Blogs from Beirut, Lebanon, Middle East
April 10th 2012
Only a short trip - five days, but enough time for a little look around. However, I've only been home a day and already I know that I'll be back at some point...this city is staying with me. I based myself in Hamra, which turned out to be a good place for me - dusty, busy and slightly chaotic, with utterly mad traffic - to cross the road, don't wait for a gap - you'll never get across. Instead, just step out. Somehow, the traffic - already slow, although bumper to bumper - slows even more for you. I was escorted across Hamra Street on my first day there by an armed soldier, who stuck out his hand to stop the cars. Think he just got fed up of watching my utterly pathetic attemps to cross ... read more
April 6th 2012
It's everywhere and most of it is really great - very little rubbishy tagging and much more political statement (well, on the whole). Most of this is from around Hamra..... read more
December 17th 2011
You haven’t seen Beirut until you’ve seen Beirut at night. It’s at night that the city wakes up and everyone comes out to play. With their troubled history, no one understands about living for the moment better than Beirutis. They do it right. Whatever your predilection for nightlife – from American swing dancing to Arabic belly dancing; from shaking your hips to Latin beats to shaking your dreads to reggae rhythms – you can find it in Beirut. One night I went to a church to hear the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra and the next to a grunge bar to hear a friend DJ. From the quiet contemplation of well-coiffed residents to the lively head banging of the oddest couple I’ve ever seen, one a gangly man in hot pants (complete with prosthetic ass and Pinocchio nose), ... read more
December 10th 2011
More often than not, I can get the feeling of a place as soon as I arrive. Within minutes, I know that I love it, or that I want to leave on the next available bus. Beirut has not been such a place for me. I’ve been here for over a week and I’m still confused as to whether or not I like it; still confused as to what Lebanon is all about. It’s a country of incongruities with a complex national psyche that short-stay visitors will struggle to wrap their heads around. I’m not wholly convinced that life-long residents fully understand it. Like most of the Middle East, Lebanon has a long history of occupation that dates back to the dawn of civilization. From the Babylonians to the Ottomans, the Phoenicians to the Persians, almost ... read more
December 4th 2011
Beirut is everything I thought it would be – a city of ramshackle, industrial-looking structures – and nothing I thought it would be – an über-cosmopolitan metropolis of chic stores and trendy cafes bedecked in Christmas decorations. Churches outnumber mosques three-to-one, which is the same ratio that M-16 toting soldiers outnumber civilians, at least as far as I’ve seen. But, then, I haven’t seen anyone. Beirut is eerily empty. There are no crowds and hardly any traffic. There doesn’t even appear to be places for people to occupy, to eat, to drink, to hang-out. There’s no historical center, no real downtown, no parks or small, cheap eateries. It took me the entire day to find falafel! Where are the street vendors? Where are the street musicians? Where, indeed, are the people?... read more
December 3rd 2011
I love finding my people all over the world. There’s such a peaceful, welcoming feeling when I’m sitting in a living room with people I’ve just met, listening to music, sharing stories and laughing. I’m in Beirut, but I could be anywhere in the world, with any group of like-minded people. The more I travel, the more places I go and people I meet, the more I realize that we’re all the same. I don’t mean to depreciate the eccentricities that make you you, but we’re all the same. We have different standards of personal hygiene, eat different foods and pray to different gods, but we’re all the same. We all feel hungry and need to eat; we all feel blue and need to dance; we all feel hurt and need to love. We’re in no ... read more
December 2nd 2011
It was with a heavy, yet beautifully unburdened heart that I boarded a plane that would carry me away from Istanbul – a place that was beginning to feel like home. I knew the side streets and shortcuts, where to find the best tahinli and cheapest tea. I’d built a small community of friends and established a routine of sorts. But rested and empty, it was time to see something new. The destination was Beirut and the company was unexpected. A spunky young Canadian teaching English in Istanbul, Ada, and I had found the same cheap flight to Beirut and the same person to host us there. The only thing of note on our short flight to Beirut was the screening of the pre-fight safety video. I normally block out the seatbelt fastening instructions, but Pegasus ... read more
November 26th 2011
Hello All!! First, sorry I have not updated my blog in almost two months, I have been incredibly busy with: 1. Following the news updates about Egypt (I'm addicted to knowing what's going on in my current home country). I promise I am COMPLETELY SAFE! AUC campus is 40 minutes from Tahrir, and you're only in danger if you're on the front lines in Tahrir. That being said I am not arrested, nor was I arrested and later released for throwing anything off any roofs, but that's a story for another time.. 2. Doing homework. Sometimes people forget there is a study part to studying abroad, that includes students too, haha. 3. Teaching English. Twice a week I venture into Coptic Cairo via the bus and metro to teach English to high school graduates in Coptic ... read more
October 26th 2011
This morning we visited our fourth Refugee Camp. We were told today that all these camps were constructed on land one kilometer by one kilometer. Originally established in 1948 the intention was that they would be there for three years and house between six and eight thousand people. Even now the UN mandate must be renewed every three years. The UN pays for 100 administration staff and at every renewal the budget is reduced. The balance of the budget comes from voluntary contributions from the members. I have been told that last year Canada declined to contribute. The big local concern about these camps is that those who had the talent ,wherewithal or ambition to leave have already done so. The rest have given up hope of a legitimate life and are increasingly turning to crime. ... read more
October 25th 2011
The last thing Lebanon needs is 400 000 Palestinians refugees. For as long anyone can remember the country has been at war with itself or its neighbours. Sometimes both at the same time. Now the country is at peace but the cost of conflict has been high. The country is broke and deeply in debt. The currency has been devalued a thousandfold. The infrastructure is slowly returning but even in Beirut the supply of water is interrupted and electricity is turned off for six hours every day. Construction is everywhere. But so are piles of rubble. Buildings with spectacular views stand next to ones that look like a bomb destroyed it. Because that is what happened. Beirut has fallen a long way since being the "Paris of the Middle East". There is hope that Lebanon will ... read more
