MIRAGE

BEAUTIFUL BEIRUT

The sun was out all day today and it infused me with the energy I needed to explore! I went grocery shopping and checked out the American University of Beirut, directly across the street from the entrance to the University is a McDonald's (American University indeed!).

I've been feeling a bit under dressed and under make-up(ed) here in Lebanon, the women are so incredibly fabulous and stylish, it's out of control. Anyway, today I decided to put on some lipstick and heels and that was a huge mistake because I was in pointed shoes trying to walk all around West Beirut, stopping every few minutes because my feet were killing me. I was trying to look good but I ended up looking awkward and uncomfortable. Anyway, all that to say: Lebanese people are GORGEOUS! Seriously, I think these are the best looking people I've seen in one place -- ever. Sorry LA, y'all got nothin on the Non.  I haven't been to Brazil, though. Ha!

Stop shaking your head and tsking me, I did some work too! I met with the PR woman from AUB, who is incredibly brilliant, young, full of ideas, and very passionate. We discussed my story pitches and she helped me to better understand the twisted political structure here.  More on that later... enjoy the view from a different balcony :)

THE SURVIVORS

Yesterday I played capoeira with the first Lebanese capoeira group.  They call themselves sobreviventes...SURVIVORS.  During the war this past July, two of the students never stopped training capoeira, with bombs falling around Lebanon, they kept practicing their kicks and esquivas.  If it was too difficult to train in Beirut, they would go to the mountains...they refused to stop for the war.   I love them already :)

That's me with three sobreviventes after class, from left to right (kareem, arbi (he's the teacher, in the back), and christophe...oh and kareem's dog, goofy...ignore him, he's being rude ;)  Christophe is one of the two students who trained throughout the war, an O.G. Sobrevivente!

DIVE INTO THE OCEAN, OR STAY AWAY

The title of this post can be attributed to Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese poet. It was also the start of the "how to..." guide my friend left me at his apartment in Beirut.  A four page summary on how to navigate the neighborhood, take a shower, use the internet, turn on the heat...everything is in there and I'm so THANKFUL!

My flight was uneventful, I slept the entire way...when I arrived Gert was there to greet me with the cardboard sign.  We jumped into his old mercedes and headed to West Beirut.  You have to slam the door with all of your strength so it stays closed and Gert has to physically pull up the window on the drivers side because it won't shut automatically...but other than that, it was a posh ride. 

To get to the place where I'm staying we drove through Dahiyeh, a Shia suburb in S. Beirut and I saw my first dead body and hopefully the last on this trip.  The person was lying in the street, surrounded by guys dressed in fatigues, his body covered in black garbage bags and his shoes scattered across the road.  It was obvious he'd been hit by a car, because there was the car with it's windshield caved in and blood everywhere.  Gert assured me that it was just a weird coincidence, it's not like people get hit by cars everyday in Dahiyeh...

Welcome to Beirut.

(enjoy the view from my balconey!)

Ma'Salaama!

I've packed and re-packed so many times and I haven't eaten all day and I have a horrible headache.  Today seems like it's dragging on and going by too fast at the same time.  I'm a nervous wreck right now.  I just want to get on the plane, put on my headphones and zone out to a comforting song like Goapele's "Closer," a little Bay Area inspiration for a long flight to BAY-rut.  I arrive tomorrow at 7pm and hopefully a skinny, blonde kid (his description) named Gert will be there waiting with a cardboard sign.  From there he's taking me to my "home," a 9th floor apartment in West Beirut.  This will only be home for 10 days, then I'll have to find a new one, the good thing: it has an ocean view!  I'll post pictures, so check out the site tomorrow.  ciao ;) 

I just checked my horoscope for today:

You're in the early phases of discovering what your true strengths are. Trust what your instincts tell you. A group of people might stimulate new avenues to explore in this process of unfolding your potential.

HOW PERFECT IS THAT?

Ya Beirut!

        Wow.  This Saturday at 10pm, I'm flying to Lebanon to report for National Public Radio, my first real life adventure as a "foreign correspondent." In preparation for this life changing journey, I've been studying Arabic.  Unfortunately, after two months of strenuous study, I still haven't learned how to say, "where's the bathroom," without sounding like I'm saying, "where's the pigeon."  Hopefully I'll figure that out before touchdown in Beirut, Inshallah!

     I was in Beirut in September, 2005, before the Israel/Lebanon war this past July.  It was glorious!  I visited caves, swam in the warm Mediterranean ocean, ate fatoosh, smoked sheesha and partied with the hipsters of Lebanon.  And they can seriously party.  I was actually there with a group of crazy capoeristas from Los Angeles and we performed at a huge rave in downtown Beirut.  What an experience.

     This is a different journey.  I'm an international reporting fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (that's a mouthful, I know) -- and I'm going to Lebanon to report on the political unrest there.  I've decided that I want my stories to focus on young Lebanese...and by young I mean no older than 30.  Stories from the youth of Lebanon and their ideas of what Lebanon IS and SHOULD be.  I want to focus on the generation in Lebanon that have vague (if any) memories of the civil war; the generation many say are doomed to repeat history. 

On a lighter note:

     I'm also looking for this amazing song by Majida El Roumi she keeps singing, "Ya Beirut, Ummi Beirut," so far I can't find it anywhere.  If you know where to get it, please get in touch.  It's hauntingly beautiful!