Thankful for Tuesday

Last night I sat in my Beirut apartment in the dark for the third straight night. We're having electricity problems in our building and some days the power is out for hours during the day and most of the night. This means we frequently climb the seven flights of stairs to our apartment with no AC. It's easy to have a bad attitude about all of this. Last night as I lay on the floor, trying to keep cool and stop myself from complaining (even more than I already had), I was reminded that, although using my phone as a tiny flashlight to find the bathroom really stinks, I have so much to be thankful for. I can rejoice even though I can't see the faces of anyone in the room (which is probably good because they can't see how bad I'm sweating.) :)

Here are ten things I am thankful for today:

1. I am thankful to be in Lebanon.
2. I am thankful for my family at home that I miss and love so much!
3. I am thankful for a great group of friends at home who love and support me.
4. I am thankful for all of the restaurants in Beirut that will deliver food right to my door (including McDonalds...it's really amazing)
5. I am thankful for this video and all of the laughter it brought to me and my roommates today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7PQggB12cY&feature=youtu.be
6. I am thankful to serve a God who is the same yesterday, today, and always will be.
7. I am thankful for amazing Lebanese friends who put up with my bad Arabic and dumb questions.
8. I am thankful to live by the sea.
9. I am thankful to be loved beyond compare by the creator of all things.
10. I am thankful for Tuesday and the reminder that I am blessed.

Lebanese Lunch!

Almost everyone I know loves Lebanese food. There are a few exceptions though, and I am one of them. Last year I decided I was going to learn to love Lebanese food by making myself eat it. I can't say that I love it all now, but there are definitely things that I like. My first week here several Lebanese from my program took me and some friends out to have Lebanese Mezze. Mezze is basically just a meal made up of a lot of small dishes (that keep coming and coming). Its a great way to get a good sample of a lot of different Lebanese foods. Here are a few pictures from our meal. 

First here is the view from our restaurant. It was such a beautiful place!

 Most Lebanese meals start with hummus (حمس) and a salad. We had tabbouleh (تبوله), a salad made up of bulgur wheat, tomatoes, parsley, mint, onion, lemon juice and salt. The Lebanese eat tabbouleh wrapped in lettuce or cabbage. 

This is chicken liver and a few chicken hearts. The taste wasn't bad but the meat was really soft so I wasn't a fan. The hearts were a little better. 

This is fried kibbeh (كبه ), ground meat usually beef or lamb with some spices and fried cheese rolls.  

Next comes the raw meat!!! We were severed raw chicken liver, beef, and pieces of fat. I tried it all. I actually liked the beef. I usually eat steak rare so it tasted about the same. 

Shrimp. They were kinda cute...and delicious. 

Finally we get to dessert and I am already stuffed. For dessert we had an array of fruit: watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, pears, and plums. 

I almost forgot...here's a picture of my coke.

We started this lunch around one and I think we finished at four. Haha. We even had a 30 minute break in between dishes. We had A LOT of good food and conversation with some great friends!

Back to Beirut. A Travel Diary

Last week I traveled back to Beirut, Lebanon. This post is about my experiences that day. It's a long post but it was an even longer day!

Monday September 3rd

2:00am

Woke and loaded the car to head to the airport.

I couldn't tell if I was excited or afraid, happy or sad. It's really hard for me to feel anything but tired at two in the morning. My dad and I loaded his car and left for Atlanta at three. This was the start to a very long day.

6:00am
After getting to the airport, checking my bags, saying bye to my dad, and going through airport security I was finally starting to wake up. After a little while of tears I pulled myself together and started to get excited about what's to come this year in Beirut. (I repeated this at least three times).

9:00am
I arrive in Newark :) my next flight leaves at 5pm :( . Luckily my friend, and incredible travel buddy, Kim arrives at 2. So after 8 hours of reading, That 70's Show, and catching up, Kim and I leave on a 9 hour flight for Frankfurt, Germany where we have a short layover (or so we thought).

Tuesday September 4th 
7:00am (Germany Time)
Until now, I've had pretty seamless travel and a great time with Kim. As we are unboarding deboarding getting off the plane we learn that many Lufthansa workers were on strike and most of their flights in Europe were cancelled. Our flight, not landing in Europe, was scheduled to leave to as planned at 10:20am....until 9:50.

9:50am
Time to find another flight. Two thirds of Lufthansa's flights flying out of its biggest international airport were cancelled. You can imagine the chaos. After being directed from one line to the next and then back to first line we were in, and even leaving the airport once, we finally found the rebooking line and took a number. 511. The board had just called 320.

I've now lost track of time
So now we wait and wait. Kim and I took turns napping, well laying on the floor with our eyes closed, finding bathrooms, getting food, and looking for Euros to use the internet. About 5 hours later our number was called. We got rebooked and now were headed to DUSSELDORF, Germany.

6:40pm
Kim and I were so deprived of sleep at this point we were laughing at everything. Also we were on a plane to Dusseldorf which is just funny.

You can tell were pretty delusional at this point. I think I'm singing a song about Dusseldorf into my seatbelt. I really thought we were going to be kicked off the plane but there weren't many people on our flight.

9:45pm

Kim and I leave from Dusseldorf and head to Beirut!

Wednesday September 5th

12:55am
We arrive in Beirut. Our bags do not.

After filing a claim about our lost baggage, which was much easier than I expected, Kim and I found our friends who welcomed us water, my favorite Lebanese cookies, and m&ms (Thanks Tim, Ty, and Matt!)

Middle Eastern Airlines (great airline! not their fault our bags were lost) gave us a toiletry bag and a t-shirt!

Saturday September 8th

All of our bags arrived in Lebanon and Kim and I were able to go get them! At the airport all of the lost luggage was piled in one room and Kim and I had to walk inside and find ours. We found our bags, signed a piece of paper and finally ended our travel into Beirut. It was a long trip but I actually had a lot of fun along the way!

Here is Kim and me finally reunited with our luggage. 

Opa, Opa, Opa!

We went to Greece!!!
During the break between semesters my team and I got to go to Greece for a week of vacation. It was my first time in Greece and I had a really great time! Here are some pictures from our trip. On our first day we visited The Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

 This is me at the top of The Acropolis with Athens behind me. From this spot the view of Athens looks very similar to Beirut.

Here is the Parthenon! The Parthenon is a temple built in honor of the Greek goddess Athena. It was completed in 438 B.C. One of the coolest things about being in Athens was that Paul walked in the very same places we were. Paul preached at Mars Hill, a spot very close to The Acropolis. You can read his speech in the book of Acts chapter 17.

This is the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to many of the Greek Gods.

After seeing Athens, we took a day trip to Delphi. Here is a picture of little Hud-man in the Delphi Museum before we were told not to take any pictures.

In Delphi we saw more Greek ruins. This is what is left of the Temple of Apollos. Also at the Delphi Archeological Site we saw an ancient Greek theater and stadium used to train for the Olympics.

Euros!

One of my favorites things about Greece (other than the incredible internet speed!) was the food. Everything I ate there was amazing. Chicken and pork gyros, spicy feta dip, moussaka (an eggplant dish), saganaki (delicious fried cheese), zucchini fritters and of course Taco Bell! We were looking forward to Taco Bell months before our trip.

Finally, here is a picture our group doing the "don't you wish you looked as good as your mama" dance (something my mom does that the group picked up) at the Parthenon.

Greatest Unexpectations

Coming to Lebanon, I had expectations about what it would be like. That being said, so much of what I have encountered here has been unexpected. Here is a quick list of some of those things.

The Blonde Guy
Yes the blonde guy, because there is only one. I've never met the blonde guy but I see him around Beirut a lot (he stands out among the dark haired Lebanese men).  Okay, there might be a few more than one blonde guy in all of Lebanon but the main point of this story is that there aren't many blondies (Americans/foreigners) here, at least less than I expected.  Blonde guy, if you're reading this...I like your new haircut!

Arabic
I am really excited that I am able to learn the language here and experience this part of the Lebanese culture. I expected Arabic to be difficult, and it is. The biggest "unexpectation" here is that I rarely need to speak Arabic in everyday life. All of the students on campus speak English (and Arabic and French), the guy on corner selling maneskah speaks English, even most of the taxi drivers can figure out what you want without Arabic.

Lebanese Food
Before I came to Lebanon everyone said, "You're going to LOVE the food there." Unfortunately, I do not. As I try new things I am beginning to like it more and I hope by the end of the year I can say, "I love Lebanese food." *I'll post more specifically about the food soon!*

The Greeting
The Lebanese greet friends with three kisses on the cheek, alternating cheeks. This is how women greet women and men greet men. It has taken some getting used to, but when I see someone going in for a kiss I know that they think of me as a friend. It's nice.

Power Outages
Every so often at my apartment, a coffee shop, the grocery store, during Arabic class, etc. the electricity will turn off.
What happens in America when the lights go out...someone screams. Someone will scream, everyone gets a little frantic, and even after the lights come back on everyone is still discussing what could have happened.
What happens in Lebanon when the lights go off...nothing. No one seems to even notice. The electricity in Lebanon runs on a cycle. When some parts of the country have electricity, others do not. Most parts of the country go three hours a day without electricity. In the city, where I live, most places have generators. A few seconds after the power goes out, the generators kick in and lights are back on. 

FASHION
I heard before coming to Lebanon that the people here are very fashionable. Even knowing that, I was still a little surprised when I got here. Wearing sweatpants to class or pajamas the day of an exam? Not in Lebanon. Girls here get dressed up for class EVERYday, most of them wearing heels. I don't think I've ever seen a girl in a t-shirt (other than myself).

Living in Lebanon is much different from living in South Carolina. I've definitely had to make some adjustments but I love the people here and living in a city is fun and exciting. Lebanon is great place to be!

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. :(