Come fly with me

So after 3 years of avoiding Syrian Air in my numerous trips back home, I finally summoned my courage and booked my holiday on a Syrian Air flight.
I have to be honest; the only reason for flying with them was the price! I’ve already travelled twic to Syria this year (wonder why?!) and consumed my travelling & holiday allowance for 2007 and they really had a very good price, £290 rtn!

So came the day and after a nervous waiting at Heathrow with flights being cancelled left right and centre due to extremely heavy fog covering the airport we were finally allowed on the plan.

Now, I must tell you that the last time I flew SA, I ended up in a seat with a broken tray and behind a chair with a broken back in a plane full of crying babies and smelling of curry! Not at all an enjoyable flight at the time; so this time around, I was pleasantly surprised to see nice wide seats with decent legroom in the compact Boeing 747 I’m flying.

My luck was on a role, I landed a window seat with an empty one next to it and a nice heart consultant on the aisle…
Settling happily in my chair, I was feeling pretty upbeat till a horrible odour drifted towards me, I was a safe distance away from the loo so I couldn’t pinpoint a source until further scent analysis narrowed it down to bad breath (not something I can blame on SA).
Fiddling with the overhead air controls, I managed to create barrier of some kind thank God and I nestled contently in my seat until it was time for the famous, all too scary, meal time.

Beforehand, let me tell you that I’m not a picky person food wise, as my diet consists mainly of microwavable meals and takeaways, to the disgust of my parents and acceptance of my partner, nonetheless, there is a minimum level that airport/plane food has to reach for me to be able to consume. So you can understand that I had a dilemma in choosing to eat or not to eat on the plane and in the case of the former, which of the day’s two options would I go for!

By the time the trolley came by, I was already halfway though writing this blog and I felt that to be just in my assessment, I will have to try the food!
Gathering my courage and mastering the friendliest smile I have, I dared to ask the steward which was nicer, the meat or the chicken (ps: isn’t chicken meat as well?). The wondering surprised gaze I was given would take pages to describe, something neither you nor I have the time for. The reply that I received was even more mind boggling “how should I know?”
Met with that answer I quickly asked of the chicken (at least a defined meat) and prayed for safety!
Two pots of salad, 1 bun (men were being treated to 2!) a tab of butter and another of cheese and the mysterious main course wrapped up in foil.
I started with the salad (not bad, a bit too much mayo but at least fresh ingredients), 2nd in line was salad no 2, a shrimp cocktail thingy (nice, 1000 island souse and a lemon), so starters got an ok 6 out of 10!
Then came the main course, I was unwrapping the plate wondering if I will get the traditional rice, or be faced with the more hip (and potentially scary) pasta! Surprise, surprise it was neither! It was potato balls!! Next to it a breaded piece of chicken and some boiled vegetables (how unusual?!).
Reaching for the salt & pepper sachets, I realized that Syrian air is a caring carrier; they worry about their passengers’ health and knowing that the poor travellers’ blood pressure was probably sky-high by mealtime, they provide the smallest sachets ever, barely enough to give the impression of salt in the food!

A sigh, and I turn my attention the chicken swimming in oil residue, I ‘skinned’ it and made do without the soggy shell altogether! At the halfway mark through the chicken (2 bits later) I discovered a micro amount of cheese in the middle and was able to identify the mystery dish as chicken Kiev!!!

Didn’t even think of trying the dissert (a chocolate thing covered with dark syrup) and I waited for the drinks tray to come by to order a very large tea to help me survive my past ordeal.

Having ran out of things to reads and still having two hours of fly time, I reached out to the pocket in front of me and picked the various printouts there. In my hand were the safety instruction sheet and a promotional pamphlet about different things in Syria.

The safety sheet was your bog-standard one for an Airbus A320 so I put that aside and turned to the pamphlet intrigued to see what is being promoted to happy travellers to Syria! Well, restaurants, lots of restaurants which, after your meal, wont look so appetizing; shopping centres (a recent craze in Syria) and at the end, what I considered my personal cherry on top of the whole ‘fly Syrian Air experience’ cake, SA’s own version of a frequent flyer program! Oh, how I looked with parental pride at this new development by our flag carrier. Of course as a frequent traveller to Syria (as most people using SA) I was very interested until I realized that unless you travel 8 times a year or 4 times two years in a role you wont get anything of much value, at least nothing you wont be able to get if you know someone at the check in desk or at the company (maybe they should rename it to No-Wastah program?)

The one thing that stood up, the sugaring on top of the cherry on the cake was a one liner on the 2nd page detailing the program. Initially I thought that it was a translation error only to discover that it was written exactly the same in both Arabic and English!
So what was that shocked me so much? Well simply the fact that “as a silver card holder you are entitled to a free ticket a year that you can give to a family member, which include your parents, children and WIFE”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See, for Syrian air, there are no female frequent flyers, the idea is just inconceivable; or at least, a woman flying 8 times a year (or 4 times two years in a role) will, for sure, not have a husband to pass that extra ticket to! A woman will only be so pleased with getting one handout ticket a year from her husband!!

Aaaah, returning home never fails to remind me of how well regarded women are in my beloved Syria! But again, in the country of ‘Bab el Harah’ 1, 2 and 3 scheduled for next Ramadan, why should I be surprised?

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PS1:
For those of you wondering, the famous Syrian fly that is a specialty of Syrian airways did accompany us on the flight and is, according to accredited sources, a paid employee of SA and a member of the workers union there.

PS2:
If you’re flying SA, DO NOT take an aisle seat unless you’re willing to accept the risk of being burned by hot tea passed over your head without a trey and to put your hopes in the steady hand of the steward and the passengers next to you.

PS3:
You didn’t read wrong, nor did I go crazy, the safety page was for an Airbus A320 and we were flying a Boeing 747! For those of you who might wonder what’s the difference, well, the latter has 2 exists compared to 3 in the former to name one difference! I leave it to the more knowledgeable to detail further ones.
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Post PS:
I only used the word ‘Steward’ and not ‘Stewardess’ simply because it would be a more accurate description of the staff serving our beloved plane!

Home Sweet Home

Just a quick note to all of you to wish you a happy Eid. I'm spending these days back home so I can't access the blog properly and approving comments and posting new blogs isn't easy so forgive any delays and will be back once I'm in London again.

Salaam to all

SiL

In The Arms of The Angel

Spend all your time waiting for that second chance
For the break that will make it ok
There's always some reason to feel “not good enough�
And it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction, oh beautiful release
Memories seep from my veins
They may be empty and weightless, and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn
There's vultures and thieves at your back
The storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference, escaping one last time
It's easier to believe
In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness
That brings me to my knees

In the arms of an Angel, far away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here

Waiting for deliverance

Some times I feel as if I’m living my life waiting for my life to begin! Waiting to get into college, waiting for college to finish, waiting to get a scholarship, looking forward to completing my degree; waiting to get a job, waiting to buy a house; waiting for love, longing for my life to begin…
A lot of people say that life is in the journey not the destination, that so many people wait their beginning to the grave and miss out on all that matters with their constant waiting and longing and I’ve always tried not to be one of those people; I tried to enjoy every moment and live every day but what can you do with a restless mind and an even more restless soul?
I wrote before about the pursuit of happiness, how you get one moment of joy and spend your life travelling from one peak to the other, eternally seeking the Holy Grail of earthly bliss, and I’m not going against what I’ve written there, I am extremely blessed to have someone I’m walking the road with but is it wrong to ask for more?
I’m writing this blog mostly for myself, I think I need to see my own thoughts in black and white so that I can extract some sense out of them. Why have I chosen such a public space to do so? Beats me, maybe I’m too scared of digging deep into my thoughts alone, or maybe, just maybe, someone out there would have the magic answer to my constant wondering

Tranquillity seems such a far reached dream....

Apocalypto 3 and final

So, if you've been following this blog over the past couple of weeks you would realise that an earlier blog I wrote have initiated a heated discussion between 2 distinguished Syrian bloggers, Syrian Brit and Abufares! Seeking an unbiased say and because they did hijack my initial blog in their discussion, they have turned to me, one with inferior knowledge of the over all topic of the film (the final days of the Mayan civilisation) and of the finer details that make or break a film...Faced with such a burden of a task I didn't have a choice but to buy the DVD and watch it, all 139m of it, and was left with a very mixed bag of reactions.Take the historical context of the film aside, the underlying story is one shared across civilisations and times, a young man seeking to return to his home, wife and family fighting against odds to save his loved one! In that the film, while in original Mayan has delivered exquisitely, the body language, the tone of voice and some superb acting by young Jaguar Paw's wife giving birth while trying to save her first born! The anxious look of a trapped victim when someone approaches their hiding place. The combination of camera work and stunning scenery has, for me, contributed to making this film click to some extent; unfortunately, it was only to some extent!!!Films that depict a certain period in human history are always bound to cause controversy, history as we all know is told by the winners and while I couldn't help but understand Syrian Brit's view about the touch of white supremacy in the end and the showing of how barbaric the Mayans were beforehand, I can't completely agree with him. The film is trying to be true to form and whether quoting National Geographic or Wikipedia, the practices shown in the film did happen, the use of religion as a tool to control the masses by striking the fear of God/Gods in them is prescribed throughout human history and to say that it happened in a less brutal way or it should not have been shown in that light doesn't change the fact that it did. In that regard I do apologies for my two good friends here since I wont be able to give you a final saying on that side of the film...So why the hell didn't I just say that in the first 3 lines and not drag on and one like this? well simply because watching the film, I was disturbed by something other than historical accuracy and hidden agendas in the film, what caused me to pause and take a deep breath (which I did a couple times watching the film) is the amount of gore that was shown in the film, if you consider that the film was rated as suitable for 18 and older audience only for the violence content within it, you would understand what I mean! You were asked to see the gushes of blood, be so engaged in the film that you feel you can even smell it and be caught by the spray flying about with each blow. I can understand the need to be realistic but what worries me is that we live at a time when you need to be that shocking on screen in order to reach to your audience. Apocalypto, true to a long line of other films, reflects the psyche of the new generation of audience; we are faced with that gore in the papers, in our daily life and every time we switch on the TV and although disturbing in itself, what is more worrying is that we've grown accustomed to it! We don't react to such images as before, gradually, less and less things shock us and the film makers are picking up that underlying trend and responding by increasing the volume in each new production. It’s becoming a never ending cycle spiralling upwards all the time.This line of thought is not new, when I was telling my friend about watching this film and what I thought of it, he referred me to someone who has presented this argument before. Funny enough it relats to the same moviemaker, Mil Gibson's Passion of Christ! Walter Davis's article reflects on the change in the American psyche since 9/11, "the deadening of emotions" that we flee by an overdose of violence whether that violence was on screen or off! Going back to Apolcalypto, I think I should be grateful that I still cannot stomach that level of violence, that unlike my young niece and nephew, I still feel a bit uneasy at some of the scenes from CSI! And after a long thought, that gratefulness was the overwhelming idea that I ended up with!I'm really sorry SB and Abufares, I told you from the start that great sequences never happen (with the exception of Godfather 2) and this "long awaited" opinion is no difference.I enjoyed this virtual interaction over this film, and that counts as a point in its favour! I think that we should do this more often (films, books) We've already had a musical argument (abufares you remember I think ;-).And now I leave the floor to you my friends.... shoot!



(A reference should be made to a very dear friend who helped me in correcting a number of writing errors within the blog! Thanks dear, you're editorial skills are always welcomed.)

Apocalypto 2

abufares said...Welcome Back!You should review movies professionally as your reviews will certainly make me look for these titles.A movie I've seen on DVD recently was able to climb on my all-time-favorite list is Apocalypto by Mel Gibson. If you haven't seen yet, please do. I would love to read your review.27 August 2007 08:16:00 GMT

The Syrian Brit said...Welcome back..I still would love to hear about your trip.. cheesy or no cheesy, we want to hear it all!!..
Abu Fares, I really must urge you to reconsider your view of 'Apocalypto'.. There is no doubt that it is an epic by any description, and I do not dispute its 'artistic' excellence, but it contains so many inaccuracies and and down-right lies it is criminal!..Here SOME links to comments from scholars and experts on Mayan civilization, as well as others..link 1
link 2
link 3
link 4
link 5
link 6
and so on..(Otherwise, just 'google' the word 'Apocalypto', and read some of the reviews..)(So sorry, Syrian in London.. I do not mean to hijack your blog, but I really feel very strongly against the claim that the European conquestadors brought 'civilization' to South America.. What they brought was genocide, starvation, disease, and poverty!..)27 August 2007 19:12:00 GMT

Syrian in London said...Salaam AbufaresI have the film on my to watch list, not at the top though. Once i get there i will look forward to talking about it with you!Salaam27 August 2007 19:59:00 GMT

Syrian in London said...ًWow Syrian Brit, now you're making more eager to watch the film to see for myself as I can't possibly give an opinion before hand.As for hijacking my blog, please feel free at any time :-)
As it happened, your blog about your trip basically summed up all that I wanted to say, and made me think whether this is an expat’s view in general to how things are now back home.
Thanks for the visit & do drop by next time you're in London!27 August 2007 20:28:00 GMT

abufares said...I'm participating in the hijacking process Syrian in London, but please allow me to handle the Syrian Brit mano a mano.
Syrian Brit, I'm already aware of the "few" historical inaccuracies of Apocalypto. I assure you that I believe them to be more of a technical nature.
Link'>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FApocalypto&ei=oknURprJHouo0gTxgt2pCQ&usg=AFQjCNHNr-mFmoXcoSip7gBU50bwT9GkZg&sig2=qYmfaTCAYb_AR1xk3t69tg">Link 1
I did not find anything in the movie even remotely suggesting that the Europeans brought civilization to Central and South America. Au contraire, in one brief yet potent scene, it conveyed the idea that "from bad to worse". The Mayans,like almost all before and after civilizations used brutality and oppression, politically and religiously. Did it not stir any feelings of deja vu in you. Don't you think we are going through the same process right now?In light of the above, I still love this movie.Please Syrian in London help me out. Watch it soon, write a review.28 August 2007 16:17:00 GMT

The Syrian Brit said...Ya Abu Fares.. Ya Abu Fares.. P-lllease!.. Wikipedia??... I quote National Geographic, and several top archeological experts.. and you qoute Wikipedia?!...I do not dispute that the movie is quite stirring and very interesting from a purely artistic view, but hitorically, it is simply criminal.. My main objection is really to a comment you have made on my Blog, referring to Apocalypto as the best movie ever made about the World history... For a start, the Spanish did not reach America until some 400 years after the demise of the Maya as a major civilization!..And what about the last scene in the movie??.. The serene calm sea, and the Spanish galleons approaching silently and smoothly?.. To me, that suggested that they are bringing peace after the chaos.. civilization to replace brutality and lawlessness.. In fact, the Spanish Conquestadors brought death and genocide, destruction, starvation, syphilis, and other perils!.. and if you want historical comparison.. well, wasn't peace and prosperity to replace oppression and brutality what Bush promised for Iraq?!.. So, yes.. WE ARE going through the same process..As I said before, if this was just another mythical epic, I would have no serious problems with it.. and clearly, from an artistic point of view, it is a fantastic production.. but not as a historical movie..My dear Syrian in London, sorry once again for hijacking your blog.. just tell us to p*** off we outstay our welcome!.. (7akem ne7na ma mnin3ata wish!..)30 August 2007 22:01:00 GMT

abufares said...Syrian BritI interpreted that scene you mentioned differently. I felt that the message meant: "you thought you were in trouble before??? You haven't seen anything yet."I stated on your blog that it's one of my favorite all-time movies and that I consider it the best historical movie ever and I reconfirm my position. Probably, its minor inaccuracies and its superb artisitic qualities made it universal in a sense. It's about civilization and it metaphorically applies to all.31 August 2007 08:19:00 GMT

The Syrian Brit said...Abu Fares,I must admit I did consider your version for interpretting that scene.. However, I felt that was so 'un-Mel Gibson'.. certainly totally unlike the 'new' Mel Gibson, with his new-found religious ideas and beliefs..Nevertheless, I think we are in agreement that the movie is an epic in terms of its impact and artistic excellence. However, I still do not agree that it is a historical document, and I am still of the belief that it contains so much 'White Supremacy' connotations as to make it rather difficult to swallow..I guess that is one thing that we will have to agree to differ upon..Thank you for an interesting debate, Abu Fares.. and thank you, Syrian in London, for allowing us the space to do it.. 01 September 2007 11:44:00 GMT

abufares said...Syrian in London
Shoot us out of our misery. Watch the damn movie, give us a piece of your mind and put an end to our childish squabbles. BTW, it was indeed a good debate.AND, SiL do you like chocolate? Ice cream? m&m's? a good bottle of wine? (p.s. I'm trying to bribe you so that the review goes in my favor)IN TRUTH, SiL... I would love to have all of the above with you :-)01 September 2007 15:31:00 GMT

Syrian in London said...Dear Abufares & syrian Brit, this has been a most intresting discussion & I have already bought the dvd (couldn't wait till I borrow it) & planing to watch it tonight & hopefully comeback to u this weekend.Now abufares, trying to influance me? Shame on u (I love chocolate anyway) ;-)
01 September 2007 16:07:00 GMT

Apocalypto 1