Arrival

Welcome to the Near East! After a few flights and rather a lot of queuing (which contrary to popular opinion Brits do not enjoy any more than any other nationality) I arrived last night to this beautiful land, something I have been anticipating for nearly a year and I am finally here! In less than 24 hrs I have already been a bit blown away with culture shock... I was greeted by a sea of head-scarves shouting very loudly in the baggage hall. The ride to the apartment where I am staying was also a bit of an adventure with no street lighting combined with the sport of dodging pot holes in the road. The driver told me that having lived here 6 years he's learned the basic rule of the road is not to 'mind the gap' but to fill the gap, which explained three lanes of traffic on a two lane carriageway.

Queuing to change planes in Turkey

Having been given no complimentary food on the flight over (grumpy face) we swung through the golden arches of familiarity enroute and I stuffed my face with delicious greasy junk food. I did actually want to experience the local food but nothing else was open at 10.30pm. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for this later.

Man modifying his boat

The first day was full. I tagged along on a trip attempting to source some local products for a business venture to employ marginalised women to produce local style jewellery that can be exported, thus empowering them as well as raising awareness of the social injustices that they face.

 Local glass/pottery store

An interesting interlude: Despite not being able to speak Arabic I managed to explain to the kind man in the shop that I was not interested in buying any of his bongs and that in fact I do not smoke at all because I like to be able to breathe. At least that's what I tried to communicate... For all I know he could be under the impression that I already own several and occasionally I hot box my room.

Middle eastern smoking devices

After the shopping trip ended we visited a nearby town for the purpose of cultural orientation and as an ease into work. Over the course of the day my supervisor filled in some of the blanks about what my work will look like over the next 6 weeks. It sounds exciting, challenging and fun all at the same time and I am tentatively looking forward to being stretched and comprehensively shoved out of my comfort zone.

Tea -  How did they know?!

There is an eclectic and sometimes incongruous mix of culture in this place. It is not uncommon to see a woman in a black robe and head covering walking down a street that has a 30ft billboard advertising wedding lingerie. I am hoping to come away with a better understanding of how culture and belief interact here and I will go about picking the brains of people who can answer me and observing as much as I can.

Typical building

I am picking up a few bits of Arabic already. I can now recognise the numbers 1-10 written down and can say hello and thank you. The body language is a whole other ball game but it's easier to pick up than words and you can get a surprisingly long way simply with hand motions and head movements.

End of another long day. Watch this space, plenty more to come!

Does this need a caption?

Title font used: 'urban jungle'