I have arrived safely and am settling in, and all of my previous concerns seem silly and unlikely. My biggest concern at the moment is actually waking up on time and leaving enough hours in the day to get things accomplished. My flight had left DC at 10pm local time on Tuesday, and I had two layovers in Paris and Rome before landing in Beirut at 2:30am on Thursday. The excitement, the nervousness, and the good on-flight movie selections made for little sleep over those 20-some hours of travel. Then, after getting to my friend Aimee's apartment--where I will be staying until I find permanent housing--I took a while getting settled in and didn't get to bed until after 4am. I made plans to get things done the next day (get a key copied, buy a SIM card, go running, buy a towel and SHOWER), but I didn't end up waking up until 7pm. Instead, Aimee and I went out for dinner (lamb kabobs and fried cheese, my favorite) and gelato, wandering around her neighborhood and catching up on what we've been doing for the last three years, when we last saw each other in Syria.
Today I woke up at 1pm (still poor, but I'm making progress), showered, and headed out to explore. I made a copy of her key and spent a few hours sitting in a cafe eating lunch, drinking coffee, and reading. Then I wandered down to the Corniche, a beautiful walkway along the Mediterranean, to take in the sea and the city. There were plenty of walkers and runners along the path, and I definitely plan to run there tomorrow morning.
I'll save the poetic musings for another time, and instead offer you a few observations about living here. Aimee has wifi in her apartment, but it is pretty slow; I can only have one window open and loaded at a time without everything crapping out. According to her, Lebanon has the second-worst internet connection in the world (second only to Burkina Faso, I think, because they don't have internet at all). One person will buy a DSL connection, and then sell access to it to others nearby. Our own internet is quite literally connected through a wire that runs from our router and out to the window to the main source somewhere else.
Electricity too is intermittent. The government shuts off differ sectors' power for three hour blocs each day, at alternating times. Yesterday, ours was cut off from 6am-9am, and today from 5am-8am (it moves back an hour each day). It probably wouldn't be that annoying, except for the fact that the room I am sleeping in is stuffy even with the fan on, so without some air blowing it is positively impossible to sleep. The power was also cut off this afternoon, hence my post title, "Showering in the Dark"; today I showered by candlelight in an otherwise pitch-black bathroom. I also forgot to turn the water heater on before hand (those little details of life here!), and so the water was pretty cold. I could have waited for the electricity to turn on (indeed, it did turn on shortly after I got out), but by the point I got up I hadn't showered since Tuesday morning, and I was really desperately in need of it.
As for money, apparently it is perfectly acceptable to pay in American dollars. 1USD is equivalent to 1500 Lebanese pounds, so--for example--when my change today was supposed to be 2500 Lebanese pounds, the cashier handed me back a 1000 pound note and 1USD. So far, food has been just as expensive as it is in DC, although a large reason for that is probably that I have been eating at places like Gloria Jean's so far!
Mostly, I am just in awe that I am back in the Middle East. It feels like no time at all has passed and nothing has changed, but in truth three years have gone by and the world has changed in that time. I am still unsure of my where my place is in that world, but for now I'm going to stop worrying about that, and just enjoy hearing the evening call to prayer once more.
Today I woke up at 1pm (still poor, but I'm making progress), showered, and headed out to explore. I made a copy of her key and spent a few hours sitting in a cafe eating lunch, drinking coffee, and reading. Then I wandered down to the Corniche, a beautiful walkway along the Mediterranean, to take in the sea and the city. There were plenty of walkers and runners along the path, and I definitely plan to run there tomorrow morning.
I'll save the poetic musings for another time, and instead offer you a few observations about living here. Aimee has wifi in her apartment, but it is pretty slow; I can only have one window open and loaded at a time without everything crapping out. According to her, Lebanon has the second-worst internet connection in the world (second only to Burkina Faso, I think, because they don't have internet at all). One person will buy a DSL connection, and then sell access to it to others nearby. Our own internet is quite literally connected through a wire that runs from our router and out to the window to the main source somewhere else.
Electricity too is intermittent. The government shuts off differ sectors' power for three hour blocs each day, at alternating times. Yesterday, ours was cut off from 6am-9am, and today from 5am-8am (it moves back an hour each day). It probably wouldn't be that annoying, except for the fact that the room I am sleeping in is stuffy even with the fan on, so without some air blowing it is positively impossible to sleep. The power was also cut off this afternoon, hence my post title, "Showering in the Dark"; today I showered by candlelight in an otherwise pitch-black bathroom. I also forgot to turn the water heater on before hand (those little details of life here!), and so the water was pretty cold. I could have waited for the electricity to turn on (indeed, it did turn on shortly after I got out), but by the point I got up I hadn't showered since Tuesday morning, and I was really desperately in need of it.
As for money, apparently it is perfectly acceptable to pay in American dollars. 1USD is equivalent to 1500 Lebanese pounds, so--for example--when my change today was supposed to be 2500 Lebanese pounds, the cashier handed me back a 1000 pound note and 1USD. So far, food has been just as expensive as it is in DC, although a large reason for that is probably that I have been eating at places like Gloria Jean's so far!
Mostly, I am just in awe that I am back in the Middle East. It feels like no time at all has passed and nothing has changed, but in truth three years have gone by and the world has changed in that time. I am still unsure of my where my place is in that world, but for now I'm going to stop worrying about that, and just enjoy hearing the evening call to prayer once more.
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