Dancing the Debke and Drinking the Water: My Love Affair with Syria

I am an American woman who was married to a Syrian national. We met in August 2001, at Ramina restaurant (now closed) on Peterson Avenue in Chicago, IL. I remember the exact second I laid eyes on Naeif. I was the house belly dancer, and Naeif was in the band - a talented musician, who plays the Nay. We were engaged in September 2001 and married in Chicago on January 2, 2002. Three days later, after being laid off in December from yet another dot.com job, I traveled alone to a village, Jaramana, in Syria to live with my new husband's family for three months. And this is my story . . . my continuing appreciation of the beauty of the Middle East! I revisited this story, and finally will publish it, after the Syrian war devastated this beautiful country. I wanted to finally put out the story of Syria in happier times, over the course of 2002-2005, when I experienced love, generosity and lots of fun in Jaramana, Aleppo, Tartus, Homs, Palmyra, Arneh, the Golan Heights, Lattakia, and Damascus, Syria. The Rafeh family still lives in Jaramana, Syria.