So, this weekend was good. We had the workshop on Saturday about survey techniques and interview skills. The first part was an overview of Iraqi migration for the last 30 or 40 years and then the presenter gave some general info about survey techniques, how to act, how to be respectful and stuff like that. For example, he talked about interviews he has done with Palestinian refugees where he will go into someone's home and everyone is sitting on the floor and they sit him in the middle of the room on the only chair. Which is a funny thing to think about. But that, you know, you would want to refuse and sit on the floor too, as not to be in a position of power over anyone. So that was interesting and then after a break for food and coffee they did simulation interviews. The first one was in Arabic with the presenter and an Iraqi student. I can't say that I completely got, but I understood some stuff. Where are you from? Which city in Iraq? Which district? When did you come to Lebanon? Stuff like that. But like I said, everyone speaks in a dialect, so the interviewer was speaking his dialect, which is Syrian maybe? And the student was speaking Iraqi Arabic. I did pick up that the word for 'yes' is 'eh'. (Like Canadians). Which is funny because in standard Arabic it is 'na'am'. So, completely different. The workshop was good and I got to talk to some of the students there and to the presenter who is a scholar who does a lot of research on refugees and migration.
Again, they must have read my mind, because I got to take home the leftovers, so I have been eating those for the last three days and I still have a lot. Score.
The presenter, Dr. Dorai, told me that the most beautiful part of Lebanon is the very south where the 'security zone' (aka where the Israelis occupied for 20 years) is. He said that was the only good thing about the occupation that this area wasn't developed so it is pristine and wild and what not. I would really love to go down there. He said I should just go with someone who knows the area. (The Israelis aren't occupying anymore for anyone who doesn't know). But, he said, the only thing you have to worry about is the Israelis attacking again. Then he laughed. And then I laughed. Isn't that exactly what I told everyone who was worried about safety here? That the biggest concern would be that.
In any case then on Sunday I decided I would go to a town called 'Juniyah', which is up the coast from Beirut I think like 15 or 20km. So I walked down the hill and caught the bus. No problem. So we went and I saw signs for Juniyah come and go and I missed my opportunity to get off. I don't know whether I said, but like in Morocco, there aren't really bus stops you just stand on the side of the road and wait for a bus to come and then you just tell the driver where to let you off when you want to get off. Anyways, so I thought, well, I'll just ride until I see somewhere that looks interesting and I'll get off. So we drive and drive and we get farther and farther from where I came from. But then I saw signs for 'Jbeil' which is another town I wanted to check out so I figured, I'll just ride till then and then get off. And voila! I did. No problem. And, I didn't know how much it would cost so I gave the driver 10,000 l.l. around 6 bucks and I got 8,000 back. So it only cost 1.66 to take a 40km bus ride! Which I think is pretty darn good. It's not cheap here, I would say groceries things like that are roughly the same price as in the U.S. but that is super cheap.
So I got out near Jbeil and walked into the town and it was really nice. I put a few pictures up on Facebook of it. It has like an old town section which is all cobblestone and what have you so that was really nice and when Zibby comes we are going to go back. There are tons of restaurants and sidewalk cafes things like that. There is also a 'souq', or a market with the typical wares, chessboards, hookahs, postcards, Madonnas. I think it is a mostly Christian town, so there were a lot of crosses and icons for sale. It was really different than being in a souq in Morocco. Not one person asked me into their shop, or followed me around trying to take me into their 'brother's' or their 'uncle's' shop. Which is very nice. Much more pleasant.
There's also a ruined castle from Roman times maybe? I didn't read any of the info, I just went in and walked around and took pictures. It was really nice because it was right on the water and the mountains are in the background. Also one of my co-workers said you can take a boat around too, so, something else Zibby and I might do. Around the town, not the castle, there's no moat.
After that I took the bus back and then a cab back to the University. I had a very nice cab driver who wanted to know where I was from and there was a women and her little son in the front seat. As an aside, I also saw a man driving a vespa type scooter onto the highway, as I was walking up the on ramp, and he had his wife on the back and she was holding a baby in her arms. I thought it was quite the sight and in the U.S. they would be ridiculed as negligent parents ala Brittney Spears' baby on her lap incident, and honestly it's not super safe, but I think some people in the U.S. are so super uptight about things like that. As if you are the worst parent in the world if you do not properly secure your child in the correct car seat. We used to ride around in the back of the pick-up. Anyways... Today I had my internship again and that was good. I worked more on the bibliography I have been working on and the report I am doing for the workshop on Saturday. I also had more Lebanese coffee, which is like Turkish coffee. Very good.
On another note the World Cup is in full swing and they show the games on a big screen on campus which is cool. They also show all the games on several cable channels that I get in my room so I watched two today and there is one on right now. Ghana beat Serbia today. And The Netherlands beat Denmark, and that was a good game. The U.S. tied England which is amazing. But, in any case, I am rooting for Germany who trounced Australia the other day.
Well that's about it.
Jake.
Again, they must have read my mind, because I got to take home the leftovers, so I have been eating those for the last three days and I still have a lot. Score.
The presenter, Dr. Dorai, told me that the most beautiful part of Lebanon is the very south where the 'security zone' (aka where the Israelis occupied for 20 years) is. He said that was the only good thing about the occupation that this area wasn't developed so it is pristine and wild and what not. I would really love to go down there. He said I should just go with someone who knows the area. (The Israelis aren't occupying anymore for anyone who doesn't know). But, he said, the only thing you have to worry about is the Israelis attacking again. Then he laughed. And then I laughed. Isn't that exactly what I told everyone who was worried about safety here? That the biggest concern would be that.
In any case then on Sunday I decided I would go to a town called 'Juniyah', which is up the coast from Beirut I think like 15 or 20km. So I walked down the hill and caught the bus. No problem. So we went and I saw signs for Juniyah come and go and I missed my opportunity to get off. I don't know whether I said, but like in Morocco, there aren't really bus stops you just stand on the side of the road and wait for a bus to come and then you just tell the driver where to let you off when you want to get off. Anyways, so I thought, well, I'll just ride until I see somewhere that looks interesting and I'll get off. So we drive and drive and we get farther and farther from where I came from. But then I saw signs for 'Jbeil' which is another town I wanted to check out so I figured, I'll just ride till then and then get off. And voila! I did. No problem. And, I didn't know how much it would cost so I gave the driver 10,000 l.l. around 6 bucks and I got 8,000 back. So it only cost 1.66 to take a 40km bus ride! Which I think is pretty darn good. It's not cheap here, I would say groceries things like that are roughly the same price as in the U.S. but that is super cheap.
So I got out near Jbeil and walked into the town and it was really nice. I put a few pictures up on Facebook of it. It has like an old town section which is all cobblestone and what have you so that was really nice and when Zibby comes we are going to go back. There are tons of restaurants and sidewalk cafes things like that. There is also a 'souq', or a market with the typical wares, chessboards, hookahs, postcards, Madonnas. I think it is a mostly Christian town, so there were a lot of crosses and icons for sale. It was really different than being in a souq in Morocco. Not one person asked me into their shop, or followed me around trying to take me into their 'brother's' or their 'uncle's' shop. Which is very nice. Much more pleasant.
There's also a ruined castle from Roman times maybe? I didn't read any of the info, I just went in and walked around and took pictures. It was really nice because it was right on the water and the mountains are in the background. Also one of my co-workers said you can take a boat around too, so, something else Zibby and I might do. Around the town, not the castle, there's no moat.
After that I took the bus back and then a cab back to the University. I had a very nice cab driver who wanted to know where I was from and there was a women and her little son in the front seat. As an aside, I also saw a man driving a vespa type scooter onto the highway, as I was walking up the on ramp, and he had his wife on the back and she was holding a baby in her arms. I thought it was quite the sight and in the U.S. they would be ridiculed as negligent parents ala Brittney Spears' baby on her lap incident, and honestly it's not super safe, but I think some people in the U.S. are so super uptight about things like that. As if you are the worst parent in the world if you do not properly secure your child in the correct car seat. We used to ride around in the back of the pick-up. Anyways... Today I had my internship again and that was good. I worked more on the bibliography I have been working on and the report I am doing for the workshop on Saturday. I also had more Lebanese coffee, which is like Turkish coffee. Very good.
On another note the World Cup is in full swing and they show the games on a big screen on campus which is cool. They also show all the games on several cable channels that I get in my room so I watched two today and there is one on right now. Ghana beat Serbia today. And The Netherlands beat Denmark, and that was a good game. The U.S. tied England which is amazing. But, in any case, I am rooting for Germany who trounced Australia the other day.
Well that's about it.
Jake.
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