Whats happening in Syria???? I have NO IDEA!

          As I said in my previous post I really have no idea what is going on in Syria. Even though I live here what I see in the street and what I see on the news seems to be completely at odds with each other. I have however noticed a change in the mood in Aleppo. Just a week ago I was complaining that I couldn’t sleep at night because of all the young guys driving around honking their horns and cheering for Bashar until 3 in the morning. Now I am sleeping quite well and the number of flags and Bashar window decals has decreased dramatically. I have also noticed a change in the attitude of the Syrians I know here. At first they would all tell me not to worry and that nothing could really happen in Syria, and that everyone loved Bashar. Now they seem worried, and tell me not to travel in certain areas. Personally I think the Syrian people have plenty of reasons for revolution, and this idea does seem to be spreading despite concessions from the government. Sadly many of these concessions come at the same time as security forces are using live ammunition on protesters, which has caused a lot of hostility from the people towards their government. I still think the media has been irresponsible and tried very much to make Syria out to be the same as Egypt, when it is obviously not the same, but I wouldn’t say that nothing is happening here. The question of what is happening or what will happen is completely over my head though, and I think it’s completely over the heads of most people. So just keep that in mind when reading or watching CNN or Aljazeera. They like to pretend they know what’s happening and what will happen, but I’m pretty sure they are as clueless as I am.

            On a completely different note I have decided to leave Syria a few weeks early on May 1st. This really has very little to do with the situation here since I don’t even have a good idea what the situation is here. The only reason I would say it has anything to do with the unrest in Syria is because it will allow my mother to sleep better at night. The real reason I have decided to leave a little early is financial. I came here under the pretence that I would be working enough to pay for Arabic lessons and save money. This has not turned out to be the case. I will be lucky if I come home having saved enough to cover the cost of the plane ticket to get here. Also my chances of finding good summer employment are greatly increased by coming home a little early. My Arabic has greatly improved and so I can say I accomplished my main goal of coming to Syria and now it is time to go home.

My plan as of now is to be home in Chicago for the summer and then head to Jerusalem at the end of August to begin a Jewish studies program at Pardes. I have a lot of other plans for what I will do while I am at Pardes including bringing as many fellow students as are willing over to the other side of the wall, and volunteering at the Jewish/Palestinian Pre school at the YMCA in Jerusalem, but those stories will have to wait for “A Jew in Palestine….. Jerusalem Edition.”

What Revolution???

            If I didn’t have access to the news and someone asked me if there was anti government sentiment in Syria I would laugh at them.  Since Friday Aleppo has seen only mass support for Bashar Assad, the president of Syria. The roads are clogged with people driving their cars, plastered with pictures of the president, around playing loud patriotic music, honking their horns and shouting chants in support of Bashar. It’s actually rather annoying since they tend to continue well past my bed time. Luckily, I do have access to the news, so I have seen, heard and read about what is happening in many parts of Syria. People are demanding justice and large government reforms, and as of yesterday it seems they may be getting what they want.

            The whole situation is very confusing to me. I see and read about mass protests in other parts of Syria, and then see hundreds maybe thousands of people in Aleppo loudly showing their support for the president. Also while watching a report on Aljazeera the other day I noticed they made a point of saying that even in Daraa while people were protesting for reforms they WERE NOT calling for Bashar to step down. It seems he really is quite popular, and from what I have read it seems like he does actually want to make reforms, but there is some question as to how much control he really has.

Another interesting thing is that while I have seen mass showings of support for the president. The media, even beloved Aljazeera, as been slow to publish anything about support for the president, and even when they do it is at the bottom of an article about people being killed in a protest against the government. On Friday night while watching Aljazeera on TV there was a protest against Aljazeera in Damascus for not showing the whole story, and hundreds of people threatened to storm the offices of Aljazeera if they didn’t start to report on both sides of the story. I can’t pretend that I have and real idea of on what’s going on here, but it does look an awful lot like the media wanted Syria to be like Egypt so they made it look like that as much as possible and ignored everything else. Which is not very responsible journalism if you ask me.

The last thing that has confused me are the stories coming out of Latakia. This is a port town that is rather heterogeneous compared to most other small towns in Syria. There were large protests there for reforms in government, but the state run news claimed there were also unknown people shooting randomly at protesters and security forces alike, and this is why the security forces had to open fire. It is also why the army was called up to intervene in Latakia. The director of my school told me his sister lives in Latakia and she said a lot of this was true. He told me bashar’s uncle who was sent to Paris while ago has been trying to cause problems, and sectarian strife in the hopes claiming power in Syria later on.

            I cannot verify the truth of anything I have written here except for the support I have seen with my own eyes in Aleppo, and even then I have no way of knowing what the true motivation behind that show of support is. If I have learned anything from the last few days its that all major news agencies are also businesses and as unbiased as they claim to be everything must be taken with a grain of salt, because you never really know whose truth they are reporting, and why.

            For all the worriers I am completely safe and sound, I actually spent all of Saturday in Turkey, which was fun and weird. The idea of driving over a border and suddenly not understanding anything I read or hear is very bizarre. We went to Ghazziantep, which is a very nice little city, and I had a lovely day with my Arabic teacher eating the best Baklawa (baklava) I’ve ever had, and wandering around the city. I think we are going to Antakia (another city in Turkey) next Friday, so we shall see how it compares. Also last Friday I went on a field trip to Kassab a small town in the mountains, and had an awesome day playing in the woods, speaking Arabic and making new friends. So besides political strife things are definitely looking up for me in Syria.

People Can Surprise You... For Better and For Worse

            So I want to make a clarification. I don’ t think the average person in Syria would have a problem with the fact that I am Jewish. I don’t even think they would have a problem with all my time in Israel/Palestine once I explained my uber lefty leanings. The reason I can’t tell any one here who I am or where I have spent most of my time the last few years is because of the security forces in the government. From what I have read it seems they are not as bad as they used to be, but there is still a sense here that there is always someone listening, and while I would like to trust every new person I meet, there is really no way for me to know who they really are. I know I’m making this sound like a spy movie, and its really not. I just wanted to make it clear that the average Syrian does not hate Jews and it’s only for fear of being over heard by the wrong person that I stay quiet.

            Along those same lines I wanted to share two stories to give a small picture in to the minds of an average Syrian. Keep in mind though that my sampling is very small so maybe average is not the right word. The first story made me a bit sad but I think was positive in the end.

            I was teaching my second level English class, which consists of two teenage boys who are cousins, and two University students one woman and one man. I was teaching the words most and least, after teaching any vocabulary I try to get the students to use the vocabulary as much as possible in sentences, or by answering questions, so when I asked them which was the least popular football (soccer) team and the first answer was “the Jewish one” I was not prepared. This was not the first time I had heard someone fail to make the distinction between Jewish and Israeli, but it never gets easier. I decided, especially since the student who said this is about 16, that I needed to educate, at least, my four students on the difference between Israelis and Jews, and why it is important to make the distinction. In the end the instigator apologized, and I felt a little better.

            Story number two is a little more positive. I mentioned my wonderful Arabic teacher here before. Some times I think if it wasn’t for her I would have just given up and gone home early. She is truly above and beyond any teacher I have had. She has taken me all over Aleppo, brought me to her house, and to the school she works at. She has become a close friend as well as my Arabic teacher. She is Muslim, wears Hijab (head scarf) and doesn’t drink eat pork etc…, but she is very open about other peoples life styles, and she is now the fourth person who knows I am Jewish, although I haven’t mentioned my time in Israel/Palestine yet I probably will before I leave. She has a master’s degree in Semitic languages, so she actually knows Hebrew, only biblical Hebrew but still impressive. I’ve had a feeling they she knew something for awhile, because since she knows Hebrew she probably notices that most of my grammatical and even some vocabulary mistakes in Arabic are because I am thinking in Hebrew. I still didn’t want to say anything though until one day after she took me to the school she works at.

            The school is a Muslim elementary school on the out skirts of Aleppo. It is called Al Quds School or Jerusalem School.  It was strange for me to walk in to a school in Syria with a giant picture of the Dome of the Rock on the front gates, but I didn’t think too much about it until a few hours later during the third class. I don’t even remember how it came up, but some how the topic of Jews and Israel was raised, and I heard my Arabic teacher say almost the same thing to her students as I had to my small English class just a few days before. For me it was uplifting to hear a Arab teacher explain to her Arab students that there was a difference between Jews and Israelis and that is was important to make the distinction. Also at one point one of the students asked her if I was Jewish because of my name, which is also an Arabic name, but as I am obviously not Arab they were curious. Her response was that she didn’t know, but that maybe I was and it shouldn’t matter any ways, people are people no matter what. I wish I could have video taped this and shown it to all those people in America who think all children learn in school in the Middle East is how to hate Americans. Those people should really meet my Arabic Teacher.

It is so sad to think there used to be sizeable Jewish populations in Damascus, Aleppo, and a few other cities, and now they are all gone except for about 40 left in Damascus.  There is no example of a Jew who is not an Israeli for Syrians to see in the streets. Most of my students have never left the Middle East or even Syria, so it is more than likely they have never met a Jew, or if they did they didn’t know, for example me.   I would love to tear off my mask and tell them that I am sad I wont be celebrating Purim or Pesach this year, but its really not a good idea, so I will have to do what I can in the confines of my public identity, and hope that there are enough other teachers like my Arabic teacher to stop this generation from growing up thinking Jew and Israeli are synonymous, and that a person’s religion or nationality matters more than their humanity.

Actually the way things are going right now I think we could use a few more teachers like that in America as well.

Sorry Syria I think I liked being a Jew in Palestine more :)

So several people have asked for an update on my life in Syria, and while we all know I am the world’s worst blogger I figured I could at least try for once a month. sorry its long!

I had two weeks before I started teaching when I first got here. I spent some time getting to know Aleppo, and then went to Damascus to visit an old friend and play tourist for while. The old city of Damascus is amazing. I wandered in it for hours, and still didn’t see everything. The best part though was meeting one of the few Syrian Jews still left in the country. The friend I was staying with knows him, and she introduced us. He told me there are only about 50 Jews left in the country, and people just keep leaving. He took my friend and I to one of the few Synagogues still in use in Damascus. It was beautiful, but also sad to see all the aging books, that will most likely never be replaced by new ones, as there would be no one to read them. I also got the opportunity to meet up with a professor I know who was leading a study trip in Syria, as well as a friend whom I had met on a similar trip in Israel/Palestine last year. It was nice to see some familiar faces in such a foreign country, and I felt energized and ready to start teaching and studying when I came back to Aleppo.

My main goal in coming to Syria is to improve my Arabic, and so far that part of the plan is going very well. I have an amazing Arabic teacher who, on top of giving me private lessons 3 days a week, has also been taking my on mini field trips on my days off. She is also working with a group of students from Universities in Washington DC, who are here for a few months to learn Arabic. She has taken me to a few of their events and will be taking me on any of the sight seeing trips they go on, which is nice, because most of the people I’ve met here have been here for awhile so they’re not so in to sight seeing on the weekends.

So far I am really enjoying teaching English. I have to say teaching English to adults who actually want to learn the language is definitely easier than teaching Hebrew to 12 year olds who would rather be playing Nintendo. The lesson plans are pretty much done for me. I just have to adapt them a little to each class, and if there is time try to add some games or other fun activities. My students range in age from 13 to middle age, but most of them seem to be around my age, so it is easy to connect with them, and keep the class from getting boring.  One of my younger students is named Hiba, and while she is only the third Hiba I’ve ever known I think there must be some kind of magic to this name where you must be adorable if you have it.

It has also been very interesting seeing the reactions of my students to the events in Egypt. People here do not talk about politics. There is great fear of the security forces here. You never know who could be listening or even if you do know who’s listening you never know who they might be working for. Even with all this though I can tell people are very interested in Egypt. Every television in every shop I pass is tuned to Aljazeera and you can see people glued to those televisions watching the throngs of people in Tahrir square. It is very unlikely that something similar will happen in Syria. The economic situation in Syria is not as bad as it is in Egypt, and Bashar al-Assad, the President here is actually fairly well liked, so there is not the same mix of desperation and animosity, but who knows. Just watching the news here makes it seem like anything is possible.

So as far as studying and working go life is good, my social life, however, is another story.

I remember the first time I went to the West bank. I was about to start an Arabic language program at Birzeit University. At this point in my life I had travelled to Israel several times, but never ventured to “the other side” and here I was deciding to spend several months there. I told people I wasn’t worried, but in reality I was terrified. I was convinced I wasn’t going to be able to tell any one that I was Jewish or about my “Zionist upbringing.” That first week was hard for me, as I realized just how difficult it would be for me both practically and emotionally to keep lying to all these very nice people I was meeting.

Then, I don’t remember who exactly it was, but one of the staff at Birzeit was talking to the group and he said something that has always stuck with me. He was talking to us about Birzeit and Palestine being an open place. Where it matters more where you stand then who you are. This is when I knew it would be ok to tell the truth, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t mean to say that when I am in Palestine I run through the streets screaming I’m a Jew in Hebrew, but I am pretty open about my religion and my past with any one who I become friends with whether they be American, German or Palestinian. I have never gotten a negative reaction to my identity, at worst I get indifference, at best I get genuine interest in how a nice Jewish girl like me ended up in Palestine. This experience has been extremely positive for me, and I often share it with people I know who are still convinced that Palestinian animosity for Israel comes from hatred of Jews, and not an oppressive occupation.

About 6 months ago I was living in Bethlehem, and while I was having an amazing time I realized I was not accomplishing one of my main goals, which is to learn to speak Arabic at least on a conversational level. I had thought about going to Syria to study Arabic, because almost everyone I’ve ever known who speaks Arabic well learned in Syria. Sadly I didn’t have the funds to just run off and study. Then I hosted some couch surfers one of whom had been teaching English in Aleppo, Syria. I thought hey this is perfect. I can work to support my self and also take Arabic. So I contacted the school, had an interview, bought a plane ticket and a little over one month ago I found my self in the Damascus airport.

I had been told by friends who had travelled to Syria that its not a good idea to tell people I have been in Israel, or that I am Jewish. Here when people talk about Israel they don’t even say the actual name for fear of who might be listening. They call it Disneyland. Which is funny to me for several reasons, one that Walt Disney is fairly well known as an anti Semite, and also for the reason that while I’ve been to Israel/Palestine half a dozen times I’ve never been to Disneyland.  I heeded my friends’ warnings and even when I had my interview over skype, I told the school I was in Chicago, when I was actually in a friend’s apartment in Beit Sahour.

I knew I was going to have to be careful, but I thought this experience would be like my experiences in Palestine. I thought that I would be able to be more open about my identity after getting to know people. This has not been the case. Currently there are only three people in Syria that know that I have spent time in Palestine/Israel and that I am Jewish. In the last few weeks I have met tons of new people and always the questions are, “have I traveled in the middle east before, how did I decide to come to Syria, what was I doing before I came here, and what do I plan to do after I leave. I’ve never thought I was very good at lying, but so far I think people buy my answer of having only travelled in Jordan and Egypt, being an international relations major, wanting to work on my Arabic, and having a friend who taught at the school where I am teaching last year, which I guess is technically all true.

I have really been enjoying my time in Syria so far. I have an amazing Arabic teacher, and I am really enjoying teaching English. Its been very interesting to watch my students try to grasp my language. The people here are warm and friendly, but every time I meet a new person, and give them a false story I feel like someone is kicking me in the stomach.  It is hard to make friends when I can’t tell people about the two largest parts of my identity. I also often wonder if the Syrians would still be so warm and friendly if they knew. Deep down I think they would be. Like the teacher at Birzeit said it’s more about where you stand then who you are, but because Syria is a place where you never know who is listening and who they work for, its better if I just keep lying, as painful as that may be. I joined a gym while I’m here so I just have to hope the endorphins will keep me up beat until its time to go home 

Change is good

oh dear another month…. I think if there were an award for laziest blogger I would get it ☺
There have been some interesting changes in my life since I last wrote, and all for the better so that’s good.

First of all we started doing some painting at the center I am building for Paidia. I think the last few months I was getting a little depressed because I have not been doing what I set out to do here (play with children and speak Arabic all the time) because of the set backs Paida has experienced my role was changed from coordinator of the stepping stones program to basically manual labor and building of this leadership center. In the beginning It was fun, but then Jason was kicked out, and it was really only me and Saleem and some times various volunteers, and then Andrew came and he was supposed to take over. I was quite relieved as it was stressing me out to be in charge of something I knew nothing about. Unfortunately about three weeks after Andrew got here he had to go back home for a family emergency. Once again no ones fault, but I feel like I get left with a burden that should not be mine, and on top of everything it was just going very slowly partly because there were so few of us around to work on it, and partly because the weather started getting yucky soooo when we finally did some painting and built a path and a wall and I could actually see some progress that was exciting and made me feel a little better, and starting at the end of this month I will be spending more time on programs and less time on the center so I think that will also do me a world of good.
I also joined the gym here. Ive been meaning to do this for about 5 months, but didn’t get around to it for one reason or another. Finally I was getting so gloomy about work and bad weather that I decided I needed an endorphin fix or I was going to crash and burn, so I’ve started running again and it really is amazing the change I feel in my self.  If you are ever depressed I seriously suggest running a few miles its like drugs only legal and with less negative after effects.

Another change I have had is that I started to take a class at Pardes. Pardes is what I have dubbed the egalitarian Yeshiva that several of my friends study at. They were having a course in studying peace and conflict resolution through Jewish text and I jumped at it. I’ve been taking it now for a couple weeks and I love it. I love learning again, and the people in my class are extremely intelligent and insightful. I also just like being in a community of Jewish learning for a few hours every week. It’s very refreshing.

Experience number three is Encounter. So, many months ago my friend Robert’s wife Avi sent me an email with a job listing for the program director for an organization called Encounter. Encounter takes Diaspora Jews that are spending some time in Israel on trips to the west bank. Many of them are rabbinical students doing their year in Israel. They bring speakers and generally do their best to give as much of the Palestinian narrative as possible in 36 hours. It’s an amazing program and even though I was not really qualified for the job I applied any ways.  To my surprise I did have an interview but not the job, but a couple months ago. I heard from the director or Encounter that she would like to meet with me and see if there was a way I could work with Encounter in another capacity. So we met and had a “not interview” After our meeting I was invited to come on the next Encounter tour to see what it was they did.  I of course accepted and prepared to go on a tour of the city I live in.

The tour was two weeks ago. I call it a tour because I’m not sure what else to call it, but it was much more than that. It started with an orientation the Sunday before. We got to know each other a little bit, and talked about what to expect on the trip. It was all a bit weird for me to be with so many people who had never been to the west bank before. While I know I myself had 2 years ago almost to the day experienced the same fears and apprehensions that these people were experiencing I was still surprised at many of the questions asked, and assumptions held, and this theme continued for me for most of the trip. It started early Thursday morning. The group came from Jerusalem I met them at the Hope and Flowers school out side of Bethlehem.

I wont go in to the details of each speaker over the course of the two days, but I found I was constantly biting my tongue when someone asked a question or made a comment that I found to be outrageous The one thing I was unable to bite my tongue about was when I heard several people talking about the one sidedness of the presentations and speakers. I had a few conversations about this, and it was amazing to me that I had to explain that of course it was one sided. We already know the Israeli and Jewish narrative, and our speakers have a limited amount of time to talk to us. They’re going to use that time to tell their story not the Israeli one. While I was frustrated much of the time I did make one realization that gave me so much more respect for my fellow participants on the trip. Most of the information that we took in over the course of 36 hours I have been able to slowly take in over the course of several years, and even at that rate it was hard and painful for me. I can’t imagine hearing so much that goes against what you think you know in such a short time. It is very hard, and for the most part people were very open to listening and only wanted to learn more when the trip was over. Over all this was an amazing experience for me. I learned so much about my self and my peers. I hope our conversations will continue. I gave an open invitation to the group it they wanted to come back to Bethlehem or any where in the west bank really I would be happy to host or help. Well see what happens with that. I am also really hoping to do more with Encounter. Their work is so important, and I would be honored to be a part of it.

Ok that’s it… today is my favorite holiday Singles Awareness Day!  See my posting from two years ago to view my thoughts on this lovely day esp in this lovely country. 

Correction

sooo apparently I was misinformed. The reason the settlers refer to the structures at osh Ghrab as illegal is because technically the land still belongs to Israel. The land was confiscated by the IDF and they left but the confiscation order doesnt have an exiration date so until there is an official order for the land to be returned to the ownership of the municipality it is technically Israeli land. This however does not change the fact that the land was taken in the first place and as far as I am concerned is really Palestinian land and in no way are the settlers entitled to take it over for their own purposes.

Anarchists, left-wingers and international activists

wow a whole month has gone by. Its amazing how time flies when you’re not blogging ☺

Its not that nothing has happened I just lost my desire to write for awhile, but now it’s back in full force. I think, due two a few recent events. First was the detention and deportation of an American friend of mine, and the continued detention of another friend. Here is an article about the situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8458566.stm

If you read my earlier posting about visas you already know the situation here, and how hard it can be to get a valid visa if you are an international who is here for other than “legitimate” reasons. Ma’an is a Palestinian News agency, but Israel does not grant work visas to their journalists. Jared has been here on three month tourist visas for two years he is known by the IDF and many government officials because of his job, and it is only now that Israel claims they must deport him because he is a security threat. Jared was scheduled to have a hearing today. I haven’t heard any news yet on what happened, but it seems more than likely that he will be deported just like Faith was a few days ago. These two people are as far from a security threat as I could possible imagine. They are just internationals trying to live and work/volunteer in the west bank and according to Israel that means you are a security risk.

The other event is actually retaliation to something some friends and myself did. In Beit Sahour is there a very nice park called Osh Ghrab, where Paidia has our climbing tower. Across the road from the park and up a hill is an abandoned army base. When the IDF left this base the ownership of the land reverted back to the Beit Sahour Municipality, but there is a group of settlers who are trying to reclaim this land and take it over. They call it Shdema. They meet there almost every Friday and make speeches and are generally not nice. There used to be racisit and nationalist graffiti all over the site on the old buildings that said things like “this land is only for Jews” etc… Last Friday my self and some other people (mostly Jews) went to the site and spray painted versus from the bible and rabbinical sayings that pertain to how what these settlers are doing is against Jewish ethics and values. Such as Do not steal, do not covet your neighbor’s house etc… ask me if you want pictures. While we knew this was unlikely to unharden the hearts of the settlers we thought it may be the only way to get through to any of them. We also knew it would upset them to see they were being fought with what they think of as their own words. Sadly, we did not foresee their reaction. This past Friday they decided to retaliate by going to the Park across the road and spray painting Jewish Stars and other sayings similar to what used to be on the army base buildings all over the park. IDF soldiers that were present at the time allowed this to happen and did nothing to stop them. Arutz Sheva an Israeli right wing news agency did an article on it. (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135548)

In it I, and my friends are referred to as anarchists, left-wingers and international activists. While I don’t see any of these names as insults or negatives I do think it is interesting that they lump them all in to one category, and also that they don’t think for one moment that this was done by fellow Jews, some of whom are very pro Israel, just not pro crazy settler. In the article the settlers are referred to as Nationalist Activists and it talks about their “ongoing effort to make sure the recently abandoned military base site does not fall into enemy hands.” It also says “Shdema activists went down to the illegal structures the Arabs built at the foot of Shdema and spray painted all of the Arabs' illegal structures from within and without, on the walls, doors and floors.”

It is utterly amazing to me that someone who calls them self a journalist can actually print something like this. This land legally belongs to Beit Sahour. Im not sure what laws they are looking to when they site the buildings and climbing tower at Osh Ghrab as illegal structures. I would like to just dismiss these people and say they are the crazy minority, but they are growing and it scares me and makes me wonder if peace will ever be possible here as long as these people filled with so much hatred are allowed to have so much freedom and power.

On a lighter note, before all of this happened I had Christmas in Bethlehem! This was quite the experience. I went to my first Christmas mass at the Lutheran Christmas Church. It was nice. They had the service in Arabic, English and German, and we ended with a candle light procession while singing silent night to a reception. Then we had dinner with all 20 of us, Katie, Bethany and I all had guests. At some point all the lights went out and when they came back on there was some guy dressed as Santa Claus giving out hats, masks and noise makers. I wasn’t sure if it was Christmas or Mardi Gras. After Dinner we went to Manger Square, which is a large square outside of the Church of the Nativity. There were a bazillion people there. They had built a large stage and there were concerts and performances going on. It was pretty great. We ended the night with wine and cookies at our house. I think over all a pretty great Christmas. One thing I have learned while here is that there are three different dates for Christmas. The catholic/protestant one is Dec 25th. Then there is the Greek Orthodox Christmas, which was a week ago, and last but not least is the Armenian Christmas, which is on Tuesday. The one on the 25th is the most celebrated, but the lights stay up until after Armenian Christmas. So If you live here you get three Christmases…. Its almost as good as eight days of Chanukkah ☺