Laptop Revival

A dying laptop can be really annoying. For the past month our internet time has been really limited and unproductive because our universities laptops, which we had to pay outrageous fees for, couldn't handle two years of usage. We initially wanted to wait to buy our next laptop until we were back in America; our IBM thinkpad thought otherwise.

Constant bluescreening and random shut-downs severely hampered any blogging, research, and emailing. We might as well have fallen off the face of the earth, since we also rely on it to keep in contact with employers and friends in Lebanon. Needless to say, it was a pretty hectic last couple of weeks.

However, Alex and I were able to find and buy an amazing laptop. We had almost given up after a week or so of asking around and walking into shops to make inquiries on selection and prices. We actually went across town to a mall that some people had recommended, but it bore no fruit. There we ran into one of my co-workers and he turned out to be our savior. We, of course, had to buy him a little gift for being so helpful - a cute little bag of chocolates.

So now I am back to being in touch with the outside world - it feels wonderful. Moreover, our new laptop exceeds my expectations. We bought an HP Pavillion with Microsoft Vista operating system. Vista has had bad reviews from some of my friends, but I am in love with it. Its so efficient, and esthetically pleasing. And our HP laptop is great. The features are user-friendly, which is a big plus. Of course, it is brand new so that may be why everything seems so great. Only time will tell how long this will last.

Last weekend, Alex and I were able to have dinner in the mountains with a friend. We went to a restaurant that was in the middle of nowhere - it took us a couple of times to find the street that it was on. It was an Arabic restaurant called Fadal. It was on the edge of a hill overlooking all of Beirut, the view was gorgeous. The food was almost as good as the view, and the company was equally as enjoyable.

The best part, however, was how brisk it was up in the mountains. Since being here there has been no rain - except a few drops one night - and it is not even close to being chilly. The weather has been more bearable, but it has been hard to adjust. For twenty years my body was used to one weather schedule, which was for the most part consistent. Now, it's almost November and my body had no idea what is going on. This has been the longest summer of my life and its still not over.

As for daily life, we have been falling into a good schedule. Alex is now writing for the media organization that I work for - so we are working together in the mornings. He also picked up an internship at The Executive, a business magazine much like The Economist. He is really busy, much more so than I, but it is a great learning experience for the both of us. Now I just have work in the morning and then I have the whole afternoon to myself to get things done - study, exercise, socialize, etc - until Alex and I have class in the evening.

Our weekends have been just as busy as our weeks. We are really taking initiative to explore Lebanon and meet new people. This past weekend we had two parties and a dinner, this coming up weekend we are attending a Halloween party and may be hanging out with some other friends. It is great how much we are doing. Of course, we have met a big ex-pat community but we are trying to befriend more Lebanese and other Arab people. So far, so good.

Working and going out is a lot of fun, but I have found myself getting restless. I love the international experience and really enjoying our stay here, but I miss school. I can't wait to get back to my studies and apply what I have learned here to it. This is really benefiting me and I am opening myself to many opportunities. But I know that my most important objective right now is to finish school. I will be doing that as soon as I get back to the states, but in the meantime I miss it. Classes used to take up a large portion of my time and I didn't realize how much I enjoyed it until now. Soon enough, I guess. Once I've started again I'll probably regret this blog, haha.

Speaking of the states, we have met many Americans who have no desire to return to America. Some have been young people, usually still students, and some older who are working. Of course I have my own criticisms of the country, but it seems baffling to me that these people never ever want to go back. I love adventure and traveling and experiencing new things - but never go back to the states? It never even occurred to me.

It may be that I have very selfish reasons for being here, and I am not traveling for altruistic reasons. I didn't come to work in refugee camps or work with an NGO for women's rights. Instead I'm here just to experience and enjoy a new place and then come back with more on my resume to make myself more marketable. Maybe this is why I don't understand where the ex-pats we met are coming from.

So far living here has just increased our appreciation of life in America. Everything takes four times longer to get done here - grocery shopping, clothes shopping, traveling - and it is just frustrating. Living in America is just convenient. Someone told us that we would get addicted to the lifestyle here, but I doubt it. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the culture and the differing qualities with Lebanon. I am enjoying being here. But going back to America is going to be a breath of fresh air. I like convenience, efficiency, urban sprawl, and the liberal lifestyle of Americans and I miss it.

And to finish off, I want to do a little praising of my fiancee. He officially proposed to me last week and I said yes. Of course we won't be taking any vows for a couple of years, but it is official. I don't think anyone will be very surprised, haha.

Our first couple of months here were pretty rocky. You really get to know a person when you are both in a very foreign place and have no one to vent your frustrations to except each other. Although we lived together for a while before moving to Lebanon, we didn't expect the high tensions we experienced here. We managed to survive as individuals, and as a couple.

Never before have I met someone so encouraging and giving. He has really helped me to take hold of this opportunity and cultivate it into something unforgettable. I feel like I am doing what some would kill for, and he really made it possible. I would never have done it on my own - at least not to this extent.

Now that we have a great computer I will be trying to blog more often. 

Damascus

Before I break out with a recount of our trip to Damascus, I have a few announcements. They may be surprising, so sit down. After a week of frustration with the AUB staff and a following week of exhausting studying and emotional breakdowns, Alex has decided to drop out of the Economics graduate program and be a full-time language student. He is also looking into an internship.

Consequently my plans have changed as well. I will not be beginning coursework at AUB, or any other school in the Middle East. Instead I am going to continue my Arabic courses at the American Language Center of Beirut, and continue with my job at The Middle East Reporter.

We are going to remain in Beirut until March of next year, when we will move to Damascus. The rest of our time here will be split between studying in Damascus and Yemen. We are not sure of the exact details, but we are pretty sure that we will spend the rest of our time here studying Arabic and making contacts.

Since we are now full-time students of the Arabic language, for the next year, we are planning on cutting our trip short. Instead of two years, we are going to spend one year in the Middle East and return before the fall semester begins in America. Instead of finishing up my undergraduate degree in the Middle East, I am going to wait until we return in August and begin a school, probably around the DC area.

Like I said, we are not sure of the exact dates and plans, but we are pretty sure that we would rather study in America and just spend our time studying the language and the culture here.

Now to Damascus:

As I mentioned earlier, after coming home from work on a Friday afternoon I found Alex in a really bad state. He had a semi-nervous breakdown after a week of studying economics for 12 hours a day. I tried my best to calm him and we both decided that he needed a break. Surprisingly he immediately suggested that we take a trip to Damascus for the weekend. An hour later we each had packed a backpack and were on our way to the bus station.

The cost of the bus to Somalia Station in Damascus was $6 a person. It was about three hours travel time, from Beirut to the border of Syria. The terrain was beautiful, and it was a nice surprise to get out of the bus on top of a mountain and feel a cool breeze.

Leaving Lebanon was no problem, but when we got to the Syrian border crossing it was another story. The officials told us that they would have to send a fax of our passports to the government and get our visas approved – so we waited. We went to the Syrian Duty-free shop and played with Legos – I made the coolest military base and Alex built Israel on one side and Lebanon on the other and we did a little war-gaming.

Three hours later we were eating Iftar at an “Italian restaurant”. Finally we went to go wait at the border building and were told they STILL didn’t have our approval. Alex wanted to go back to the café but I decided I was just going to wait there until they let us pass. Not more than five minutes passed before they called me over, by referring to me as “America”, and told us that we were ok to go. I’m pretty sure the whole spectacle was for show, but oh well.

Since it was ten at night there were no empty cabs passing by, but we finally caught a ride with a government official who was making a night run from Beirut to Damascus. As sketchy as the ride seemed, we made it to Damascus around eleven at night. We also managed to check in a chic hotel, a little bit on the expensive side, but better than nothing.

Instead of hitting the sack, we went to the Hammidiyah souks in the Old City. It was the most happening thing I’ve seen since being in the Middle East. It is a whole city of shops revolving around the famous Umayyad Mosque. It doesn’t close until midnight or one in the morning and is packed with women, children and men all day. The prices were dirt cheap and they had everything you could imagine.

The next day we stopped by the military museum which was really nice. It was very unlike museums in America, where you can’t touch anything and everything is encased in glass. The displays inside the Museum were behind glass, but they had artifacts outside the museum that you could walk around and touch. In the artisans’ square we came across a painter who did magnificent work! I picked out a black and white scenery painting and bought it for $16.

We also went to the New City which was more miles of shops. These, however, more closely resembled shops in Beirut - in quality and price. That night we hit the Old City again and had dinner with an American we met at a different hostel.

After roaming around the Old City for an hour or so, we wanted to sit down and smoke argilah and have some tea. We stopped by a couple of places, but it was so unlike Beirut – there were no women sitting with the men and definitely no women smoking! We kept walking around until we remembered a restaurant we read about, where Syrian President Assad occasionally goes to have big parties. We found it on the outskirts of the souks and it was beautiful! We sat there for a couple hours just smoking and sipping on chai.

Sunday, our last day in Damascus, we stopped by Hamaams. They are like Turkish baths, where you sit in a steam room, get an exfoliation, soap bath, and massage. It was a liberating experience. I am definitely not used to being completely unclothed around other people, but it had the opposite effect on me that I thought it would. I was completely comfortable and it was extremely relaxing. I went to one in the early morning, when they had hours for women, and Alex went to one for men a little later. Alex learned the hard way that the male souks were a little more reserved!

We walked inside the Umayyad mosque, including Saladin’s courtyard and the prayer room. I had to cover up in a hooded full-length robe, and everyone had to take off their shoes to walk around the Mosque. The mosque was very extravagant, from the intricate deep red carpet to the walls designs outside and inside the Mosque.

Our remaining time was spent picking up some souvenirs at the souks in the Old City. My most memorable buy – a black and red beaded robe for a woman with a matching headscarf! Now I can convert if I am ever so inclined!

Highlights of Damascus:
~Pictures of President Assad everywhere – his face had a place at the border-crossing, hundreds of billboards throughout the country, and on a wall in almost every shop and restaurant.
~Almost no Westerners, but of course some of the first people we saw in Syria were Asians
~Arabic speakers – most everyone spoke Arabic, and a few English. It was nice to practice!
~Night-life – women, men and children were up until all hours of the night.
~Traffic – most drivers actually paid attention to traffic lights.
~Dinners – we ate at some of the most popular and famous restaurants for nothing!
~The terrain – view after view of cities built into the side of mountains.
~Syrians – they were very hospitable and helpful, well except the taxi drivers.