4 Days: 5 Cities.

Ok, I'm ready to tell you my secret. I, Jake's girlfriend, AM in fact the vice president of the Jake Keyel fan club. It's true. The president?...you can be the judge of who that might be, loyal readers :)

Anyways, I have been having a great time here in Lebanon. Lebanon is a country about the size of Connecticut; but it is JAM packed with: mountains, beaches, caves, islands, cities, some of the most ancient ruins in the world, and much much more. So this week, during the day, as Jake has been improving his Arabic at lightning speed, and managing to work on this cool report for the IOM, I have been trying to see as much as possible! ...and eat as much Lebanese food as possible.

I was a tiny bit nervous to be traveling alone during my mornings/afternoons this week, in a new country, but it has been a good experience for me. First of all, with a lot of help from Jake, I really haven't been getting lost or totally ripped off. Second, Lebanon is a very safe place to be. I don't get hassled, and when I go into a busy public area, there guaranteed to be policemen and security guards to make sure the area is safe. Third: As far as being a woman here, I do not feel out of place. Lebanon is a pretty liberal place in the Middle East...the culture/style of women here is so varied, and really interesting to be around. Ok, and last but not least, I seem to appear very adoptable. Let me explain a little...

...on Monday, as I was walking to see the Jeita Grotto, (Jake described this a little in an earlier post), a family of 4 in a very nice car pulled over and said
"are you going to the Grotto? So are we! Get in!"...so I did (dont worry mom and dad, I have turned down other more sketchy offers for free car rides, this was a good one)! And I proceeded to explore the grotto with this Lebanese expat family who lives in France and is vacationing in Lebanon. They had never been to the grotto either, so it was a fun experience!

...then on Wednesday, I went to the ancient city of Byblos. I mean ancient... "one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited towns", we are talking Mesopotamia ancient. I was perusing a gift-shop, and there was a family there inquiring about the price of key-chains. I heard the father say:
"She's definitely not from here", He promptly turned to me and said "You are not from here, where are you from?"
...we walked together for a while and I learned that they live in Calgary, but are here in Lebanon for a month on vacation. The father grew up in Lebanon right near the border to Israel. We walked and walked, and they and their 3 sons told me so many stories, and gave me a million recommendations about what to see and do, and how to haggle at stores etc. They were very proud to tell me about all the great things to see in Lebanon. They even invited me to join them on a boat ride out in the Mediterrenean. I spent the whole afternoon with them, until I met up with Jake that evening to explore (and of course re-enact battle scenes) in the ancient roman/phonecian ruins...and eat a REALLY tasty seaside dinner :)

I won't go into too much more detail but I did indeed visit 5 cities in 4 days. Monday, as I said, was Jeita, as well as Zouk Mosbeh. Tuesday was Jounieh, where I rode on a cable car up a small mountain to see this beautiful statue at the top. Wednesday was Jbail/Byblos. Thursday was Beirut, where I was treated to a really fun afternoon by my Lebanese friend from Oberlin, and his family, and that makes 5. Jake and I head out shortly for a 6th city: Baalbeck, and not long after that I will come home!

Ok, that is all for now!

Love.

So the other day in class my professor gave us some insight into the Arab view of love (his words). He told us about a classic story called "Majnoon Laylah". Or Crazy Laylah, something like that (Majnoon means crazy). Anyways, this poet loves this woman Laylah so much and she is the only woman for him. He loves her so much but she, for some reason, doesn't requite his love. (I can't remember, but maybe because she is his first cousin, and his uncle doesn't think it's a good idea). Well, he goes out into the desert alone and won't take food or water, and then some days later they go and search for him and find him dead in the desert, with his head on a rock. And under his head is the poem he wrote about Laylah. My professor said it was a true story, or at least this was a real poet. But the best part is he told us that there are two kinds of love: This first kind from the story, where the man loves only one woman and she is everything to him. Then there is the second kind of love, and this is how he explained it: The man goes to the girl and asks if she likes him and if not, no worries, he just goes to the next girl and asks, do you like me? And so on and so on.

So, then he told me and David and Brian (the guys in the class), that we had to choose which type of love we wanted.

Prime Minister's Visit

I think that I completely forgot to mention this but a few weeks ago I went and ate dinner with the guys from my class and watched one of the World Cup games. (I think it was when Holland beat Brazil). Anyways, we went back to the university around 7 and there was an unbelievable number of soldiers and police officers there. And I mean crazy amounts. It was the night of NDU's graduation ceremony. Come to find out the graduation speaker was the Prime Minister. So, then it made sense why there was so much security. Soldiers with assault rifles and police in fatigues and secret services guys in suits, metal detectors, the whole deal. So we went to go back to our rooms but a soldier told us to go another way. This other way led directly to the graduation. And when we went to walk back around to our rooms, a secret service guy said, "In one hour you can go that way". So... we watched the graduation ceremony. Which, like all graduation ceremonies, was a barrel of laughs. But picture sitting through one where you only understand a few words like, "This university is... (translation unavailable)." Or "In Lebanon... (file not found)." Anyways, I can say that I saw the Lebanese Prime Minister in person, and I can only assume that his speech was rousing. But finally after about an hour, we could go back to our rooms, and just have to be content imagining how great the rest of the ceremony was.

To Jake's Beloved Readers

Hello Jake Keyel fans,

I am writing to you direct from Jake Keyel's current location: Zouk Mosbeh, to describe his current status:

Jake has just spent the past weekend accompanying his (awesome) girlfriend (,or around these parts "friend",) to the mountains for a delightful weekend trip.

They learned about Lebanese culture:
-saw lots of gell-infused hairstyles...in arabic, a mowhawk is called a "spikey"
-learned there is a large australian/lebanese population
-found out saHtain = bon appetit in arabic :)
-saw that lebanese soldiers might drive an ancient shell of a Renault for work, but they probably own a recent-model BMW at home (and they even give free rides to tired hikers if you catch them at just the right time!)

Sampled Lebanon's traditional foods:
-Manoush ( basically pizza on a pita, but fresh, and the bread is thinner than pita...oh, and you eat it for breakfast! )
-Kneffe (Lebanese cheese cake -- much different than in the US, but very tasty!)
-Tawouk (a chicken dish)

They saw some of Lebanon's most beautiful natural sites:

-explored an ancient grotto full of beautiful stalactites (or stalagmites, whichever, both)
-saw the sad but still existent Cedar Reserve, still standing after many abuses of its former abundance
-hiked to the highest point in Lebanon (although there was no signage, so it may be the second highest). At any rate, they were about twice as high as Mt. Marcy in the Adirondacks, at around 10,000 ft. above sea level

a 3 hour bus ride later Jake and that awesome girlfriend were back in Zouk Mosbeh.

Now you might see Jake jogging from arabic class to work, or perhaps catching up on his reading. The girlfriend you ask? Today, she explored the breathtaking and world-famous grotto/cave near Zouk Mosbeh . She spontaneously became friends with a lebanese family also there to see the sights. She claims it was a great first afternoon out on the town on her own....followed promptly by an evening of feeling much less than 100%...however recovery is in sight.

Sincerely,
Vice President of the Jake Keyel Fan Club

Update.

(I forgot to post this last week... More to come about our (Zibby and me) trip to the mountains this weekend).

So, this weekend (the 10th and 11th) was pretty busy. Friday afternoon/evening I just hung out. I'm about halfway through Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens, so that's good. Saturday morning I went into Beirut to go to the National Museum. It is small but it's really nice. There are a lot of nice artifacts from different time periods like frescoes from Roman times (I think) and statues that look Egyptian but were found in ruins here in Lebanon. There was a lot of contact in the old days and so the art was influenced by Egyptian art and what have you. They also have some really nice ancient pottery and my personal favorites glass and gold. I can't explain it, but I love things that are made of glass that are 2000 years old. It's crazy. How did they make vases out of glass that long ago? It's nutty. And I really like old coins and stuff. They have some cool examples of silver and gold coins from different periods. Honestly, some of the artifacts that they have are so intricate, it really is unbelievable that they were made so long ago. Anyways, that was good . Then I went back to NDU and Saturday evening I went with couple of guys to Jbeil again. It was nice at night and we walked around and had dinner and then watched the losers match between Germany and Uruguay.

Sunday I studied a lot of Arabic then we watched the World Cup final on the big screens on campus.

Monday I had some extra work at work so I went in in the morning and then went to class later then went back to work. (I was basically transcribing the film that we showed the previous week.)

On Wednesday I went to a conference about Iraqi refugees in Beirut. I took a cab paid for by work, so that was pretty cool. Very official. But... after the hour ride to Beirut the guy dropped me off at Hotel Rotana. So I asked where is the conference about Iraqis? They told me this room. So I went to it and it was a conference about Iraqis. But the itinerary was totally different than the one I looked at. And this one was about security issues and how the security forces can deal with Iraqi refugees. The conference I was suppose to be at was about Iraqi Refugees and what UNHCR is doing to assist them. So, I realized I was at the wrong hotel and I asked, "Is this Hotel Rotana Hazmieh?" And of course he said "No, this is Hotel Rotana Hamra". Which is a different district in Beirut. So... I got another cab to the actual hotel and then it was all good. It was a really interesting conference and more apropos than the one I was not suppose to be at. But really, what are the odds that both hotels of the same name would be hosting conferences about Iraqis? Both sponsored by Embassies? Another girl who is a researcher with LERC was there too so that was good and we got to chat. (They had some good pastries at the conference too).

Anyways, I took a taxi home and then I met up with Zibby! (who had arrived at like 3:00 in the morning Wednesday) at the hotel near the campus.

I Don't Remember How Many Weeks It Is (Five I Guess)

Anyways,

Wednesday night I was invited to Guita Hourani's (The director of LERC) house for dinner. Well, me and the rest of the staff. And it was a dinner party. So I rode there in a taxi with Elie. She lives up into the mountains from the university. Her house was really nice and covered with souvenirs which she has picked up from traveling around the world. We got there around 8:30 and we had drinks and then around 9:00 or 9:30 we ate. There was so much good food. So I had some Lebanese wine and some Lebanese food and got the chance to spend some time with my co-workers outside of work, which was nice. There were quite a few people there and I also chatted with an American guy of Lebanese descent who was born in Salt Lake City. There were lots of languages, French and Arabic and English and Spanish too, I believe.

Which: segway/plug for my article: I wrote an article and it was published in the Daily Messenger. It's on the website at:
http://www.mpnnow.com/opinions/letters_to_the_editor/x1609353104/Letter-In-defense-of-a-multicultural-U-S

For anyone who isn't on facebook/didn't see the link I posted there. Anyways, I 100% believe that everyone should learn a second (or third) language. It's actually really embarrassing in a way when you are somewhere and someone is able to speak English and French and Spanish and Arabic and translate for everyone (Basma, my boss/co-worker, speaks all of those languages) and you can't. And, the stereotype is that Americans can't speak anything but English. Lots of people I have met over the years think that. I try to disabuse them of that notion, but unfortunately, like the guy who wrote the article I was responding to, some people proudly uphold that stereotype.

This is his article:
http://www.mpnnow.com/highlight/x1621116648/Guest-essay-Don-t-surrender-to-those-trying-to-undo-America

Anyways, it was a lot of fun and the Germany vs. Spain game was on, so we watched that after dinner. I really wanted Germany to go all the way, but alas, it wasn't to be. Oh, well, maybe in 2014. Then I got home around 11:00 or 11:30 and went to bed.

Also Wednesday afternoon we had an event at LERC. A visiting scholar Dr. Martinez Assad came to show a movie he had made about Lebanese immigrants in Mexican film, so that was interesting. He himself is Mexican of Lebanese descent.

Thursday was good, I worked and had Arabic and relaxed after the busy Tuesday and Wednesday I had. Today my friend Brian from my Arabic classes (who is a PHD candidate at Rutgers) came by LERC to check it out and we gave him a tour and showed him around the museum and what not. Anyways, that brings us up to right now. I wrote another article and as soon as it submit it/if they decide to publish this one too, I'll let you know.
(Did you notice how many times I used a / in this post? It was my motiv for the day I guess.)

Oh and also, did you hear about the women who worked for CNN and got fired for tweeting she respected Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah? (The guy who died the other day.) I won't comment on it online, who knows, I could lose my job too.

Auf jeden Fall (that means anyways in German. Anyways, is my other motiv. It's probably my favorite word so last summer when I heard Günter my host father say auf jeden Fall one time I realized I had discovered how to say it in German. You can also say jedenfalls. Auf jeden Fall literally means: in any case.)

Jeita Grotto and More!

So, on Saturday I went to Jeita Grotto with the guys from my class. We took a taxi there, it's pretty close to the university. There are two parts: An upper Grotto and a lower Grotto. We took a cable car up the upper Grotto, and unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside. It is unfortunate, because I kid you not, it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Look it up if you don't believe me: Jeita Grotto. You can find pictures on Google. It was immense. It's a huge Grotto (of course) just covered in stalactites and stalagmites. It almost looks unreal, like the rock formations are soft piles of sand or something. Like a dribble castle. It was also really tall and the walkway climbs up and up and you can look down and see through to the lower Grotto which is full of water. So we walked through that and then walked down to the lower Grotto. On the way there was a statue of Jesus looking very spritely, reclining between two beams. I'll put up a picture of it. Anyways, we were taking pictures and over heard this Lebanese guy say: "In Lebanon Jesus isn't crucified. He naps." Very funny.

So we walked down (there was also a cartoonish "train" that you could take but it was full, and not really a train because it had no tracks.) In the lower Grotto it's full of water, like I said, you take a little boat through it. In case you weren't sure, that made it 10 times cooler.

After that we went back to the university and later watched the Germany Argentina game in which Germany embarrassed the hell out of Argentina. Insha'allah, Germany wins tomorrow night and then will win in the Final on Sunday.

Yesterday I had Arabic and worked and that was good. Arabic is going quickly, so it's a lot of work, but good work. I am really hoping that at some point, insha'allah, I'll be able to communicate in Arabic. It takes a lot of work to be able to actually have a conversation in another language. It took me a long time to get there with German and I still need to get better at it. (If anyone knows of jobs in Germany, let me know.)

Today the university was closed because the Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah died. He was the spiritual head of the Lebanese Shiites (for anyone who doesn't know, Shiites are Muslims. Shia Islam is one of the main branches of Islam, the other being Sunni Islam), and kind of the spiritual leader of Hezbollah (Hezbollah is the Party of God. Perhaps I already mentioned them, but they are the only faction in Lebanon not to disarm as per the 1989 agreement at the end of the civil war. They were the group that kidnapped Israeli soldiers in 2006, precipitating the Israel invasion and subsequent war.) He died of natural causes at 75, just FYI. So today there was a huge funeral in the Shiite suburbs of Beirut. It would have been cool to go, but we didn't. Actually the country observed a day of mourning, so all the universities and what have you were closed. We did go to Beirut today, just to walk around and what not. Tomorrow it's back to work and school. This is my fifth week here, it is flying by. Zibby comes to visit next week and we are planning to see the Ceder reserves and climb the tallest peak in Lebanon. Then the week after that my friend Valeria, whom I met in Morocco last year, who is Italian, might come for her holidays to Lebanon so we might do some sight seeing as well. Busy, busy.

Today we saw a lot of people fishing on the coast in Beirut and it reminded me of something from Morocco: I lived with this family right? The mother, and her three adult children: Sabir, Abul Aziz and I can't remember the daughters name! And the daughters son (baby) Redeh. And Mohammed, another student from the school. Anyways, on the weekends Sabir and Abul Aziz would go fishing on the coast in Rabat. Sabir was the younger son (I think) and Abul Aziz was actually his half brother. And so they would spend all day on Saturday fishing. And no joke, Sabir would catch like 20 fish and Abul Aziz wouldn't catch anything. Isn't that funny (not funny haha)? The half brother didn't catch anything and the full son was very good at fishing? It's like something out of a Grimm's fairytale. Anyways, being here makes me think a lot about Morocco. In some ways they are similar and in some ways they are very different.

Anyways.