Wednesday, June 30, 2010

What I'm Doing in Beirut

While I sincerely hope my (two, maybe three?) readers enjoy my blog, I thought I would take a moment to explain what I am doing in Lebanon, because despite the fact that it may seem I spend most of my life watching the World Cup or travelling, I'm actually here for school.

Or some form of it.  I am a student at the Lebanese American University's Summer Institute for Intensive Arabic Language and Culture (SINARC), which means that from 8 am - 12:30 everyday I'm in class.  I have an hour of Lebanese dialect in the morning, and the rest of my time is spent learning MSA (Modern Standard Arabic, or the form of Arabic you will only find in the newspaper or on the news).  Besides classes, the program also plans a number of trips all over the country so that we learn about more than just Arabic grammar during our time in Lebanon.

The question I'm asked a lot about coming to Lebanon is if it's safe.  Most of the time, it's not really a question as much as it is an exclamation that I'm crazy for traveling here.  There's no question that the Middle East is volatile, and you don't have to look far into the past to find violent conflict in Beirut and Lebanon as a whole.  And then there's a little group called Hezbollah.  But for the most part, people here are 'live and let live' types, they've seen too much conflict and know that the price they pay is far too high.

My program accommodates for this potential volatility in mundane ways.  For example, we have a test every Friday.  And that's not because the chose this structure, but so that every Monday a grade is entered on the books and in case we all have to leave Lebanon very quickly, we can get credit for the work we did while we were here.

That is it for now, but I hope this explains what I'm doing with my time here.  Leave a comment if you have any burning questions.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Wuuuuzzzaaaaa!

The sound with each missed shot during the World Cup.  It lasts for about five seconds and doesn't have any meaning.  It's a distinctly Arabic expression, much like 'yella, which can mean about anything you want it to.

In case you were wondering what football commentary is like in Lebanon, now you know.

Hermits, not of the crab variety


[I've adapted the following from a description near the site itself.  Just to be clear, I claim credit for absolutely none of this entry.  Except the photo, I cannot blame that mediocrity on anyone else.]

History and discoveries in Mar Bichay hermitage

The hermitage of Saint Bichay is built inside a hanging rock cavity in the northern mountain overlooking the valley of Qozhaya.  This hermitage is one of the oldest cult buildings in this valley.  It is likely to have been the seat of the first bishopric of the Maronite Church in 1215.  In the 17th century, it was the seat of the bishop Hanna al-Habquoq.  Around 1714, the chapel of St. John was cut in the rock and added to the hermitage compex.  In the mid 19th century the hermitage was abandoned and the stairs fell apart.  The hermitage architecture was compromised until 2003, endangering the stability of the whole building.  In 2004, the hermitage was restored and rehabilitated through a donation from the Embassy of the United States of American in Lebanon through The Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation allocated by the former Ambassador Mr. Vincent Battle.  During the rehabilitation work some important discoveries were made: wall inscriptions in Arabic and syriac languages; wall paintings in different places around the altar of St. Bichay; painted glass fragments with Arabic inscriptions from the eighth to fourteenth centuries.

Several hermits and well known personalities of the Maronite Church lived in the hermitage of St. Bichay as the patriarchs: Mikhael ar-Rizzi, Sarkis al-Bqoufani (ar-Rizzi), and Youssef ar-Rizzi.

Next up: my hike to Wadi Qannoubine, too much hospitality in Fradis, and my night in a convent.

Brazil Wins!!

The city of Beirut implodes...and I learn it's hard to take pictures of cars speeding by in the middle of the night. 


[Sorry for the delayed post, internet troubles on my end]

Monday, June 28, 2010

My Northern Jaunt, Part II: Qozhaya

After my (how to say this?) unsuccessful hike from Ehden to Aintourine, the nice people I met in Aintourine (pronounced Ain-turr-een, the first an ع sound) recommended a hotel in Qozhaya.

Before they took me to the hotel, the first man I met, Antony, insisted on showing me an old religious site in the village.  It is an ancient church where a saint lived who turned water into flour.  After we went to the church, Antony tried to make me drink from the stream next to it, insisting everyone does it.  I declined, trying to explain the idea of developed immunity, luckily he didn't seem to take too much offense.


For more on Antony, Qozhaya, and the beautiful Qadisha valley, click past the jump.

Read it read it

Since I like to pass on the best of what I read, here a few recommendations:

An article that literally changed the course of history by making a celebrated general resign.  Beyond that claim to fame lies an article that solidly deconstructs the dynamics of our current COIN (counter insurgency) strategy in Afghanistan.

If you watched the Germany England match a few days ago, you were probably impressed by the German squad.  Either that or you're blind.  Did you know that 11 of their players could have chosen to play for other countries?  This article explains how changes in Germany's citizenship requirements have affected the squad they're fielding this year.  (If your initials are AJR and you took a class on this last semester, I hope you like this one).

Finally, a more general recommendation for the the Social Q's column in the New York Times.  As it describes itself "Social Q's offers lighthearted advice about awkward social situations".  It's brief, to the point, and hilarious (most of the time).  This week's column answered questions on weddings, weddings, and weddings, but I swear that's not the norm.

Meet me at the Holiday Inn

No, thank you!  Not this one at least.  In the middle of Beirut's coastline stands what remains of the old Holiday Inn (there's a new one in another part of the city now), finished shortly before the Civil War.  At the time it was the highest building in Beirut and was used as a sniper post, attracting all sorts of fire in return.


A close up of some of the damage:

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Don't Lose Your Language


There is a campaign in Beirut to remind Lebanese to learn their native language of Arabic.  One of the ways its organizers are accomplishing this is placing styrofoam Arabic letters surrounded by caution tape that says....

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Place de Martyrs

It marked the divide between Muslims to the west and Christians to the east during the Civil War.  It was also the site of the March 14 protest that brought one million Lebanese to the street, almost a quarter of the country's population!


It's on the edge of downtown (the name of an area in Beirut), right next to the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque.


It definitely still shows the damage it took during the Civil War...

Friday, June 25, 2010

A Historian and a Picture

I've been reading a great book about the Middle East, by Bernard Lewis.  One of the most compelling arguments he has made thus far (I'm only about 80 pages in) is that the conflict in the Middle East is implacably rooted in the differences between those who want change and those who want to live in the past.  He wrote it much more beautifully than that.  Here's a bit of my favorite passage: "There are many, both conservative and radical, who wish to continue and extend this reversal [rolling back changes brought in by Europe and the West], and who see the impact of Western civilization as the greatest disaster ever to befall their region, greater even than the devastating Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century...a more accurate expression of how the Western impact is perceived by those who oppose it was given by Khomeini, when he spoke of the United States as 'the Great Satan'.  Satan is not an imperialist; he is a tempter.  He does not conquer, he seduces.  The battle is still going between those who hate and fear that seductive and, in their view destructive, power of the Western way of life, and those who see it as a new advance and a new opportunity in a continuing and fruitful interchange of cultures and civilizations" (17-8).

A picture I took this afternoon that encapsulates Lewis' thoughts:

Definitely not a picture I could take in the states

The World Cup, Lebanese beer, and sheesha all in one lovely afternoon. 


I won't be able to do this kind of thing after school has started, so I'm trying to enjoy relaxing while I can.

No, I am Not Going

Thursday, June 24, 2010

My Northern Jaunt, Part I: Ehden

(This has taken me a ridiculous amount of time to post, but here's my account of my journey to and time in Ehden)

Ehden.  My first stop on my first trip in Lebanon.  I went north, but not as far north as I originally planned.  Upon hearing my original destination, the director of my program at the Lebanese American University gasped and announced I would not be going there.  According to her, a single woman in some of the villages up north would not be treated well (read: attacked, whatever that means).  I am always highly skeptical of such hearsay, as I find the people who warn me the most strongly are the ones who have absolutely no firsthand experience, but nevertheless I accepted her advice and moved my destination a little farther south, to the city of Ehden.  My plan was to hike for about six days south from Ehden, and see where I ended up.

It was a couple of hours out of Beirut, just north of Bcharré.


If you'd like to read more on ancient monasteries, hospitable villagers, and my hiking skills, just click past the jump.

Monday, June 21, 2010

For the record

During the movie Legally Blonde, as it was on a Lebanese cable station, they bleeped out the word lesbian.  Lesbian!

(I watched a lot of television when I was jet lagged.  Including RocketMan, which was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Or so I thought at 4:00am)

Good and Bad Ideas

I've had each, definitely more in the latter category.  But my decision to go hiking (no, backpacking with a pack that must have weighed almost 40 lbs), by myself in the Qadisha Valley in Lebanon was definitely some of both.  I had a wonderful time, but if it had not been for the kindness and hospitality of villagers, strangers, and even a few nuns, I would have been in serious trouble.  More on that later, accompanied by pictures.

I'm back in Beirut now, checking into my dorm a few days early. I am starting to have a good mental map of the city, and surprised to find that people in Beirut speak much less English than those in villages and cities in the north.

Mental image of the day: most graffiti in Beirut is illegible Arabic, when it is in English the message is simple: 'Free Palestine'.  But as I was walking through a side street this morning, I saw something different: 'Rich parents for all'.  As before, more on this to come later.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

A Moment

Just a small one, for my extremely fuzzy purple fleece jacket.  It appears it did not make it home after Denver, the road trip, and then Minneapolis.  It might be for the best, as I looked like a female gorilla whose dye job had gone horribly wrong, but I was always a very warm one.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Irresistibly Quotable

"Why do they wear bulletproof vests?  I suppose it's because of the combat nature of our neighborhood."

-My Mom, in reference to the bulletproof-vest clad policewoman directing traffic at the Children's fair about a block from our house.  She saw our favorite policewoman, Officer P., who was once sued for using excessive force while giving a Winnetka woman a driving citation of some sort (legend has it she slammed her down onto the ground and broke a tooth).  Officer P. was actually my DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) teacher in 6th grade and used to sport an amazing mullet, which was recently chopped off in favor of a crew cut.

My love for Windows (or lack thereof) + Ebooks

Over the past few days, I've been installing all my programs on the netbook, and I have less than positive feelings for Windows, Windows 7 to be specific.  I feel like it's that kid in class who always wants credit for everything they do.  When I first put in my USB drive, it needed to show an obnoxious pop up to tell me it installed the driver.  You know what my mac did when I first used that hard drive?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Because it's a basic of expectation that a computer from the 21st century can handle such a simple task.

Enough griping.  On a more positive note, I've found a couple programs my local library subscribes to that let me borrow ebooks (and eaudiobooks too, but I don't care about those so much) for about three weeks.  I use a great program called Adobe Digital Editions that downloads ebooks in about five or ten seconds, I'm really looking forward to making use of it over the next couple of months.  I've got some really great books out from the e-library, so expect some books reviews in the future.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Arriving today!

Something I'm doing differently this summer is traveling without my laptop.  As much as I adore my Macbook Pro (they say converts are the most zealous), last summer did a bit of damage to it and I would very much like for it to last a few more years.  I couldn't possibly travel without a computer, so I have bought a netbook.

What's a netbook?  Well, the term doesn't really have too much definition right now, but it's basically a mini laptop.  The current generation have identical hardware, leaving consumers to make decisions based on the OS and aesthetic considerations.  And I have chosen the Acer Aspire One (it barely edged out the Lenovo S10-3).  It's beautiful:


Also light, has almost 10 hours of battery life, and is going to make my backpack significantly lighter.

And since the UPS truck literally just arrived, I'm going to say goodbye for now.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I am about 10 years old at heart

Today, the first word I thought of to describe the weather was extremely juvenile, so I'll just say it's raining heavily and leave it at that.  But it's definitely not going to allow me to get outside and get any sort of exercise as I've been doing lately (I biked 18 miles yesterday!).  But, as always, a reminder that bad weather can lead to beautiful things:


The tree and the sky outside my home in Ghana last summer at the end of bad storm.  I know it's a terrible photo by any conventional standard, but ignore that and appreciate the colors in the sky.  I had to play with the settings on my camera for a while in order to get them captured accurately.

Don't forget you can click on photos to blow them up.  Although I can't imagine why you would want to do that on this one.  In fact, please don't click anywhere near this photo.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Diplomatic Material

It's the part of travel that makes me the most nervous: crossing borders.  Perhaps this is because I'm a control freak and don't like when others have the ability to disrupt my plans, but I've had my share of bad experiences.

So I got all my visas in advance this year (actually, not the one for Jordan because I'm not worried about that border) and as of today I've got them both!  Lebanon was first, and arrived about two and a half weeks ago (I sent my passport to the consulate in Detroit and then they send it back to me at home):

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Another yearbook

My backpack now weighs about 33 lbs.  I know you're probably thinking, why is another yearbook a big deal?  Shouldn't she be increasing the weight in bigger increments?  After all, my yearbook only weighed [ok, I don't know how much your yearbook weighed but lets assume it was a trivial amount].  Here's what my yearbook looks like:


Nothing special.  Oh, wait for it

True? Not so absolutely

Read this article.  It was passed on to me by someone who is decidedly not in Generation Y.  I think the last couple of paragraphs are accurate and the rest a little off base, which is why it is has stuck around in my head and why I'm posting it here.  That alone proved its point in a more convincing way than any further writing on the subject could have ever done.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Covered in Blood


Mosquito blood that is.  I went on a practice backpacking run in the forest preserve and only lasted about 45 minutes before I decided to get the hell out of there.  I do not like looking down at my arm and seeing five bloodsuckers latched onto it.  You start to feel them all over your body and its enough to make you go crazy.  Well, not really.  But add that to the blister you feel forming on your left heel because you're trying out new insoles and you get pretty close.  Oh, and it was also raining lightly.  Which just added to the fun.

Sometimes I like to remind myself that bad weather can lead to good things.  Witness my house in Ghana last summer during a rainstorm:

Thing I Will NOT do (cont.)


I am going to endeavor not to get overexcited and take pictures like this (no matter how exciting my German muffin from the nice flight attendant on Lufthansa is):


Or this (despite the fact that I was ecstatic to have taken off from Lagos and getting close to my final destination):


But perhaps shots like the one after the jump make those worth it?

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tonight, the Socratic Method led into...

...building heavy-duty shelves for my Dad's workshop.

And building shelves led to Tig (my dog) discovering that no one is watching his every move.  With this, he went to my parents' bathroom to eat toilet paper to his heart's content.  I swear that if you left that dog to his own devices he would subsist on post-its, sandpaper, toilet paper, and maybe a few cucumbers.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

My boots don't speak very good english

I've been unwrapping and taking labels off things for a while now, and always like to read the instructions I find.  My boots, which are Lowa (a German brand), came with some British English that made me smile:


Also spent a comically long time getting everything ready to send to the Syrian embassy today, but I finally sent my visa application off (I already got my visa to Lebanon).