The Private Hotel Beirut

It was another terrible nights sleep on the roof, for the last two hours of rest Shona continually had a fly land on her. From her face to her legs it just wouldn't go away. When Dino suggested to her that she should maybe get up earlier than planned she suggested that maybe she would like some sleep that night. Even when it was 1 minute to 8 she would not move.
Either way she was up and ready with everyone else and with in no time we had said our goodbyes to Clive ...

... was interesting how there were atrifacts from the Phonecian, Persian and Greco-Roman eras, but not from the Ottoman or French periods. Is there an intense public distaste for these times? Went to Paul for lunch. Had an omlette and a lemonade. It was quite jet-set. I felt underdressed. Walked by the French embassy. Was shocked by its sheer size. Its tall walls felt as if they were extending to infinity. Even the US consulate in ...

... buy alcool in shops! I got ready to go out one night, but the people who had invited me had turned their cell off and I couldn't reach them. Then I lost my filling eating potato chips for dinner cause I was angry.............so I thought I would have to pay for the dentist and refused the invitation of the Iranian guy in my dorm to go out and stayed in to read. It would have been interesting to see the bars ...

... you are my darling). I said no, I am not. We got off that subject and everything seemed fine (although I still had no clue where in Beirut we were). Then we started driving on a road that looked like a souq because of all the little stores with knick-knacks and food. I could tell we were in a poorer area of Beirut (whereas Hamra is not) and I started to see Hassan Nasrallah photos, whereas near Hamra there are none. So I became suspicious and started ...

While walking to get coffee yesterday, Ceren, Pinar and I were stopped by a girl who was asking for money. The weird thing was that she spoke in Turkish. Were shocked, started questioning her. She said her family moved from Antep 5 years ago and have no job now. Lebanon with Turkish immigrants... We went to Petit cafe for dinner by the bach which was amazing. The view, atmosphere, food and music. I was ashamed to have expected plain sandviches. Palestinian ...

... The higher we got, the more nervous she got. Needless to say, she was happy when we arrived safely. After a quick tour of my village we had a traditional Lebanese dinner at my uncle's house- complete with Johnny Walker and a hookah! After dinner, my cousin drove us to the coast where we were staying. It was long day and we were pooped. It doesn't look like we're going to make it to 7:30 mass tomorrow.

... the religious headress and everyone seemed to speak english (and french if you were so inclined). We wanted to go for a quiet drink but we were tired so we decided to wait till the following day (yesterday). So we wake up at about 12 becasue this was supposed to be holiday day for us. However when we ventured outside it semed all the shops had also taken our thought and taken a holiday too. The city was dead. There were a few shops open and the people we ...

... Walid then took us down to the mall in Ashrafeyah since it was too rainy and nasty out to do much else. James' friend had suggested it as one cool place to go and it was pretty fun and a good place to soak up a little of the local environment. I looked at a lot of things but didn't buy anything because I could not figure out the exchange. I now know to divide by 1500 but at the time, I was just getting a headache and probably looking like a nut trying to ...

... elsewhere. Now they've moved back and they live glamourously and drive automobiles of costly manufacture. I met an English teacher from South Africa who has dated a number of these types of local boys. "They're so dull. They sleep in until two o'clock in the afternoon. Then they go to the gym and work out. They would pick me up in the most expensive cars on the market, like Mercedes or Hummer... They're twenty six years old. What are they doing driving these sorts of ...

... like what you'd order at an ice cream parlor instead of an opium den. "No, I meant the bong thing." "The narguileh." "Yeah. Did you order us one of those?" "Yes. Strawberry." This had to be code for something. "Hadi, strawberry opium?" "It's not opium. Whoever heard of strawberry opium? This is normal, everyday strawberry-flavored tobacco." I felt rather foolish at my mistake, but things only got worse when the waiter returned with our order. He was ...