On Thursday night, I brought two of my housemates to a Julia Butros concert at the Damascus Citadel.

All of the tickets were sold out, but I was told that if we hung out in front of the entrance we could buy tickets from scalpers.

When we got there, we found that no one was willing to sell their ($10) tickets.

I asked one of the guards if we could get in anyways.

To my surprise, he told me we could get in for free.

I waved for my friends to come over, and we got in, raising our fists in the air in victory.

They asked, "How did you do that?"

I responded, "I just asked."

When we got in, there were no seats available, so we climbed onto a media truck that was filming the show.

When that truck drove away, we climbed on top of a fire truck, and I think we had the best view in the house.

When Julia sang a fast song, I said, "I feel like dancing," so we danced on the fire truck.

After a few minutes, my German housemate Eva asked, "What did you say to the firemen to get us onto the truck?"

I shrugged and said, "I just asked if we could watch the show from their truck."

She responded, "I want to go everywhere with you from now on."

... That was the fun part of our evening... On the way to the concert, my French housemate informed me that our landlord has been spying on me, going through my belongings while I'm out during the day and bringing the secret police to my bedroom.

More to come...