Life in Damascus

Many of you have asked me about life in Damascus, what a day here is like. Well I can tell you a few stories.

For instance, today we have reached 115F according to the Internet, 120F according to the Government- which is completely abnormal!! I believe statistics say the average temperature in August is 90F, and this is the hottest month of the year (but it is only the 1st of August… can you imagine in a couple weeks?). Apparently the government has issued a warning because temperatures are expected to reach 122F and perhaps up to 131F in the next few days, an all time high.

Now imagine this heat while wearing a suit… mmmh, appealing, right? And then picture yourself in a taxi with no AC, going to a meeting. Sometimes I don’t know what is worse, to have the windows open or closed. People joke and say it seems like someone has placed a huge hairdryer on top of the country and it just keeps blowing hot air.

Then when you finally get to your meeting or to the office, trying to look nice and fresh, surprise! There is no power! Because there are now way too frequent power-cuts, which mean no charger for your computer, no internet, no cold water in the fridge, and of course no air conditioning. Power cuts weren’t too common a couple weeks ago but now demand has dramatically raised and also, I just found out, when heat goes up power production goes down, so if there is more demand and less production, you end up melting in your office, or in your house (it was 97F in my room yesterday after a 2-hour power-cut).

And that is not all; there is a shortage of water in Syria, a typically dry country, which usually is no problem in Damascus because all houses (or at least the ones for rich locals and expats) have big tanks on the roof that are refilled a couple times a week. So when there is no water coming from the government pipes, the one stored in the reservoirs is used. However, these reservoirs are like huge plastic kegs and they are in the roof, under this merciless and cruel sun, 115F… can you guess? The water is too hot, it burns! So you can forget about taking a shower until night, when if you are lucky temperatures go down to 95F (35C). I swear this is true (check the picture).

So this is how I have spent my day today. But tomorrow I will tell you about my weekend nights out, which are pretty fun. Oh, fyi weekends here are Friday & Saturday instead of the usual Saturday & Sunday, so Thursday night is a big night out, and Friday night is Salsa night!