I was living in Aleppo but I very seldom meet people in Syria from other cities like Damascus, Homs, or Latakia… and now in Istanbul I am seeing a lot of people from different areas in Syria, and this is the first time I discover them, or know them… When I was in my city I just knew two or three people from other cities… and here Syrians are so mixed… they didn’t come from just one area or one city, they come from all areas in Syria… and the problem in Syria, it collected us…
I don’t know what else I should say, this is my feeling. I’m finished…
There are a lot of areas in Istanbul that make me remember Aleppo, like Ottoman mosques, which make me remember the old city of Aleppo, especially the stone, which paves the street next to the old tunnel in Istiklal Cadessi. It’s a similar stone which paved the old city of Aleppo… and another thing is the sound of the ezan, and the people… how they are looking here, makes me remember my city… and also the food is very similar…
…And you can feel the difference but it is not such a big difference.
…And you can feel the difference but it is not such a big difference.
There are not many green areas in my city but there are big gardens, like public gardens in Aleppo, which were built after Syria established its independence… and there is another garden called Al-Sabil, which was built in former years during the Ottoman period in Syria.
The green area is outside Aleppo, when you go north and northwest of Aleppo, like Jabal al Akrad, and the northeast of Aleppo is farm area… and there are some forests in the west, but it’s scattered and not connected… the scope of a few forests. And people living inside the city, they just have a green belt around the city, like Almouhalak, where the green belt is with a width no more than 20 meters… and a lot of Aleppo families go to this green belt, which is such a small green area, on weekends and on Fridays...
…And anyway, there are some kind of trees still stuck in your mind, like Aleppo pine, which you can find only in Aleppo, and north of Aleppo… and this tree gives the vegetation character of the city...
The green area is outside Aleppo, when you go north and northwest of Aleppo, like Jabal al Akrad, and the northeast of Aleppo is farm area… and there are some forests in the west, but it’s scattered and not connected… the scope of a few forests. And people living inside the city, they just have a green belt around the city, like Almouhalak, where the green belt is with a width no more than 20 meters… and a lot of Aleppo families go to this green belt, which is such a small green area, on weekends and on Fridays...
…And anyway, there are some kind of trees still stuck in your mind, like Aleppo pine, which you can find only in Aleppo, and north of Aleppo… and this tree gives the vegetation character of the city...
...But I don’t know...it’s so big question...sometimes I’m feeling I just want to stay here, and after sometimes I just want to go to my city... to my atmosphere... very comfortable, and with my family... I don’t know, it’s too confused for me...
I try not to talk so much, I talk so shortly... I try not to give everything so vividly... I just spend my time and go…
I had a dream that I went to my shop of my father...you know, it’s destroyed now in my city...and it’s so clean, so beautiful, everything is so nice...but nobody works there, just my father and my cousin... just my father comes to me and hugs me and says...I miss you so much, I want to meet you... we didn’t see each other for a long time...so I’m really really happy with that... but it’s really a short dream... and it finished...
So I just woke up and speak with him and said I’m really happy to see you in my dream... yes... I called him... so I think I really wish to go... I seldom wish to go to my city...but after that I wake up and want to go...
You know our family is together, my uncles and grandmother...and my grandmother is sick a little bit and she cannot go out... she don’t want to go out ... I live all my life there and I don’t want to go out of my house she said...In fact, I don’t ask her about it...I just say hello, how are you, are you good? It’s just like... I wish you best... you will be very great... like... you will be teaching in university and she just wishes me the best, but I’m just okay... I hope she is just okay...but she didn’t speak with me about this thing because she just wanted to hear me and me hearing her... and we just speak in this way...
You know our family is together, my uncles and grandmother...and my grandmother is sick a little bit and she cannot go out... she don’t want to go out ... I live all my life there and I don’t want to go out of my house she said...In fact, I don’t ask her about it...I just say hello, how are you, are you good? It’s just like... I wish you best... you will be very great... like... you will be teaching in university and she just wishes me the best, but I’m just okay... I hope she is just okay...but she didn’t speak with me about this thing because she just wanted to hear me and me hearing her... and we just speak in this way...
It’s okay now, it’s enough.