Ministry of Information and the Media

Boston Time: 3:20 PM 28 May
Damascus Time: 10:20 PM 28 May

Each event we attend is a strange formal surprise, as we are always unsure of what to expect. Today we met with the Minister of Information in a press conference with some members of the Syrian media.

Syrian television camera man and microphone man.

I do not like press conferences, although I am told they are different in the states. The video and cameramen kept knocking my knees and stepping on my feet and in my sight line. The minister and his translator, as well as members of the press core, continued to talk over each other. Often, Arabic sentences or side comments were left without translations, and though they weren’t intended for the entire room, this felt a bit rude. The physical discomfort made it hard to completely focus in on the verbal content of the meeting.

The Syrian media was also present during our meeting with the Mayor of Quneitra before touring the Golan Heights. There too I felt annoyed and uncomfortable by the constant shuffle, disruption and imposition of my personal space. My face was on Syrian television news.

Be sure to read the blogs of my peers for more (actual) insight into the intense meeting.

Squirrels

Boston Time: 6:03 PM 13 May
Cairo Time: 1:03 AM 14 May

Currently, Nick and I are sitting on the sidewalk of GOAL restaurant behind our hotel. Had a very busy day and burnt out from my first 24 hours of reporting: last night at the Flamenco Festival, talking with an Al-Ahram journalist this morning, this afternoon shadowing the Arabic Dialogue students who tutor English at St. Andrew’s to refugees and then taking a mystic womb dancing lesson. As I sit here attempting to condense my day into the blog, my computer charger sitting in a plant as it dangles through the restaurant window, I am more interested in getting some video of the cat underneath a neighboring table. Cats here litter the streets like squirrels back home. Acquiring some good street-cat footage has proven more difficult than it should considering the plethora of felines roaming the city streets.