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Stories from Lebanon

I love hearing from all of you and I hope that February is treating you well so far! See you on the new page!

I miss you, friends.

As predicted I have failed to upload a picture everyday. But this was an active decision on my part because a) I imagine it would greatly annoy you to have a post a day and b) I know it would greatly annoy me to have to take a picture everyday. Plus who am I kidding, I don't know how to take pictures. But I do know how to blab on for a long amount of time about ridiculous situations, so there you have it.

Not much to update on, but has that ever stopped me? I have officially been here for over two months now and feel comfortable in saying that there are certain things* in the States I will miss for the entire duration of my trip. (How long do I have to stay here before this isn't considered a trip anymore?)

*Things exclude my family and my friends, so don't be cheeky and leave me a comment that says, "What about MEH?" I miss you, okay?

A list of what (not who) I miss:
-my Macbook (I didn't bring it with me because I thought there would be power outage issues, only to come find that everyone in Lebanon has a Macbook.)
-my car
-In n Out
-fast internet
-actually, working internet
-Yelp/Google Maps/a reliable directory
-the little thing called road law enforcement
-the $2 movie theater in Pasadena
-privacy
-having my goals taken seriously instead of just "Oh, you got a job? Good, fill your time, have fun."
-American standards of beauty (believe me if you think it's harsh in the USA you have no idea)

Now that I look at that list I sort of love the unreliability of Lebanon, too. It's gotten me to really depend on myself and step outside of my comfort zone, and I think those are the situations I'm learning from the most. And although I am experiencing degrading attitudes towards women and their roles, I just try to tell myself that it's all a learning experience and that this is a different culture with a different set of standards, so it wouldn't be fair for me to judge them. That's after I tell myself to hold my tongue, which really takes 150% of my energy.

When I die I want it to be known that I was a fair person. (Also a genius supermodel, charitable to the poor and schmoozy with the rich, and that I danced like a gazelle harmonious with nature.) So--

An ever growing list of what I know I will miss about Lebanon when I leave:
-Do I even have to say it? Shawarma.
-Also knafeh, fresh zaatar, Teta's homemade anything, basically all the food I have eaten here. (Except for sheep testicle. It may have been fine except that it was really soft and I just couldn't really take the idea that I was eating a mushy testicle. When I explained this to my grandma she said it was soft because the sheep hadn't taken Viagra. All in all it was a horrifying experience.)
-Easily being able to navigate the city without a car
-Sitting on the veranda drinking mate
-Instant coffee that's actually delicious
-Having my Turkish coffee cup read (And getting the same fortune each time: "Oh, what a beautiful cup! You are going to get married very soon!" Really? How interesting.)
-Being related to an entire village of people (Note: this relates to "privacy" on previous list.)
-The artistic and progressive vibe of Hamra
-The abundance of cafes with individuality (and working/fast internet!)
-watching a movie with two sets of subtitles (Quite distracting, but I think I'm now fluent in French)
-A stranger going out of their way to help in every situation
-Being in an acoustic room with 20+ family members on a regular basis
-Did I already mention shawarma?

I know once I settle in more and make friends the list will be even longer. Speaking of which, why don't I have friends again?

Well, it's Saturday night and I'm sitting in my room typing this so I think we've solved that mystery. But am I supposed to go out alone? Making friends is for 13-year-old girls who change schools, not for a 22-year-old who has already put in so much time and effort to maintain friendships from each of her life experiences! I know, I know, you're never too old to learn from others and get to know new people and welcome them into your life and blah blah blah. But I don't know how to do this without school. It's hard and I'm lazy. Why can't all my friends just move here?

Well, that's all the bibble babble for now. And that's pibble pabble for all you English speakers.

Picture 2: Abandoned Window

(I'm not sure about this picture-a-day deal. Won't that annoy you?)

Picture 1: Downtown Nargilehs

State of the Union Address

Salam! I am running out of creative ways to begin each entry. I feel like I'm a teenager getting ready for her first date in front of the mirror. “Hi! No, that's boring. Greetings! What, is this the 19th century? Hello, friends! Oh, dear God.” Maybe from now on I will just start the entry without an introduction. Okay let's try again.

Salam! (I can't do it.) Hope this entry finds you doing well wherever you are reading it. Lebanon continues to be fantastic. In a little over a week I will be moving into an apartment with two girls my age. My room is huge and lovely and has its own balcony overlooking the streets of Hamra, which I believe I have already told you is really the coolest place to be. Living with my grandma has been great but I think that I need to surround myself with people my age and be able to really be on my own and support myself with my own resources to be truly happy and successful here. She's staying in Beirut for the winter though and I'll see her all the time, I know she'll make sure of that.

I can't believe I've been here for nearly two months. And in two months I've come really far. I found a job and a place to live. My Arabic has really improved. And I'm able to navigate Beirut pretty effortlessly. But the only reason I've gotten so much is because my family made the transition here so much easier. I really can not explain how amazing they are. Yesterday one of the Fates invited us over to dinner and some of her lineage was there. There were over twenty people crowding into this small Beiruti apartment, and at one point I looked around and thought, “I'm so lucky. Look at all I have to be thankful for. And it's so delicious, so filling. I really do love all this food.” Yes, I also love my family. But let's get our priorities straight.

I am most proud of the fact that I am enjoying delicious shawarma and I'm still not married. The first doesn't take much effort but the second let me assure you is quite the challenge. If I'm not careful, I could wake up tomorrow morning with a ring on my finger and a baby in my belly that doesn't just kick but does the dabke. In a blink of an eye I could be in the kitchen screaming out, “Rikka! Rikka! Where is the parsley?” Stand strong, live strong, and always be vigil.

I went into work for my “preliminary briefing” yesterday. I actually am the President of Lebanon. Michel Suleiman is just a puppet put in place by me and my staff to insure public morale stays high. I, as I was preliminarily briefed yesterday, really hold the power that comes with all the preliminary briefings and secondary briefings and post briefings and so on. I won't be able to talk much about it here, seeing as how the preliminary briefings are actually preliminary confidential briefings that I can not brief you on. But I can say that the responsibilities entrusted to me will be handled most seriously and Lebanon will be well taken care of in my reign. Yes, I am Queen now. No. King.

Can I just say, this blog has taken a strange and completely unplanned direction. I assure you, when I created it, I meant to give you a solid idea of what it is like to live in Lebanon. I meant to write sentences like, “The mountains rise high above the cedars and the snow outlining the tops blends in with the ethereal clouds of the heavens.” But I haven't really given you sensible descriptions of anything that I've seen, have I? Have you gotten a true idea of what my experience has been like so far? Or is it just me rambling on about being King of Lebanon? What does that have to do with anything?

Anyway, as I was saying, the preliminary briefings went well. I was given a huge desk in the office because I will be doing a lot of copyediting, a decision they made based on the three copyediting courses I took through UCSD Extension. Thank God those courses came to some use. Otherwise I'm just the nerd who paid to practice grammar. I have a few projects that sound really exciting as well. Basically I will be in charge of international marketing and distribution. I will be finding ways to market titles to the Lebanese diaspora, especially those who live in English speaking territories. I'm not sure how I am qualified to do this, but I'm sure that's what every President says before he takes his oath. And my boss said that after I feel settled I am free to suggest any endeavor I'd like to pursue. This is great news seeing as how my presidential platform was, “Lots of endeavors, so little freedom to suggest them!” It will be a great sixty-four year term, ladies and gentleman.

See? What is this, really?

Because I feel like you're not getting a true grasp of the sights, I have decided I will begin to post a picture a day here in this blog. A 365-day goal that I can almost guarantee will not work because I am Lebanese by nature and will say, “Yes, of course!” and really mean “Maybe, we'll see.” But I was always raised on the principle of honesty, so I will say that if I don't post a picture a day then I am not the President of Lebanon!

I also want to update this more frequently with tidbits or descriptions. Make this a real blog. Not some self-indulgent comedic guinea pig. Maybe, we'll see.