Clothing exchange, hiking and farmers market

 The last two weeks of school have been extremely busy, but we are settling into a routine. Jv volleyball has been going well. The girls are really excited to learn and play. I was able to sit on the bench for the varsity game this week, which was fun to do again. 

Last weekend Gretchen and I put together a ladies brunch where everyone brought over clothes or accessories they no longer wanted and we shopped through each other's things. It was do much fun and everyone walked away with some great items. The leftover clothes we are taking to donate to refugees here. I am running a clothing drive at school to help the many refugees here. Sunday we went with Phil, and our head of school and his wife to hike in the Qadisha valley. It is so beautiful in the mountains and nice to get out of the busy city. 

Thursday some friends had us over to learn how to cook Indian food. It was great to learn two new dishes and we had a lot of fun hanging out with a great and interesting group of people. 

Saturday Gretchen and I went down to the farmers market. As soon as we walked up we found limes, which is not easy to find here, and they were really cheap, so that was a real score. We spent the day there and then to Cle, which has a beautiful patio to relax on. 

Today we had brunch and were able to watch a motorcycle parade, which was cool to see all the different bikes. The parade was probably about 10 minutes long, and there were people with sidecars. 

Back in the swing of things

The first week of school has come and gone and was a success. It was great to see all the students again. They all had amazing summer travel stories and seemed so much older. I'm teaching a new course this year called senior seminar. It is for our grade 12 students who are not in the ib or lb programs. I am really excited about it and the students are a few that I've had before or that I know from last year. 

Yesterday Gretchen, Margaret, Jane and I went to Palm Island off the coast of Tripoli for the day. We were able to lay on the beach and swim in the Med all day. We came back and headed out to dinner with Ryan and Mike. Ryan had been busy Friday and Saturday with all the ADs from our new conference that the school is in. They were working on the traveling and rules for all the sports and activities. It sounds like there are going to be a lot of amazing trips for the students this year. 

Today Ryan, Mike, Phil and another ad went up to the mountains for a Hannibal race, a 7k with obstacles. I haven't heard how it went yet, but I'm sure there will be great stories. 

The weather is still really hot right now, and humid, but it has been getting a little better the last few days. It'll be great when we can still layout at the end if October though. Last night it rained in Beirut, which was strange because it doesn't usually rain till the winter. Rain is needed here since we are facing a water shortage. The generators have been working overtime too here. Instead of just once a day, it is about three times a day for three hours we lose power and have to go to a generator. 

L'autre Bistro, one of our favorite restaraunts.