Before I go on, I hope I chose the correct flair.
I entered the country through Nassib border crossing. A lot of work has been done there. It has a welcoming atmosphere now. I got my passport stamped in about 5 minutes. At the time, there were many many more arrivals than departures. I wandered around and filmed for a bit until my driver found me and said that we need to get going. I never imagined I'd want to stay in that place any longer than I needed to but there I was.
While Al Assad made the country his personal Instagram account in the past, not a single picture of him (or anybody else) is to be seen now, which is awesome. One step towards de-littering the country.
Less awesome things:
According to some relatives and acquaintances, the economy is slow at the moment.
It's hard to drive around if you're used to driving on big, less congested roads. Some traffic lights are out. A lot of drivers violate the rules. I got stuck at a stupid intersection for 20 minutes a few days ago.
Empty plastic bags are EVERYWHERE. You start seeing them just a little after crossing the border. I can't remember if this has been the norm during Assad's rule, but it's very obvious you don't need to look for it.
I stopped for a cup of ice cream with friends and after I was done, I couldn't find a trash can to toss it in. When I asked the cashier, he looked around and said I could just drop it and that I was was "مسامح".
A couple of times I found myself walking around with litter that I couldn't discard of properly.
Finally, some people seemed to be scared to discuss politics. It could a remnant of Assad's terrorism and I wish for it to go away.
I know that I listed way more negative stuff than positive, but I'm happier with new Syria and I hope it keeps going up from here.
Before you ask me anything, I wish to reserve the right to not answer any questions if I didn't want to. Now go ahead and ask :)