For some reason yesterday was just a very long day that I didn’t enjoy very much until the end of it. Class seemed to drag on and I was irritable for no reason all day and at lunch.
In the afternoon we had our weekly club which this week was debke. Debke is a kind of line dance that is found all over this region. It’s generally performed at weddings or other celebrations. Each area may have steps that are characteristic of it and there’s definitely no one way to do it. There are some basic steps that people can learn off of but often it’s fairly improvised, with the head of the line deciding what will happen next. There were two instructors and one of them was from Karakala (spelling?) a well known debke troupe in Lebanon. My group was taught some super basic steps while the other group with the guy from Karakala learned some more varied and difficult steps. Despite my initial reluctance it was pretty fun although my internal lack of rhythm did make itself known a bit.
I had dinner at Al Bayt/Barometre which was one of those dinners were you go out with 2 or 3 people and end up having dinner with 10. It was fun and I continue to like their food especially their spiced fried potatoes. I also managed to have an incredibly geeky conversation with this guy Adam about languages, television shows, video games, comics and movies. Good night.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Beirut Day 36 – July 29, 2009
Once again I failed to keep up my note-taking on the days. All I remember from Wednesday is that in dialect class we presented our movie, which went well. The teachers commented on how much the store owner talked (she did express her opinion on our book choices) and apparently we didn’t make too many errors.
In the regular class all I remember is that we watched a miniseries produced by Al-Jazeera called Harb Lubnan, which was on the civil war. It seemed very good and informative and was filled with interview from involved people. I’m told it can be found at the Virgin Megastore in downtown and I am fairly tempted to buy it once I work out how to solve the problem that it will likely only work on Region 2 DVD players.
In the regular class all I remember is that we watched a miniseries produced by Al-Jazeera called Harb Lubnan, which was on the civil war. It seemed very good and informative and was filled with interview from involved people. I’m told it can be found at the Virgin Megastore in downtown and I am fairly tempted to buy it once I work out how to solve the problem that it will likely only work on Region 2 DVD players.
Beirut Day 35 – July 28, 2009
I felt a lot better the next morning although my stomach was still a bit knotted and so I subsisted on crackers for most of the day and had a very very light dinner. In amiya class we watched some of the video presentations of other students.
In MSA we watched the second half of a movie called Al-Muttabaqi (which might very roughly be translated as like, the remaining one, or the one that remains) which is a loosely based on the novel Return to Haifa by Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani. I had missed the first half by being sick but even then it was interesting and I was properly on edge for the dramatic ending.
We also got the schedule for the final week. Monday we will have normal class, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday will consist of oral presentations, Wednesday is review (and the dialect exam) and the due date for the research paper, Thursday is the final exam and Friday is graduation. Then of course I leave on Saturday.
After what must be said was a rather boring lecture on learning Arabic which was also not nearly as informative as I thought it could have been, I met Teresa to take care of our amiya/dialect video project. We went to Al-Furat Publishers bookstore, which we had been to previously with our teacher Hussein. The owner, Maria Teresa (Maria Terez in her pronunciation) was really nice and more than happy to have us do our project in her shop so long as she didn’t have to be on camera, thus she became our camera woman. We basically did a short little bit where we come in, talk to her, ask her for recommendations and she shows them to us. She enjoyed it a lot and was even happier when she understood that we actually wanted to buy the books too. I bought two books by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf; The Rock of Tanios and Samarkand. I bought them in Arabic but they are actually translations because Maalouf writes in French. Teresa bought a book of poetry. I actually got a discount on the books. Instead of being 40,000LL (about $25) I got them for 25,000 (about $17). Go me.
In MSA we watched the second half of a movie called Al-Muttabaqi (which might very roughly be translated as like, the remaining one, or the one that remains) which is a loosely based on the novel Return to Haifa by Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani. I had missed the first half by being sick but even then it was interesting and I was properly on edge for the dramatic ending.
We also got the schedule for the final week. Monday we will have normal class, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday will consist of oral presentations, Wednesday is review (and the dialect exam) and the due date for the research paper, Thursday is the final exam and Friday is graduation. Then of course I leave on Saturday.
After what must be said was a rather boring lecture on learning Arabic which was also not nearly as informative as I thought it could have been, I met Teresa to take care of our amiya/dialect video project. We went to Al-Furat Publishers bookstore, which we had been to previously with our teacher Hussein. The owner, Maria Teresa (Maria Terez in her pronunciation) was really nice and more than happy to have us do our project in her shop so long as she didn’t have to be on camera, thus she became our camera woman. We basically did a short little bit where we come in, talk to her, ask her for recommendations and she shows them to us. She enjoyed it a lot and was even happier when she understood that we actually wanted to buy the books too. I bought two books by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf; The Rock of Tanios and Samarkand. I bought them in Arabic but they are actually translations because Maalouf writes in French. Teresa bought a book of poetry. I actually got a discount on the books. Instead of being 40,000LL (about $25) I got them for 25,000 (about $17). Go me.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Beirut Day 34 – July 27, 2009
Well last night I finally succumbed to food poisoning. I’m not sure if it was Kababji last night – despite my having eaten there before at least 3 times – or the restaurant in Zahle on Saturday which other people had complaints about. My roommate succeeded in getting me to go to the ER this morning at AUB Hospital, which is thankfully covered by my AUB insurance. If I hadn’t already known she was a mother, the way she was waiting for me at 2am when I first threw up would have confirmed it. It was mainly a case of waiting and treating my dehydration at the hospital and I was given two IVs along with a drug for nausea. I went back to my dorm and slept until 5pm. I’ve felt mostly pretty good since then although at the moment I am not sure if I am hungry or nauseated and have been searching for foods I can eat without irritating me. Making it 4.5wks/6 isn’t bad. By the time I finally received the homework assignment (all three people I asked answered me at the same time) it was 9:15pm and I was tired again. I struggled valiantly to do my homework but after falling asleep on my textbook I decided to go to bed at 10 and slept mostly without interruption until 7am.
Beirut Day 33 – July 26, 2009
Once again a boring Sunday. I wrote the first half (750wds) of my Arabic research paper on Dune, although it was mostly the introduction and the summary of the novel. I actually finished at 5 and Teresa and I grabbed a quick and early (7pm) lunch at Kababji. I did spend the morning posting nearly all my pictures on Flickr, including Damascus, Trablos and Byblos, so click away.
Beirut Day 32 – July 25, 2009
We woke up early to head to Baalbek and got on the bus for the long ride. We stopped at a restaurant in a region famous for its labneh (strained yogurt) and I ordered what was essentially a Panini with halloumi cheese. During the whole ride the woman who was apparently our tour guide kept standing up and saying things as we passed different areas. Unfortunately her microphone was horrible and I couldn’t hear anything she was saying. The Bekaa Valley, which we drove through, was beautiful but the poverty there was also fairly evident. We did a drive-by of the “largest stone in the world” by which I presume they mean largest carved stone. It is also called the Stone of the Pregnant Woman, for some reason I’m not sure of.
We proceeded to Baalbek, which is one of the best preserved Roman ruins in the country. It used to be called Heliopolis and has the remains of a temple of Jupiter and the fairly well preserved ruins of a temple to Bacchus. But right outside Baalbek was the Hezbollah ‘museum’. It was disconcerting to say the least, probably due to the dioramas of missiles and grenade launchers and “blood spattered” helmets. They also had t-shirts and flags for sale, in which some of my classmates indulged.
After that happy note we proceeded into the actual ruins. They were quite amazing and well preserved, as promised. Of course there were no signs saying keep off the ruins, so of course no one did, myself included. A bunch of us managed to climb this staircase and tower in the middle of the main section before the teachers noticed and freaked out about liability. That was also the point that my camera died despite my having changed the batteries that very morning.
The tour guide continued to be pushy and annoyed that only four students were following her Arabic tour, which was in a difficult mix of amiya and MSA. She caught me nodding and then assumed I understood everything she said, which I definitely did not.
After the ruins we drove to Zahle where we had lunch at Casino Arabi. In typical Lebanese and Arab fashion, lunch took twice as long as the time spent at the ruins. The food was ok, but there wasn’t much I felt like eating. I did really enjoy eating the grapes though and it makes me want to find some more. After Zahle the buses returned to AUB. I somehow managed to stay awake until my parental Skype appointment at midnight and in the meantime did a little work on my research paper.
We proceeded to Baalbek, which is one of the best preserved Roman ruins in the country. It used to be called Heliopolis and has the remains of a temple of Jupiter and the fairly well preserved ruins of a temple to Bacchus. But right outside Baalbek was the Hezbollah ‘museum’. It was disconcerting to say the least, probably due to the dioramas of missiles and grenade launchers and “blood spattered” helmets. They also had t-shirts and flags for sale, in which some of my classmates indulged.
After that happy note we proceeded into the actual ruins. They were quite amazing and well preserved, as promised. Of course there were no signs saying keep off the ruins, so of course no one did, myself included. A bunch of us managed to climb this staircase and tower in the middle of the main section before the teachers noticed and freaked out about liability. That was also the point that my camera died despite my having changed the batteries that very morning.
The tour guide continued to be pushy and annoyed that only four students were following her Arabic tour, which was in a difficult mix of amiya and MSA. She caught me nodding and then assumed I understood everything she said, which I definitely did not.
After the ruins we drove to Zahle where we had lunch at Casino Arabi. In typical Lebanese and Arab fashion, lunch took twice as long as the time spent at the ruins. The food was ok, but there wasn’t much I felt like eating. I did really enjoy eating the grapes though and it makes me want to find some more. After Zahle the buses returned to AUB. I somehow managed to stay awake until my parental Skype appointment at midnight and in the meantime did a little work on my research paper.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Beirut Day 31 – July 24, 2009
Today I managed by the grace of accustomed wake up times not to be late for class. For some reason my alarm was set for 8am but I woke up at 7:15a, only 15 minutes late. Nicely my roommate knocked just after I got up to make sure I knew what time it was since usually I wake her up at 7 on my way to the shower. So the morning was a bit hurried but not by much.
We started off today in amiya by trying to come up with phrases and vocabulary we might need for our filming assignment. We were also told that now every day we are all responsible for bringing in some amiya (dialect) word or phrase and talking about it to the class or having the teacher explain it to us. This just seems fairly silly to me.
In MSA class we were actually fairly serious and Hussein went over grammar with us and once again it was much clearer when he explained it when compared to the book’s attempts at explaining it. In the second third of class we discussed the reasons for Christian immigration from the Middle East and went over the reasons the text in the book gave for it.
We also got our weekend homework assignment: write the first half of our research paper. I am fairly annoyed because I had been hoping to go to office hours on Monday to go over some of the terms from Dune with Hussein but obviously I had to move that today. But then I found out that the office closed at 1 because of the trip…so I’ll just have to write around that part. We also have a day long trip to Baalbek tomorrow so my time to actually do this is limited. I was going to try and go to Beiteddine to see the palace of the Ottoman emir but I’m thinking that’ll have to wait so I can not-fail my class. My remaining free time here is so limited!
The last third of the day involved a program-wide trip to the National Museum. It had a pretty good but only medium-sized collection of items from Lebanon’s long history from the Phoenicians on to the Islamic era. Apparently during the civil war the artifacts were either surrounded by concrete or walled up in the basement to prevent people from stealing them or knowing they were there. We did not get to see the film on the restoration of the artifacts and the museum after the civil war and I’m told it’s very good.
After the museum, Stephanie, Teresa, Sarah, Jessica and I went to Zaatar W Zeit to get some lemonade and a snack since it was incredibly hot outside today and we wanted to cool down and get something to drink. After ZWZ I went back to my room to take a nap and didn’t wake up until about 7. Later, around midnight, we watched The Jungle Book in Arabic. Sadly it was in Egyptian Arabic, although that’s not really surprising considering Egypt is the largest film producer in the Arabic speaking world.
We started off today in amiya by trying to come up with phrases and vocabulary we might need for our filming assignment. We were also told that now every day we are all responsible for bringing in some amiya (dialect) word or phrase and talking about it to the class or having the teacher explain it to us. This just seems fairly silly to me.
In MSA class we were actually fairly serious and Hussein went over grammar with us and once again it was much clearer when he explained it when compared to the book’s attempts at explaining it. In the second third of class we discussed the reasons for Christian immigration from the Middle East and went over the reasons the text in the book gave for it.
We also got our weekend homework assignment: write the first half of our research paper. I am fairly annoyed because I had been hoping to go to office hours on Monday to go over some of the terms from Dune with Hussein but obviously I had to move that today. But then I found out that the office closed at 1 because of the trip…so I’ll just have to write around that part. We also have a day long trip to Baalbek tomorrow so my time to actually do this is limited. I was going to try and go to Beiteddine to see the palace of the Ottoman emir but I’m thinking that’ll have to wait so I can not-fail my class. My remaining free time here is so limited!
The last third of the day involved a program-wide trip to the National Museum. It had a pretty good but only medium-sized collection of items from Lebanon’s long history from the Phoenicians on to the Islamic era. Apparently during the civil war the artifacts were either surrounded by concrete or walled up in the basement to prevent people from stealing them or knowing they were there. We did not get to see the film on the restoration of the artifacts and the museum after the civil war and I’m told it’s very good.
After the museum, Stephanie, Teresa, Sarah, Jessica and I went to Zaatar W Zeit to get some lemonade and a snack since it was incredibly hot outside today and we wanted to cool down and get something to drink. After ZWZ I went back to my room to take a nap and didn’t wake up until about 7. Later, around midnight, we watched The Jungle Book in Arabic. Sadly it was in Egyptian Arabic, although that’s not really surprising considering Egypt is the largest film producer in the Arabic speaking world.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Beirut Day 30 – July 23, 2009
We were given our first real assignment in dialect class on Thursday. We have to go to a place (bookstore, restaurant, service taxi, etc) and film ourselves having a conversation in Arabic with someone. I had originally picked the grocery store but realized today that it would be a bit awkward so I switched to going to a bookstore, especially since I want to get a book by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf in Arabic anyway.
In class today we had our Khalil Gibran presentations. Suleiman and I presented on his life and politics. I basically gave a summary of his life. I think it went well but I read from my paper too much, as I tend to do. The other students did presentations on his prose (from The Prophet, largely) and his paintings.
For the first time this week we actually had our Thursday club on a Thursday! We all went to Suleiman’s apartment to cook lunch. After class but before cooking Stephanie, Teresa and I went to the co-op to pick up the vegetables needed for the fattoush and then walked over to Suleiman’s. It was nice but without air conditioning, so a little hot, even with the balcony doors open. Everyone from class was there including both teachers, Sara and Hussein
Sara (teacher) and Emily basically took over the kitchen and directed everyone. Emily apparently almost went to culinary school but perhaps wisely chose Princeton instead. There were some conflicts between them about the food but it was all in fun. Our fattoush was sort of a fattoush that wanted to be a tabbouleh because the vegetables were chopped a bit too finely for fattoush. I was scolded for peeling the cucumbers by Sara but Emily, who had told me to, said she wanted it done so that no one would get sick because the peel would be where any bacteria we are unaccustomed to would be. Suleiman and Hussein, the only two men, were largely given charge of washing things and then Hussein was constantly being teased by Jessica and Sarah for being a typical Arab man and doing no work in the kitchen. It was great fun and for desert there were traditional sweets and watermelon (batik) which made my day.
After lunch was over we were told that we were going to have one-on-one (two really) meetings with them. It was originally going to involve going back to CAMES but we were settled and having such a good time that they just co-opted one of the bedrooms for the meetings. We were all really nervous about it and wondered if we were being scolded. It turns out we weren’t and it was just to see how we felt about the class so far and if we had any suggestions. I was described as one of the more serious students which gratified my inner nerd. My only real suggestion was for more grammar explanations. As much as I hate grammar I’ve found that Hussein explains it really well; much better than the book.
In class today we had our Khalil Gibran presentations. Suleiman and I presented on his life and politics. I basically gave a summary of his life. I think it went well but I read from my paper too much, as I tend to do. The other students did presentations on his prose (from The Prophet, largely) and his paintings.
For the first time this week we actually had our Thursday club on a Thursday! We all went to Suleiman’s apartment to cook lunch. After class but before cooking Stephanie, Teresa and I went to the co-op to pick up the vegetables needed for the fattoush and then walked over to Suleiman’s. It was nice but without air conditioning, so a little hot, even with the balcony doors open. Everyone from class was there including both teachers, Sara and Hussein
Sara (teacher) and Emily basically took over the kitchen and directed everyone. Emily apparently almost went to culinary school but perhaps wisely chose Princeton instead. There were some conflicts between them about the food but it was all in fun. Our fattoush was sort of a fattoush that wanted to be a tabbouleh because the vegetables were chopped a bit too finely for fattoush. I was scolded for peeling the cucumbers by Sara but Emily, who had told me to, said she wanted it done so that no one would get sick because the peel would be where any bacteria we are unaccustomed to would be. Suleiman and Hussein, the only two men, were largely given charge of washing things and then Hussein was constantly being teased by Jessica and Sarah for being a typical Arab man and doing no work in the kitchen. It was great fun and for desert there were traditional sweets and watermelon (batik) which made my day.
After lunch was over we were told that we were going to have one-on-one (two really) meetings with them. It was originally going to involve going back to CAMES but we were settled and having such a good time that they just co-opted one of the bedrooms for the meetings. We were all really nervous about it and wondered if we were being scolded. It turns out we weren’t and it was just to see how we felt about the class so far and if we had any suggestions. I was described as one of the more serious students which gratified my inner nerd. My only real suggestion was for more grammar explanations. As much as I hate grammar I’ve found that Hussein explains it really well; much better than the book.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Beirut Day 29 – July 22, 2009
Sadly I found out today that I might not get to see Krak des Chevaliers/Qala’at al-Hosn since the two people who were going to be my travel partners are probably going to go after the program. I know that it would be like 10 hours just of travel but it’s supposed to be an absolutely amazing place and I would really love to go.
We ate lunch at the cafeteria again and I had the okra stew from the first day of CAMES. For some reason this time it didn’t agree with me and I felt vaguely nauseated for the whole afternoon and part of the evening. As a result I didn’t go out to dinner and instead ate the food I have in my room and prepared for my portion of the class presentation on the Lebanese author Gibran Khalil Gibran, most famous for his book The Prophet.
I apologize for the lack of detail in the past few entries but I’ve been so busy that I forgot to write down my usual daily notes for this blog. I’ll do better next time. I also promise to upload my Damascus, Tripoli and Byblos pictures soon!
We ate lunch at the cafeteria again and I had the okra stew from the first day of CAMES. For some reason this time it didn’t agree with me and I felt vaguely nauseated for the whole afternoon and part of the evening. As a result I didn’t go out to dinner and instead ate the food I have in my room and prepared for my portion of the class presentation on the Lebanese author Gibran Khalil Gibran, most famous for his book The Prophet.
I apologize for the lack of detail in the past few entries but I’ve been so busy that I forgot to write down my usual daily notes for this blog. I’ll do better next time. I also promise to upload my Damascus, Tripoli and Byblos pictures soon!
Beirut Day 28 – July 21, 2009
My amiya teachers have been using the strategy of finding Lebanese music videos and using the lyrics to teach us about the various grammar tenses. It’s worked fairly well so far but got a little weird with the latest one. The song used to teach us about past tense conjugation was definitely hard rock and not Lebanese-feeling at all. It was also sort of about domestic violence…so that was rather odd.
We had our second day of teacher switching again in FusHa. We also went over the topics for our 1500 word final research paper. It doesn’t seem that long but it is about twice the longest thing I’ve written in Arabic. My topic is – of course, for those of you that know me – about the Arabic and Islamic influences on the scifi novel Dune by Frank Herbert. I’ve been rereading it lately and it’s the first time I’ve read it since I’ve learned much more detailed information about Islam and more Arabic. It’s really astounding how much is in there. It should either be fun or obnoxiously difficult to write about.
As with regular Tuesday afternoons we had a movie. We were supposed to watch a movie about the civil war called Zuzu but it froze about two minutes in so instead we watched two short films. The first one was called The Chair, about two brothers who are trying to find their dead brother’s chair which they accidentally broke and threw away. The younger of the two, who could not have been more than 7, was absolutely adorable, especially his manner of talking. The second short film was incredibly weird and I don’t even remember the title. It was basically a (purposeful) compilation of all the Lebanese stereotypes.
Teresa, Jessica, Stephanie, Claire and I all had dinner at Olio’s, which was fun. Afterwards I went back to my apartment to finish up the homework, of which there was thankfully little. I was also surprisingly studious and did some vocabulary review.
We had our second day of teacher switching again in FusHa. We also went over the topics for our 1500 word final research paper. It doesn’t seem that long but it is about twice the longest thing I’ve written in Arabic. My topic is – of course, for those of you that know me – about the Arabic and Islamic influences on the scifi novel Dune by Frank Herbert. I’ve been rereading it lately and it’s the first time I’ve read it since I’ve learned much more detailed information about Islam and more Arabic. It’s really astounding how much is in there. It should either be fun or obnoxiously difficult to write about.
As with regular Tuesday afternoons we had a movie. We were supposed to watch a movie about the civil war called Zuzu but it froze about two minutes in so instead we watched two short films. The first one was called The Chair, about two brothers who are trying to find their dead brother’s chair which they accidentally broke and threw away. The younger of the two, who could not have been more than 7, was absolutely adorable, especially his manner of talking. The second short film was incredibly weird and I don’t even remember the title. It was basically a (purposeful) compilation of all the Lebanese stereotypes.
Teresa, Jessica, Stephanie, Claire and I all had dinner at Olio’s, which was fun. Afterwards I went back to my apartment to finish up the homework, of which there was thankfully little. I was also surprisingly studious and did some vocabulary review.
Beirut Day 27 – July 20, 2009
We had a teacher switch on Monday. Sara, who normally teaches an amiya class and the first third of our class, has exams at her own university this week so the schedule got changed a bit. Hussein taught the amiya class and the first two thirds of the class and then Sara taught the afternoon class.
In the evening Claire, Teresa and I were at Café Younis for a while, working on homework. I finally, finally got what I’ve been craving: a real bagel with real cream cheese. It was fantastic. After Younis, Claire and I went to Dekkeneh to buy some more supplies. Then she and I went to Kababji where they still didn’t have their famous seasoned fries so we had grilled potatoes and fatayer.
In the evening Claire, Teresa and I were at Café Younis for a while, working on homework. I finally, finally got what I’ve been craving: a real bagel with real cream cheese. It was fantastic. After Younis, Claire and I went to Dekkeneh to buy some more supplies. Then she and I went to Kababji where they still didn’t have their famous seasoned fries so we had grilled potatoes and fatayer.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Beirut Day 26 – July 19, 2009
We left AUB at 8:15 or so to go to Charles Helou to catch a bus to Trablos. We opted for a “luxury” bus company, i.e. one with air conditioning, recommended by the guide book, paying about 4000LL each. I think it only took about an hour and a half.
Our first stop was the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles (aka Raymond (IV) of Tolouse), called Qala’at Sanjil in Arabic. He build the fortress in the 12th century to command the city and he called it Mont Pelerin. It burned down in 1289 and was rebuilt on several occasions, the last two done under the auspices of the Ottomans, first by Suleyman the Magnificant and then in the 19th century by the Ottoman governor of Tripoli.
The citadel is manned by the military for some reason that we couldn’t determine and so on first approach we weren’t sure if we were allowed in since there was a soldier patrolling the wall above the stair but a passerby saw us looking confused and said that it was the citadel and we should go up (in Arabic). The entrance fees were (relative to Lebanon) a bit steep at 7500LL but well worth it. We saw exactly one other visitor for a short while and were essentially left to wander this impressively preserved castle all by ourselves. There were only a few roped off areas and occasionally the watchful eye of a soldier but we were basically on our own. It was magnificent.
After the citadel we wandered around the souqs for a bit but didn’t find that much. We did however stumble upon Khan al-Saboun. It is an effort to reestablish and preserve, at least on a small scale, Tripoli’s history of soap making, for which it has been famous for since the 15th century. It was nice and we were all also given a free package of what are essentially soap scraps of different scents (or scentses as the guy showing us around kept saying). We went there twice, once took look before lunch and then a second time after for buying. It was nice but we were definitely being hovered over by the store proprietors, which was somewhat disconcerting.
For lunch we wandered around until we found a place which was called Al-Daraj and it was basically a mix of Lebanese and American foods. Amusing everything remotely American appeared transliterated in Arabic even the words which had simple Arabic equivalents. For example the phrase “chicken submarine” was transliterated in its entirety and did not use the Arabic word for chicken for some reason.
We wandered the souqs for about another hour after departing. We went to the public gardens to sit for a minute and the bus departing points were also nearby. We got on a bus when the driver said that he went to Byblos and it was only 1500, like all the buses. What we did not realize however is that when you want to get off you have to make your way to the front of the bus and basically tell the driver you want to get off. He then pulls over to the side of the road, lets you out really quickly and then drives off.
About 5 or 10 minutes past Byblos (which we only half recognized and kept waiting for him to stop) he remembered that we wanted to get off there and let us out. Unfortunately we were on a one way highway and there was no chance of catching a bus going in the other direction without crossing the highway. I have gotten much better and less fearful of crossing roads here but none of us were willing to brave that. After checking at a hotel where a wedding was going on that the best way to get there was to walk, we started trudging. Luckily the area we walked on was separated by a railing from the highway and we eventually found stairs down from the highway to the streets leading to Byblos.
The walk wasn’t absurd but we were quite tired. We eventually got in to Byblos and went to the ruins. We climbed the crusader castle and looked around but were sadly too tired to investigate the rest of the ruins which cover an incredibly wide swath of time including the 3rd and 4th century BCE, Roman occupation, Neolithic and Cahalcolithic ruins, so we just took pictures of them from the top of the castle.
All of us having seen the historic harbor on a previous occasion, we went to the souqs. We visited the shop Memoire du temps, a shop that sells fossils excavated by the owner and his workers in a quarry that his family owns and in nearby villages. A fantastic shop and the girl who showed us around was incredibly well informed and spoke English very well. We mentioned that the shop had been prominently featured in Lonely Planet and she showed us a binder full of mentions of the store. We also had a conversation with Pierre Abi Saad who owns the shop with his brother. There were fossils priced at very reasonable ranges ($5, $10, $20, $30 and of course up) depending on quality and a really amazing private collection on display. Claire and I wandered the souq some more after that and bought some souvenirs while Rob opted to sit and peruse the guidebook’s section on Syria.
Discovering the only way back to Beirut was by minibus we went back up to the highway to wait for one to come by and found out it was going to Dowra in Beirut and would be 1500LL to be paid when getting off. The door to the minibus was kept open and people would hop on and off with rapidity, sometimes the bus barely stopping to let them off. A very interesting method. I probably would have been quite sketched out about if I had not been in a group of friends.
We got let off at Dowra and started to walk to find a taxi…which we didn’t find and ended up walking all the way through the Armenian quarter to Gemmayzeh by which time walking back to AUB had become a “thing” we were going to do. We were lucky and the sun was setting so we were able to find our way through the Armenian quarter by keeping the sun in the right spot. Old school. Although a direct line would have been about 7km from Dowra to AUB, I haven’t seen Rob be able to navigate in a straight line yet and the way we took ended up taking an hour and a half and twice we could have gone a much easier way. My teachers all told me the next day that I was absolutely mad (after checking that I hadn’t been walking by myself) since a taxi was only 2000LL. I got back to AUB, passed on getting dinner due to aching throbbing feet and a lack of hunger, and went back to my room to muddle my way through some homework before going to bed.
I didn’t really like Tripoli that much aside from the Citadel and Khan al-Saboun. Although it certainly has a lot of history it was also very very dirty. Rubbish was just swept out into the streets or into a depression of in the middle of the street. It did not seem to have much of a tourist population (certainly not its fault) and I think we only saw other tourists once on our return trip to the Khan. I’m sure there’s that side of Beirut too that I am just missing. That said I did have a good time. Byblos was nice and very touristy, fairly European (as it is a Christian town) and cleaned up. I’m told there are definitely poorer areas in Jbail. It was a good weekend and I definitely enjoyed myself.
Our first stop was the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles (aka Raymond (IV) of Tolouse), called Qala’at Sanjil in Arabic. He build the fortress in the 12th century to command the city and he called it Mont Pelerin. It burned down in 1289 and was rebuilt on several occasions, the last two done under the auspices of the Ottomans, first by Suleyman the Magnificant and then in the 19th century by the Ottoman governor of Tripoli.
The citadel is manned by the military for some reason that we couldn’t determine and so on first approach we weren’t sure if we were allowed in since there was a soldier patrolling the wall above the stair but a passerby saw us looking confused and said that it was the citadel and we should go up (in Arabic). The entrance fees were (relative to Lebanon) a bit steep at 7500LL but well worth it. We saw exactly one other visitor for a short while and were essentially left to wander this impressively preserved castle all by ourselves. There were only a few roped off areas and occasionally the watchful eye of a soldier but we were basically on our own. It was magnificent.
After the citadel we wandered around the souqs for a bit but didn’t find that much. We did however stumble upon Khan al-Saboun. It is an effort to reestablish and preserve, at least on a small scale, Tripoli’s history of soap making, for which it has been famous for since the 15th century. It was nice and we were all also given a free package of what are essentially soap scraps of different scents (or scentses as the guy showing us around kept saying). We went there twice, once took look before lunch and then a second time after for buying. It was nice but we were definitely being hovered over by the store proprietors, which was somewhat disconcerting.
For lunch we wandered around until we found a place which was called Al-Daraj and it was basically a mix of Lebanese and American foods. Amusing everything remotely American appeared transliterated in Arabic even the words which had simple Arabic equivalents. For example the phrase “chicken submarine” was transliterated in its entirety and did not use the Arabic word for chicken for some reason.
We wandered the souqs for about another hour after departing. We went to the public gardens to sit for a minute and the bus departing points were also nearby. We got on a bus when the driver said that he went to Byblos and it was only 1500, like all the buses. What we did not realize however is that when you want to get off you have to make your way to the front of the bus and basically tell the driver you want to get off. He then pulls over to the side of the road, lets you out really quickly and then drives off.
About 5 or 10 minutes past Byblos (which we only half recognized and kept waiting for him to stop) he remembered that we wanted to get off there and let us out. Unfortunately we were on a one way highway and there was no chance of catching a bus going in the other direction without crossing the highway. I have gotten much better and less fearful of crossing roads here but none of us were willing to brave that. After checking at a hotel where a wedding was going on that the best way to get there was to walk, we started trudging. Luckily the area we walked on was separated by a railing from the highway and we eventually found stairs down from the highway to the streets leading to Byblos.
The walk wasn’t absurd but we were quite tired. We eventually got in to Byblos and went to the ruins. We climbed the crusader castle and looked around but were sadly too tired to investigate the rest of the ruins which cover an incredibly wide swath of time including the 3rd and 4th century BCE, Roman occupation, Neolithic and Cahalcolithic ruins, so we just took pictures of them from the top of the castle.
All of us having seen the historic harbor on a previous occasion, we went to the souqs. We visited the shop Memoire du temps, a shop that sells fossils excavated by the owner and his workers in a quarry that his family owns and in nearby villages. A fantastic shop and the girl who showed us around was incredibly well informed and spoke English very well. We mentioned that the shop had been prominently featured in Lonely Planet and she showed us a binder full of mentions of the store. We also had a conversation with Pierre Abi Saad who owns the shop with his brother. There were fossils priced at very reasonable ranges ($5, $10, $20, $30 and of course up) depending on quality and a really amazing private collection on display. Claire and I wandered the souq some more after that and bought some souvenirs while Rob opted to sit and peruse the guidebook’s section on Syria.
Discovering the only way back to Beirut was by minibus we went back up to the highway to wait for one to come by and found out it was going to Dowra in Beirut and would be 1500LL to be paid when getting off. The door to the minibus was kept open and people would hop on and off with rapidity, sometimes the bus barely stopping to let them off. A very interesting method. I probably would have been quite sketched out about if I had not been in a group of friends.
We got let off at Dowra and started to walk to find a taxi…which we didn’t find and ended up walking all the way through the Armenian quarter to Gemmayzeh by which time walking back to AUB had become a “thing” we were going to do. We were lucky and the sun was setting so we were able to find our way through the Armenian quarter by keeping the sun in the right spot. Old school. Although a direct line would have been about 7km from Dowra to AUB, I haven’t seen Rob be able to navigate in a straight line yet and the way we took ended up taking an hour and a half and twice we could have gone a much easier way. My teachers all told me the next day that I was absolutely mad (after checking that I hadn’t been walking by myself) since a taxi was only 2000LL. I got back to AUB, passed on getting dinner due to aching throbbing feet and a lack of hunger, and went back to my room to muddle my way through some homework before going to bed.
I didn’t really like Tripoli that much aside from the Citadel and Khan al-Saboun. Although it certainly has a lot of history it was also very very dirty. Rubbish was just swept out into the streets or into a depression of in the middle of the street. It did not seem to have much of a tourist population (certainly not its fault) and I think we only saw other tourists once on our return trip to the Khan. I’m sure there’s that side of Beirut too that I am just missing. That said I did have a good time. Byblos was nice and very touristy, fairly European (as it is a Christian town) and cleaned up. I’m told there are definitely poorer areas in Jbail. It was a good weekend and I definitely enjoyed myself.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Beirut Day 25 – July 18, 2009
I got up at 5 am and met Tolga/Ibrahim, my Turkish traveling partner from the Low Intermediate class, at the New Women’s Gate to catch a service to the bus/taxi station. This was my first time actually negotiating with the taxi. The first car was actually a taxi and not a service and therefore wanted 8,000LL to take us to Charles Helou Station so of course we refused. The second car tried to charge us 3,000LL each but I told him 2,000, which is what it should have been. The taxi let us off at Charles Helou and we were immediately descended on by a crowd of drivers asking “Ash-Sham? Ash-Sham? (Damascus? Damascus?). We started negotiations with one although we needed the help of another drive who spoke some English. They all wanted proof that I did in fact have a visa, which thankfully I did, and the driver agreed to take us to Damascus (and not just the border) for 25,000LL each. We may have been able to get it cheaper but 25,000 was the max someone told me to pay so I don’t think we got hosed too bad. There was a Syrian guy in the backseat with Tolga and I and an elderly Saudi guy in the front seat.
The trip was actually fairly nice and only took about three hours. I had no problem whatsoever at the border although Tolga had a bit of a problem because he had a special Turkish passport that they didn’t know how to deal with. At the border first you have to get approved to leave Lebanon, then you drive a stretch of land, then you have to get permission to enter Syria and it’s the same on the way back. Tolga and the Syrian guy chatted and it turned out that he owned a shop in one of the souqs of the old city and invited us to come visit. When we got out of the taxi at As-Samariyeh station outside of Damascus the Syrian guy told us to come with him and he’d show us how to get there. I was fearful the whole time that he’d try and get us to pay him for a tour, but it never happened. He pointed things out in English and Arabic on the cab ride and actually paid for the cab ride and refused repayment. He then pointed the way to the Umayyad Mosque and said goodbye. Completely unexpected.
We walked through Souq Al-Hamadiya, which is one of the famous covered souqs of the old city. Its metal covering is pierced through by bulletholes from French planes in 1925. We walked to the Umayyad mosque and tried to find the entrance. We eventually determined that it would open at 10 o’clock and the doors were where the huge crowd was waiting. After hanging about the entrance as people went in since I was the only uncovered female and I couldn’t figure out where I could get an abaya. I asked two women nearby and the pointed me to the room where I could get one, around the corner from the entrance. Admission was 50SP for me but free for Tolga, since he, being Turkish, is in theory a Muslim. It was one of many instances in which I was initially assumed to be Tolga’s wife (he does actually wear a wedding ring so it was reasonable). It probably actually helped us a little and I wasn’t harassed at all and noticed none of the stares I often get in Lebanon.
The Umayyad mosque was amazing. It was huge and gorgeous and had fascinating architecture and murals. In the mosque is also the resting place of the head of Hussein ibn Ali. He was a grandson of Muhammad and was killed by the Umayyads in Karbala (where his body rests now) and is a very important martyr in Shi’ism. That being said the area of the shrine was awash with Iranians and other Shi’i. They were polishing the shrine and kissing it and chanting Ya Hussein and beating their chests. It was quite an experience to be among although I’m told it gets even more intense in the Takiyya mosque in the city, which I did not get to see. Needless to say it is even more intense in places like Karbala, but this was the first time I’d ever seen it in person. We couldn’t find the entrance to Saladin’s Tomb or the Citadel but I found out today that they are in fact closed at the moment so I don’t feel as bad about not getting to see them.
For lunch we went to Leila’s, which was in the Lonely Planet and it seems like all the CAMES students stopped by there at some point. Unfortunately there was like an entire page full of food that I could eat…but they didn’t have it. I ended up having fattoush and potatoes Provencal. The building the restaurant was really interesting and there were these dungeon like bathrooms in the basement.
After Leila’s we went to Azem Palace, the 18th century residence of the governor of Damascus. The ticket was relatively expensive and at first we did not understand why. We had turned right from the entrance and found a small but not very impressive courtyard with some rooms filled with cultural displays on traditional dress of the region and the like. On our disappointed way out we decided to see what was through this one doorway…which opened into this large gorgeous courtyard which was part of the selamlik, or area for visiting guests. That part was definitely worth the admissions fee. I realized after we finished that I had left my waterbottle at Leila’s and we went back to get it. After initially panicking when I couldn’t find it, the waiter told me that he had given it to my friends (other CAMES students he had seen me talking to) and I was able to retrieve it on Monday from Hannah.
After that we wandered the various souqs for a while and bought some souvenirs and gifts. We walked along Souq Medhet Pasha and Via Recta/Straight Street for a while before deciding that we were tired and to head back to Beirut. We took a taxi to the station and were once again descended upon with offers to go to Beirut. I left Tolga to bargain and he actually managed to start a bidding war with the various drivers starting to get mad at each other. He eventually secured the services of a driver who offered to take us to Hamra – the area the university is in – rather than the bus station and for about the same price as we had paid on the way to Damascus.
There was very little problem at the border once again although Tolga did have a problem again with the officials not knowing the regulations for his special passport. The car was full and we were second to be dropped off. On the outskirts of Beirut on the way to drop the first guy off I noticed some buildings that looked like they had been bombed or shelled and wondered if they were from the ’06 war. Then I noticed several large posters of Hassan Nasrallah. Then I noticed large shaheed or martyr posters on the lampposts along the main street, which confirmed that we were an area that supported Hezbollah, which was interesting. Tolga and I got dropped off in Hamra near AUB Hospital which is a very short walk from the university. I met Claire for dinner and then I tried to get to sleep early because I was getting up early again for the trip with Claire and Rob to Tripoli (Trablos) and Byblos/Jbeil.
The trip was actually fairly nice and only took about three hours. I had no problem whatsoever at the border although Tolga had a bit of a problem because he had a special Turkish passport that they didn’t know how to deal with. At the border first you have to get approved to leave Lebanon, then you drive a stretch of land, then you have to get permission to enter Syria and it’s the same on the way back. Tolga and the Syrian guy chatted and it turned out that he owned a shop in one of the souqs of the old city and invited us to come visit. When we got out of the taxi at As-Samariyeh station outside of Damascus the Syrian guy told us to come with him and he’d show us how to get there. I was fearful the whole time that he’d try and get us to pay him for a tour, but it never happened. He pointed things out in English and Arabic on the cab ride and actually paid for the cab ride and refused repayment. He then pointed the way to the Umayyad Mosque and said goodbye. Completely unexpected.
We walked through Souq Al-Hamadiya, which is one of the famous covered souqs of the old city. Its metal covering is pierced through by bulletholes from French planes in 1925. We walked to the Umayyad mosque and tried to find the entrance. We eventually determined that it would open at 10 o’clock and the doors were where the huge crowd was waiting. After hanging about the entrance as people went in since I was the only uncovered female and I couldn’t figure out where I could get an abaya. I asked two women nearby and the pointed me to the room where I could get one, around the corner from the entrance. Admission was 50SP for me but free for Tolga, since he, being Turkish, is in theory a Muslim. It was one of many instances in which I was initially assumed to be Tolga’s wife (he does actually wear a wedding ring so it was reasonable). It probably actually helped us a little and I wasn’t harassed at all and noticed none of the stares I often get in Lebanon.
The Umayyad mosque was amazing. It was huge and gorgeous and had fascinating architecture and murals. In the mosque is also the resting place of the head of Hussein ibn Ali. He was a grandson of Muhammad and was killed by the Umayyads in Karbala (where his body rests now) and is a very important martyr in Shi’ism. That being said the area of the shrine was awash with Iranians and other Shi’i. They were polishing the shrine and kissing it and chanting Ya Hussein and beating their chests. It was quite an experience to be among although I’m told it gets even more intense in the Takiyya mosque in the city, which I did not get to see. Needless to say it is even more intense in places like Karbala, but this was the first time I’d ever seen it in person. We couldn’t find the entrance to Saladin’s Tomb or the Citadel but I found out today that they are in fact closed at the moment so I don’t feel as bad about not getting to see them.
For lunch we went to Leila’s, which was in the Lonely Planet and it seems like all the CAMES students stopped by there at some point. Unfortunately there was like an entire page full of food that I could eat…but they didn’t have it. I ended up having fattoush and potatoes Provencal. The building the restaurant was really interesting and there were these dungeon like bathrooms in the basement.
After Leila’s we went to Azem Palace, the 18th century residence of the governor of Damascus. The ticket was relatively expensive and at first we did not understand why. We had turned right from the entrance and found a small but not very impressive courtyard with some rooms filled with cultural displays on traditional dress of the region and the like. On our disappointed way out we decided to see what was through this one doorway…which opened into this large gorgeous courtyard which was part of the selamlik, or area for visiting guests. That part was definitely worth the admissions fee. I realized after we finished that I had left my waterbottle at Leila’s and we went back to get it. After initially panicking when I couldn’t find it, the waiter told me that he had given it to my friends (other CAMES students he had seen me talking to) and I was able to retrieve it on Monday from Hannah.
After that we wandered the various souqs for a while and bought some souvenirs and gifts. We walked along Souq Medhet Pasha and Via Recta/Straight Street for a while before deciding that we were tired and to head back to Beirut. We took a taxi to the station and were once again descended upon with offers to go to Beirut. I left Tolga to bargain and he actually managed to start a bidding war with the various drivers starting to get mad at each other. He eventually secured the services of a driver who offered to take us to Hamra – the area the university is in – rather than the bus station and for about the same price as we had paid on the way to Damascus.
There was very little problem at the border once again although Tolga did have a problem again with the officials not knowing the regulations for his special passport. The car was full and we were second to be dropped off. On the outskirts of Beirut on the way to drop the first guy off I noticed some buildings that looked like they had been bombed or shelled and wondered if they were from the ’06 war. Then I noticed several large posters of Hassan Nasrallah. Then I noticed large shaheed or martyr posters on the lampposts along the main street, which confirmed that we were an area that supported Hezbollah, which was interesting. Tolga and I got dropped off in Hamra near AUB Hospital which is a very short walk from the university. I met Claire for dinner and then I tried to get to sleep early because I was getting up early again for the trip with Claire and Rob to Tripoli (Trablos) and Byblos/Jbeil.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Beirut Day 24 – July 17, 2009
I was able to sleep in until 7:30 since dialect class was cancelled for midterms, which began at 9am. I spent most of the time doing some last minute grammar study and vocab review.
When we were first given the midterm I stared at it in confusion in first. And so did everyone else. Either a mistake had been made, they were reusing the same text from the test on Monday or a new text on the same really boring subject. It turns out it was a mistake. The office had copied the wrong exam! After almost telling us to take the same exam or contemplating doing the exam on Monday instead since giving us the right exam was contingent on the secretary being in the CAMES office, our teacher headed over there. After about ten minutes he returned with the new exam.
I only had a real problem with two questions. One of them I could half answer and made up the second part. Basically we were supposed to find an example of something in the text and give the grammatical name for it, but I had been pretty sure that yesterday we were told we didn’t need to know the names for that type of thing and so I didn’t study them. My second problem was also of a “find an example of X in paragraph 4”. I couldn’t for the life of me find it. I had finished the entire test and stared that the tiny two sentence paragraph for a half an hour before giving up and making something up since it’s offensive to my nerdiness to leave an answer blank.
Claire and I went to Kababji for lunch and it was delicious. We got spiced fried potatoes, fattoush, and fatayer which was unusually in pizza form. After Kababji we went to find an exchange booth for my first actual currency exchange so I could have Syrian pounds before I actually went. I have mostly been just withdrawing money straight from the ATM since it is convenient although it does charge me some fees. Unfortunately the exchange of currency was done almost entirely in English with some FusHa thrown in (as that is my default when I am trying to think in Arabic) as I did not have the foresight to look up relevant words such as “exchange rate”. According to the internet I did not get hosed on the exchange rate.
After that I went back to my room to relax, read and take a nap. I had intended to do at least some of my homework tonight as I will be busy this weekend but after the midterm I put a several hour moratorium on studying Arabic.
For dinner Claire, Rob and I went to Zaatar W Zeit to eat and plan our Sunday trip to Trablos and Byblos. After that we were once again lured by the siren song of Bliss House ice cream. Sadly I did not get any homework done and attempted to go to sleep early at 11 as we were leaving at 6am. I managed to get to bed on time but unfortunately it took a long time to fall asleep.
When we were first given the midterm I stared at it in confusion in first. And so did everyone else. Either a mistake had been made, they were reusing the same text from the test on Monday or a new text on the same really boring subject. It turns out it was a mistake. The office had copied the wrong exam! After almost telling us to take the same exam or contemplating doing the exam on Monday instead since giving us the right exam was contingent on the secretary being in the CAMES office, our teacher headed over there. After about ten minutes he returned with the new exam.
I only had a real problem with two questions. One of them I could half answer and made up the second part. Basically we were supposed to find an example of something in the text and give the grammatical name for it, but I had been pretty sure that yesterday we were told we didn’t need to know the names for that type of thing and so I didn’t study them. My second problem was also of a “find an example of X in paragraph 4”. I couldn’t for the life of me find it. I had finished the entire test and stared that the tiny two sentence paragraph for a half an hour before giving up and making something up since it’s offensive to my nerdiness to leave an answer blank.
Claire and I went to Kababji for lunch and it was delicious. We got spiced fried potatoes, fattoush, and fatayer which was unusually in pizza form. After Kababji we went to find an exchange booth for my first actual currency exchange so I could have Syrian pounds before I actually went. I have mostly been just withdrawing money straight from the ATM since it is convenient although it does charge me some fees. Unfortunately the exchange of currency was done almost entirely in English with some FusHa thrown in (as that is my default when I am trying to think in Arabic) as I did not have the foresight to look up relevant words such as “exchange rate”. According to the internet I did not get hosed on the exchange rate.
After that I went back to my room to relax, read and take a nap. I had intended to do at least some of my homework tonight as I will be busy this weekend but after the midterm I put a several hour moratorium on studying Arabic.
For dinner Claire, Rob and I went to Zaatar W Zeit to eat and plan our Sunday trip to Trablos and Byblos. After that we were once again lured by the siren song of Bliss House ice cream. Sadly I did not get any homework done and attempted to go to sleep early at 11 as we were leaving at 6am. I managed to get to bed on time but unfortunately it took a long time to fall asleep.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Beirut Day 23 – July 16, 2009
So the video from Al-Jazeera that I left to load overnight only loaded ¾ of the way, but it didn’t end up being a problem as we re-watched the video in class anyway. It was a debate between the host (a Syrian), an Egyptian doctor and a Sudanese WHO employee. Much of our time was spent being amused at the calmness and politeness of the Sudanese man who when he tried to interrupt or begin a comment he would say “ya azizi” which means approximately “my dear”. My teacher said that this show at one point had two Sudanese guests on the show in a debate about partitioning the country between Christians and Muslims and even then they were both polite and calm despite the frustrated host’s attempts to rile them up.
As a may have mentioned before there are often brief power outages at AUB, maybe once or twice a day that I notice and lasting approximately 5-10 minutes. This would not have been a problem in our normal classroom but for the last hour and a half on Thursday afternoons we move to this windowless classroom on the fourth floor. The power went out for maybe two minutes while we were there and everyone discovered my shirt had glow in the dark images. There was a bit of sunlight coming in through the ceiling but other than that nothing. It came back on and we resumed our grammar lesson only for the power to go out again a bit later for even longer. After sitting in the dark for quite a while we finally began moving to another classroom, which was in the basement which was also dark but had the benefit of windows. The grammar review contained those explanations that make everything clear and you wonder why the book can’t teach it that way.
After class I went to the CAMES office to get some travel advice and then went back to my dorm to study. I was actually fairly good about studying and did flashcards straight for over an hour and looked at some grammar. That is, I was good until it came time to get dinner.
Jeff has to leave the program early, this Sunday, because his job is starting and Claire and I wanted to treat him to a dinner. Claire and I met Jeff for dinner around 8:30 or 8:45 and decided to try and find this place called Barometre. First we had to go to the store so Jeff could recharge his phone so that he could call the people he was meeting later for drinks. Then we decided to meet up with his friend Mike, who knew where the restaurant was.
We got to the restaurant…only to find it was the same restaurant we had been calling Al Bayt. Both names appear on the same storefront and I’m not really sure what the difference is. We sat outside and as we waited for another student, Kevin, we ordered kibbeh, spiced potatoes, fattouch, hummus, ra’a’at, shish taouk, and probably some other things that I can’t remember. I know we reordered the potatoes and the hummus. Dinner was fantastic but we did it Lebanese style (i.e. sharing dishes and then just sitting and talking) and it took four and a half hours so I didn’t get back to my room until around midnight. I studied grammar until about 1am and then went to sleep.
Jeff claims to know the answer to the long running mystery about why we didn’t go in the Muhammad al-Amin mosque; apparently it is forbidden to allow Christians in, which explains why Emily, a Muslim, was able to enter.
As a may have mentioned before there are often brief power outages at AUB, maybe once or twice a day that I notice and lasting approximately 5-10 minutes. This would not have been a problem in our normal classroom but for the last hour and a half on Thursday afternoons we move to this windowless classroom on the fourth floor. The power went out for maybe two minutes while we were there and everyone discovered my shirt had glow in the dark images. There was a bit of sunlight coming in through the ceiling but other than that nothing. It came back on and we resumed our grammar lesson only for the power to go out again a bit later for even longer. After sitting in the dark for quite a while we finally began moving to another classroom, which was in the basement which was also dark but had the benefit of windows. The grammar review contained those explanations that make everything clear and you wonder why the book can’t teach it that way.
After class I went to the CAMES office to get some travel advice and then went back to my dorm to study. I was actually fairly good about studying and did flashcards straight for over an hour and looked at some grammar. That is, I was good until it came time to get dinner.
Jeff has to leave the program early, this Sunday, because his job is starting and Claire and I wanted to treat him to a dinner. Claire and I met Jeff for dinner around 8:30 or 8:45 and decided to try and find this place called Barometre. First we had to go to the store so Jeff could recharge his phone so that he could call the people he was meeting later for drinks. Then we decided to meet up with his friend Mike, who knew where the restaurant was.
We got to the restaurant…only to find it was the same restaurant we had been calling Al Bayt. Both names appear on the same storefront and I’m not really sure what the difference is. We sat outside and as we waited for another student, Kevin, we ordered kibbeh, spiced potatoes, fattouch, hummus, ra’a’at, shish taouk, and probably some other things that I can’t remember. I know we reordered the potatoes and the hummus. Dinner was fantastic but we did it Lebanese style (i.e. sharing dishes and then just sitting and talking) and it took four and a half hours so I didn’t get back to my room until around midnight. I studied grammar until about 1am and then went to sleep.
Jeff claims to know the answer to the long running mystery about why we didn’t go in the Muhammad al-Amin mosque; apparently it is forbidden to allow Christians in, which explains why Emily, a Muslim, was able to enter.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Beirut Day 22 – July 15, 2009
After today, the program is about halfway done. There are 45 days (including weekends) in the program and today is, as you can see, day 22. I am two minds on this. On the one hand I am amazed that there are only three and a half more weeks of class and only three more weekends left in which I can go visit places in Lebanon and Syria. On the other hand, I am totally ready to go home. It is not that I am not enjoying myself because clearly I am, it’s just I am ready to return to my life and everything that I know. It also seems that I’ve been here much longer than three weeks.
In dialect class we listened to and translated a song entitled “EL Haq Ma Beymout” (The truth doesn’t die). It’s a sort of nationalistic pride song about Lebanon written after the war in 2006, encouraging people not to leave Lebanon and that Lebanon will return. Interestingly one of the words we translated showed up in MSA class.
The MSA test turned out to not be too bad. I got an 80% but I made some stupid mistakes that cost me 2 points out of a total 20 (which could have gotten me an A, maybe). I misread some directions and therefore got no points in that section instead of something out of 2. I did better on the reading section than I thought and my worst section was on the writing with a 8.75/10. Ah well, I didn’t fail it. The afternoon was mostly spent with translating some poetry (including a Classic example of defamatory poetry).
After class I took my traditional nap and did homework. I sadly realized that I had I not wasted time, mostly on the internet, I probably could have finished my homework by 8 or 9pm. At 10 Claire and I went to Bliss House to get more ice cream and on the way we accidently incited a literal cat fight. This cat, who some of us named Assad, was following us and we’d encourage him every few steps with petting. Unfortunately by following us he strayed into foreign territory and got into a short conflict with three other cats. But he was fine when we saw him 20min later back at the dorms and didn’t seem mad at us for luring him into a trap.
Part of the homework tonight was to watch a 45min program on Al Jazeera on swine flu. I am having horrific problems loading it and have only been able to watch it in 15 second bursts, which is a real problem with a 45 minute program. The text of the program is written under it but its length is off putting. I have decided to leave my computer on overnight and see if I can watch at least most of it in the morning.
In dialect class we listened to and translated a song entitled “EL Haq Ma Beymout” (The truth doesn’t die). It’s a sort of nationalistic pride song about Lebanon written after the war in 2006, encouraging people not to leave Lebanon and that Lebanon will return. Interestingly one of the words we translated showed up in MSA class.
The MSA test turned out to not be too bad. I got an 80% but I made some stupid mistakes that cost me 2 points out of a total 20 (which could have gotten me an A, maybe). I misread some directions and therefore got no points in that section instead of something out of 2. I did better on the reading section than I thought and my worst section was on the writing with a 8.75/10. Ah well, I didn’t fail it. The afternoon was mostly spent with translating some poetry (including a Classic example of defamatory poetry).
After class I took my traditional nap and did homework. I sadly realized that I had I not wasted time, mostly on the internet, I probably could have finished my homework by 8 or 9pm. At 10 Claire and I went to Bliss House to get more ice cream and on the way we accidently incited a literal cat fight. This cat, who some of us named Assad, was following us and we’d encourage him every few steps with petting. Unfortunately by following us he strayed into foreign territory and got into a short conflict with three other cats. But he was fine when we saw him 20min later back at the dorms and didn’t seem mad at us for luring him into a trap.
Part of the homework tonight was to watch a 45min program on Al Jazeera on swine flu. I am having horrific problems loading it and have only been able to watch it in 15 second bursts, which is a real problem with a 45 minute program. The text of the program is written under it but its length is off putting. I have decided to leave my computer on overnight and see if I can watch at least most of it in the morning.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Beirut Day 21- July 14, 2009
MSA class today was just really funny for some reason and we spent a lot of time laughing although I’m not sure I could explain over what. We talked about Arabic literature and the different kinds of Arabic poetry both classical and modern. For lunch we just went to the AUB cafeteria for lunch in the name of simplicity. In the afternoon instead of a movie we had a lecture on the famous Lebanese singer Fayrouz given by the program leader Bilal.
By some unknown miracle, we were never given our homework. I proceeded to waste all my free time in a gloriously unstructured manner. I took a nap, I poked around on the internet…basically I did anything that did not resemble work. For dinner Claire and I met with Jeff who was supposed to go out with some CAMES students. We felt the group was much larger than we would have liked and Claire, Jake and I split off from the group (who went to the Italian place from Beirut Day 1) and went to a café Jake has frequented called Taa Marbuta (the name of an Arabic letter). The food was good and the café had a nice atmosphere even though I came home smelling of smoke. There is no concept of smoke free cafes or restaurants in Beirut. The fact that AUB has designated smoking areas is fairly forward thinking.
By some unknown miracle, we were never given our homework. I proceeded to waste all my free time in a gloriously unstructured manner. I took a nap, I poked around on the internet…basically I did anything that did not resemble work. For dinner Claire and I met with Jeff who was supposed to go out with some CAMES students. We felt the group was much larger than we would have liked and Claire, Jake and I split off from the group (who went to the Italian place from Beirut Day 1) and went to a café Jake has frequented called Taa Marbuta (the name of an Arabic letter). The food was good and the café had a nice atmosphere even though I came home smelling of smoke. There is no concept of smoke free cafes or restaurants in Beirut. The fact that AUB has designated smoking areas is fairly forward thinking.
Beirut Day 20 – July 13, 2009
I lucked out on the dialect quiz. I think I only forgot two of the proper responses to polite utterings (what you say to someone whose relative has just arrived safely from travel and what a waiter says when he gives you the bill). It also ended up being a written exam because someone high up in the program, probably Bilal, decided to give all the students manaeesh for breakfast and the dialect teachers were concerned that oral exams would be too difficult while everyone was eating.
I am in no way as optimistic about my MSA test. For some reason – probably just finishing a quiz and the fact that I was so tired – my brain just shut down and I had a difficult time with the reading and trying to come up with something for the writing topic. Eventually my brain came back on and I finished the test. Unfortunately I also finished the test first…which means I got to watch my teacher start grading it with her red pen and I’m pretty sure she made a face. Not cool. We’ll see tomorrow or Wednesday if it’s really bad.
The first part of the afternoon was spent reading a poem by Nizar Qabbani the title of which might be translated “Love me without complexes”. Before lunch I did a music exchange with my teacher Hussein. He had mentioned his love of soundtracks and I offered him the soundtrack to The Two Towers because I have always loved the Norwegian fiddle in it. I also ended up giving him this linguistics lecture I had on my flash drive, The Story of Human Language. He gave me a huuuge amount of Arabic music that I am only starting to work my way through. After lunch we worked our way through the first three pages or so of Season of Migration to the North.
Claire and I went to dinner at a small place called Airport Pizza. I ordered a Penne Arabiatta that was once again, not the least bit spicy, but tasted fine. There was a large TV there on mute which was turned towards the Lebanese version of the Food Network, Falafeat. It was interesting to see. As always happens, all the Arabic was directed towards Claire as she looks full Lebanese when she’s half and I was again assumed to be her Arabic-less American friend. Of course since I’m actually in a Lebanese dialect class I understand what the waitress was saying each time which made me glad, although the concepts weren’t that difficult, e.g. we’re out of the large water, is two smalls ok? After dinner we went to Bliss House and I got some gelato and Claire got a fruit cup with soft serve. After that it was back to the dorms to finish my homework but I finally got to bed before midnight.
I am in no way as optimistic about my MSA test. For some reason – probably just finishing a quiz and the fact that I was so tired – my brain just shut down and I had a difficult time with the reading and trying to come up with something for the writing topic. Eventually my brain came back on and I finished the test. Unfortunately I also finished the test first…which means I got to watch my teacher start grading it with her red pen and I’m pretty sure she made a face. Not cool. We’ll see tomorrow or Wednesday if it’s really bad.
The first part of the afternoon was spent reading a poem by Nizar Qabbani the title of which might be translated “Love me without complexes”. Before lunch I did a music exchange with my teacher Hussein. He had mentioned his love of soundtracks and I offered him the soundtrack to The Two Towers because I have always loved the Norwegian fiddle in it. I also ended up giving him this linguistics lecture I had on my flash drive, The Story of Human Language. He gave me a huuuge amount of Arabic music that I am only starting to work my way through. After lunch we worked our way through the first three pages or so of Season of Migration to the North.
Claire and I went to dinner at a small place called Airport Pizza. I ordered a Penne Arabiatta that was once again, not the least bit spicy, but tasted fine. There was a large TV there on mute which was turned towards the Lebanese version of the Food Network, Falafeat. It was interesting to see. As always happens, all the Arabic was directed towards Claire as she looks full Lebanese when she’s half and I was again assumed to be her Arabic-less American friend. Of course since I’m actually in a Lebanese dialect class I understand what the waitress was saying each time which made me glad, although the concepts weren’t that difficult, e.g. we’re out of the large water, is two smalls ok? After dinner we went to Bliss House and I got some gelato and Claire got a fruit cup with soft serve. After that it was back to the dorms to finish my homework but I finally got to bed before midnight.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Beirut Day 19 - July 12 2009
Today was once again an indoor day, entirely due to homework. I have a unit test tomorrow in my MSA class and an oral quiz in my dialect class. For MSA we also have to read an 11 page selection from the book Season of Migration to the North by Al-Tayib Salih. I read the first 3 or 4 pages last night but there was a lot left when I looked at this morning. Luckily it is a lot easier both in terms of comprehension and vocabulary than the previous two readings we have been assigned. I took a break to go out and get falafel from Barbar with Teresa and then I went to the store to get some more apples for breakfast and finally some juice. I also did laundry and managed to not screw up despite the fact that I was using a “washing powder”, the directions of which were entirely in German as it belongs to my suitemate. I had no way to measure 75ml so I just guessed and my clothes did not explode so I’m noting this as a huge success. The rest of the day was taken up by reading the excerpt, a short nap, review grammar and doing vocabulary flashcards. Exciting!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Beirut Day 18- July 11, 2009
Today was the first program-wide Saturday fieldtrip. We went to Jeita Grotto, Harissa, and Jbeil/Byblos. Pictures will be uploaded to Flickr.
We left AUB sometime between 8:30 and 9:00am and got on the buses, which one once again arranged by level of Arabic knowledge in order to facilitate us speaking in Arabic entirely for the trip or at least on the bus…which broke down quite quickly. We stopped at an amazing place called Wooden Bakery that had tons of freshly baked breads, pastries and doughnuts. I got a mini doughnut and three mini cinnamon rolls. The mini doughnut was absolutely adorable (and tasty) and can be seen on Flickr. After a delicious breakfast we all got back on the buses and headed to Jeita Grottos.
[Largely taken from Lonely Planet and Wikipedia]
Jeita Grotto is a series of limestone caves and is also the source of the Nahr al-Kalb river. It stretches about 6km back in to the mountains. It was apparently inhabited in prehistoric times but was rediscovered in modern times in the mid 19th century by westerners. During the civil war it was used as ammunition storage but the caves were reopened to the public in 1995.
We took a short sky gondola ride up to the Upper Grotto. Unfortunately we had to surrender our cameras whenever we were in the caves so as not to damages the structures and as such I have no pictures. I highly encourage anyone to look on the internet for pictures or on the Wikipedia page that has a few pictures. The inside of the Upper Grotto was breathtaking. It was huge and contained a wide variety of limestone formations. What was really fascinating to me was to see where water was still dripping and the rocks were wet, demonstrating that the process is, albeit infinitesimally slowly, still continuing.
After the Upper Grotto we descended on the outside towards the Lower Grotto. There was a large group of Indian male tourists that for some reason kept wanting to take pictures with our group and on the way down a group of them asked Teresa and me to take pictures with them. I’m not sure why (as they were equal opportunity men and women), but it was amusing. In the Lower Grotto we took a boat ride along the river that had helped to make the cavern. Our fearless program leader Bilal was in my boat and he enjoyed repeatedly trying to splash the other boats filled with CAMES students. It was just as spectacular although I may have enjoyed the Upper Grotto more because there was such a sense of awesome space.
After Jeita we headed towards Jounieh. We took a very lengthy and then steep sky gondola (called the Téléférique) up towards the top of the mountains. There we got some ice cream and then took a furnicular ride up to the actual top of the mountain. On top of the mountain is Harissa, a Christian pilgrimage site. I have been hearing that the Christians of Lebanon like to associate themselves more with the French than with the Arabs and often speak more French than Arabic. I definitely found this to be true in Harissa where many of the signs and souvenirs were in French and my stuttered Arabic did not get me as far as Rob’s French in buying souvenirs.
Also at the top is the Our Lady of Lebanon/Notre Dame du Liban (the name can also be applied to the statue), a Maronite cathedral which belongs to the modernist school of architecture. Next to it is the large white-painted bronze statue of the Virgin Mary. You can climb to the level of its feet by means of a circular stone stairwell. In the base of the statue is a small chapel, which I did not enter. I did however enter the gift shop and buy a Jesus-related gift for my Catholic grandmother.
After descending from Harissa we headed to Byblos for a late lunch at around 3pm. This is a late lunch by American standards but quite normal by Lebanese standards. Dinner is also not usually had until at least 8, if not 10. We went to a restaurant called the House of Blue where we were absolutely stuffed with food. We began with fattoush, tabbouleh, jebne, mini spinach pies, French fries, pita, tum (a garlic paste) and many other things, most of which were filled with meat. After all this the plates were cleared….only for the main meat dishes to be brought out. Most of the meat eaters were full and had to force themselves to eat more. For desert there was watermelon, cherries and peaches.
I had been very excited before the trip began for the portion in Byblos. Unfortunately we figured out later that the only place we would be going in Byblos would be the restaurant and a boat ride on the Mediterranean. Since there are many things I want to see in Byblos my friends and I have tentatively planned a return trip for next Sunday along with a trip to Tripoli.
After being stuffed at lunch we went for a boat ride on the Mediterranean. The captain, upon the request of one of the teachers, turned on some music and there was much rejoicing. The boat was going at a good clip over some waves and I was seated near the front so I got bounced around a lot which was really fun. We also saw hundreds of jellyfish in the water. And not just small ones, huge ones that were probably two feet across. The boat ride was just a loop and then we headed back to the buses and back to Beirut.
We left AUB sometime between 8:30 and 9:00am and got on the buses, which one once again arranged by level of Arabic knowledge in order to facilitate us speaking in Arabic entirely for the trip or at least on the bus…which broke down quite quickly. We stopped at an amazing place called Wooden Bakery that had tons of freshly baked breads, pastries and doughnuts. I got a mini doughnut and three mini cinnamon rolls. The mini doughnut was absolutely adorable (and tasty) and can be seen on Flickr. After a delicious breakfast we all got back on the buses and headed to Jeita Grottos.
[Largely taken from Lonely Planet and Wikipedia]
Jeita Grotto is a series of limestone caves and is also the source of the Nahr al-Kalb river. It stretches about 6km back in to the mountains. It was apparently inhabited in prehistoric times but was rediscovered in modern times in the mid 19th century by westerners. During the civil war it was used as ammunition storage but the caves were reopened to the public in 1995.
We took a short sky gondola ride up to the Upper Grotto. Unfortunately we had to surrender our cameras whenever we were in the caves so as not to damages the structures and as such I have no pictures. I highly encourage anyone to look on the internet for pictures or on the Wikipedia page that has a few pictures. The inside of the Upper Grotto was breathtaking. It was huge and contained a wide variety of limestone formations. What was really fascinating to me was to see where water was still dripping and the rocks were wet, demonstrating that the process is, albeit infinitesimally slowly, still continuing.
After the Upper Grotto we descended on the outside towards the Lower Grotto. There was a large group of Indian male tourists that for some reason kept wanting to take pictures with our group and on the way down a group of them asked Teresa and me to take pictures with them. I’m not sure why (as they were equal opportunity men and women), but it was amusing. In the Lower Grotto we took a boat ride along the river that had helped to make the cavern. Our fearless program leader Bilal was in my boat and he enjoyed repeatedly trying to splash the other boats filled with CAMES students. It was just as spectacular although I may have enjoyed the Upper Grotto more because there was such a sense of awesome space.
After Jeita we headed towards Jounieh. We took a very lengthy and then steep sky gondola (called the Téléférique) up towards the top of the mountains. There we got some ice cream and then took a furnicular ride up to the actual top of the mountain. On top of the mountain is Harissa, a Christian pilgrimage site. I have been hearing that the Christians of Lebanon like to associate themselves more with the French than with the Arabs and often speak more French than Arabic. I definitely found this to be true in Harissa where many of the signs and souvenirs were in French and my stuttered Arabic did not get me as far as Rob’s French in buying souvenirs.
Also at the top is the Our Lady of Lebanon/Notre Dame du Liban (the name can also be applied to the statue), a Maronite cathedral which belongs to the modernist school of architecture. Next to it is the large white-painted bronze statue of the Virgin Mary. You can climb to the level of its feet by means of a circular stone stairwell. In the base of the statue is a small chapel, which I did not enter. I did however enter the gift shop and buy a Jesus-related gift for my Catholic grandmother.
After descending from Harissa we headed to Byblos for a late lunch at around 3pm. This is a late lunch by American standards but quite normal by Lebanese standards. Dinner is also not usually had until at least 8, if not 10. We went to a restaurant called the House of Blue where we were absolutely stuffed with food. We began with fattoush, tabbouleh, jebne, mini spinach pies, French fries, pita, tum (a garlic paste) and many other things, most of which were filled with meat. After all this the plates were cleared….only for the main meat dishes to be brought out. Most of the meat eaters were full and had to force themselves to eat more. For desert there was watermelon, cherries and peaches.
I had been very excited before the trip began for the portion in Byblos. Unfortunately we figured out later that the only place we would be going in Byblos would be the restaurant and a boat ride on the Mediterranean. Since there are many things I want to see in Byblos my friends and I have tentatively planned a return trip for next Sunday along with a trip to Tripoli.
After being stuffed at lunch we went for a boat ride on the Mediterranean. The captain, upon the request of one of the teachers, turned on some music and there was much rejoicing. The boat was going at a good clip over some waves and I was seated near the front so I got bounced around a lot which was really fun. We also saw hundreds of jellyfish in the water. And not just small ones, huge ones that were probably two feet across. The boat ride was just a loop and then we headed back to the buses and back to Beirut.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Beirut Day 17- July 10, 2009
Sadly this morning I mourned the death of my first bottle of sunscreen. I have a second and hopefully it will last the remaining four weeks. I really should have brought three as I am doubtful that I can find a sufficient SPF in this land of SPF 5 and bronzer. This morning I also resolved to drink more water. I realized recently that I drink more water daily in Seattle than I do in Beirut which seems a poor decision.
I had previously mentioned on Thursdays we are scheduled to have clubs. Sara, not wanting Hussein (who teaches everything but the first hour of MSA class because Sara has classes she has to attend) to have to do all the clubs, moved them to Friday. So today we went to the Center for Palestinian Studies where our classmate Suleiman/Seth had been doing some doctoral research. It was interested and had a varied collection but unfortunately we did not get to see a clip of any of the documentary films because we ran out of time.
After we got back I had to go recharge the minutes on my phone. I keep forgetting to lock my phone while it is in my pocket and consequently have accidentally called several of my friends. This however does allow me, barring my spending it all, to have minutes until I leave. My previous purchase of minutes was going to expire on August 3rd and since I was leaving 5 days later I had not decided whether or not to renew it. After that I headed back to my room and took a nap for several hours since I had been up until 1:30 the night before.
After my nap, I was contemplating all the stuff in Lebanon and Syria (sorry Mom! Don’t read the rest of this paragraph.) that I still want to do. Tomorrow, Saturday, is the first program-wide fieldtrip. We are going to Jbeil/Byblos, Hrisa and Jeita Grotto and it will take all day. After this weekend I only have three weekends left to visit the Crusader castles and hopefully Damascus, if I can find someone to go with me to the latter (I already have someone to go with to the Crusader castles). Also Saturday the 25th will be taken up with another day-long program wide trip which on no account do I want to miss. It’d also be nice to see some more of Lebanon outside of these program trips such as Tyre, Sidon and the Cedars.
In the early evening I accompanied Teresa and Claire as they went to find a knitting store they had heard about online located in Saifi Village, near downtown. We found it fairly easily after asking a security guard to make sure we were on the right street. Contrary to their hopes, all of the yarn was imported and not Lebanese or from any Arabic country.
We were quite close to the downtown so we walked to Solidere (that would be the downtown area with the clock tower on my Flickr account) to find a restaurant. We walked into one called Al-Balad (i.e. The Country or The Nation) and after extensive questioning of the waiter eventually ordered several small dishes to share, of which I took part of two as they were the vegetarian ones.
One was called cheese and garlic and essentially was a small pizza sized piece of bread (also a bit like pizza dough) with a cheese and garlic topping. The cheese was more for texture and not so much for taste and it basically ended up tasting like warm garlic bread and it was amazing. I also had some of the fried potatoes. These weren’t French fries but a bit closer to home fries but without the skin on. Everything was really good and it may have been the best food I’ve had since I got here. Claire and Teresa enjoyed those two dishes as well as their meat dishes.
After that, we decided to go to the nearby Virgin Megastore. I had wanted to see if I could find Harry Potter in Arabic and Claire wanted to get the Arabic memoir of her beekeeping teacher on his youth in Hezbollah, his change of politics and his pursuit of the family business of beekeeping. Alas I did not find Harry Potter. We did however, find Disney movies with Arabic dubbing, and I bought Disney’s Robin Hood which we will all be watching together at a later date. I look forward to hearing what the songs sound like.
Near the movies were children’s books and we spent a long time attempting to read them. It was largely a question of insufficient vocabulary. The book series, Al-Kitab, that is standard in teaching Arabic, especially in the U.S. has a very specialized set of vocabulary more geared towards talking about famous writers, poets or historical events. The first chapter of the first book of the three book series contains the words “mother, father, United Nations, etc”. After looking at the books for like a half hour and laughing helplessly at our ineptness we went to the cashier to get our purchases. The cashier seemed very amused by our attempts and resoluteness to use Arabic and asked Teresa to read him the children’s book on manaeesh and zaatar that she bought. She read maybe a sentence or two and was overcome by laughter…and so was the cashier and two employees standing nearby. Perhaps had we not all been in such a good mood already it may have seemed a bit mean but we know exactly how inadequate our vocabularies are for daily interactions. We were all still laughing on our way out.
I had previously mentioned on Thursdays we are scheduled to have clubs. Sara, not wanting Hussein (who teaches everything but the first hour of MSA class because Sara has classes she has to attend) to have to do all the clubs, moved them to Friday. So today we went to the Center for Palestinian Studies where our classmate Suleiman/Seth had been doing some doctoral research. It was interested and had a varied collection but unfortunately we did not get to see a clip of any of the documentary films because we ran out of time.
After we got back I had to go recharge the minutes on my phone. I keep forgetting to lock my phone while it is in my pocket and consequently have accidentally called several of my friends. This however does allow me, barring my spending it all, to have minutes until I leave. My previous purchase of minutes was going to expire on August 3rd and since I was leaving 5 days later I had not decided whether or not to renew it. After that I headed back to my room and took a nap for several hours since I had been up until 1:30 the night before.
After my nap, I was contemplating all the stuff in Lebanon and Syria (sorry Mom! Don’t read the rest of this paragraph.) that I still want to do. Tomorrow, Saturday, is the first program-wide fieldtrip. We are going to Jbeil/Byblos, Hrisa and Jeita Grotto and it will take all day. After this weekend I only have three weekends left to visit the Crusader castles and hopefully Damascus, if I can find someone to go with me to the latter (I already have someone to go with to the Crusader castles). Also Saturday the 25th will be taken up with another day-long program wide trip which on no account do I want to miss. It’d also be nice to see some more of Lebanon outside of these program trips such as Tyre, Sidon and the Cedars.
In the early evening I accompanied Teresa and Claire as they went to find a knitting store they had heard about online located in Saifi Village, near downtown. We found it fairly easily after asking a security guard to make sure we were on the right street. Contrary to their hopes, all of the yarn was imported and not Lebanese or from any Arabic country.
We were quite close to the downtown so we walked to Solidere (that would be the downtown area with the clock tower on my Flickr account) to find a restaurant. We walked into one called Al-Balad (i.e. The Country or The Nation) and after extensive questioning of the waiter eventually ordered several small dishes to share, of which I took part of two as they were the vegetarian ones.
One was called cheese and garlic and essentially was a small pizza sized piece of bread (also a bit like pizza dough) with a cheese and garlic topping. The cheese was more for texture and not so much for taste and it basically ended up tasting like warm garlic bread and it was amazing. I also had some of the fried potatoes. These weren’t French fries but a bit closer to home fries but without the skin on. Everything was really good and it may have been the best food I’ve had since I got here. Claire and Teresa enjoyed those two dishes as well as their meat dishes.
After that, we decided to go to the nearby Virgin Megastore. I had wanted to see if I could find Harry Potter in Arabic and Claire wanted to get the Arabic memoir of her beekeeping teacher on his youth in Hezbollah, his change of politics and his pursuit of the family business of beekeeping. Alas I did not find Harry Potter. We did however, find Disney movies with Arabic dubbing, and I bought Disney’s Robin Hood which we will all be watching together at a later date. I look forward to hearing what the songs sound like.
Near the movies were children’s books and we spent a long time attempting to read them. It was largely a question of insufficient vocabulary. The book series, Al-Kitab, that is standard in teaching Arabic, especially in the U.S. has a very specialized set of vocabulary more geared towards talking about famous writers, poets or historical events. The first chapter of the first book of the three book series contains the words “mother, father, United Nations, etc”. After looking at the books for like a half hour and laughing helplessly at our ineptness we went to the cashier to get our purchases. The cashier seemed very amused by our attempts and resoluteness to use Arabic and asked Teresa to read him the children’s book on manaeesh and zaatar that she bought. She read maybe a sentence or two and was overcome by laughter…and so was the cashier and two employees standing nearby. Perhaps had we not all been in such a good mood already it may have seemed a bit mean but we know exactly how inadequate our vocabularies are for daily interactions. We were all still laughing on our way out.
Beirut Day 16 – July 9, 2009
Yesterday in dialect class we watched another Lebanese music video. It’s called “Niswanji” which essentially means “Womanizer”. It was quite sexist, although not as bad as another one by the same artist I found on YouTube. Obviously the best line was “The man who doesn’t like women, may God send him illness”. Despite the sexism, it was quite catchy.
Yesterday was also the day of a class presentation on Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian poet. We were divided into groups and each of us took a different part: Sarah and I got his poetry, Suleiman and Emily got his life and death and Jessica, Teresa and Stephanie got his prose. I worked a decent amount on it, finding stuff about his style to talk about and extracting a video of his performance of one of his most famous poems (Record! I am an Arab, also called Identity Card).
The problems started the next morning when I went to the library. To print one requires a print card. The print card machine only takes 5000LL bills and I had engineered that morning to get one. Unfortunately it was too old and crumpled, the machine wouldn’t take it and no one around had any change. One of my dialect classmates was there copying his homework to turn in and he graciously lent me his card.
I took my USB drive to the printing computers. I logged in only to discover I couldn’t find the USB drive on there. The girl next to me told me I couldn’t use the ones on the screen but that I had to use the ones on the CPU. Unfortunately it still wouldn’t recognize it. I logged out and tried another computer. It could find the USB just fine but there was a printing jam, so I went to a third computer. The printing worked just fine there but I discovered to my horror that I had not put my write up of my presentation on the USB drive and I did not have time to get it. By the time I got to class I was 20min late, but the teacher was very understanding. The presentation went well aside from some brief technical problems and I managed to drag some sentences from my memory.
The high point of class was obviously when I got my ID back. Teresa had been at the cafeteria and the lady asked if it was hers and she said no, but she knew me. And luckily I had not acquired or paid for my new ID so that saved me 25,000LL. For lunch Sarah, Teresa, Jessica, Stephanie and I went to Lina’s for lunch. It was a nice place and the food was mostly French. Unfortunately we simply could not catch the waiter’s eye and it took us forever to get the bill so we ended up being 15 minutes late to class…and we are 5/7 of the class.
So after lunch it was time for the prose section and the group had photocopies of three pages of Darwish’s prose which they had translated and had apparently been very difficult. Although we probably shouldn’t, a lot of the time we use Google Translate to figure out a word. This had some up when the group was working with Hussein to try and figure it out. His response was the amazing “Google Translate doesn’t have a degree in Arabic”.
I have many problems with Google Translate but I still use it because it’s quick, on the internet and it’s not always wrong. My main opinion is you absolutely have to know what you’re doing. In Arabic especially it phrases things wrongs, it ignores gender, it often ignores proper conjugations, etc. There is no real way to conjugate the feminine plurals (you all feminine, they all feminine) and often the dual. Sometimes the words are just wrong in that you can’t always check if the meaning matches your intention like you might be able to do in a paper dictionary. Google also often will translate something using an older definition that is no longer in use.
So Arabic does not write short vowels: when you see written Arabic what you are seeing are all consonants and three long vowels. The short vowels, usually only written in texts where exactitude is required such as the Qur’an or to teach such as in children’s books, are not usually written and when are written appear above or below the letters in much smaller print. There are also diacritical marks that are also not written that elongate a letter or represent a stop. Unfortunately these don’t usually appear on Google. The prose group found this out when Google translated a word due to the lack of diacritical marks as “coincidence” when in reality the word was “shell”.
If you know what you’re doing and you just wanted to remember how to spell a verb or check that your translation of a word was correct, you’ll be fine…so long as you already know a significant amount of Arabic grammar. Other than that be very very careful and get your translation checked.
Yesterday was also the day of a class presentation on Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian poet. We were divided into groups and each of us took a different part: Sarah and I got his poetry, Suleiman and Emily got his life and death and Jessica, Teresa and Stephanie got his prose. I worked a decent amount on it, finding stuff about his style to talk about and extracting a video of his performance of one of his most famous poems (Record! I am an Arab, also called Identity Card).
The problems started the next morning when I went to the library. To print one requires a print card. The print card machine only takes 5000LL bills and I had engineered that morning to get one. Unfortunately it was too old and crumpled, the machine wouldn’t take it and no one around had any change. One of my dialect classmates was there copying his homework to turn in and he graciously lent me his card.
I took my USB drive to the printing computers. I logged in only to discover I couldn’t find the USB drive on there. The girl next to me told me I couldn’t use the ones on the screen but that I had to use the ones on the CPU. Unfortunately it still wouldn’t recognize it. I logged out and tried another computer. It could find the USB just fine but there was a printing jam, so I went to a third computer. The printing worked just fine there but I discovered to my horror that I had not put my write up of my presentation on the USB drive and I did not have time to get it. By the time I got to class I was 20min late, but the teacher was very understanding. The presentation went well aside from some brief technical problems and I managed to drag some sentences from my memory.
The high point of class was obviously when I got my ID back. Teresa had been at the cafeteria and the lady asked if it was hers and she said no, but she knew me. And luckily I had not acquired or paid for my new ID so that saved me 25,000LL. For lunch Sarah, Teresa, Jessica, Stephanie and I went to Lina’s for lunch. It was a nice place and the food was mostly French. Unfortunately we simply could not catch the waiter’s eye and it took us forever to get the bill so we ended up being 15 minutes late to class…and we are 5/7 of the class.
So after lunch it was time for the prose section and the group had photocopies of three pages of Darwish’s prose which they had translated and had apparently been very difficult. Although we probably shouldn’t, a lot of the time we use Google Translate to figure out a word. This had some up when the group was working with Hussein to try and figure it out. His response was the amazing “Google Translate doesn’t have a degree in Arabic”.
I have many problems with Google Translate but I still use it because it’s quick, on the internet and it’s not always wrong. My main opinion is you absolutely have to know what you’re doing. In Arabic especially it phrases things wrongs, it ignores gender, it often ignores proper conjugations, etc. There is no real way to conjugate the feminine plurals (you all feminine, they all feminine) and often the dual. Sometimes the words are just wrong in that you can’t always check if the meaning matches your intention like you might be able to do in a paper dictionary. Google also often will translate something using an older definition that is no longer in use.
So Arabic does not write short vowels: when you see written Arabic what you are seeing are all consonants and three long vowels. The short vowels, usually only written in texts where exactitude is required such as the Qur’an or to teach such as in children’s books, are not usually written and when are written appear above or below the letters in much smaller print. There are also diacritical marks that are also not written that elongate a letter or represent a stop. Unfortunately these don’t usually appear on Google. The prose group found this out when Google translated a word due to the lack of diacritical marks as “coincidence” when in reality the word was “shell”.
If you know what you’re doing and you just wanted to remember how to spell a verb or check that your translation of a word was correct, you’ll be fine…so long as you already know a significant amount of Arabic grammar. Other than that be very very careful and get your translation checked.
Beirut Day 15 – July 8, 2009
Once again I got woken up at an ungodly hour – 2:30am – by a loud banging noise. Quickly realizing it was not the death knells of another insectoid invader and given where I am, I went to the window, hoping to see only fireworks. Which I did, down by the sea. Apparently it is quite legal here to buy fireworks and set them off yourselves. You can see my Maryland childhood in the fact that I am surprised at this. Low level fireworks I can understand but these were actually going into the air. I did eventually get back to sleep but it made for a tired me.
In class we found out that we have a unit test on Monday and then the midterm on Friday. Once again the part of the program title where it says its “Intensive” comes back to me. The much more interesting part of class, at least from the perspective of my anthropological interest, we learned several Lebanese/Arabic gestures. The most confusing one from a Western perspective is the way to say no. The head is moved slightly back, both eyebrows get raised briefly and a short tsking (tongue clicking against the front teeth) noise. Unfortunately it looks a lot like a gesture an American man might make when wishing to say “Hey baby.”
The other two we learned were hand gestures. One of them was only for women and means something like “that’s a shame” or more like that thing you just did was shameful. The hands are in front of you, near the body and the left hand is palm downwards and the right hand comes down on top of the left hand and is held there for a bit. The second gesture apparently is old enough to actually be described in the Qur’an. It is usually described as hitting one palm with the other. If you envision the motion of a golf clap – the fingers of one hand slapping the palm of the other hand – and sort of ending with the slapped hand briefly grasping the fingers of the other hand. It is a gesture of frustration. Our teacher couldn’t think of any on the spot but told us to ask him if he made any. Hopefully we’ll see some in the near future.
For lunch we went to a small restaurant I don’t remember the name of. I was overjoyed when I saw that the menu had a “veggie burger” and I felt compelled to try it. I was a bit confused when the waitress asked me egg and cheese or egg and mushroom but I figured it had something to do with its composition. Turns out…that was the entirety of the burger. Essentially it was a cheese omelet (minus any vegetables) on a bun with fries on the side. It tasted fine and it was probably the largest lunch I’d had in a long while and I was quite full for several hours.
After we got back from lunch the class was going on a fieldtrip to three bookstores. First we went to a small bookstore and publisher in the basement of a mall that looked really interesting. We also found out that our instructor Hussein also worked as a translator and they had one of the books there that he had translated into Arabic. The second store was Antoine’s which I had visited previously but was amusing because we found Twilight translated in Arabic. There was a moment in the third bookstore when we were very excited when we thought we had found a translation of Harry Potter. Sadly it was just a book about the “boy hero” as the book titled him. I asked my instructor for a recommendation and he suggested this book that he described as like The Fall of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a bit funny, but based on Saddam Hussein (note: a novel, not a history). I bought it but I honestly have no idea when I’ll have time to read it.
We were talking about some very American thing we had seen on Hamra (a street that runs through the district of the same name and has a large concentration of shops) and our teacher said something along the lines of “You see something in America and the next day it shows up in Ras Beirut”. Ras Beirut is the top of Beirut (Ras meaning ‘head’ in Arabic) and includes AUB.
I had eaten such a big lunch and was for so long that I just stayed in for dinner and snacked a bit on the stuff I had in my room.
In class we found out that we have a unit test on Monday and then the midterm on Friday. Once again the part of the program title where it says its “Intensive” comes back to me. The much more interesting part of class, at least from the perspective of my anthropological interest, we learned several Lebanese/Arabic gestures. The most confusing one from a Western perspective is the way to say no. The head is moved slightly back, both eyebrows get raised briefly and a short tsking (tongue clicking against the front teeth) noise. Unfortunately it looks a lot like a gesture an American man might make when wishing to say “Hey baby.”
The other two we learned were hand gestures. One of them was only for women and means something like “that’s a shame” or more like that thing you just did was shameful. The hands are in front of you, near the body and the left hand is palm downwards and the right hand comes down on top of the left hand and is held there for a bit. The second gesture apparently is old enough to actually be described in the Qur’an. It is usually described as hitting one palm with the other. If you envision the motion of a golf clap – the fingers of one hand slapping the palm of the other hand – and sort of ending with the slapped hand briefly grasping the fingers of the other hand. It is a gesture of frustration. Our teacher couldn’t think of any on the spot but told us to ask him if he made any. Hopefully we’ll see some in the near future.
For lunch we went to a small restaurant I don’t remember the name of. I was overjoyed when I saw that the menu had a “veggie burger” and I felt compelled to try it. I was a bit confused when the waitress asked me egg and cheese or egg and mushroom but I figured it had something to do with its composition. Turns out…that was the entirety of the burger. Essentially it was a cheese omelet (minus any vegetables) on a bun with fries on the side. It tasted fine and it was probably the largest lunch I’d had in a long while and I was quite full for several hours.
After we got back from lunch the class was going on a fieldtrip to three bookstores. First we went to a small bookstore and publisher in the basement of a mall that looked really interesting. We also found out that our instructor Hussein also worked as a translator and they had one of the books there that he had translated into Arabic. The second store was Antoine’s which I had visited previously but was amusing because we found Twilight translated in Arabic. There was a moment in the third bookstore when we were very excited when we thought we had found a translation of Harry Potter. Sadly it was just a book about the “boy hero” as the book titled him. I asked my instructor for a recommendation and he suggested this book that he described as like The Fall of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a bit funny, but based on Saddam Hussein (note: a novel, not a history). I bought it but I honestly have no idea when I’ll have time to read it.
We were talking about some very American thing we had seen on Hamra (a street that runs through the district of the same name and has a large concentration of shops) and our teacher said something along the lines of “You see something in America and the next day it shows up in Ras Beirut”. Ras Beirut is the top of Beirut (Ras meaning ‘head’ in Arabic) and includes AUB.
I had eaten such a big lunch and was for so long that I just stayed in for dinner and snacked a bit on the stuff I had in my room.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Beirut Day 14- July 7, 2009
In dialect class today we began learning how to give directions and so we played a form of treasure hunt. A student was chosen to leave the room, the rest of the class would take an object, hide it, invite the student back in and then direct them to it. It was only mildly entertaining since we have no practical speed with it yet. We would manage to say “walk straight” and by the time we had remembered/figured out how to say “when you reach the chair turn left” the person would be beyond the chair or waiting at the wall already.
I went to the Protection Office to pick up my ID but alas there was bad news. The ID Center was moving that day and I probably would not get my ID until at least Friday. I went to the CAMES office after that to ask about whether or not there really was an internet quota (answer: no, not for CAMES) and Dr. Saida asked if I had been having trouble coming in the gates and I said yes, a little (I think it helps that I am obviously American with an obviously American name (or at least not Lebanese) and am thus probably not sneaking into AUB to make mischief). She offered to write me a note confirming that I was in fact a CAMES student and was waiting for a replacement ID. I was expecting a scrawled note but she very nicely wrote it up on letterhead and signed it and put the CAMES stamp on it as well. Although I do feel a bit like a second grader with a note from her mom.
I tried a new thing for lunch today: sandwich batata, i.e. potato sandwich. It is basically French fries in a pita wrap with a tahini like sauce and tomatoes, which I picked out. Unhealthy to be sure, but so delicious. French fries here are somewhere between the texture of crispy American fries and quite squishy homefries. After lunch the whole program went to watch the movie Caramel, by a Lebanese director. It was quite good and it was gratifying to see a movie about Lebanon that did not deal with the war or sectarian conflict. It also covered somewhat taboo themes, albeit a bit obliquely sometimes, such as lesbianism, sex before marriage and the ideal of virginity and adultery.
I went to the Protection Office to pick up my ID but alas there was bad news. The ID Center was moving that day and I probably would not get my ID until at least Friday. I went to the CAMES office after that to ask about whether or not there really was an internet quota (answer: no, not for CAMES) and Dr. Saida asked if I had been having trouble coming in the gates and I said yes, a little (I think it helps that I am obviously American with an obviously American name (or at least not Lebanese) and am thus probably not sneaking into AUB to make mischief). She offered to write me a note confirming that I was in fact a CAMES student and was waiting for a replacement ID. I was expecting a scrawled note but she very nicely wrote it up on letterhead and signed it and put the CAMES stamp on it as well. Although I do feel a bit like a second grader with a note from her mom.
I tried a new thing for lunch today: sandwich batata, i.e. potato sandwich. It is basically French fries in a pita wrap with a tahini like sauce and tomatoes, which I picked out. Unhealthy to be sure, but so delicious. French fries here are somewhere between the texture of crispy American fries and quite squishy homefries. After lunch the whole program went to watch the movie Caramel, by a Lebanese director. It was quite good and it was gratifying to see a movie about Lebanon that did not deal with the war or sectarian conflict. It also covered somewhat taboo themes, albeit a bit obliquely sometimes, such as lesbianism, sex before marriage and the ideal of virginity and adultery.
Beirut Day 13 – July 6, 2009
I was woken up around 2 or 2:30am to very loud banging noises. When I went to investigate I found out that my suitemate had apparently been killing a large cockroach she had seen when she went to go to the bathroom and it just would not die. I went back to sleep eventually but my sleep deprivation made for a very long day.
After much running around between the Protection Office and CAMES, I finally managed to turn in all my paperwork to get a new ID. Luckily I did have an extra passport picture (as suggested in the orientation packet) and a copy of my passport. It is apparently illegal for foreigners to leave Beirut without their passports or a copy of it and so I have been walking around with a copy of it in my wallet so as not to lose the real thing.
Claire, Teresa, Jeff and I had dinner at a Sushi Bar on Bliss Street called Japanese Please. I’ve never been able to cope with seaweed even on vegetarian sushi but luckily they had a few non-sushi vegetarian entrees and I got stir fried vegetables and tofu on fried rice. Although according to the menu they were “steer fried” vegetables, much to my amusement. Yes Dad, your “meat juice” jokes would have been appropriate here.
After much running around between the Protection Office and CAMES, I finally managed to turn in all my paperwork to get a new ID. Luckily I did have an extra passport picture (as suggested in the orientation packet) and a copy of my passport. It is apparently illegal for foreigners to leave Beirut without their passports or a copy of it and so I have been walking around with a copy of it in my wallet so as not to lose the real thing.
Claire, Teresa, Jeff and I had dinner at a Sushi Bar on Bliss Street called Japanese Please. I’ve never been able to cope with seaweed even on vegetarian sushi but luckily they had a few non-sushi vegetarian entrees and I got stir fried vegetables and tofu on fried rice. Although according to the menu they were “steer fried” vegetables, much to my amusement. Yes Dad, your “meat juice” jokes would have been appropriate here.
Beirut Day 12 – July 5, 2009
I spent most of Sunday doing the rest of my homework and writing flashcards while listening to the podcast of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. The wireless internet in the dorms is often quite slow and spotty so it’s nice to have podcasts I can just download and listen to without having it stop and start with the internet connection. For some reason a pack of notecards costs about $2 here whereas in the States the most expensive I’ve seen one of the same size is $.99. In a place where almost everything else is cheaper, it baffles me that notecards are more expensive. They gave us this small notepad of graph paper at orientation for some reason and I have been cutting it up, since I brought scissors just in case, and making it into my own ghetto notecards.
In the afternoon Claire and I tried to go to the pool at the gym since neither of us had been yet. Unfortunately that whole area of the gym was closed because it was adjacent to the field that was being set up for the Majida El Roumi concern that night. I will have to try some other time since I paid the gym fee but have yet to actually use it because all my free time is spent doing homework.
Later we headed downtown because there was supposed to be an arts and crafts-like fair in Martyrs’ Square and we wanted to get dinner nearby. A rarity, we were actually able to find a restaurant with a website, which gave us a downtown location. We walked there and got a bit lost but somehow I was actually able to orient myself from some of the landmarks I’d seen before. Finding the restaurant looked for a minute like it was going to be like trying to find Olive but we asked a security guard and he was able to direct us. His directions went way too fast but we were just watching his hands anyway.
We did find the restaurant eventually. The problem was the restaurant was listed as being on a certain road when really it was within a series of walking only plazas surrounding that road. It was a Chinese restaurant named Chopsticks and was quite nice. Dinner for the two of us (shared bottle of water, one entrée each and a bowl of rice each) cost $19 although we totally could have gotten away with getting one entrée and bowl of rice and sharing them as neither of us finished more than half of our entrees. We also got free “welcome shots” which were some sort of flavored carbonated drink in a shot glass and really smelled like nothing so much as conditioner, but still tasted good.
The way they packaged our leftovers was fairly interesting because I’d never seen it before. Each piece, e.g. entrée or rice, got its own sealed plastic container. Then both the containers were put in a cardboard box with two depressions made specifically for that purpose. Consequently when we got back to the dorms maybe an hour, hour and a half later, the food was still fairly warm.
The fair was located only a little ways from the restaurant and was set up in a giant white tent across from Martyrs’ Square. It was much less craft-y than I was expecting with a mix of small food places (juice, honey, pickled things, manaeesh), craft-like places, more professional looking places and some more high-end jewelry and clothing places. It seemed more like a showcase of local business than anything else.
We sort of got trapped in the booth of the Palestinian Women’s Cooperative (I don’t remember the actual name) while a woman tried to entice us to buy scarves and jackets and abayas in a large array of colors. I didn’t really like most of the colors and Claire didn’t like the workmanship. I just couldn’t see anywhere I’d want to wear a bright green abaya even if it was supposed to be “for the house”. The best piece of the booth was a vested-shirt with a wide belt with red embroidery on it. The only problem was the patter was the keffiyeh pattern; the black and white checkered pattern associated with Palestine and Palestinian liberation and now also, unfortunately, American hipster. I felt like if I wore that I’d feel like I was wearing a flag, something I’m not inclined to do and that some people might take offense.
Claire didn’t buy anything but I bought a t-shirt. There were two t-shirt vendors that had fairly clever or cute shirts, one male group and one female group. We looked at the shirts in the men’s booth and liked some of them but not enough to buy them, plus I believe they were all in men’s styles. The best one was a Superman shirt with the letter seen (the Arabic letter representing the ess sound) instead of the normal stylized S. I bought a t-shirt from the women’s both that said “Hi, Kifak, Ca va?” and below that [Lebanese Mother Tongues]. Kifak means ‘how are you’, at least when addressing a male. When addressing a female it would be Kifik. As I wrote before, the Lebanese constantly code switch between all three languages: most learn Arabic at home and everywhere, learn French once they get to school and then English either in school or in college or just from others.
In the afternoon Claire and I tried to go to the pool at the gym since neither of us had been yet. Unfortunately that whole area of the gym was closed because it was adjacent to the field that was being set up for the Majida El Roumi concern that night. I will have to try some other time since I paid the gym fee but have yet to actually use it because all my free time is spent doing homework.
Later we headed downtown because there was supposed to be an arts and crafts-like fair in Martyrs’ Square and we wanted to get dinner nearby. A rarity, we were actually able to find a restaurant with a website, which gave us a downtown location. We walked there and got a bit lost but somehow I was actually able to orient myself from some of the landmarks I’d seen before. Finding the restaurant looked for a minute like it was going to be like trying to find Olive but we asked a security guard and he was able to direct us. His directions went way too fast but we were just watching his hands anyway.
We did find the restaurant eventually. The problem was the restaurant was listed as being on a certain road when really it was within a series of walking only plazas surrounding that road. It was a Chinese restaurant named Chopsticks and was quite nice. Dinner for the two of us (shared bottle of water, one entrée each and a bowl of rice each) cost $19 although we totally could have gotten away with getting one entrée and bowl of rice and sharing them as neither of us finished more than half of our entrees. We also got free “welcome shots” which were some sort of flavored carbonated drink in a shot glass and really smelled like nothing so much as conditioner, but still tasted good.
The way they packaged our leftovers was fairly interesting because I’d never seen it before. Each piece, e.g. entrée or rice, got its own sealed plastic container. Then both the containers were put in a cardboard box with two depressions made specifically for that purpose. Consequently when we got back to the dorms maybe an hour, hour and a half later, the food was still fairly warm.
The fair was located only a little ways from the restaurant and was set up in a giant white tent across from Martyrs’ Square. It was much less craft-y than I was expecting with a mix of small food places (juice, honey, pickled things, manaeesh), craft-like places, more professional looking places and some more high-end jewelry and clothing places. It seemed more like a showcase of local business than anything else.
We sort of got trapped in the booth of the Palestinian Women’s Cooperative (I don’t remember the actual name) while a woman tried to entice us to buy scarves and jackets and abayas in a large array of colors. I didn’t really like most of the colors and Claire didn’t like the workmanship. I just couldn’t see anywhere I’d want to wear a bright green abaya even if it was supposed to be “for the house”. The best piece of the booth was a vested-shirt with a wide belt with red embroidery on it. The only problem was the patter was the keffiyeh pattern; the black and white checkered pattern associated with Palestine and Palestinian liberation and now also, unfortunately, American hipster. I felt like if I wore that I’d feel like I was wearing a flag, something I’m not inclined to do and that some people might take offense.
Claire didn’t buy anything but I bought a t-shirt. There were two t-shirt vendors that had fairly clever or cute shirts, one male group and one female group. We looked at the shirts in the men’s booth and liked some of them but not enough to buy them, plus I believe they were all in men’s styles. The best one was a Superman shirt with the letter seen (the Arabic letter representing the ess sound) instead of the normal stylized S. I bought a t-shirt from the women’s both that said “Hi, Kifak, Ca va?” and below that [Lebanese Mother Tongues]. Kifak means ‘how are you’, at least when addressing a male. When addressing a female it would be Kifik. As I wrote before, the Lebanese constantly code switch between all three languages: most learn Arabic at home and everywhere, learn French once they get to school and then English either in school or in college or just from others.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Beirut Day 11 – July 4, 2009
Today was a lazy day. After spending so many nights being up until 12 or 1 finishing homework after spending too much time on dinner, I was overjoyed to be able to sleep in. I don’t think I changed out of my PJs until noon at least. Obviously it being the Fourth of July had little meaning here. I was roused by Teresa for a shopping trip where I got a calling card, more groceries and some batteries for my ailing camera. When I returned I called my grandmother whose only means of communication with me would be the phone. She was surprised to get my call despite my promise to call her. It was nice to call someone and not have the connection drop out several times like Skype does when my reception of the already poor wireless drops too low. I went to dinner at Zaatar W Zeit with Teresa and Stephanie. We were joined at different points by Claire, Jeff and Cassie. After dinner we went our separate ways as Claire, Teresa and Jeff were going to go to pubs in Gemmayze and Stephanie, Cassie and I were going to go back to our dorms. All in all a nice lazy Saturday.
Beirut Day 10 – July 3, 2009
Yesterday was my birthday! And we also had a program fieldtrip around downtown Beirut, solely to celebrate my birthday of course. We started off at the Muhammad al-Amin mosque. It was built under the auspices of Rafik Hariri, the assassinated PM of Lebanon, and was dedicated by his son in 2008. Unfortunately, despite my dressing incredibly appropriately (long sleeves, pants, shirt that goes past the butt, hijab) I did not get to go inside. I heard Bilal, the program director, saying we didn’t have time. What I think he meant was we didn’t have time for all the inappropriately dressed students to get into the allegedly provided abayas that would render them modestly dressed. Some students did get in. A lot more students stood at the entranceway and flashed pictures in. I was behind these students so I didn’t notice that a few of our group did get in.
After that we went to Martyr’s Square where there is a statue commemorating a group of nationalists that had risen up during Ottoman rule during WWI when the city was blockaded by opposing forces and was undergoing starvation. The statue has also suffered a lot of damage and bullet holes from the civil war are quite obviously visible. It apparently has also become a rallying point, notably during the Cedar Revolution. Nearby were some ruins although I did not hear the explanation of their provenience but I assume that they were Roman or Phoenician. After that we went to a smaller mosque that we did get to go into but regrettably I did not learn the name of. It was very nice and a majority of the women stepped off into the women’s area (before the beginning of the main section of the mosque) to put on abayas or other coverings and I once again donned my hijab. I explored the main area of the mosque, the women’s prayer area and the central courtyard. After the mosque we were taken to a nearby shop where we were provided with fresh squeezed juice on the program’s dime. We walked towards the center of downtown, Place de L’Etoile or Solidere, and visited St. George Cathedral, a Greek Orthodox church. It was really interesting to see clearly Christian imagery which was clearly Orthodox but to see Arabic writing above it. After that we saw the Roman ruins, some other ruins and another, smaller church. Then we all returned to AUB. I took a nap and then skyped my parents before preparing to go out to for my birthday.
We were planning to go to this vegetarian/vegan restaurant mentioned in Lonely Planet, located in Achrafiyeh. We took a cab and took it quite well. The past two days in amiya/dialect class the teachers had painstakingly gone over vocabulary for service rides and proper behavior for them as well, e.g. not getting in without agreeing on a price beforehand as none have meters. A service (pron. Ser-veec) is a shared taxi in which the driver tries to pick up other people going the same way so he’ll have a full car. These are obviously much cheaper and if you’re smart shouldn’t cost more than 2000 or 4000LL (keep in mind 1500LL =$1USD). A taxi is a private car just for you (and can be called at the company or gotten on the street) and is much more expensive.
We arrived to the street the restaurant was listed as located. We could not find it. We walked up and down Rue Abdel Waheb al-Inglizi about five times. We asked locals who had either hadn’t heard of it or worked for competing restaurants and didn’t want to say. After standing and staring at the place it was clearly supposed to be, we concluded it no longer existed somehow, despite the guidebook being published as recently as 2008. Having decided never to leave campus without my guidebook I whipped it out and we began looking for new places to eat. We found one fairly nearby. Unfortunately we walked past it (I have complained previously about the streets being poorly or unlabeled) and were actually on the edge of Gemmeyze, a new neighborhood. We said screw it and picked a restaurant located nearby in Gemmeyze. It was called Olio and was Italian. We didn’t have a reservation but the guy at the door said he could give us a table until 9:45 or 10 even though we didn’t end up leaving until about 10:15. To give you an idea of how long we walked we had left campus at 7:30 and reached the restaurant at 10. Even including the cab ride, that’s a lot of walking. Dinner was good and a generous treat from Claire and Teresa as my birthday present. After that we decided that it was a nice night and we’d walk our way back, once again operating under the assumption that if we were tired we’d hail a service. It was father than most people would walk and much farther than I think Beirutis would walk but it was as I said a nice night and we felt like strolling. We did have to endure a thousand offers of services and taxis, smooching noises and stares, but it was still nice. On the way we passed by the St. George hotel which is where the car bomb was detonated that killed Rafik Hariri. Much like the infamous Holiday Inn from the civil war, the building has been left standing and the damage is obvious and astounding. According to Wikipedia, the force of the blast was approximately 1,000kg of TNT. It was also startling to see the metal railings on the building opposite it (also abandoned but preserved) bent back from the force of the explosion.
We got back to the dorms and stood around talking for a while. I discovered that somehow I had a light sunburn from my knee to my ankle on both my legs, but worse on the left. I was burned nowhere else. Although I swear I remember doing it, I can only conclude that I failed to apply sunscreen to my legs during my morning rituals because I was wearing pants for the entirety of my time outside except for a half hour when I was getting lunch. So much for my no-burn streak. But it wasn’t a bad one and I only noticed because of the color. It was mostly faded by the next morning.
After that we went to Martyr’s Square where there is a statue commemorating a group of nationalists that had risen up during Ottoman rule during WWI when the city was blockaded by opposing forces and was undergoing starvation. The statue has also suffered a lot of damage and bullet holes from the civil war are quite obviously visible. It apparently has also become a rallying point, notably during the Cedar Revolution. Nearby were some ruins although I did not hear the explanation of their provenience but I assume that they were Roman or Phoenician. After that we went to a smaller mosque that we did get to go into but regrettably I did not learn the name of. It was very nice and a majority of the women stepped off into the women’s area (before the beginning of the main section of the mosque) to put on abayas or other coverings and I once again donned my hijab. I explored the main area of the mosque, the women’s prayer area and the central courtyard. After the mosque we were taken to a nearby shop where we were provided with fresh squeezed juice on the program’s dime. We walked towards the center of downtown, Place de L’Etoile or Solidere, and visited St. George Cathedral, a Greek Orthodox church. It was really interesting to see clearly Christian imagery which was clearly Orthodox but to see Arabic writing above it. After that we saw the Roman ruins, some other ruins and another, smaller church. Then we all returned to AUB. I took a nap and then skyped my parents before preparing to go out to for my birthday.
We were planning to go to this vegetarian/vegan restaurant mentioned in Lonely Planet, located in Achrafiyeh. We took a cab and took it quite well. The past two days in amiya/dialect class the teachers had painstakingly gone over vocabulary for service rides and proper behavior for them as well, e.g. not getting in without agreeing on a price beforehand as none have meters. A service (pron. Ser-veec) is a shared taxi in which the driver tries to pick up other people going the same way so he’ll have a full car. These are obviously much cheaper and if you’re smart shouldn’t cost more than 2000 or 4000LL (keep in mind 1500LL =$1USD). A taxi is a private car just for you (and can be called at the company or gotten on the street) and is much more expensive.
We arrived to the street the restaurant was listed as located. We could not find it. We walked up and down Rue Abdel Waheb al-Inglizi about five times. We asked locals who had either hadn’t heard of it or worked for competing restaurants and didn’t want to say. After standing and staring at the place it was clearly supposed to be, we concluded it no longer existed somehow, despite the guidebook being published as recently as 2008. Having decided never to leave campus without my guidebook I whipped it out and we began looking for new places to eat. We found one fairly nearby. Unfortunately we walked past it (I have complained previously about the streets being poorly or unlabeled) and were actually on the edge of Gemmeyze, a new neighborhood. We said screw it and picked a restaurant located nearby in Gemmeyze. It was called Olio and was Italian. We didn’t have a reservation but the guy at the door said he could give us a table until 9:45 or 10 even though we didn’t end up leaving until about 10:15. To give you an idea of how long we walked we had left campus at 7:30 and reached the restaurant at 10. Even including the cab ride, that’s a lot of walking. Dinner was good and a generous treat from Claire and Teresa as my birthday present. After that we decided that it was a nice night and we’d walk our way back, once again operating under the assumption that if we were tired we’d hail a service. It was father than most people would walk and much farther than I think Beirutis would walk but it was as I said a nice night and we felt like strolling. We did have to endure a thousand offers of services and taxis, smooching noises and stares, but it was still nice. On the way we passed by the St. George hotel which is where the car bomb was detonated that killed Rafik Hariri. Much like the infamous Holiday Inn from the civil war, the building has been left standing and the damage is obvious and astounding. According to Wikipedia, the force of the blast was approximately 1,000kg of TNT. It was also startling to see the metal railings on the building opposite it (also abandoned but preserved) bent back from the force of the explosion.
We got back to the dorms and stood around talking for a while. I discovered that somehow I had a light sunburn from my knee to my ankle on both my legs, but worse on the left. I was burned nowhere else. Although I swear I remember doing it, I can only conclude that I failed to apply sunscreen to my legs during my morning rituals because I was wearing pants for the entirety of my time outside except for a half hour when I was getting lunch. So much for my no-burn streak. But it wasn’t a bad one and I only noticed because of the color. It was mostly faded by the next morning.
Beirut Day 9 – July 2, 2009
Sarah, Jessica, Teresa and I all went to Kababji to eat lunch. It was really nice and I had ra’a’at which are a sort of…mozzarella stick without breading and instead being in a light pasty. I also finally caved and split spiced French fries with Teresa. I had been trying to avoid them as being too Western but they were apparently highly recommended and tasted so good. And Teresa suggested it so clearly it was her fault.
In class we were given the option of watching two films as part of the club section for the day: one on an important Druze woman from the past and one on the 2006 war. We chose the war. I had been expecting something perhaps analytical or news story or historically based. No. It was all up-close graphic images of the dead and the injured, including lots of children. It was incredibly depressing but blessedly short. After that we discussed it a little bit and then watched the first twenty minutes of the biopic which actually started with the historical background on her important and powerful family dating back to Ottoman rule so we still didn’t exactly find out who she was.
While getting ready to leave for dinner with Claire I realized that I had lost my ID card. This is very bad because you have to show your ID at the gates to get in. Sometimes they don’t care, or if you’re in a group or they saw you leave, but other times, especially at night, they check. Sometimes saying you’re in CAMES will work but I will definitely have to get it replaced on Monday if it hasn’t somehow magically appeared in the lost and found at the Protection Office.
Claire and I decided to try a Thai place mentioned in Lonely Planet called The Blue Elephant. Since it was a nice night we decided to walk along the Corniche and then the sidewalk to the restaurant and if we got tired we’d call a service (a shared taxi). I realized I haven’t explained the Corniche yet in any detail. Here is a short description. It is basically a promenade along the sea. There are food vendors there and people strolling, riding bikes or rollerblading. There is also what Lonely Planet describes as a BYO nargileh culture. Nargileh, sometimes known shisha (NOT hashish), is smoked out of hookahs or water pipes and is essentially flavored tobacco. Men or families will bring their own pipe to the Corniche and smoke it there with their friends. There are also men who hang off the rails and stare at the passing women and make cat calls or smooching noises…mostly at the American women who are reputed to be easy, or so I’m told. I really can’t understand why men (in general) would think that cat calls or whistling would make a girl want to stop and talk to them but apparently it has to work somewhere.
We finally reached the Blue Elephant, which was nice. A bit nicer than we were expecting and were clearly a bit underdressed in our shorts and t-shirts. But they let us in and there was actually only one other group there in the opposite corner. There was a small waterfall and a fish pond and a pleasant background (contrary to Lonely Planet’s description of it as “screeching”) of Thai music. As it was a bit posh in terms of what we were expecting it wasn’t outrageously expensive, about $32 for the two of us. In relative terms that’s fairly expensive in Lebanon (but perhaps average for places I’d probably go to at home) but nothing that made my jaw drop. It also had a small vegetarian menu which of course won points from me. I got fried tofu in a pineapple and chili sauce that was alleged to be three elephants of hotness but I couldn’t taste any hotness even with my fairly low sensitivity to it. A really nice touch was on the way out the maître d’ gave us both a stem of orchids in a little tube of water. I still have mine (as of Saturday night) and they haven’t faded.
We walked back along the Corniche towards AUB. Once again we were followed by honks, intensively obvious staring, and cat calls. However during this walk I finally got to see something I had been warned about since my first Arabic class: Arabic men holding hands while walking as a sign of friendship. Almost every single Arabic class the teacher would make sure to mention that in the Middle East heterosexual male friends might hold hands. For some reason it made me absurdly happy to actually see it. Another positive point was running into my teacher Hussein also strolling along the Corniche with his friends.
In class we were given the option of watching two films as part of the club section for the day: one on an important Druze woman from the past and one on the 2006 war. We chose the war. I had been expecting something perhaps analytical or news story or historically based. No. It was all up-close graphic images of the dead and the injured, including lots of children. It was incredibly depressing but blessedly short. After that we discussed it a little bit and then watched the first twenty minutes of the biopic which actually started with the historical background on her important and powerful family dating back to Ottoman rule so we still didn’t exactly find out who she was.
While getting ready to leave for dinner with Claire I realized that I had lost my ID card. This is very bad because you have to show your ID at the gates to get in. Sometimes they don’t care, or if you’re in a group or they saw you leave, but other times, especially at night, they check. Sometimes saying you’re in CAMES will work but I will definitely have to get it replaced on Monday if it hasn’t somehow magically appeared in the lost and found at the Protection Office.
Claire and I decided to try a Thai place mentioned in Lonely Planet called The Blue Elephant. Since it was a nice night we decided to walk along the Corniche and then the sidewalk to the restaurant and if we got tired we’d call a service (a shared taxi). I realized I haven’t explained the Corniche yet in any detail. Here is a short description. It is basically a promenade along the sea. There are food vendors there and people strolling, riding bikes or rollerblading. There is also what Lonely Planet describes as a BYO nargileh culture. Nargileh, sometimes known shisha (NOT hashish), is smoked out of hookahs or water pipes and is essentially flavored tobacco. Men or families will bring their own pipe to the Corniche and smoke it there with their friends. There are also men who hang off the rails and stare at the passing women and make cat calls or smooching noises…mostly at the American women who are reputed to be easy, or so I’m told. I really can’t understand why men (in general) would think that cat calls or whistling would make a girl want to stop and talk to them but apparently it has to work somewhere.
We finally reached the Blue Elephant, which was nice. A bit nicer than we were expecting and were clearly a bit underdressed in our shorts and t-shirts. But they let us in and there was actually only one other group there in the opposite corner. There was a small waterfall and a fish pond and a pleasant background (contrary to Lonely Planet’s description of it as “screeching”) of Thai music. As it was a bit posh in terms of what we were expecting it wasn’t outrageously expensive, about $32 for the two of us. In relative terms that’s fairly expensive in Lebanon (but perhaps average for places I’d probably go to at home) but nothing that made my jaw drop. It also had a small vegetarian menu which of course won points from me. I got fried tofu in a pineapple and chili sauce that was alleged to be three elephants of hotness but I couldn’t taste any hotness even with my fairly low sensitivity to it. A really nice touch was on the way out the maître d’ gave us both a stem of orchids in a little tube of water. I still have mine (as of Saturday night) and they haven’t faded.
We walked back along the Corniche towards AUB. Once again we were followed by honks, intensively obvious staring, and cat calls. However during this walk I finally got to see something I had been warned about since my first Arabic class: Arabic men holding hands while walking as a sign of friendship. Almost every single Arabic class the teacher would make sure to mention that in the Middle East heterosexual male friends might hold hands. For some reason it made me absurdly happy to actually see it. Another positive point was running into my teacher Hussein also strolling along the Corniche with his friends.
Beirut Day 8 – July 1
I was quite excited that Wednesday morning I bought my morning muffin entirely in Lebanese dialect, minus the word “muffin”, which really doesn’t exist natively in Arabic. Dialect class continues to reinforce how much French is in the local dialect, but conjugated. One might say bonjourak, i.e. bonjour to you. For check you can say hisab, the Arabic word, or an Arabized version of the French word “check”. Generally if you don’t know the Arabic word, you could probably get away with inserting the French word. No one would bat an eye. Of course some people just speak straight up French.
So many people here speak Arabic, English and French and the city is so cosmopolitan, at least on the surface, that I often feel that I’m not in a foreign country so much as I’m in a city where they happen to speak another language. This may also be due to the fact that I haven’t been outside of Beirut or because I know enough Arabic that I can and have interacted with locals with only limited pauses and misunderstandings. This city is also really about looks and appearances, is one of the capitals of plastic surgery in the region and women here go out dressed to the nines.
We attempted to read Arabic newspapers in class. Although it was somewhat difficult I realized it was mostly a problem with insufficient vocabulary. It was a great feeling. If the main thing that I need to work on is vocab acquisition then that’s not such a big deal.
At lunch I tried what is essentially a spinach and onion filled pastry/dough triangle. I’m sure all of you know that know me were surprised I tried it, much less liked it. Dinner was a large group affair again at a place called Tasty. I was looking forward to sharpening my ordering in Arabic skills only to find out our waiter was Brazilian and in fact didn’t really speak any Arabic – certainly not better than we did – and begged us to speak in English. Dinner ended with another short trip to dekkenah to get some more apples (my new breakfast food) and some corn cakes.
So many people here speak Arabic, English and French and the city is so cosmopolitan, at least on the surface, that I often feel that I’m not in a foreign country so much as I’m in a city where they happen to speak another language. This may also be due to the fact that I haven’t been outside of Beirut or because I know enough Arabic that I can and have interacted with locals with only limited pauses and misunderstandings. This city is also really about looks and appearances, is one of the capitals of plastic surgery in the region and women here go out dressed to the nines.
We attempted to read Arabic newspapers in class. Although it was somewhat difficult I realized it was mostly a problem with insufficient vocabulary. It was a great feeling. If the main thing that I need to work on is vocab acquisition then that’s not such a big deal.
At lunch I tried what is essentially a spinach and onion filled pastry/dough triangle. I’m sure all of you know that know me were surprised I tried it, much less liked it. Dinner was a large group affair again at a place called Tasty. I was looking forward to sharpening my ordering in Arabic skills only to find out our waiter was Brazilian and in fact didn’t really speak any Arabic – certainly not better than we did – and begged us to speak in English. Dinner ended with another short trip to dekkenah to get some more apples (my new breakfast food) and some corn cakes.
Beirut Day 7-June 30
After class on Tuesday I went to the Idriss supermarket to get some more groceries. On the way back I stopped by a cell phone store where I managed to get a new Lebanese SIM card for my cell phone which I had finally managed to unlock the day before. Previously I had mostly been at odd ends when trying to find people to go to dinner with because not everyone has my devotion to the internet or were near their computers and thus there was often a delay.
Cell phones here work a bit differently. You pay a certain amount (I paid $22) and you get that money for a month or so. There is a per minute charge or charge for texts. At the end of the month you need to buy more/recharge your card and any unused money does not roll over. However you are not charged for calls that you receive or missed calls which has lead to a missed call culture here, which I find fascinating. Essentially here, you never pick up your phone on the first ring or so. If it is going to be a missed call, the caller will hang up after the first or second ring. This can be a general or a prearranged signal. One missed call can often be a prearrange ‘I’m here’ signal for a planned meeting or something like “I will missed call you when I’m ready to go’. Two missed calls might mean I need to talk to you, but I don’t have any minutes. Apparently this is also very popular in India, according to Wikipedia, which included a link to an article about it. I find the whole missed culture very interesting and an ingenious way of getting around paying a lot for cell phone minutes.
Cell phones here work a bit differently. You pay a certain amount (I paid $22) and you get that money for a month or so. There is a per minute charge or charge for texts. At the end of the month you need to buy more/recharge your card and any unused money does not roll over. However you are not charged for calls that you receive or missed calls which has lead to a missed call culture here, which I find fascinating. Essentially here, you never pick up your phone on the first ring or so. If it is going to be a missed call, the caller will hang up after the first or second ring. This can be a general or a prearranged signal. One missed call can often be a prearrange ‘I’m here’ signal for a planned meeting or something like “I will missed call you when I’m ready to go’. Two missed calls might mean I need to talk to you, but I don’t have any minutes. Apparently this is also very popular in India, according to Wikipedia, which included a link to an article about it. I find the whole missed culture very interesting and an ingenious way of getting around paying a lot for cell phone minutes.
Beirut Day 6-June 29
Monday was the first day of Lebanese dialect class. We mostly went over greetings. I found that many of them were different from Egyptian but that in some interactions there were enough similarities (like the Lebanese dropping the terminal sheen for negation, but the rest of the word being the same) that I was glad that I had learned some Egyptian beforehand. I’ve also found that it’s helped in daily interactions. Egyptian Arabic is fairly widely understood – although it is often mocked for its accent – due to the fact that Egyptian media is really widespread.
For lunch I tried manaeesh for the first time. Basically thick grilled pita bread rolled up with something in the middle. I’ve just been getting mine with jibneh (cheese) although I found I had to specify that I didn’t want vegetables if I didn’t want to get olives. It’s really quite good and is probably my favorite Lebanese food so far. I really enjoy how cheap street food is. My manaeesh is about 2000 or 3000LL which is about $2. Dinner, which usually ends up being at arestaurant, is more comparable to European and American cities, as promised by the CAMES orientation packet. In class we read a very difficult Arabic story and were also told about the two Saturday fieldtrips during the program. It turns out that the fieldtrips go to every place I had definitely planned to go while in Lebanon and it’ll be on the program’s dime (really our fees, but it won’t be any more money) so that’s nice. For dinner I went back to Barbar with Claire and Rob and this time got the falafel sandwich, which I enjoyed. We wandered around for a while and dinner ended up taking two hours which seems to be the norm. Unfortunately this meant that I had to stay up late working on homework.
For lunch I tried manaeesh for the first time. Basically thick grilled pita bread rolled up with something in the middle. I’ve just been getting mine with jibneh (cheese) although I found I had to specify that I didn’t want vegetables if I didn’t want to get olives. It’s really quite good and is probably my favorite Lebanese food so far. I really enjoy how cheap street food is. My manaeesh is about 2000 or 3000LL which is about $2. Dinner, which usually ends up being at arestaurant, is more comparable to European and American cities, as promised by the CAMES orientation packet. In class we read a very difficult Arabic story and were also told about the two Saturday fieldtrips during the program. It turns out that the fieldtrips go to every place I had definitely planned to go while in Lebanon and it’ll be on the program’s dime (really our fees, but it won’t be any more money) so that’s nice. For dinner I went back to Barbar with Claire and Rob and this time got the falafel sandwich, which I enjoyed. We wandered around for a while and dinner ended up taking two hours which seems to be the norm. Unfortunately this meant that I had to stay up late working on homework.
Beirut Day 5-June 28
Beirut Day 5-June 28
I really have a very vague idea about what I did on Sunday. I do recall doing homework at night, but what I did during the day is sort of a blank. I went to Barbar with Teresa in search of falafel, which we found. I was very hungry and into falafel and made the mistake of getting a dozen plain falafel. This was a huge mistake. First of all, getting a dozen is apparently something no one does. Second, this is not the kind of falafel you can eat on its own. After about two I was not feeling so hot about them so I stopped. Teresa’s sandwich looked good and I resolved to get one when I got a chance.
I really have a very vague idea about what I did on Sunday. I do recall doing homework at night, but what I did during the day is sort of a blank. I went to Barbar with Teresa in search of falafel, which we found. I was very hungry and into falafel and made the mistake of getting a dozen plain falafel. This was a huge mistake. First of all, getting a dozen is apparently something no one does. Second, this is not the kind of falafel you can eat on its own. After about two I was not feeling so hot about them so I stopped. Teresa’s sandwich looked good and I resolved to get one when I got a chance.
Beirut Day 4-June 27
Saturday morning I heard via the AUB CAMES Facebook group that there was an English walking tour of the city (the only one in fact) run by AUB students. I went to Medical Gate to meet the tour but thought I had missed it. It seems there actually was no tour that day, perhaps because of AUB graduation later that night. After seeing how fantastic the Lonely Planet guidebook my roommate has was, I decided to get my own. She told me the name of the bookstore and I decided to head out to it. There is a dearth of website for businesses here or one is generally unable to find them on google maps but Librairie Antoine is well established enough that you can find them on the internet. I knew it was within walking distance and I figured out how to get there. Unfortunately I turned too early down the wrong street and ended up making this large loop. Many streets are not well labeled, if at all, at intersections and the labels, when they do exist, will be small and on the side of one building. In addition to this both streets will be labeled in the same place so you have to know that the one on top is the street that you’re on and the bottom one is the cross street. I did eventually get to the bookstore and get the guidebook. I also managed discipline and did not even look at the plethora of delicious delicious books.
That evening I got dinner with another CAMES student, Rob. We wandered around for a while fruitlessly searching for falafel before stopping and getting sage (saj). Then we walked back on campus to sit, eat and talk for a while. We were actually seated somewhat near AUB graduation so we could occasionally here speeches, applause and ululations. There was also a small kitten that kept circling us trying to get food. It did not like my olives and I can’t blame him because neither did I. It did however like Rob’s lahme (meat). We also heard fireworks and gunshots of a celebratory nature because Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated Rafik Hariri had just been confirmed as PM.
That evening I got dinner with another CAMES student, Rob. We wandered around for a while fruitlessly searching for falafel before stopping and getting sage (saj). Then we walked back on campus to sit, eat and talk for a while. We were actually seated somewhat near AUB graduation so we could occasionally here speeches, applause and ululations. There was also a small kitten that kept circling us trying to get food. It did not like my olives and I can’t blame him because neither did I. It did however like Rob’s lahme (meat). We also heard fireworks and gunshots of a celebratory nature because Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated Rafik Hariri had just been confirmed as PM.
Beirut Day 3-June 26
After a real day of classes, which ended early because Friday afternoons are scheduled for fieldtrips and we didn’t have one, Teresa and I went to the cafeteria to get lunch, where we both got pizza. Pizza, which is of a slightly different style than in the US, is very popular somehow in Lebanon. At the cafeteria I ran into my friend Claire who I know from undergrad when we briefly worked together. I knew that she was here but hadn’t had a chance to talk to her yet. She is not in CAMES but is just taking classes as a visiting student. While we were at lunch two CAMES students, Toby and Mounir, invited us to join the large group that was going out to dinner that night. Teresa and I agreed to meet with them later.
After lunch Claire and I decided to check out the AUB “beach”. Beach here should be interpreted very loosely. It is nothing so much as an expanse of rock and concrete with semi-rough ocean in front of it. No sand whatsoever. There is a very small pool, about thigh high. There is a large space for deck chairs and a walkway on which you can walk out and step down a ladder into the ocean. The beach is much more about being seen and sunbathing than it is about swimming. Claire and I stood in the pool for a while before heading out into the ocean. It was not too bad once we got past this sort of barrier of rocks but right by the ladder if you aren’t careful each wave trough will have you hitting rocks. Once you get past the barrier, the water is deep enough that that doesn’t happen. The AUB beach is roped off so we didn’t go too far out but we still noticed the pull of the waves. We didn’t spend too long out there. The ocean is supposed to be somewhat dirty, as evidenced by the trash you can see on some of the rocks. I made sure to take a shower right after the back. Since I basically bathed in sunscreen with SPF 50 before I left, for once in my life I actually managed to avoid getting a sunburn at the beach. Go me.
I met up with the group for dinner at the main gate and we took taxis to Achrafiye, one of the neighborhoods. There were at least 15 of us and we all met back up at an Italian restaurant (again), called Claudia’s. Dinner was fairly nice. After dinner people were being polled about whether or not they wanted to go to one of Beirut’s famous nightclubs, with a $30 per person cover charge that got you a table and a bottle of vodka. Four of us were tired or not interested and so headed back to AUB via taxi and went to bed.
After lunch Claire and I decided to check out the AUB “beach”. Beach here should be interpreted very loosely. It is nothing so much as an expanse of rock and concrete with semi-rough ocean in front of it. No sand whatsoever. There is a very small pool, about thigh high. There is a large space for deck chairs and a walkway on which you can walk out and step down a ladder into the ocean. The beach is much more about being seen and sunbathing than it is about swimming. Claire and I stood in the pool for a while before heading out into the ocean. It was not too bad once we got past this sort of barrier of rocks but right by the ladder if you aren’t careful each wave trough will have you hitting rocks. Once you get past the barrier, the water is deep enough that that doesn’t happen. The AUB beach is roped off so we didn’t go too far out but we still noticed the pull of the waves. We didn’t spend too long out there. The ocean is supposed to be somewhat dirty, as evidenced by the trash you can see on some of the rocks. I made sure to take a shower right after the back. Since I basically bathed in sunscreen with SPF 50 before I left, for once in my life I actually managed to avoid getting a sunburn at the beach. Go me.
I met up with the group for dinner at the main gate and we took taxis to Achrafiye, one of the neighborhoods. There were at least 15 of us and we all met back up at an Italian restaurant (again), called Claudia’s. Dinner was fairly nice. After dinner people were being polled about whether or not they wanted to go to one of Beirut’s famous nightclubs, with a $30 per person cover charge that got you a table and a bottle of vodka. Four of us were tired or not interested and so headed back to AUB via taxi and went to bed.
Beirut Day 2-June 25
With internet access came use of one of its most important functions: Skype. I Skyped Mike at 7:30am local time, 9:30pm (the previous day) Pacific time. We managed to get the video working but unfortunately there was a problem. All CAMES students are obliged to use this one wireless network and the reception is pretty poor. I usually have 1-2 bars (I am insanely jealous of my classmates that can sometimes get 3 or 4) but if the signal drops to one bar then Skype, especially video Skyping will drop. In any case our standing appointment for skyping or IMing is at this time, which works out well. I think the 10 hours difference is actually a bit easier than the 7 hours difference it is with my family on the East Coast. There was a consensus among West Coasters that it was definitely an advantage when trying to acclimatize to the timezone.
Although it was promised that the class assignments were going to be posted before 7pm they weren’t when we left campus (around 8:30) so consequently I got up earlier than usually to check my assignment. Much to my (continuous) surprise, I was placed in the “superior” level, i.e. the highest one. Apparently I had guessed really well on the test. I had brought book 2 with me because I expected to start with that (my class at UW had finished with Ch. 6 Book 2) but it turns out we were going to start with Chapter 1 Book 3. So far it hasn’t been too bad but I really need to find time to review the vocab and grammar from those 4 chapters that I missed/have studied previously but don’t remember. I took 3 years of Arabic at Maryland and went up to Chapter 5 of Book 3 but I didn’t have a good grasp of it and consequently in grad school at UW, I restarted with the second year and feel like I actually understand (mostly anyway) the grammar that was taught there. We were introduced to our teachers, Hussein and Sara who are really nice and adorable. There were a total of 6 of us in the class (then it was 7, then 8, now 7 again). It wasn’t a bad first day and mostly consisted of introductions.
The normal schedule is:
Monday-Friday
8:30a-9:30a – dialect class (different groups and teachers than MSA class)
9:30a-9:40a – 10 minute break
9:40a-11:10 – MSA class
11:10-11:30 – 20 minute break
11:30-1:00 – MSA Class
1:00-2:00 Lunch
On Mondays and Wednesdays there is another hour and a half of class from 2:00-3:30. On Tuesdays in that timeslot there are lectures/activities with the entire CAMES group, like films or something. On Thursdays in that timeslot there are “clubs”, which we haven’t started yet so I don’t know much about them but if the tales of a cooking class are true, I’ll take that. On some Fridays there are field trips within Beirut and those last from 1 until 5:30. Then on two Saturdays we have trips outside of Beirut with the whole group. Because it was the first week we did not have clubs this first day of classes and we also did not have dialect class and wouldn’t have it until Monday.
I had figured out by this point that it was going to be a bit costly if I bought breakfast every morning so after class Stephanie (who is in my class and was in the airport taxi with me) and I went to Dekkenah which is a little store which also happens to have a lot of western things, which is good especially for hair products and laundry detergent. I bought some breakfast things and some snacks. I bought some cereal, laundry detergent and corn cakes. On the way to Dekkenah we passed a small fruit seller and we bought some fruit. She bought apricots and cherries and I bought bananas. I was exceedingly and undeservingly proud of conducting my entire exchange in Arabic. It was really my first complete exchange in Arabic without any native Lebanese around (the thing with the taxi driver did contain some English). I have no idea what I did the rest of the day, presumably I went back to my room and did homework.
Although it was promised that the class assignments were going to be posted before 7pm they weren’t when we left campus (around 8:30) so consequently I got up earlier than usually to check my assignment. Much to my (continuous) surprise, I was placed in the “superior” level, i.e. the highest one. Apparently I had guessed really well on the test. I had brought book 2 with me because I expected to start with that (my class at UW had finished with Ch. 6 Book 2) but it turns out we were going to start with Chapter 1 Book 3. So far it hasn’t been too bad but I really need to find time to review the vocab and grammar from those 4 chapters that I missed/have studied previously but don’t remember. I took 3 years of Arabic at Maryland and went up to Chapter 5 of Book 3 but I didn’t have a good grasp of it and consequently in grad school at UW, I restarted with the second year and feel like I actually understand (mostly anyway) the grammar that was taught there. We were introduced to our teachers, Hussein and Sara who are really nice and adorable. There were a total of 6 of us in the class (then it was 7, then 8, now 7 again). It wasn’t a bad first day and mostly consisted of introductions.
The normal schedule is:
Monday-Friday
8:30a-9:30a – dialect class (different groups and teachers than MSA class)
9:30a-9:40a – 10 minute break
9:40a-11:10 – MSA class
11:10-11:30 – 20 minute break
11:30-1:00 – MSA Class
1:00-2:00 Lunch
On Mondays and Wednesdays there is another hour and a half of class from 2:00-3:30. On Tuesdays in that timeslot there are lectures/activities with the entire CAMES group, like films or something. On Thursdays in that timeslot there are “clubs”, which we haven’t started yet so I don’t know much about them but if the tales of a cooking class are true, I’ll take that. On some Fridays there are field trips within Beirut and those last from 1 until 5:30. Then on two Saturdays we have trips outside of Beirut with the whole group. Because it was the first week we did not have clubs this first day of classes and we also did not have dialect class and wouldn’t have it until Monday.
I had figured out by this point that it was going to be a bit costly if I bought breakfast every morning so after class Stephanie (who is in my class and was in the airport taxi with me) and I went to Dekkenah which is a little store which also happens to have a lot of western things, which is good especially for hair products and laundry detergent. I bought some breakfast things and some snacks. I bought some cereal, laundry detergent and corn cakes. On the way to Dekkenah we passed a small fruit seller and we bought some fruit. She bought apricots and cherries and I bought bananas. I was exceedingly and undeservingly proud of conducting my entire exchange in Arabic. It was really my first complete exchange in Arabic without any native Lebanese around (the thing with the taxi driver did contain some English). I have no idea what I did the rest of the day, presumably I went back to my room and did homework.
Beirut Day 1-June 24
I got up early and went with my roommate to the orientation meeting. Everyone seemed really nice and all the teachers introduced themselves. We got a few lectures on safety and health and Bilal, the program director talked about what the program would be like, what constituted excuses for missing class and threatened us with warnings and expulsions if we broke the language pledge, which seems to have been a joke (I don’t know what the poor introductory students were supposed to do otherwise since many of them don’t know the alphabet yet) because no one has chastised anyone outside of class. After all this we mingled in the lobby and then headed off to the placement test and then the oral exam. The introductory students who didn’t know a word were supposed to just put down their name, turn the exam in, then go to the oral interview and do basically the same thing. I would have felt horribly embarrassed to do that. The exam was fairly hard but not horrific. It consisted of three parts, reading, writing and grammar/vocab. The first part of one of the sections was about food and I didn’t know aaany proper food names so I was mostly guessing. I saved the reading for last and I was doing fine until I hit the last reading which was long and complex and about new Orientalism. At that point my brain just shut down. I actually wrote (and misspelled) “my brain broke” on a corner of that sheet. I could get the gist of what the article was saying and I could tell where the answers to the comprehension questions were located…I just couldn’t give details. There were several points on the test where I was like ‘oh, I know there’s a rule for this, I know I learned it, I know it’s in book three…I just don’t quite remember what it is.’ Apparently I guessed fairly well. We had about 3.5 hours for the test and I took almost all the time. I would have taken the whole time and a bit extra had I not just given up on the last reading. Then I went to my oral interview. There was a line so the woman told us to go get our lunch (which was paid for for that day) and to come back in 15 minutes. I had okra stew on rice which was good but since we had so little time I couldn’t finish it. My interview was with Hussein (who would later be my MSA teacher) which went alright and he said I would probably be in one of the advanced levels. I had been hoping for high intermediate based on the description of the levels on the website but apparently they were wrong or out of date because high intermediate started at the end of book one and would have meant me retaking the same class for the third time and I was having none of that. I had no Levantine Arabic for him to assess and I managed to embarrass myself my barely remembering any of the two years of Egyptian dialect I studied, although it has since come back a bit. Then we had a tour of the campus which was alright but a lot of it was about buildings I didn’t have any interest in (e.g. the chemistry building). After that I got my internet access (Alhamdulillah!) and went back to my room to finish unpacking and the like.
I had heard from someone, I don’t remember who, that a large group of students were going out to celebrate Grant’s 20th birthday. I debated for a while since I rarely like situations where I don’t know anyone but in the end I said screw it and went. Everyone met and the main gate and then we walked to this semi-nearby restaurant. It turned out to be Italian which I was a bit miffed at but was nice enough. Dinner was fun and after that the group decided to walk to Solidere, the rebuilt downtown area. It was a looong walk and we passed by the green line from the civil war and the infamous Holiday Inn which was built right before the war and used as a sniper position and consequently shelled repeatedly. Stupid my I had not brought my camera. It was such a long walk that one of the girls started getting a blister and I gave her the bandaid that I had had on my ankle for an abrasion (she took it with full knowledge). Solidere was pretty and its lit clocktower looks quite nice at night. We also passed the mosque where Rafik Hariri, the assassinated PM is buried; it’s reminiscent of Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. The rest of the group decided they wanted to go to a hooka bar but I and this other guy Rob opted out and to walk back. I’m still not sure why we walked back the entire way to the university, but Rob swore he could get us back and he did, even if it was in a rather meandering manner. When we were close but hadn’t quite reached the Corniche (basically the boardwalk; Wiki it) Rob asked directions of a taxi driver sitting outside. Through a mix of FusHa and Egyptian dialect (quick note: MSA or Fusha is what they teach in universities, it’s basically Classical Arabic, makes you sound archaic and is no one’s native tongue) we had a conversation and got directions. We walked along the Corniche and was eventually able to find an open gate (some close after midnight) near the gym and get on to campus. I then survived my cross-campus walk at night, mostly because I didn’t see a soul. The men’s and women’s dorms are located on opposite sides of campus. Then I went on the internet and then to bed, mentally preparing myself for the first day of classes.
I had heard from someone, I don’t remember who, that a large group of students were going out to celebrate Grant’s 20th birthday. I debated for a while since I rarely like situations where I don’t know anyone but in the end I said screw it and went. Everyone met and the main gate and then we walked to this semi-nearby restaurant. It turned out to be Italian which I was a bit miffed at but was nice enough. Dinner was fun and after that the group decided to walk to Solidere, the rebuilt downtown area. It was a looong walk and we passed by the green line from the civil war and the infamous Holiday Inn which was built right before the war and used as a sniper position and consequently shelled repeatedly. Stupid my I had not brought my camera. It was such a long walk that one of the girls started getting a blister and I gave her the bandaid that I had had on my ankle for an abrasion (she took it with full knowledge). Solidere was pretty and its lit clocktower looks quite nice at night. We also passed the mosque where Rafik Hariri, the assassinated PM is buried; it’s reminiscent of Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. The rest of the group decided they wanted to go to a hooka bar but I and this other guy Rob opted out and to walk back. I’m still not sure why we walked back the entire way to the university, but Rob swore he could get us back and he did, even if it was in a rather meandering manner. When we were close but hadn’t quite reached the Corniche (basically the boardwalk; Wiki it) Rob asked directions of a taxi driver sitting outside. Through a mix of FusHa and Egyptian dialect (quick note: MSA or Fusha is what they teach in universities, it’s basically Classical Arabic, makes you sound archaic and is no one’s native tongue) we had a conversation and got directions. We walked along the Corniche and was eventually able to find an open gate (some close after midnight) near the gym and get on to campus. I then survived my cross-campus walk at night, mostly because I didn’t see a soul. The men’s and women’s dorms are located on opposite sides of campus. Then I went on the internet and then to bed, mentally preparing myself for the first day of classes.
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