It's been raining for the past two days, it's freezing outside and I'm getting a cold, mostly because my room is tile and it's like 6 degrees below zero in there. The internet is slow and I pay $42 a week to "recharge the units" on my cell phone, the most expensive cell phone I've ever had, IN MY LIFE! Last night the man in the room next to me was watching porn so loud I couldn't sleep. I wanted to beat down his door and shake him. I'm not allowed to have any male visitors in my room, not for 5 minutes nor 15, it doesn't matter if they're just coming up to see it-- because, "what would my FATHER think?!" And I truly doubt I could watch porn until 3am.
Ahhhh....Lebanon. And I'm in "liberal" part of town. I needed to vent for a moment, I'm well aware of the fact that this is "the most open minded country in the Middle East," but there are days when I'm homesick for wall to wall carpet, high speed internet, and PRIVACY!
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Last night I planned to go to a club that showcases a male belly-dancer named TEDDY. I've been reporting on youth culture and one of the most vibrant aspects of youth culture in Lebanon is the gay scene. Unfortunately, TEDDY had just done an interview on one of the local TV channels where they broadcast pictures of him dancing around in a bra and let's just say, the public was HORRIFIED, as was the club owner. Because of the interview, the club owner told TEDDY he couldn't dance there anymore and I think I lost my interview with him. He said he needed to wait a week until, "things calmed down." Oh...and In the TV interview TEDDY swore he wasn't gay -- interesting...
I had to find something else to do, because my time here is coming to an end and I want to record every day until I board the plane. So, I called Fatima, my friend and fixer, who works at Al Hayat and we took a trip to South Beirut. We went to the only mall in Dahiyeh, a predominantly Shia neighborhood and Hezbollah strong-hold, where much of the damage was done during the Israeli bombardment in July. There's one mall there, called the Beirut Mall, and it lies on the road which separates a Christian neighborhood from a Shia one.
The Beirut Mall was set to open this past July, the same month the war started. The underground parking lot became a refuge for Lebanese fleeing their homes during the bombing. 1.000s of people were camped in the underground lot during the war, many left their homes without food, supplies, or money and the only open store in the mall was a gigantic supermarket, taunting people with diapers, soap and produce. According to Fatima, a woman gave birth there, I'd like to find her and interview her.
Yesterday, the mall was pretty much empty at 7:30pm. A few women, wearing black and covered from head to toe, were shopping and there were some people drinking coffee on the bottom floor. Fatima and I took the escalators to the top floors and found "adventure land," an indoor carnival for kids, with a safari theme. There were like 10 teenagers dressed in khaki sitting around, talking, playing on the bumper cars. They were the employees, but the place was empty so they were just messing around until the mall closed. Even though we were in Dahiyeh, the kids were religiously mixed: Christian, Sunni, and Shia. A few were in High School, some were in college, every one said there were no opportunities in Lebanon, so they were just biding their time until they could leave: to Canada, the gulf, anywhere outside of Lebanon with better opportunities to make money. Michelle wanted to "go to Hollywood," to be an actor and director, Hussein said he wished he could play professional basketball, Asad wanted to get married and have a family. Asad also added, much to his boss’s chagrin, that he wanted TO LIVE AND LIVE IN FUAD SINIORA'S LEBANON, LONG LIVE MARCH 14TH!!!!!! -- all the kids thought that was funny ;)
I asked these kids how they spent their free time and most of them said they didn't have any. They were in school and working, there was no time for fun. This is a different world from the one I'm staying in, where young people are out every single night, partying and drinking, because, "there's no future to plan for, so you might as well enjoy today!" The kids working at ADVENTURE LAND in Dahiyeh work and study to enjoy one night out a month, if they're lucky.
Enjoyed the read. Keep it going!
Posted by: Federico | March 16, 2007 at 08:19 AM