Keep The Meter Running with Kareem Rahma

My taxi driver Eugene took me to his Russian bathhouse in Brooklyn and cured my depression.

00:00 Take Me to Your Favorite Place
00:53 Meet Eugene, the Retired Cab Driver
01:49 Eugene Escapes the Soviet Union
02:49 The Loneliness of Driving a Taxi
03:45 Grief & Healing
04:11 First Time at the Russian Banya
05:29 Meeting Eugene’s Old Taxi Friends
06:55 Inside the Steam Room
07:30 Politics in the Sauna
08:32 Ice Cold Plunge
09:20 Russian Vodka Rules
10:00 The Venik Massage Experience
12:22 “He Beat the Depression Out of Me”
12:47 Russian Food & Vodka Toasts
14:58 Eugene’s Craziest Taxi Story
15:40 A Bear Gets in the Cab
17:26 Leaving the Banya
18:00 What Eugene Taught Me About Life

Exploring the House of Saint Ananias, an ancient underground chapel in Damascus, Syria, said to be the site where Saul was baptized before becoming known as Paul the Apostle.

I asked a cab driver in Damascus, Syria to take me to his favorite place and keep the meter running. He showed me a Damascus I never could have found on my own.

0:00 Hailing a cab and meeting Bashar
1:02 Opening Titles
3:05 Coffee & Memories
5:36 Damascus
10:40 Entering the Old City
14:24 The Nameless Breakfast Spot
19:55 A 1,300-Year-Old Mosque
24:43 A Syrian Feast
27:23 Basketball in Damascus
30:07 Day 2 in Damascus
33:39 The House of Saint Ananias
34:20 Doubts in Faith After War
36:02 What Happened in Jobar
39:03 The Ruins of His Childhood Home
40:27 The Best Shawarma in Damascus
41:53 Mount Qasioun
45:35 135-Year-Old Ice Cream
50:10 Saying Goodbye
53:24 The Final Fare

NEW EPISODE OF KEEP THE METER RUNNING IS LIVE NOW ON @YouTube

Keep The Meter Running S1E3 streaming now on @YouTube