Lebanon: A Long Way From Amman

As my previous post indicated, my internet access is extremely limited as is my time. So I will give an abridged summary of my recent journey to Lebanon and embellish with better descriptions and photos at a later time.

For those of you who don't live in an Islamic kingdom, you may not know that Monday was the Prophet Mohammad's birthday and a national holiday here in Jordan. The weekend here is Friday to Saturday, leaving us only one option: to travel to Lebanon and skip Sunday classes. My friends Patricia and Amani and I left Thursday after classes and got into Beirut around 7pm. I didn't realize how accustomed I had become to Jordan until I visited a completely different place. It's funny to me that I was so culture shocked by a more Western country.

Anyhow, during our stay we chose to experience other parts of Lebanon than just Beirut. Our first full day we went to the American University in Beirut and all three of us fell head over heels in love with the sea-side campus (grad school option?). Not that I don't love Amman, but it made me realize how much I have dearly missed lush greenery. After that we just walked around and had a snack at one a cafe literally right on the water.

The next two days we decided to take day trips to Byblos and the Jeita Grotto, which was apparently almost a wonder of the world, and the Baalbek ruins, located northeast of Beirut in the homeland of Hezbollah. Baalbek actually has two of the largest temples in the Roman Empire (bigger than the ones in Rome), and upon arrival we were offered Hezbollah t-shirts by street vendors. We travelled by bus, and I was shocked to find that the Lebanese bus system is actually less organized than the Jordanian one. They don't even really have stops, you just stand by the side of the road and buses stop for you. We found our way around by asking the extremely kind and friendly locals for directions. It was convenient and easy for the most part, and I really enjoyed seeing the country.

I had assumed that since Beirut is more liberal and Western than Jordan we would blend in more easily, but I was sadly mistaken. If anything, we actually stuck out MORE, and men were more bold in approaching us. On the other hand, people also seemed friendlier and more willing to assist in helping us. And luckily my French skills haven't gone to waste here as I made use of them when Arabic failed (which was often). Most people also seemed to have a decent grasp of English.

Another thing I thought impossible: traffic in Beirut was slightly worse than in Amman. There are somehow less traffic laws and more cars.

I really loved the diversity of architecture in Beirut, which was where the European influence was most evident to me. Our hostel was located within easy walking distance of beautiful downtown and major streets containing the legendary nightlife of Beirut, which we were lucky enough to experience to its fullest. Unfortunately our hostel had recently moved buildings and had not had time to sound proof, and the club directly underneath blasted music until about 9am. Needless to say, it was anything but a restful weekend.

At the moment I must go meet my peer tutor, but I will add photos and perhaps more lengthy descriptions at a later time!