World Cup in Damascus

I never thought watching the World Cup in Syria would be fun, mainly because I knew nothing about this country and had so many preconceived ideas of what I would find here, so many misconceptions created by the media.

Well I can now say it was a delight to watch the games in Damascus. People LOVE soccer here and I guess since Syria didn’t make it they were happy to simply cheer for other teams. I still remember the first game I watched here, it was Netherlands-Brasil and half the people in the bar had t-shirts and flags of Brasil, the others of the Netherlands. And they would cheer, and suffer and enjoy just like if it was their country playing. Because for them it wasn’t about who was playing, but about soccer itself. That is why after Spain defeated Germany there was no doubt, the whole country was with Spain, they deserve it they would tell me day and night, at work and in cafés. 

Another thing that has surprised me in Damascus is how westernized they are. It is such an open and tolerant city. You would probably expect to see most women covering their hair (I already knew they don’t cover their faces but this might come as a surprise to others), well it is the opposite, just a few women cover their hair, and even those who do most often wear a skirt!! Here they dress like we do; you see jeans, sandals, skirts, dresses, even tank tops. Ladies are pretty, they take care of their hair and makeup and several times I have found my self quite underdressed in a café. Men and women go out together, they enjoy smoking shishas (which they call arguile) and when night comes dancing is a favorite for Damascenes. 

The first time we went out I had to take pictures because I couldn’t believe I was in Syria. First of all we were in a beautiful rooftop, the entrance was around 15U$ and you could get either one alcoholic drink or two sodas. The views of the city once again were magnificent, and the view of the dance floor was too much to be real. It was salsa night, and also the night Ghana was kicked out of the World Cup after missing a penalty in the last minute of the game. Here no one really cared about the game even though there was a huge cinema-style screen in one side of the dance floor. 

People were just dancing in such a fancy, trendy and amazing way that I could only sit back and admire them. Then when the game got to penalties because neither Ghana nor Uruguay had been able to untie the game, the dance floor cleared and the music was turned down, the TV up. Everyone was now paying attention to the game. 10 kicks, Ghana was out, most of the bar seemed upset for about 10 seconds, and then the music was back, and so was the dancing.

Welcome to Damascus!

 * Pictures by la elfa