Exchange; Yoga pt. 3

I met with Manhal again on Sunday and this time we discussed the differences in the university systems in Syria and in the US. It was a conversation I had begun with Oubai, as he was explaining to me a few days ago over lunch about his law studies. He is home for one month to study law and take 5 tests, then he will return to Saudi to his job. As I learned, this is his 3rd year at the university (out of 4 years) and there are 12 tests a year but the classes are not mandatory. Therefore he takes his books and does the readings/studies on his own and comes home only to take the tests. However his university is new and private, so it is on a different system than the government universities. This is what I learned/understood from my two conversations with Manhal and Oubai:

In high school you study all the subjects, as per usual, then at the end of your 4th year you take a series of tests. Depending on your test scores, you will be told what your career options are. For example, if your overall scores are 235 out of 240, you can go to the university to be a doctor. If they are 230 you can be a dentist, if they are 225 you can be a lesser-form-of-doctor and so on and so forth. Basically the ‘smartest’ students can take the best jobs and such. Manhal said he wanted to be an economist but that required a score of 201 and he scored 200, aka an agricultural engineer. Oubai’s scores directed him towards mechanical engineering. Additionally you have your scores from your individual subjects. If you scored 29 out of 30 in English you can study English literature. If you only got a 25, you can be a translator, etc. So you have “choices” based on your individual scores and then a choice in a broader career path (like engineering or medicine that is not confined to one subject) based on your overall score. You write down your preferences and then you are told which you can pursue and which you cannot. Then you have, I think, two years to enter a government university or else you lose the opportunity. University is free and you take classes only in the subject of your specialization.

If you don’t want to follow this system, you can attend one of the newer private universities which obviously cost money but allow you to choose your own concentration. Oubai left his university after two years of studies, worked for a while, then began studying law in a private university. Manhal decided instead to attend a virtual university and study computer science, which he couldn’t do in a public university because his scores weren’t high enough. Knowing Manhal and his lack of interest in anything outside of computers and the internet, the idea of him working as a farmer is a little ridiculous. He takes English classes at the University of Damascus, the same school as me, because some of his classes in the higher levels of computer science will be in English.

So as you might imagine, this system creates a few problems with the young people of Syria. As Oubai explained, it creates spiritual problems because you are not able to choose your own career and goals in life. As I talked about with Manhal, students enroll in university only because it is free, then they use it as a social base to meet people and hang out but never need to go to class. More importantly, you can delay your compulsory military service (for men) if you are studying, working abroad, have serious physical problems (ex. bad eyesight) or if you pay a certain amount after a certain number of years (Oubai has all of these excuses).

In return I explained the American process for applying to college and what stress and trauma it causes for our high school youth, though it seemed a little trivial after hearing about the situation here. At the same time, we have some of the same issues about choosing your own path in life, though our pressures come from society rather than the government. And regardless of how much money you pay to go to college, students will always be skipping class for parties and social joys and to delay the inevitable onset of responsibility and adulthood.

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After talking with Manhal, I went on to my yoga class. This time there were 4 ! mats laid out on the floor, all facing the middle of the room with a candle at the center. A few minutes into our lesson Sandy and I were joined by another woman, and for the rest of the class Sandy switched between Arabic and English, which was good practice for me as much as it was for her. We did fewer stretches overall, instead we took some time to sit and talk (while Sandy translated) about why we practice yoga and what ‘positive thinking’ means. I explained that I don’t think that yoga directly affects my life and makes me a better person, rather I practice it because it fits into my lifestyle and the way I look at myself and the rest of the world. I prefer it to working out and like the fact that it stretches your whole body instead of just certain muscles and it encourages awareness of simple things like breathing and movement and your own physical needs. And for me positive thinking is not so much thinking that everyday is going to be perfect and beautiful but instead it is more about accepting my lack of flexibility or lack of strength in some areas and working to improve it slowly through practice.

[If I felt like turning this blog into something more introspective I might discuss the connection between accepting my physical body for what it is while working with it to the best of my abilities and my situation living here, in a strange and unfamiliar country and culture, confronted with new sources of self-doubt and self-consciousness. But alas it is not.]

So then Monday in class Hajer went around and asked everyone what they did the day before, and I said I had been to my yoga class. Immediately several of the people in class asked “where” and “when” and “how much” and such. So much for my private lessons! Another friend of mine, Frank, the one who saw the ad for the yoga class in the first place, decided to join the class too, so yesterday he came with me. The studio is called “Me and Mommy” so it is definitely geared toward a target audience. It has a mini spa with sauna, jacuzzi, massage tables, manicure room etc. The walls are purple, the stairs are white and sparkly, the curtains are sheer white with purple tassles and the mood lighting is purple, including the purple candles. Needless to say, after our class was over and Frank decided he would come again, he asked me worriedly why there was no one else in the class and said he didn’t know if he could handle being the only (male) student in this overly-feminine environment. I reassured him that two more students from my Arabic class would be coming next Sunday and hopefully they will stick around while I am travelling so Frank will not be alone.

So I’m going to be travelling for the next few weeks! Next Tuesday I think I will be going back to Beirut to visit because 1) my aunt Marilyn and cousin Marisa from home are coming Sunday for vacation to see the fam and 2) the weekend after my mom is flying in. Then my mom and I will travel to Aleppo I think for a few days, then back down to Damascus where my dad is flying in on Friday the 20th. We’ll be in Damascus for a few days, making day trips to nearby sites and exploring the city, maybe visit Palmyra in the East for an overnight, then down to Jordan to stay in Amman for a few nights and see Petra, Wadi Rum and such. Then they leave from Amman on the 28th and I don’t have class until April 20th…so what to do? Stay in Jordan and travel alone? (Actually I do know some students from Georgetown studying there this semester, maybe I can visit them, though I don’t know if they are free to travel). Come back to Syria and see more of the country on my own? (Not necessarily recommended for young female travellers, yet when else will I be able to do it?) Stay in Damascus and study independently with a private tutor? Go back to Lebanon and do something new, like hike on the Lebanese Mountain Trail (but still, alone)? I vote we make this like a “make-your-own-adventure” story and you can decide for me.