Beirut Birthday

This weekend I celebrated my 32nd birthday here in Beirut. It was quite the experience. Another teacher shared the same birthday so on Friday after school a lot of teachers met out at a neighborhood establishment. It was amazing to sit back and think how in less than two months how many new friends we have made. Shelly, another teacher, put the whole thing together for us. Annie, a new teacher, made us cupcakes that her and her fiancé brought to the bar. The bartender had candles that Jesse, another teacher put in out cupcakes and everyone sang. It was another great chance to talk to different people who have had so many incredible experiences.

Saturday, Gretchen found an amazing hidden gem from another woman at school. It was called la plage. It was a great pool right on the sea. We hung out there all day-after doing an intense ball cushion work out in the morning at Exhale, and mimosas and breakfast made by Ryan. The pool was so nice, not too glitzy but still very classy. We were so excited to find it, and then we asked and they told us it was closing for the year Monday, which is crazy because it is still hot out. I will say it was the first time I ever celebrated my birthday at a pool. 

That night a few of us went out to dinner in Gemmayzeh, another neighborhood near downtown, which is like a ten minute ride.  The place we went to was found by Gretchen called the gathering. The restaurant is three old Lebanese houses that are a wine bar, Italian food and a butcher. Everyone sits out in the courtyard and you can order from any of the three. It was great food and an even better atmosphere celebrated with great friends.

As I write this and reflect on this weekend, I can't help but feel so lucky. As all the happy birthday wishes came in from my friends, family and ex students back home, and I hung out with some great new friends I know Ryan and I made an excellent choice to take on this adventure. 

 Amazing graffiti!

 Great new friends, going around the table starting with me, Gretchen, Ryan, Mike, Fabio, Phil, Shawn, Julie, and Jesse

 Delicious cheese plate!

Making our home/Things that are different

We have been here a month and a half now, and it is really starting to feel like home. I was talking last night about how quickly I came to feel comfortable here. I contribute this to how amazing the people are here, how easy it is to become friends with people, and how great the school is that we are working at. The school did a great job integrating us, and the students are so wonderful and open to new ideas. The staff members are so interesting with all of their life experiences. They are all doing such amazing things in the classroom, so innovative and pushing the students to their limits. Plus, they are really fun to hang out with, and it is so easy to hang out since we all live in the same general area, and walk past many happy hours on our way home from school. I feel like we have really settled into a nice routine here.

So there are a few things I have started to realize that are different here compared to Chicago. These things are different, not necessarily bad.

Low water pressure. Showering is fine, but even in our kitchen it takes a little more time to fill up a pot, or the bucket for mopping. Plus we turn our hot water heater on and off. If we forget for a few days, it is a super chilly start to the day, if we leave it on the water is scalding hot.

We have no garbage disposal. We have to remember to throw all the food away when chopping vegetables that we have washed with our bottled water. 

Cabs honking at you because they want to know if you want a ride, not as they try to run you over. 

No street lights really anywhere. Or traffic rules. It's a free for all. One way, no problem. Park on either side facing either direction. Scooters fly by, cars fly by, trucks stop in the middle of a street. 

All toilet paper gets thrown in the garbage cans,not in the toilets. 

There is no use for clothes dryers. I love the hanging of clothes on our many clothes lines from our balconies, only dropped on thing so far! 

There are small shops, for the most part everywhere. Great neighborhood places where you get to know the shop owners and you find hidden treasures. I love talking to our fellow teachers about the best stores for different products. We talk about our cheese guy, hummus guy and more.

People here are washing the sidewalk/or street/or store floor all the time, but they are really careful to not spray you as you walk by. 

You haven't lived till you have woken up to cat fights. Of the real feline variety. These cats are vicious, and some have told me the cat screams are from something else too...I'll leave that one for you to figure out.  But it is crazy just that there are cats everywhere.
The last thing would be worrying about internet. You pay for a certain number of Gigabytes per month, and if you run out you have to pay more. The internet is free though from 11-5 am, so that is interesting as well. We try to do our downloading then.

Batroun Village Country Club and Free Falafel with Arabic Lesson

Yesterday we woke to quite the surprise, it was raining. It hasn't been anything but sunny and beautiful here, so it was actually refreshing. It only rained for a little bit, but everything was a lot greener after. Plus, the streets were a little dirtier, since there really isn't a great drainage system here. But it did not stop us from boarding a bus to go to Batroun Village Country Club with some people from school. This was a beautiful trip up into the mountains where this huge country club was available for us to swim at for 20,000 Lebanese, around 15 bucks. They had all sorts of activities to do, like horse back riding, soccer, billiards, a restaurant and of course an amazing infinity pool that overlooked the sea. We spent all day lounging by the pool and relaxing. It was great to get out of the city and be able to swim again. When we were paying to get in, they told us girls with long hair had to wear a swim cap, so Jesse, Gretchen and I obeyed and purchased them. We looked at it as if we were synchronized swimmers of the past and found it exotic, to put a good spin on it. Turns out, most people didn't wear them, and by most I mean everyone else there. Oh well.

After lounging all day we came back to the city in time to watch the Liverpool game at Ryan's favorite place Moscow Mule, with our favorite bartender Diego. Liverpool lost for the first time, but it was still a fun game.

On our walk home we stopped to talk to the guys who run the falafel shop. They insisted we come in and sit and talk to them There are two guys that work there, and three teenagers that help out. We talked to them, teaching them some English, them teaching us some Arabic. Ryan went to buy a Falafel sandwich and they wouldn't let him pay, once again proving how generous the people here are.

Almost forgot to right about homecoming here! Friday was homecoming and for the big homecoming game it was the girls volleyball team vs the female faculty, followed by the boys team vs the male faculty. It is tough to get games here, especially this early, because so many schools around here are just getting back in session. Ryan and I played and our teams split with the kids. We were not about to let them win for their homecoming! It was a lot of fun, and some fans came out to support. Thanks to Jesse and Annie, we had some great signs too.

Here are pictures from the country club.

Swim caps are so hot right now. 

 Ryan wanted to rock the swim cap.

Ryan reliving his Riffraff days as a lifeguard. 

Pictures from the game. Not sure if this meant we don't score points or don't let points get scored on us....

Mike and Gretchen

Cute little Grace and Annie

Pregame huddle.

 The girls team.

Vintage Sale!

Last night Gretchen had found a Vintage sale with a happy hour in TimeOut Beirut which took place downtown that we decided to all go to and check out. We took a cab downtown, which I was glad about since I am sore from this Spin Tabata class-more on that later. After we got dropped off we had to walk around to find it, since again, there are no addresses here, still amazed by this. We turned the corner and walked up the hill to where we saw some tents set up. As we walked up, there was free martinis and other gin drinks, as well as an amazing selection of snacks to eat. We started looking around the shop and checking out the great vintage items. There were gorgeous china tea cups, cool, funky clothes, suede journals, huge class jars, old radios, a phonograph, and a whole bunch of great records, including John Cougar and other great 70s records. There were sunglasses, and vintage jewelry and hats too. The store also had their own clothes that were 80% off, but it was hard for me to do the math on 80% off of Lebanese prices and then convert it to dollars. Too much math for me, especially when the dress I was looking at was 5,000,000 Lebanese. (After some math I realized the dress was originally $3300, and after 80% off it was around $645-I didn't buy it). All in all, it was a great store, and cool to do something different. It reminded me of a sample sale in New York or Chicago. We talked with the store owner for a while as well, she was really interesting and told us they do these events once a month.

Now about Spin Tabata. I have been going to this small gym by our house for Spin class, and they added a new class that we tried out Wednesday called Spin Tabata. It is basically interval training with Spin bikes and work outs off the bike. You do 40 seconds hard, 20 second break, 30 seconds harder, 15 second break 20 seconds hardest, 10 second break and repeat. We did six intervals of this and I am sore. It was an incredible workout and I am looking forward to it next Wednesday. There is something surreal about sitting on a Spin bike and realizing that I am in Beirut taking Spin.

Monday Night Football

In order to stay on top of the American Football scene, Ryan and I ordered the NFL game pass, which allows you to stream the games, and go back and watch games after they were played. After talking with some friends about missing watching football, an idea was born. Ryan talked to the bartender at his favorite bar, which shows Liverpool games, about hooking up a laptop to the computer. Diego, the great bartender and new friend, was in. Mike and Ryan decided Tuesday nights would now be Monday night football night. They promised not to watch the game early, or check any scores, which is obviously difficult for them. Mike sent an email out inviting other football fans from school to stop on by.
We got to the bar around 5:30, and had a little hiccup. The sound wouldn't work, due to the way the bar sound is hooked up. It was hilarious to watch all these guys try to problem solve to make sure the dream of MNF on Tuesday worked. Random guys were called in to help, and finally after about an hour, we had sound. This was great, because the other idea was that Mike and Ryan would be doing the play by play and color, which could only be trouble.
While the game was on, other football fans came out of the wood work. There was a family walking by who stopped and started watching a little, so we invited them in. Turns out he is a chef from Pittsburgh, and she is from Oak Park and a good Bears fan! Some university students from the American University stopped by, and two of the guys were on the football team there. All in all, it was a successful night, mainly because the game goes so much faster without commercials!
The hope is that this is a new tradition, the hope of Ryan and the other guys I am sure. We brought a little taste of America here, if only it was a better game!

Celebrating a marriage

Last night we attend the wedding of Ryan's assistant's daughter. The first day Ryan met Hassan he gave him an invitation for us to go to this wedding. I was extremely excited. The wedding was at the Phoenicia intercontinental hotel which is right on the water, not too far from us. Friday night we had some people over so I enlisted the help of the girls in deciding what I should wear. Everyone I have spoken to about this wedding has said there is no way I could be fancy enough. They were so right.  The beautiful Lebanese women spend thousands on a dress, and go to a salon for hair and make up. Picture a prom for adults. I went with the black dress I wore to Argo's prom. 

The wedding started at 8:30. For the first hour we were in this beautiful lobby with a sweets table. At 9:30 we were let in the ballroom and it was crazy. There were close to 40 tables of 10 plus a dance area, and band/dj area. The entrance of the groom was amazing. He was carried in by a bunch of guys. The bride came out behind a white silk curtain with her father. Then they all danced. They both were lifted up on chairs. 

Dinner was served around ten. The first course was a seafood salad. On the table were a bunch of veggies and dip, as well as bread. The second course was a delicious mushroom tart with asparagus. Then came the beef tenderloin with veggies and a potato dumpling. Then came the first dessert and then the cake. Dinner ended around midnight. The entire time people were dancing. There was a wedding singer who sang in english, spanish and arabic, then a dj, then another wedding singer who sang in Arabic. It didn't matter that we couldn't understand the words, a wedding is a wedding. The bride was beautiful, her friends and her kept dancing together. The groom and his boys were all over. The families were dancing and talking all over.  It was an incredible experience. Pictures below! 

Big screen view of bride and groom lifted up

Fake cake that was cut with a sword followed by the ring ceremony where are you they both moved their engagement rings to the other hand. 

Dance floor

Ryan and I 

Sweets table 

Hallway

Table setting

 

Bride and grooms first dance 

Ryan and Hassan

Table setting. All tables labeled with famous movie couples. 

Wedding singer!

Love the fog machine!