Fall in Beirut
Trip Start
Aug 19, 2005
1
7
8
Trip End
Ongoing
Beirut, Lebanon
Thursday, September 29, 2005
I will share bits and pieces, and try to catch up a bit on what I have been up to.
The area I am staying in is in the Suburbs of Beirut,only a 5 minute drive to downtown. I can only compare it to your busiest and nosiest street in New York. No, I take it back. Where we live has to be busier and nosier! At any given time you can hear a wide assortment of noise. (Thank goodness for my ipod)Roosters are crowing, and people are talking, music is playing, cars are honking, vespas and mo-peds are beeping (vespas and mo-peds are a VERY POPULAR form of transportation). In the distance you can hear a Mosque, and it is an odd contrast against the music of the ice cream trucks that patrol the neighborhood. There are fireworks going off at any given time during the evening on most nights, which scares all of the billions of bats out of their hiding places into the sky
"cak" basket bread on the corniche
. Imagine the contrast of bats flying around against a background of fireworks. During the day, street vendors walk the streets in our neighborhood selling all kinds of food, some which I'm still not sure what it is. They sell Arabic coffee (which I have tried and hated- it is so strong and is very thick like a syrup), fruit, gellato, drinks, and a special bread I recently discovered. It's called "Cak" and is shaped like a basket. They fill it with cheese or herbs and it is covered in olive oil and roasted sesame seeds.Over a month ago when I first got here, I got very very sick and lived on the couch or my bed for five days. It was a mixture of culture shock, jet-lag, and bacteria in the food I have not ever been exposed to. A doctor made a house call and told me my stomach will be like steel after I have been here about a month. I didn't believe him then, but it's true. Your body adapts.
It's Fall here now, and in the mountains it is chilly and very much Fall weather. Down bellow, in Beirut where I am staying it is still very much Summer weather. A sizzling 88 degrees with 75% humidity most days. The humidity is not as bad as when I first arrived, and is a good improvement from the 80% humidity. This is very much typical Mediteranian weather, as all the countrys on the Mediteranian experience this. I am told repeatedly (when I complain about the heat and humidity) it will be pleasant and then gradualy cold here in about 15 days. I am already starting to notice this cool down.
My new sister in-law Nadine and her sister Sarah convinced me to take some Oriental aka belly dancing lessons with them. They are far different from what I expected. They are high energy, and very difficult. I can only compare it to patting your head and rubbing your stomach, because you are doing very fast moves with the lower body and a graceful controlled movement with the upper body
a view with lemon and fig trees on AUB
. The instructor blasts the music, the studio is really neat, and the people in the class are fun. These photos are from the AUB (American University of Beirut). It is a beautiful campus. Nadine is majoring in Chemistry. I go there once in awhile with her to hang out with her in the lab, and watch her mix chemicals. I go mainly so I can wear the cool goggles, and the white lab coat. I love to wander through the library district, near AUB. There are nice book stores that sell a vast variety of books, magazines, stationary, you name it.
The corniche is one of the most popular places in Lebanon to hang out. It is a boardwalk on the sea that goes for miles. It is peppered with all kinds of people. The people watching is fantastic. The views are simply just amazing on the corniche, of the Mediteranian sea. On the corniche, couples are walking, people are jogging or speed walking, familys are hanging out, kids are playing soccer, old men are playing chess, there are lot's of house boats and yachts, and vendors sell fresh bread and other goodies like corn on the cob. There are nothing but resorts lining the beach bellow, and the beach has soft white sand and the water is turquoise.
