Leaving Damascus 

After the development of events in our residential area and because of my father's fear for us, my father made his decision to travel out of Syria.
The best option was Jordan, where it was the only country to allow Syrians to travel to.
I remember when I was lying in the living room in the evening with its lights off and our big 50-inch TV light was enough to light up the whole room. And my mom and sister were watching Arab Idol, and I heard my dad from the next room talking on the phone to one of his friends, and I didn't know he was planning to travel at the time.
And on Thursday evening, when my dad got back from work, he brought a lot of bags and told my mom
that we had to prepare for Monday morning travel.
Yes.. it was so sudden and so fast that they don't remember how they told us, and I certainly don't remember either, I was just 10 years old, but I remember they told us that we wouldn't stay long, and we'd stay for a little while and come back.
We started packing on the same night. I remember very well my refusal to empty my school bag (because travel was on my school days) because of my love for that school, and I didn't even get out from it the sandwich that my mum made to me that day thinking that when I came back I'd be able to eat it.
And we continued the process of packing bags that were limited to clothes, and in our house we left everything in the same way, and we wrapped the furniture, unloaded the fridge, turned off the electricity
and closed the windows tightly.

بعد تطور الاحداث في منطقتنا السكنية وبسبب خوف والدي علينا اتخذ ابي قراره في ضرورة السفر والخروج من سوريا و كان افضل خيار للسفر هو الاردن حيث كانت الدولة الوحيدة التي تسمح بسفر السوريين اليها
اذكر جيدا عندما كنت مستلقية في غرفة الجلوس في المساء واضواءها مطفأة وكان ضوء تلفازنا الكبير ذو ال50 بوصة كفيل بانارة الغرفة كاملة وكانت امي واختي معي نشاهد برنامج arabs got talent وسمعت صوت ابي من الغرفة المجاورة يتحدث عبر الهاتف مع احد اصدقاءه لم اعلم انه كان يخطط للسفر في ذلك الوقت
وفي مساء يوم الخميس وعندما عاد ابي من العمل احضر معه العديد من الحقائب واخبر امي انه يجب علينا التحضير للسفر في صباح يوم الاثنين .. نعم كان الموضوغ مفاجئ وسريع لهذه الدرجة ...لدرجة انهم لا يذكروا كيف قاموا باخبارنا و انا بالطبع لا اذكر ايضا ولكن اذكر انهم اخبرونا اننا لن نبقى طويلا و سوف نبقى لمدة قصيرة ونعود
بدأنا في حزم اغراضنا في نفس الليلة اذكر جيدا رفضي لافراغ حقيبة مدرستي (لان السفر كان في فترة دوامي المدرسي) بسبب حبي لتلك المدرسة و لم اخرج منها حتى سندويشة اللبنة التي اعددتها امي لي في ذلك اليوم ظنا مني اني عندما اعود من السفر سوف استطيع اكلها
في عملية حزم الحقائب التي كانت مقتصرة على الملابس اما منزلنا ف تركنا فيه كل شيء كما هو وقمنا بتغليف الاثاث و تفريغ الثلاجة واطفاء الكهربائيات واغلاق النوافذ باحكام

Lasciando Damasco 

Con lo sviluppo degli eventi nei pressi di casa nostra, mio padre iniziò a temere per la nostra incolumità e decise che avremmo lasciato la Siria. La scelta della Giordania fu obbligata, unico paese aperto ai siriani.
Ricordo quella sera, ero sdraiata in soggiorno con le luci spente, la luce del grande televisore da 50 pollici bastava ad illuminare l'intera stanza. Mia madre e mia sorella stavano guardando Arab Idol,
io sentivo mio padre parlare al telefono dalla stanza accanto con uno dei suoi amici,
non sapevo che proprio in quel momento stesse programmando la partenza.
Giovedì sera tornò dal lavoro portando molte borse e disse a mia madre che dovevamo prepararci per il viaggio, saremmo partiti lunedì mattina.
Sì..fu così improvviso e veloce che oggi non ricordano come ce lo dissero, di sicuro non lo ricordo io che avevo solo 10 anni, ricordo solo che ci dissero che non saremmo rimasti a lungo, solo per un po' e poi saremmo tornati.
Iniziammo a fare le valigie la sera stessa. Ricordo molto bene il mio rifiuto di svuotare lo zaino della scuola – avremmo viaggiato in un giorno di scuola – amavo così tanto andarci, non tolsi nemmeno il panino che mia madre mi aveva preparato pensando che avrei potuto mangiarlo al mio ritorno.
Continuammo a preparare i bagagli mettendoci solo i vestiti, lasciammo la casa com'era, i mobili avvolti,
il frigorifero vuoto, l'elettricità spenta e le finestre chiuse, ermeticamente.