Last Night in Damascus & A Proposition for a One-Night Stand

It was our last night in Damascus. WeiChean and Arlina were too lazy, too poor and tired to go out for dinner. We had joined the excursion with the local Syrian teenagers that Chef Amir had organized the day before and it was very enjoyable as we had a good taste of a typical day in the life of Syria.

We have had dinner at Admir’s restaurant before. The food was not excellent, it was too bland for the Asian palate. I decided to go to La Roche Restaurant to visit Admir, the chef for the last time as a little gesture to thank him for all his help and making the arrangements for our taxi transfer to the airport the next day. My kind intention was not reciprocated in the way I would like though, unfortunately.

Admir, according to Arlina was 38-year-old, though he looked definitely older than that. I ordered a nuts-soup, chicken-thigh with melted cheese and a strawberry juice. Despite that fact that he has been working as a chef for many years, his culinary skills are still not up to mark unfortunately. The only reason why I went to his restaurant was because that was my little way of thanking him for helping us make all the necessary arrangements for our airport transfer, the excursion yesterday and the complimentary tea in the morning.

I went to the restaurant at about 9pm and we chatted about many things. He shared his dreams of opening his own restaurants, and poured his heart about how his last girlfriend chose not to marry him because her father works in the catering business and she saw how her mom suffered, when her dad could not be with the family on special occasions and public holidays due to work. I shared about my family members, how my twin sister is a mother of two now and what he can do to help improve his business.

During the conversation, he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I let my guard down and said admitted no.
”Oh, come on, don’t tell me you’ve never experienced love before, but why?” he asked.
He gave some sound advice, about how I should open up my social circle, meet new people and keep my options open in Singapore. To me the advice he gave was very fatherly.

Then things started getting a little bit strange. Admir asked if I would like to drink some alcohol as he has some left from the excursion. I declined politely and told him that he could drink if he wanted, but he said, he wouldn’t want to drink it alone if I was not keen to drink.

He asked if I would accept his offer since it was my last night in Damascus.
”We can be together and come back tomorrow morning,” he suggested, advancing nearer to me, conveniently placing one arm at the back of my chair.
I panicked, but manage to act cool, and said, “Thank you for the offer, but no.”

“By why? come on!” he requested.

Arlina and I had been talking about preserving and protecting our chastity during our trip from all the cheekopeh Iranian men, and I had never expected this Syrian man to be like the Iranian ones.
I said, “ oh, I prefer to keep it.” Admir pointed with his index finger at me and inched closer, “Believe me, You don’t want to keep it and I don’t want to keep it.” He obviously did not understand what I meant.

“Sorry no, I’m leaving tomorrow, I said.”, I said in a somewhat cool manner but my mind was scrambling for an excuse to get out of his restaurant.
“Come on, next month, I will be very busy and you will be very busy. Tonight is the best chance for you and me. He gave a very intense stare and I looked away, pretending to be busy with my camera. I need it and I think you need it too,” I didn’t dare look at him in the eyes but I knew he was looking for an answer from me. “No thank you, I am a conservative girl,” I said,and pretended to be very busy.
I started to side-track to many irrelevant topics, showing him photographs of other restaurants in Turkey and photographs of all the food items I’ve taken during my trip.

Thankfully, a new customer came in to order his meal. I seized the chance to pack my notes, my camera and made my quick escape out from the restaurant, when he was in the midst of talking to his customer.
“You leaving now?”
“Yes, yes, I have many things to pack in the room and it’s getting late. The girls are waiting for me. We’re leaving tomorrow and I still have many things to pack.”
He made his last attempt once more.

“Okay, you pack your bag, then you come back here. We will come back tomorrow morning.”

“No thank you, thank you and see you tomorrow morning, I said as I trailed away back to the hotel, feeling cheated of my kind intentions.

Syrians are very hospitable but the overall experience was slightly marred by this incident. Arlina said I was asking for it, as I had gone to the restaurant on my own, without the girls. Weichean said that he might have misunderstood my dinner visit to mean that I was interested in him. My conclusion and the takeaway lesson from this experience: Never reveal your single identity to the foreign men, just lie to play safe. And don’t be too friendly to the men, sometimes the men just don’t see it as genuine friendship but as a special invitation.