Napoli Beirut

... What would be a four lane roadway back home is about 7 or 8 here and nothing really moves when you have thousands of subcompact pieces of **** spewing exhaust while trying to outmaneuver their neighbor. If our van's bumper was more than a foot away from the car in front, someone would slide right on in with loud constant honking.<br><br>Sitting in the front seat brought all this up close and personal and even more so because this was one of those vans with ...

... the Mediterranean. The amount and variety of food was overwhelming with dishes piled high. It culminated in goat liver, spleen, and brain. I liked the first, tried the second, and drew the line at the third. I'm just now realizing that by the time we got to Lebanon I was suffering from a bit of camera fatigue and I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to--especially of my Tata and family.

... with Lebanese children since the war in 2006 and had a very interesting cup of tea with the volunteers there. The next day was a trip to Byblos, which is argued to be one of the oldest dwellings in the world. Excavations show that it was inhabited at least 7000 years ago, and I spent the afternoon wandering around prehistoric, neolithic, and chacolithic ruins, all in differing states of ruinedness, aswell as a crusader castle, the port and the beach. It was a nice wee town, and ...

... is what the life of a refugee is all about. The people were quite friendly with us although the kids were acting like troublemakers. One kid actually snuck behind Suzuki and out his hands over Suzuki's eyes and pretended to point a gun to his head. I didn't think this was funny but the kids did. I guess they knew we were on edge and wanted to screw around with us. Another group of kids yelled out "F*&amp;K YOU" to us a few times but we didn't think much of it. The way they said it ...

... 305;n the club but that qu&#305;ckly changed. We danced unt&#305;l sunr&#305;se. The n&#305;ght was probably one of the most crazy, out of control, FUN n&#305;ghts ever. We managed to rack up a $330.00 USD b&#305;ll, &#305;nclud&#305;ng a 100.00 bottle of standard vodka. Back home this should have been like 12 bucks. It was def&#305;n&#305;tely a n&#305;ght for the record books, &#305;n more ways than one!! But so much fun. Every now and then &#305 ...

... the wealthy, at least, speak French like native speakers, to the point that some kids we met alternate between French and Arabic from sentence to sentence, or even word to word. Everyone jokes that the Lebanese speak three languages before they even start talking, "Hi. Keef-ak. Ca va?" And it's true. One dude at the bar told us that it was a class issue, because you learn English "on the street" whereas there are two types of ...

... pristine new development projects, replaced instead by manifest poverty. In a strange way it reminded me of a car ride I'd once taken from the rich north to the ghettoised south side of Chicago, the same depressing feeling washing over me as I witnessed before my own eyes two different worlds in one city. Yet that comparison only took me so far and, as we entered deeper into the Hizbullah strongholds, what we saw was not poverty alone; this was a war zone, and I had ...

... as well as Scott who is also with YFC and from Illinois and Maher. As always, wonderful food and company. Their building has a great view of the city. It was cool to go in one of the new highrise developments and see the view. A very warm, cozy feel to the place and I felt very at home. I would have liked to have stayed longer. Nancy reminded me of Aunt Ann and I had that overall comfy, cozy at-home Thanksgiving dinner feel. Plus I was stuffed and warm and worn out :) A good day!

... of the mezza dished were intended for consumption with bread, so as we fell deeper and deeper in love with the mezza concept, successive baskets of fresh pita kept arriving at the table to fuel the feast. By the time our main course came, we were hardly able to sample the succulent grilled chicken, lamb, and kafta that comprised our main meal. We had read that in the Lebanese cuisine is the best in the region, and by the time our first real meal was done we had become true ...

... to visit last. Baalbek was the 'Sun City' of the ancient world, and is possibly the site of the most impressive roman ruins in the Middle East. Modern day Baalbek is a seat of Hezbollah and is somewhat renowned for anti-western politics. It is difficult to ignore the reminders of Hezbollah - the yellow and green flags (complete with machine gun insignia) are everywhere. The ruins themselves are absolutely breathtaking. The complex comprises the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bacchus ...