Ana Shway Bahkee A'arabee

While in Lebanon I am taking a class to learn Arabic. The Arabic language is very complex. Spoken Arabic varies so much from country to country many people would say that the different dialects of Arabic are different languages entirely.

Arabic is written and read from right to left. Each letter only makes one sound (that's what my teacher says but when the letter is written with a vowel it sounds differently.) Letters are connected when writing words (some of them are, some letters are non-connectors and they do not connect, you just have to remember which are which.) 

I am learning classical, written Arabic as well as spoken Lebanese Arabic. So far on the classical side we have learned the entire alphabet and all of the letter sounds. This is what the letters look like.

Many of the letters have English equivalents. The ba sounds like the English B, the sin sounds like the English S, shin sounds like SH, mim sounds like M, BUT a lot of the letters are entirely new sounds for me and are difficult to say. It just takes some practice to be able to pronounce them.

The letters also look differently depending on where they are in a word, because most of the letters are connected in writing. This chart shows how they change if the letter is the first letter of a word, in the middle of a word, or at the end of a word.

In the second half of my class we learn spoken Lebanese Arabic. To learn the spoken language we write words using Latin letters instead of Arabic characters (this is hard to do though, because like I said earlier, many of the letter sounds do not exist in English)

Here are some things that I have learned:

Marhaba          Hello
Kiifak               How are you?
Kteer Mniih       Very Good
Shou ismik?        What is your name?
SabaaH l kheer     Good morning. 

We have learned the words for all of the things in a Matbakh (kitchen), Ssu (market), and a Mahall Tyep (clothing store).

We have also learned pharses like:

Ana talbe bi l jamiama.                              I am a student in university.
Baddi shawarma chicken bidoon kibess.   I want chicken shawarma without pickles.
Huti l may bi l berrad.                                 Put the water in the refrigerator.
Iza betrid atini jazar iasiir.                           Please give me carrot juice.    
Ana Shway Bahkee A'arabee                     I speak a little Arabic.

Learning Arabic has been difficult but I am enjoying it. It is fun to experience this part of the culture and try to talk to others in Arabic.

Honk!!!

Driving in Beirut is insane. Recently, speed limits were put into place, but they are not enforced or followed, neither are traffic lights, or the use of seat belts. Red lights are more of a suggestion here. To drive in Beirut you have to be a very aggressive driver. Most of the streets are not divided by lanes so people drive all over the road and pass whenever they can.
While driving here seems chaotic it is actually pretty impressive. Even without all of the driving laws we have in America there are very few accidents. The people here are excellent drivers, very attentive, and can stop in a second.

Here's a video that shows an intersection in Beirut. You can see that the lanes are not marked and people aren't following any kind of traffic signs, but still no accidents. This is really what it's like all over the city! (And usually people are crossing the street too.)

I have been wanting to write about the driving in Beirut for a while now. Now seemed like the right time because it is starting to directly affect my well-being.

First let me start by saying. The Cupcakery (an incredible amazing bakery around the corner from where I live) sells the greatest cupcakes in the entire world! Last week I got a mint chocolate one with peanut butter inside.  Attempting to cross the road, I stepped into the street with my cupcake. The second I stepped off the curb the taxi parked there started to back up... right onto my foot. It knocked me down and stopped there on my foot. Most taxi drivers here do not speak any English so I started banging the side of the car and screaming "You're on my foot!" I gathered a little crowd from the screaming and the driver finally realized what was happening and pulled forward. I was fine and the worst part was that I dropped my cupcake. :(

My Birthday in Beirut

Two days ago I celebrated my 23rd birthday here in Lebanon. The day before my birthday I was feeling a little down because I wouldn't be able to celebrate my birthday in the usual fashion. For as long as I can remember, in my house birthdays have been celebrated the same way. If it's your birthday you get to have your favorite meal for dinner and your choice of dessert. Every year it's the same, Tabba, Dad, and Matt have steak on their birthdays, Liz wants crab-legs and Red Velvet cake, cheesecake for Amber's birthday and me...I always have bbq chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and strawberry cupcakes. While I was going to miss chicken and cupcakes, the fact that this would be the first birthday I'd ever spent away from my family was what really had me down.
My friends here knew that I was bummed about being away from home for my birthday so they tried really hard to make my birthday great. And they did!

So how did we celebrate?

I was surprised in Arabic class with the most amazing cheesecake I've ever eaten.
I got a beautiful vase of flowers. I was really excited, and I LOVED them!
I got an Amazon gift card that I am going to use to buy some books for my Kindle that I've really been wanting.
Dinner at TGI Fridays. Yay American food!
A nice nighttime walk in downtown Beirut.
I took my first service (like service but with a french accent) I'll explain service in another post but it's basically like a taxi.
Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing (my favorite!) and some pretty intense firecracker candles on top. My friends here are so wonderful.
Karaoke at Hard Rock Cafe. So much fun!
We ended the night with some homemade apple pie (so American) that my roommates made because they knew I was missing home.

While nothing could replace being at home with my family it turned out to be a really incredible birthday. Thank you Beirut for a great time!

Dogs, Slides, and Children

Today I saw a dog being pushed down a children's plastic slide. This is strange for a few different reasons. First, it was a dog being forced down a slide. I say forced because it was pretty obvious that he didn't like it. Second, rarely are dogs seen here in Lebanon. We live in city, so it makes sense that I might not see as many dogs as I'm used to seeing around Fair Play but I've been told that dogs are rare in all parts of Lebanon. What isn't rare are cats. That's right...cats. Cats are everywhere you go here. On the street, on college campuses, at the park. Everywhere. And lots of them. Not like an atrocious amount where you can't walk without stepping on them, but there are a lot. If you ever wanted a cat, you could find one.
Another thing I don't see very often are children. They do exist here...I think, but kids do not come into the city often (unless they're selling Chiclets). An American friend from my Arabic class has two little boys. Everyone here loves them and are always trying to touch them. Both of the boys have light hair and blue eyes. I guess that seems pretty exotic to the dark hair, dark eyed Lebanese.
So in short, it's not everyday that you get to see a dog on a slide in Lebanon but today was that day.

What a View!

My blog posts will rarely be as frequent as they are now at the beginning of my year here, but everything is new and exciting and certainly seems post worthy. I wasn't planning on posting today, but the view from the balcony of my apartment building has changed my mind.

One of the biggest differences between Fair Play, my hometown in South Carolina, and Beirut is the scenery. While Fair Play is beautiful, rolling hills, green pastures, and backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, (Mmm, I love it in Fair Play) it cannot compare to the view of the seaside city of Beirut that I can see from my bedroom window.  What an incredible place to live. And can we just stop a minute and give credit to the Creator for His amazing creativity. Fair Play, SC, Beirut, Lebanon. Both so different, both so wonderful.

I've never lived in a city before. It is certainly different from small town life. Beirut is different from most US cities though, in that people are never in a hurry. There is not the hustle and bustle you expect from city life, but that's a whole another blog post (coming soon).