* see photo, um, sideways
Lebanese people are known for their generosity and their survival skills. This makes it so easy to be a visitor here, and to make deep connections with people.
Fireworks, celebratory gunfire, and numerous roadblocks accompanied the Lebanese Army's victory over a militant group that had taken over a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Apparently 12 fighters escaped, hence the roadblocks.
Elections are planned for September 17. Can this country with people from 17 different religious sects form an effective government?
Assorted wonderments of life in Beirut:
- Hibiscus around every corner, in a wide range of colors
- Ditto, oleander bushes and jasmine (mmmmm…)
- Arabic numerals: the sixes look like western sevens and the four is a backwards three
- Internet providers that are not “illegal,” but rather “unknown to the government”
- The Beirut Health Food Store, catering to macrobiotics
- Houses have no numbers, streets no signs
- The occasional banyan tree, massive and draped with what look like hanging roots
- Cable TV with 70 stations, in Arabic (from Lebanon, Egypt and ??), French, English (BBC, CNN, MSNBC), German, Spanish—for $25/month
- The Turkish concierge of our building, who greets me by kissing me three times on the cheek (left, right left), several times a day, and gives me fresh figs and grapes
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