A Musing

If one is to assume that the President of Syria can be determined by he who has the most pictures of himself around town, it might as well be Massari.

Disclaimer: The above has since been retracted as I ventured out into the city more. I stand by my claim of oversaturation with Massuri, but I’ve seen more billboards and the like with President Assad and to a (much) lesser extent his father. The more common ones read “We are all with you Dr. Bashar” or something to that effect. My personal favorites are the car decals that people put up on their rear windshield.

 

Hey, do you remember all those crappy post-Friends shows that NBC trotted out during the 90s? You know, like Good Morning, Miami and Scrubs? They’ve been buried here on Nile Satellite. Okay, okay. Scrubs technically isn’t dead, but if one were judging based on funny, it sure is. I just find it amusing how many of those shows are here – on a Dubai-based channel, I think. They also show Friends, The Simpsons (I’ve been told, but haven’t seen it), some crappy sitcom with John Goodman and Jean Smart that I’ve never even heard of, ER, CSI, Martha Stewart, Oprah, My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss (coming soon – oh yes!), The Loop, The X-Files, and last but not least, Satan’s neverending gift to mankind, According to Jim, etc. Sadly, as yet no lovins for Dunder Mifflin or 30 Rock.

In terms of local (and by local, I mean Middle Eastern and not just Syrian) programming, I was able to catch one program of Qita’a Thalat-Ash (Block 13 – the UAE or Kuwaiti version of South Park) as well as Ramadan-favorite Tash Ma Tash. I had seen both sometime last year over the Internet, so it was nice being able to see them again.

 

A few days ago, I saw someone with a t-shirt that read “FCUK” which has something to do with Britain, if you’re not familiar with the letter arrangement. I used to have an e-mail account from them (fcuk-me.co.uk or something like that). Anyway, I ask you: how repressed are the people if the kids can go out wearing t-shirts like that? I’ve even seen some Syrian punks that remind me of Japanese punks (which is to say that they look like a twenty-year old cartoon version of 80s punk). Spiked hair, (modestly) ripped jeans and a big courduroy belt and high-tops. Yeah, it seems silly and dated, but it’s still quite interesting to see people who are pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable. I can only imagine what their parents think. I imagine that they come from the Christian portion of the population, but who knows.

 

Globaloney

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 .