So, yesterday after work one of my co-workers Ms. Haddad gave me a little tour of some towns on the coast and then dropped me off in Jounieh. It was a nice tour and it is really beautiful with all the mountains and the sea, and you can always see both of them. And trees. It's great. In any case, Ms. Haddad dropped me off in front of a cable car that runs from Jounieh at the bottom of the mountain to Harissa up on the mountain, about 600 meters elevation, or 2000 feet. So almost twice the height of Bristol Mountain (Which, by the way, according to Wikipedia is 1,200 feet elevation making it actually a mountain, barely. (Wikipedia also says 1,000 is generally considered the lowest elevation to be considered a mountain.)). So, you get in this little four person cable car and it runs up the mountain over the highway and through these apartment buildings and then up to the (almost) top. And then there is a funicular that takes you like 50 feet or something. I just walked after the cable car up to the top. At the top is a huge statue on kind of a spiral pillar, like a ziggurat, for those of us who remember 6th grade ancient history. It's not actually one, but it looks like that with a statue on top. The statue is the Virgin of Lebanon and it's been there since the 19th century. Incidentally there are tons of statues in Lebanon. All over Zouk Mosbeh there are religious statues. So, that was pretty neat and the view was really great. Lebanon has a curvy coast so there are lots of bays I guess and you can see them all jut out into the Mediterranean.
I just created a Picasa account and posted a bunch of pictures there. Some are on Facebook but I'm going to put more on Picasa for those who aren't on Facebook and also I always feel a little weird posting lots of pictures on Facebook, like I'm showing off. So this way, anyone who wants to take a look can, but doesn't have to.
Here is the address:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkeyel
Then I took the cable car back down, and let me tell you I was a little nervous at first. I love heights but it is still a little nerve-wracking to be suspended by a metal cable (which by the way, looked a tiny bit frayed). But I'm sure it was fine because as we were waiting in line two guys were doing maintenance on one of the cars.
So then I walked through Jounieh and stopped at a fast food place (Lebanese, not Burger King or anything), that I'd seen in the car on the way there. I got Tawouk, which is a pita with french fries, pickles, coleslaw, ketchup, mayo and chicken. Kind of like a Shawarma, but different. It was good. Then I walked through Jounieh and along the coast through Kaslik, which is a little town or place with lots of fancy stores like Zara and Puma and what have you, but very nice. There is also a movie theater, which is good to know. And anyways, I decided I'd just keep walking and walk back instead of getting a taxi or bus. Which worked out well because I saw another patisserie and decided to give it another try. I went in and asked for Knefe, which is a Lebanese thing I hadn't tried yet. Then the girl behind the counter launched into something in Arabic to which I responded anaa la afham, meaning I don't understand. Then she said, What language do you speak? in English, so I said English. Then she explained what the Knefe is, but it's cheese with cream, so I said no thanks, and looked at some other stuff. Then the other girl behind the counter asked if I wanted to try this and that, and I probably tried 5 pieces of 5 different things. So after the samples I was already full! But this time I again ordered more than I was going to. Not because of a miscommunication, but because everything was so good that I couldn't resist. So I got a bunch of different pastries: some with pistachios, some with honey like baklava, and some with almonds. All in all, it was very successful. I now have dessert for a while. This bakery was pretty close to where I get a taxi up to the campus so I walked there, crossing the highway in the human game of Frogger that is getting around Lebanon and got a taxi up to NDU.
The funny thing is in the taxi the guy asked where I was from and I said the United States. Then he went to light a cigarette and then he said: "Do you want one?" I said no, but see, it's not just passengers who share with drivers, drivers offer passengers too. Also, as an aside, not once has a taxi driver tried to charge me more than I should pay.
In other news, I don't know if I mentioned it, but there are fireworks at least 4 times a week. From all directions I hear pop pop, boom boom and then I have to go out on the balcony and try and find where they are. And Wednesday night at like 11:00 p.m., some loud explosions scared the hell out of a half asleep me.
Alright.
I just created a Picasa account and posted a bunch of pictures there. Some are on Facebook but I'm going to put more on Picasa for those who aren't on Facebook and also I always feel a little weird posting lots of pictures on Facebook, like I'm showing off. So this way, anyone who wants to take a look can, but doesn't have to.
Here is the address:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkeyel
Then I took the cable car back down, and let me tell you I was a little nervous at first. I love heights but it is still a little nerve-wracking to be suspended by a metal cable (which by the way, looked a tiny bit frayed). But I'm sure it was fine because as we were waiting in line two guys were doing maintenance on one of the cars.
So then I walked through Jounieh and stopped at a fast food place (Lebanese, not Burger King or anything), that I'd seen in the car on the way there. I got Tawouk, which is a pita with french fries, pickles, coleslaw, ketchup, mayo and chicken. Kind of like a Shawarma, but different. It was good. Then I walked through Jounieh and along the coast through Kaslik, which is a little town or place with lots of fancy stores like Zara and Puma and what have you, but very nice. There is also a movie theater, which is good to know. And anyways, I decided I'd just keep walking and walk back instead of getting a taxi or bus. Which worked out well because I saw another patisserie and decided to give it another try. I went in and asked for Knefe, which is a Lebanese thing I hadn't tried yet. Then the girl behind the counter launched into something in Arabic to which I responded anaa la afham, meaning I don't understand. Then she said, What language do you speak? in English, so I said English. Then she explained what the Knefe is, but it's cheese with cream, so I said no thanks, and looked at some other stuff. Then the other girl behind the counter asked if I wanted to try this and that, and I probably tried 5 pieces of 5 different things. So after the samples I was already full! But this time I again ordered more than I was going to. Not because of a miscommunication, but because everything was so good that I couldn't resist. So I got a bunch of different pastries: some with pistachios, some with honey like baklava, and some with almonds. All in all, it was very successful. I now have dessert for a while. This bakery was pretty close to where I get a taxi up to the campus so I walked there, crossing the highway in the human game of Frogger that is getting around Lebanon and got a taxi up to NDU.
The funny thing is in the taxi the guy asked where I was from and I said the United States. Then he went to light a cigarette and then he said: "Do you want one?" I said no, but see, it's not just passengers who share with drivers, drivers offer passengers too. Also, as an aside, not once has a taxi driver tried to charge me more than I should pay.
In other news, I don't know if I mentioned it, but there are fireworks at least 4 times a week. From all directions I hear pop pop, boom boom and then I have to go out on the balcony and try and find where they are. And Wednesday night at like 11:00 p.m., some loud explosions scared the hell out of a half asleep me.
Alright.
No comments:
Post a Comment