Election ! and beach cleanup

It actually happened, on the 19th try. Lebanon has a new president: someone all the parties and factions could agree on--Michel Sulieman, until yesterday the head of the Lebanese Army. We heard he went out and bought 6 suits. It is odd to see him in civilian dress. His photo has been displayed all over the country for months; but now we see him minus the uniform, in a tie. There is a wonderful, festive air in town. And Lebanese really know how to party... The outgoing Prime Minister invited all the MPs including the opposition which had closed down parliament for the last 18 months, to dinner. And a popstar s hosting a party tomorrow and has invited all of Beirut.


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We did our fist volunteering today--picking up trash from a beautfiul beach in Byblos for a Mediterranean clean-up day involving 21 countries! There was to be a contingent on the Beirut beach front as well, but the election festivities meant no groups could gather, so that part had to be cancelled. But two beaches outside Beirut were cleaned. There were 80 people at one beach near Beirut, mostly high school students. At Byblos we were a group of just 6 people--from the NGO we hike with. We chose a small beach only about 60 yards long. I thought we would be done in 15 minutes, and wondered why the leader had chosen such a small place. Three hours later we had filled between 40 and 50 large trash bags full. Worse, we could see more stuff coming in on the tide. It's terrible--trash heaps along the shore slide into the sea, and poeple just toss things--most people have no consciousness about litter. Maybe now that there is a functioning government some things will change. Another beach feature are globs of sticky black oil, left over from the Israeli boming of Lebanon's power plants in 2006. It sticks to the pebbles and is impossible to get off your hands or clothes. It will never wash away.