Perspectives I

Elias sent me this E-mail:

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it's been a couple of weeks of sleepless nights.

then there's a song that shuffled its way onto my zune - man in the mirror by michael jackson - it just so happened that the blonde next to me was an mj fan, so we sang along to the backdrop of a beautiful sunset on a turbulent sunday evening.

if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself: caught me unaware. it was profoundly just for the moment. a lost soul, many a lost soul living an existential moment of being in between here and there (anywhere but here).

who am i to change this system? a question perhaps asked most by lebanese.

disarm the thugs, try the corrupt, reason with the gods - that is our predicament... and best of all, elect the ones who've bent our knees, repeatedly.

perhaps we are the thugs, the corrupt, the gods? that would explain our failure.

“happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

i have yet to meet a happy lebanese

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tags: lebanese, predicament, may 2008, perspectives

-finkployd- Existential Ponderings on Blogging Beirut

The lighter side of an Airport Blockade. Emilie, an expat returning home for shwayyit hawa libnen, writes of her experience getting out of the Beirut International Airport, and through the Opposition blockade.


A Smoking Welcome

Who said Lebanese hospitality is dead? Anyone heeding those senseless warnings claiming Lebanon to be unsafe or at the very least, tourist-unfriendly should have landed in Beirut on May 7th 2008, preferably around 5pm.

Returning home was long overdue; I hadn’t breathed “Hawa Libnein” in twenty years… ok two months but it might as well have been two lifetimes. My plane landed forty minutes late, a testament to “Lebanese punctuality”. Punctuality was born in the States and soon invaded Europe/Asia/Africa and the Middle East except for a small country valiantly resisting to this day: Lebanon. In a patriotic gesture, every Lebanese has his/her watch set to run 40 minutes late.

After our on time arrival then , the captain proceeded to welcome us home announcing clear and sunny skies. I shook off the nauseating turbulence, bumpy landing and bad chicken (airline food - it's a love hate relationship) - all minor inconveniences in view of my return home - and took a deep breath as if to inhale as much of Lebanon as I possibly could. With thoughts of bikinis and poolbars, I scampered off to baggage claim light as a feather- or so I thought: apparently I had been carrying the weight of the trip and American food in bags under my eyes and elsewhere on me respectively as my mother would later not so subtly point out - but that’s another story…

(continute reading 'A Smoking Welcome' after the jump)

high res

tags: beirut, lebanon, lebanese, waterworx, broken, hearts, achrafieh, gemmayze

-finkployd- Broken on Blogging Beirut

It's midnight. Friday night. Beirut is deserted. East, west, left, right... It's deserted. Gemmayze is empty. Brummana is full. Reminds me of Israel's war in 2006. A light of hope flickers red - Torino's open. The red is soothing - you'll never hear about soothing red in books. I step in to a full house. The usual bartenders, aging but forever young, man the bar. A rosee please - i'm not sure why i drink rosee, perhaps because I'm not much of a drinker. Lots of 'ajehnib' (foreigners) speaking in multitudes of tongues, mostly journalists drinking away their existential ponderings. I look around, a man catches my eye, he tips his hat to me - a picture on an LP. An old friend walks in. He doesn't remember me. In 2006 we exchanged anecdotes of body counts and Israeli brutality - he's a cameraman. Tonight he's cheery, making money covering a different kind of war, perhaps by the look on his face a peaceful war - if there ever were such a thing. Fighting has all but died down in the capital (Beirut). He kisses the blonde next to me - hi keefik ca va? Torino closes its wooden doors. It's going to be a long night.



tags: torino express, gemmayze, beirut, lebanon, lebanese, video, film

-finkployd- Winding Down on Blogging Beirut

by 3 PM, the office was deserted... so i made myself a nescafe and waited it out till 5 - the internet was exceptionally fast.

5 PM, hunger strikes. close shop, head to the car. change into shorts, shirt, and birks - the chirping of birds was deafening... where'd they all come from?

where to eat? it's 5 PM... let's see if hamra's open.

3 minutes and i'm on bliss, at charlie's hotdogs (best hotdog in town).

ketchup, mayo, and a bit of mustard - oh and a pinch of onions pls.

yummmm, ok what's next... into hamra, past gefinor, and out onto bab idriss.

4 minutes and i'm in gemmayze. i drop into paul for a pastry - a raisin swirl?

get back into the car, and drive right up to spinout for a drink.

i park on the side of the street, and here i am writing to tell you that everything i've just done would have been impossible on a normal day in traffic jammed beirut.

what took me all of 7 minutes of driving, would have taken over an hour.

i thus dub today: BEIRUT TWILIGHT ZONE

tags: beirut, lebanon, lebanese, general strike, twilight zone, may 7 2008, story, anecdote, charlie's hotdogs, paul, pastry, raisin, diet coke with lemon, onions, mustard, ketchup, mayo, driving, cruising, traffic jam, government vs oppposition

-finkployd- Beirut Twilight Zone on Blogging Beirut

Daron Sheehan fell in love with the country and people of Lebanon four years ago.
This year he with the help of ExplorAider guide Raja Saade he hoped to introduce his family to this fascinating country.



Article by Daron Sheehan

There are six of us on route to Lebanon. Our group is made up of my family, that is, Sophie (nine), Thomas (fourteen), Vanessa (eighteen), my wife and I and Vanessa’s partner Dan (eighteen).

February 2008

'God willing': Haddad says deal to raise minimum wage could come soon
Minister says tentative agreement has been reached within government

"The issue of the minimum wage is very important and God willing we will have a quick decision on this matter," the minister said.

So... if someone says 'God willing' and never delivers, who's to blame? God?


tags: God willing, beirut, lebanon, lebanese, politics, government, minimum wage

-finkployd- Questions on Blogging Beirut

11 شباط 2008
خالد الغربي - تتمترس السياسة وراء التربية. هذا ما يظهر في مدينة صيدا، حيث الإسقاطات السياسية والتعبوية الفئوية تتخذ تعبيرات وأشكالاً مختلفة، والهدف واحد، ربما يكمن في القول «هكذا نريد»، لدرجة يبدو معها بعض المدارس في المدينة، سواء الرسمية منها أو الخاصة، وكأنه ينتمي إلى «النظام التربوي» في الأنظمة الشمولية التي لا ترى في الديموقراطية وممارسة الحرية إلّا تلك الشعارات التي تمجّد عقيدة الحزب الواحد وتسعى لنشر أفكاره.
في بعض قاعات المدارس وملاعبها تنتشر صور الحريري، الأب والابن، وشعارات سياسية مغلّفة بقفازات من حرير، مثل ضرورة الانتقام من القتلة، والعدالة والحقيقة، وشعار المستقبل واللون الأزرق.