Extreme Sunday

What a bizarre day. I'm going to tell the story without names. Maybe Lebanon is making me paranoid, but I don't want my name linked with the characters we saw today. I'll give you the names in person if you are interested.

First we traveled north from Beirut and had lunch in the old port of Byblos, a gorgeous Phoenician city, possibly the longest continually inhabited city in the world. It reminded me a lot of Antalya on the Turkish Mediterranean. Lebanon is geographically gorgeous, the people are so gracious and hospitable, and I can't get over the freedom from lack of crime. Last night Olivia (a BE'er) set her purse down in a corner of a restaurant, and it was there with no problem a hour later. I left my camera at one of our meetings, they called us and dropped it by the hotel 1/2 later.

After Byblos, we traveled to Tripoli, situated in a breathtaking setting of steep hills rising from the sea. Our host has been condemned by EU and US governments. He was a big fat religious figure who harangued us in broken English for 2 hours -- twice. He is a leader of an
extremist sect of the religion that worries the Western world. One of our group, Safiyya from South Africa, is an adorable young follower of a denomination of said religion, who by choice covers herself. She couldn't be more gentle, modern, well educated and peaceful. She was as offended as the Westerners at the scary ideology we heard today. She said for the first time she really understood how, when exposed to such rubbish, we could associate her faith with the t-word. We suffered with our speaker and his sycophant students for 2 hours and were relieved to be out of there. He then led us on a walking tour through an exotic old souk and into a castle from the Crusades. Somehow, though, we ended up again in his offices sitting around a conference table, where we suffered for 2 more hours. He is an international figure, who has lived in and been expelled from the UK. Nicholas said it was all part of the comprehensive view we are getting of the region and its issues. Granted, but Nick nearly had a mutiny on his hands in the 2nd session. I was seriously thinking of feigning a fainting spell in that fetid room, to break the guy from his ranting monologue.

We got back to Beirut at 8pm, and the five of us women walked downtown for dinner. The oldest of the group, after me, is 26. What an unbelievable city. The Fete de la Musique, more than 40 music acts celebrating the solstice at outdoor venues, has everyone out on foot and in their cars. Downtown, which is a large pedestrian mall closed to cars has outdoor cafes on both sides. Many of them had flat panel TVs showing the Confederations Cup soccer games. Beirutis were out in force with their families, eating and smoking the narguile (hubble bubble) while cheering on the games. The cafe we chose unfortunately was showing the Egypt/USA match, so every time Carolina (my roommate from Brazil) heard cheering from the cafe next door, she had to jump up and go see her team advance against Italy.

Downtown tonight, probably about 10% of the women were wearing the hijab. Beirut is a crazy quilt of cultural juxtapositions, and they all mix amiably, except when they don't. The other 90% were dressed like they would be in Rome -- la bella figura -- as tight and skimpy as possible. Settling a restaurant tab is another mosaic. Beirut has two simultaneous currencies, the Lebanese Lira, also called Lebanese Pound, and the US Dollar. ATM machines dispense the currency of one's choice. There are 1,500 LL to $1. All receipts show both amounts and one can pay in any combination of the two.

Now, about the ice cream cone I had yesterday. I was walking in the Hamra district, near the American University of Beirut and passed a sidewalk gelateria. I bought a scoop of pistachio and one of mango ice cream -- imagine the colors -- and then they spooned pistachio nuts over the whole thing. I paid $2500 LL, which is $1.67. Heaven. I do hope I make it back to Lebanon one day. Insha Allah.

I dropped out of Arabic class a few days ago. The BE program allowed me no time to study and I was falling further and further behind. Also, I was unable to see any art. Some of the other BErs are also making the same decision. We are usually in seminars and presentations at least 8 hours per day. Tomorrow I'm on a quest to find more art, before we meet at 3pm and go until 10.

Ta ta.