Introducing post of Marten
Hi everybody!
My name is Marten, a 25 year old student from Germany. But why should a German with no (known) relatives in the Middle East write for this website? Well, the next six month my residence will be Damascus in Syria, as I’m an exchange student of the German Academic Exchange Service. A first short overlook over this program can be found here.
I discovered this great website some month ago while doing some research about religious Islam and its linkage to nationalism. I stayed here as a frequently reader in order to get to know the thinking of mainly young people from the Middle East and also to get some insiders news from this region, because the picture who drawn in “the West” from this area is very one-sided, simplistic and sometimes really wrong. Mainly you hear some bad news about another bombing, about the political stance of Islam, about discrimination of women etc. but you nearly hear nothing about the “average people”, their thinking and their daily life. This website wants to “think ahead”. Thus it is more a website from a vanguard (but not only for a vanguard) with the aim to “serve as an interactive and educational platform for the readers and participants.”
About what do I want to write here? I want to write about the experiences of a foreigner, who wants to get to know a country, a region, the people, who wants to learn the language. I’ll write about the social, religious and political environment and some news referring to the university partnership (a website in English should be online soon).
So long,
Marten
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Cool! Looking forward to your posts from Syria.
Great beginning Marten! The most important aspect should be to take in everything you see and experience with an open mind and heart. If you find the chance, please ask people around you why they do things you may feel awkward about. I am sure they will have an explanation which would put things in a social context and help you see and experience things from a different perspective. Best of luck and looking forward to reading your insight.
Welcome to the Arab world!! hehehe Jordan is right next to Syria, so why don’t you come visit us sometime!;)
You will encounter two worlds one a bad copy of where you came from.
and one world of what’s left from our local heritage.
you can immerse yourself in taxis, hotels, restaurants and german collegues yoou still will get smiles and welcome from servants helpers and hospitality professionals….
Or you can immerse yourself in the other world and you will meet the real us You still will get smiles and welcomes but this time the real ones from the real us.
so there you have it Welcome to the origin of human civilisation…..
Thank you very much for your encouraging responses! Josef, I’m quite sure, that I’ll make a journey to Jordan as it’s really near by.
Tunis you’re right that I have to make some decisions in which of the two worlds (upon your definition) I will immerse. I want to immerse as often as I can in the latter one you shortly described. For example transportation. On the one hand I like it very much being in public buses (or regional trains) as you can see and talk there to locals. Moreover you might get a clue of some part of their daily life. On the other hand I’m also quite sure, that I will use a taxi from time to time; to spare some time or for some other reason.
Thus, sillybahrainigirl subsumes it rightly:
I’ll do so!
False.