As customers came and went, we spoke English. He told me he listens to English conversation tapes. Humor helps to surmount language barriers. Syrians and I found ourselves laughing at the same things. Often it revolved around the absurdity of a grown man, namely me, communicating in childlike ways.
Generosity is an appealing quality.
The Ferris-wheel operator in Latakia, Syria's main Mediterranean port, who insisted on giving my companions and me free rides. The children who presented us with pomegranates at a Crusader castle in the countryside. Strangers who invited me into their homes and offered refreshment, with no expectation of a reward. A man on the street offering me bread he had just purchased. Driving across the Syrian desert on our way to the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, we came upon two Bedouin boys tending a herd of camels.