The Needy Traveler

I have a trying week up ahead: A full day of teaching on Sunday, a short day on Monday because of Parent-Teacher Interviews, a full day of teaching on Tuesday, and then a five-day weekend. (The government declared that the Prophet’s Birthday would be on Wednesday, but students, teachers, and researchers had already made plans for the holiday to be on Thursday, so there is no school that day, then comes the Friday-Saturday weekend, and Sunday is Easter!) Whew! It is going to be strenuous!

As I considered my traveling options for the weekend the other evening, I discovered that I am a bit of a needy traveler! I am perfectly willing to actually go from A to B on my own, but I am less than keen to spend a night in a hotel without a friend to talk about the day and the sights that I have seen. You may think that I am a sissy for not hoping to find another English-speaker with whom I can hang out in the hotel bar, but I simply feel like I need a daily shred of normalcy in a context that is completely different for me! This weekend might be a wonderful opportunity to visit Palmyra, but I am going to hold out until later in the month when I can find a travel buddy. (Most of the other teachers are going sightseeing in other countries, but as I have seen little of Syria itself yet, I would really prefer to stay in one country while I am here!) Instead, I plan on visiting Aleppo’s famous souqs, its Citadel, the many mosques and bathhouses that are more than a thousand years old, and nearby Apamea. I will be making my way through the twisty streets of Aleppo by myself, but at least I will be familiar with the area in which I am wandering. I should even be able to attend Catholic and Armenian Easter services with my new buddy Berdj. Yes, they will be in Arabic, and therefore no, I probably will not understand much of what is going on in the service.

Although I know I should be pushing myself out of my comfort zone, it is also incredibly important for me to be in a positive frame of mind in order to get the most out of my little adventures. (I will definitely be breaking new ground when I have to do my own grocery shopping with Arabic-speaking vendors this weekend!) I imagine that my students also want to have something familiar, even vaguely familiar, to hold onto when learning new material. Stepping into a new classroom, meeting a new teacher, or beginning a challenging new topic can be intimidating for some students, so I suppose that it is my responsibility to frame something brand new in a way that is somewhat familiar to these individuals.

So how do I ask in Arabic “What time does this bus return to the city?”