Syria is still a poor, third-world country, but at least in Halab (and probably Damascus), globalization has not passed it by. I think I read in “Culture Shock Syria” that Syria has no Coke, for example. To be fair, Coke sightings have been rare, but Pepsi is commonplace, as is Sprite and Canada Dry. I’ve also found Pringles and knock-offs of Doritos, Red Bull, and Pop Rocks in my “supermarket”. One day, in the Christian sector, I even saw a “Pizza House” restaurant with lettering that looked suspiciously like Pizza Hut. I haven’t tried it yet, though.

Explanatory note: Here, the term “supermarket” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s essentially a Kwik-E Mart. Also, while I’m talking shopping, note that a 1 litre bottle of soda costs 25 lira (about 50 cents) while Bison (the local Red Bull) costs 100 lira (or $2, roughly the same as in the US). Still can’t figure out the logic behind that one.

I was also told not to expect much English and maybe the average Syrian doesn’t know much beyond what he might have picked up on satellite, but it amazed me how much English was around – on billboards, on t-shirts, etc. One night, I was out at this place called Arabica (an outdoor café of sorts) with some locals and we were discussing Western music. They tossed out names like Michael Bolton (I had to explain his (lack of) popularity in the US), Bryan Adams (someone else explained his (lack of)), The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, etc.

Maybe it was yesterday, but recently I saw some graffiti on a wall: KoЯN. This reaffirms my belief that globalization is alive and well in Syria .