JULY 3, 2011

Today we all went on a roadtrip to the northern part of Lebanon to visit Tannous in his town Ehden! It took us only and hour and half each way. I expected the trip to take longer because Ehden is around 1500 meters over sea level.

On the way, we saw this castle that has been here since the Crusades!

I LOVED Tannous's family. His sister just had a baby girl (LEILA!) 2 weeks ago! He has 2 younger brothers, Wissam and Samer. His parents are the nicest and most generous people I have ever met! I can't wait to go visit them again!

Doggie at Tannous's!

We went hiking around the natural reserve of Ehden. It was around 600 km each way, and it took us a good 2 hours for the whole hike.

We stopped at this natural water fountain. We drank it's fresh COLD water and washed our hands and face.

Fresh peaches, plums, and cherries from Tannous's parent's garden!

After our hike, we went higher up in the mountain to visit these churches:

In the big church, they were preparing the decorations for a wedding that was about to take place. Aren't the decorations amazing? VERY CHIC!

Lastly, we went to a restaurant from a late lunch/dinner because we were STARVING. We ordered the usual: tabbouleh, fattoosh, hummus, baba ghannouj, french fries, labneh with toom, sheesh tawook, kafta, etc.

 Rana jumping in :)

We all fell asleep on the ride home from our expanded stomachs. I am EXHAUSTED. I need to get some sleep. Rana and Jana are sleeping over because we want to go to the beaches in front of my house in the morning. I think we're meeting Tannous for lunch too!

JULY 2, 2011

Tonight was my dad's mom's brother's son's bachelor party. His name is Georges and he's in his mid-30s. I'm not usually a big fan of parties because it's awkward when I don't dance, but I was so stoked on going tonight. I wanted to meet my dad's mom's side of the family. I've met them a long time ago, but I don't remember any. 

Let me explain how the bachelor party works here, because you're probably thinking what is a girl doing at a bachelor party. Well, in Lebanon, the groom throws a party in his house or his parent's house and invites all his relatives. Actually, it's an open invitation, so whoever wants to come is welcome. So groom has his party, and the bride does the same thing at her house. And at midnight, the groom and his best men and close relatives drive to the bride's house and party with her for a bit. I actually like this idea more than the stripper cliche crap. One of the reasons why I do not want to get married in the States.

Setting up the outdoor bachelor party

Open buffet and bar

The groom's older brother is a priest! His name is Joseph.

Groom with Daddy

My dad, his 2 brothers, and his favorite cousin Paula. She lives in Sweden.

A lot of dancing and dabkeh!

Groom on someone's shoulder dancing!

Deyala dancing with the priest!

JULY 1, 2011

This is how Lebanese people park. They don't care about other people. They drive like they own the roads. This picture is actually in the underground parking of the beach houses, you know where you drive down or up, not where you're supposed to park.

What's hilarious about this picture is the sign behind it. It says "please park in the designated painted lines." Ironic, huh?

JUNE 30, 2011

Grade 9 in Lebanon is called Brevet. When a student takes final exams at the end of the year, he takes all the exams for the subjects in high school, as well as a government exam, kind of like the SOLs. The government exam consists of exams for: math, physics, chemistry, biology, french, arabic, writing, history, and geography. But over here, if you fail the government exams, you will repeat 9th grade, no excuses, EVEN IF YOU GOT A'S IN THE HIGH SCHOOL EXAMS. So, my cousin Salim passed his government exam and got promoted to the 10th grade. As a celebration my uncle and aunt made a typical Lebanese homemade dinner: chicken with cilantro, tabbouleh, homemade french fries, tuna salad, and a bunch of snacks like crackers and peanuts and fruit. 

This is how we all sit and eat dinner together every night. I wish we can do this in America.

Notice the big tomato! :)

I have a picture of how green onions look like here, but it's on my Blackberry. I need to find a away to put it on my laptop. I swear the green onion is sooo long, probably longer than my hair!

JUNE 29, 2011

My mom went to Saudi Arabia today, so we had to drive her to the airport in Beirut. We took it as an advantage to go around downtown Beirut (Verdun) for a while.

One of the buildings in Parliament Square

Virgin Megastore

Prime Minister Rafic Al-Hariri died on Feb 14, 2005 as a martyr for Lebanon. Someone (or some people?) put a bomb in his car. He was a great man who did amazing things for this country.

He built this mosque.

…and because he built that mosque he was buried in this memorial room, right next to the mosque.

Notice the statue in the mosque picture. My dad told me that the people in the statue are martyrs. One of the dude's name is George Haddad. They put this statue up when Turkey left Lebanon. Apparently during the Civil War, everything to the left of the statue is where the Christians lived, and everything to the right is where the Muslims lived.

Not all of Beirut is pretty and modern. There are still a lot of buildings and houses ruined from the war. 

For example:

JUNE 28, 2011

Today we took the teleferique to go to Harissa, the city of Lady Lebanon (Virgin Mary). Basically, it's like a ski-lift from the beach all the way to the top of the mountain. 

This is the view from the shore. The teleferique goes all the way up to the tip of the mountain.

Inside waiting for our "car".

Almost halfway up.

I love the background! AND MARC!

This was one of the churches.

View from the top!

Lady Lebanon. Most sacred church. You can walk all the way around the stairs to Virgin Mary and pray silently.

Inside the Lady Lebanon church.

ME!!!!!

I have more pictures, but the internet sucks. It's taking too long to load.

I also met Tannous in Jbeil (Byblos). He showed me around his undergrad university Lebanese American University (LAU). Joseph, Bassam, and Salam went there too. It is the most expensive university in Lebanon. There are only 2000 students who go there. The campus is really pretty, very Lebanese style, and very GREEN. It's not too big like VT, and not too small. It was graduation night tonight and I got to see some of the students and meet some professors. The girls dress like they're going to the club. Their faces are painted with makeup, high heels, short dresses. Definitely not used to it since VT girls wear pjs and sweatpants to class. I also met some engineering professors who used to be HOKIES!

JUNE 27, 2011

...NORMAL TO SEE:

- people standing in the middle of the highway and selling random crap (CDs, cowboy hats, handkerchiefs, DVDs, towels, etc)

- people driving 4 wheelers instead of cars

- 13 year olds asking the bartender how much alcohol is

- 12 year olds watching Hangover II at the movies


OH and what's with guys always wanting to pay for everything? I literally have to fight with everyone I go out with. AND I HATE LOSING.