason behind that, but I guess they didn't trust foreigners. That was really disappointing. By the way, they wanted to have a drink and smoke hubble-bubble. Seeing that they were busy and a bit bully, I retreated.
After this unfortunate incident, we proceeded our tour spinning around the castle looking for tourists here and there. Some minutes later, I noticed that four people alighting from a car. They went directly to Umayyad Mosque. I followed them and asked,"Hi, do you speak English?!!" To which one of the girls answered,"Yes, if you want" but again that was in Arabic. Opsss! I shouldn't have fallen in the same trap twice, but believe me their appearances were quite deceiving! Anyway, I said I was sorry and decided to end the tour and go home.
Wow!!! This was a great adventure! Though I had some moments of deep disappointment and embarrassment, yet I enjoyed my time to the full, practicing and talking English.
Hope you like it! This was the last time I went to the castle before the crisis in order to meet some tourists, so it's a significant day for me...
Comments
Hiiiii Dear Hala!
Well, I'm struggling to live and still alife, alhamdullah. Seems like what's happening in our beloved country is a never-ending strife among brothers, unluckily :-( Hopefully it will end veryyyy soon...
Thanks for coming by :-) Have a nice day..
Hey Shabeen!
As you know, my friend, if you want to excel at something, you need exert great efforts.
Wish you the best of all, too :-)
Thanks for your omment, my friend :-)
Heyy WMW!
Wow! It'd be fantastic to meet any of my Ec friends in Aleppo Castle. I desprately hope that what you said about having tourists coming back again to the castle come true. The castle itself has been somehow damaged by being hamered with shells during some battles, unfortunately. Hope tourists wouldn't mind that.
Thanks for stopping by, my friend...
Hi Sima!
Yeahh..our country is quite lovely. Hope one day, when peace is restored to it, you will visit the country and enjoy your sight with its beautiful landscape and ancient ruins.
Thanks for coming by, my friend :-) Have a nice day..
Hi Tara!
I'm quite happy that you liked my post:-) It encourages me to write more.
Regarding Syria, ohh what can I say?! The situation is worsening day by day. The Syrians have been suffereing not only from daily shelling and bombardment, but also from severe shortage in all basics of life: bread, water, electricity and more importantly shelter.
Please keep your prayers for us.... We're in desperate need for that :-(
Hi Dear Gabriel!
Thanks a lot my friend for welcoming me back in such a warm way :-) In fact, I miss you all and miss practising English with my lovely Ec friends. Thank you so much, buddy, for praising my humble English. Your words always encourage and support me to a great extent. But you know even if one's English is somehow good, one shouldn't stop practising because after all "practice makes perfect". That's why I always try to grap any oppotunity to chat with tourists and learn from them, while at the same time haveing fun meeting new faces and travelling to different places.
As for how long I intend to stay in Ec's host this time....well, I don't know exactly...but I promise to pay it a visit once in a while.
Have a nice day, my friend, and thanks for stopping by.. :-)
Well, the castle was great as always. I don't know whether you have seen a photo of Aleppo Castle before or not. Anyway, all I can say is that this castle is quite huge and situated on top of a hill in the midest of the city of Aleppo. What I like the most about the castle the other night was the warm colorful lights that decorated the outer cover of the castle. They were so intriguing.
Here's a photo of the castle in case you are curious to have a look at it :-)
Dear Lama ,
It's nice to see you here again after along time ! How are you ?
I enjoyed reading your blog because I know pretty well the valuable heritage of Aleppo Castle and all other Syrian historical sites . I hope our country will witness peace soon and those memorable days here and there will come back again .
Take care dear and best wishes !
That was one of beloved country and I really wanted to see there ..
I hope every things get well as soon as possible :)
I enjoyed this post so much! You are very brave to go searching for tourists to practise your English with. Very inspiring!
Please tell us more about how Syria is doing.
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