No, that's not Lebanon

Jad's first camel ride, Dena's already a pro

Two weekends ago, we got to take a little trip to Egypt to meet my dad. He was there for two weeks and didn’t have time to stop by Lebanon, so instead we got to meet him there for his only 2 days off. We made the most of them! In one day, we tried to hit the big sites in Cairo – pyramids, museum, and Old Cairo. The next day, we went to Luxor, which blew us away! We saw the Valley of the Kings (lots of the Pharaohs’ tombs) and the ruins of two huge temples. The sites really were amazing, but it was even better just to spend that time with dad.

We are enjoying our last week in Lebanon before we come back to the states for Christmas.

Bit hazy but nice panoramic of the pyramids

Us and the sphinx

Hatshepsut's Temple in Luxo

Other enormous temple in Luxor

Same

Our first McDonalds since arriving - at least he got the McArabia

Nighttime over the Nile

Thanksgiving(s) and proof that we do things other than party & hike

Happy Thanksgiving everyone (a few days late)! We trust that you all had a great holiday. Several of you wondered if we'd have Thanksgiving at all over here... Well, we actually had three. The first was with some family friends, who we had not yet met, but who have kids roughly our age (pictured, right). We had a great time! It was their first time celebrating this American holiday, and they really went out of their way to make it special for us.

Our second was a potluck dinner with my friends from school (friends and meal pictured below). We're enjoying getting to know them better, and this is the second potluck we've had with them now. Turns out most of them are inordinately good cooks. Not sure why that is, but we like it.

Finally, we had one last Thanksgiving dinner with a small group from church that meets in our neighborhood. We've been meaning to go to this small group for a while, but this was actually our first time. We loved getting to meet the people (from all over - Australia, U.S., England, Bulgaria, Malaysia) and will hopefully hang out with them a lot more this year.

Beside Thanksgiving dinners, these past couple weeks have actually been really full with work. I had midterms and papers; multiplied by 7 classes, that added up. Meanwhile, Dena made several trips with HOME's mobile clinic. From small suburbs around Beirut to a southern village a stone's throw from Israel, she and the rest of the team saw dozens of patients who have little regular access to health care. It definitely wore her out, but she really enjoyed the more hands-on part of HOME's ministry.

Lastly, one of the highlights of the past couple weeks was getting to (finally) visit a boy at a local orphanage who we've been sponsoring for a while, and to see his brother too (who my brother and sister-in-law sponsor). They were really cute, and even though Dena had met them once before, this was my first time. We got a little tour of their school and are really impressed with everything they're doing for these kids; it was a blessing to see.

Yara's Last Days (in Lebanon)

November news: A few weeks ago we had our first trip to the ER as a married couple. It was lovely. Jad, who kindly was doing the dishes after lunch, gave himself a deep cut in his thumb when a glass broke. He got 3 stitches as a souvenir and was told by one of his (many) female classmates, "Well, I hope you learned your lesson. You shouldn't be doing dishes anyway." Hmmph.

In other news, we went to the beach again on November 6. Swam and everything. We love Mediterranean autumn! Jad is continuing to do well in his classes and is enjoying his profs and classmates. I am getting a lot busier with my work for HOME and have also started volunteering at St. Jude's children's cancer center near our house.

Sadly, we had to bid farewell to Yara this past week. She has headed to NY to start her grown-up job and while we are so proud of her, we are very sad to see her go. So, in typical Lebanese fashion, we decided to live up her last week as much as humanly possible. And we did. A few highlights of the week were hosting our first family dinner party, a late night out at MusicHall, and several consecutive dinners ending around 2am.

This past week marked Eid al Adha and Jad enjoyed 4 days of vacation. On one afternoon, we traveled to Dlebta (Nina's cousins' hometown) to enjoy the gorgeous weather, beautiful views, and old style Lebanese architecture.

As a side note, Lebanon has been making some CNN headlines not only for Ahmadinejad's visit last month, but also for this. We are so proud.

Weekend in Dubai

Palm Jumeirah

We celebrated Halloween weekend with a little family trip to Dubai. Dubai is a very unique place – everything is new, huge, and the best description of the culture we heard was a “mall culture.” We had a blast! We enjoyed time with family friends the first evening, then spent our first afternoon walking through the Mall of the Emirates – where we indulged in as much American stuff as possible (think P.F. Changs & PinkBerry) and gaped at the indoor ski slopes. Skiing, indoors, in the middle of the desert – crazy! Then we headed out to Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis hotel to take in sunset over the Gulf.
 

Mall of the Emirates

Ski Dubai

After a fantastic dinner, we slept in, got up and went back to the mall. This time, it was Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world, which had stores from pretty much everywhere, including Chicago's own Garret's Popcorn. From there we headed next door to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. We went up to the observatory on the 124th floor, which was still 50 or so floors from the actual top. It's quite the view.

Burj Khalifa

In the evening, we watched the water show outside of Burj Khalifa, which was designed by the same engineers who designed the show for the Bellagio in Vegas. The weekend went by fast and we really enjoyed ourselves. Certainly a pretty great way to spend Halloween!

View from the 124th floor

Jad gets artsy with his photography

Jad strolling through Dubai Mall with his new buddy...the 3 year old son of our friends. His dad works at Cartier, hence the reason he's the only kid-o walking through the mall with 2 Cartier bags in his hands (although, they are only filled with puzzles) :)

Random Notes

It's hard to believe that we've been here for over a month already. There have been a few times as I’ve walked down the streets of Hamra (our neighborhood) that its hit me that we're really here. We have settled into a comfortable routine and are enjoying having more time together than a med school schedule permitted. Jad has classes every day, but never starts before 9, so it’s a leisurely morning around our house. We've gotten in a good bit of tennis (on courts overlooking the Med Sea), and on the occasional evening, we even watch a movie together (currently the BBC series Planet Earth)! He’s made some good friends in his class – several of which share his love of sports, so he’s gotten to play basketball a lot. We had a potluck at one friend’s house last weekend, which was great. I have tutoring twice a week, which I honestly love. Even with my limited vocabulary, I’m not too shy about talking, so I usually end up belting out sentences at about a 4 year-old level…much to the amusement of Jad and our family. Otherwise, I've been doing a bit of work for HOME and am looking into some other work/volunteer opportunities.

Half-way around the world, and we still feel
right at home

We also have been getting more involved in our church. We are going to an incredibly international Anglican church in downtown Beirut. Jad’s Aunt Cedar & Uncle George attend there, and it’s the same church we went to 5 years ago when we were here for the summer. Jad is going to start playing music, and we have been attending some weekday courses that have been going on.

As some of you may have heard, Lebanon was in the news a good bit the week before last thanks to a little visit from Ahmadinejad. The American embassy sent us a lovely email cautioning US citizens to be “extra vigilant.” Fortunately, other than some road closings, things went quite smoothly. It was definitely a good reminder of the importance of being cautious and safe. Things we so often take for granted in the States.

In the meantime, we’ve been kept busy thanks to our social coordinator (our affectionate name for Jad’s cousin Yara) whom we are going to dearly miss when she heads off to NY next month. Thanks to her, we’ve enjoyed Lebanese nightlife, lots of yummy food, and shopping! The past two weekends, we did some hiking in the mountains with Jad’s Uncle Farid & Aunt Joumana (one of our favorite ways to enjoy Lebanon). It was beautiful!

Clubbing at Mandaloun (see photo at top R),
the featured performance was a dirbekke
(type of drum) player who dropped
from the ceiling.

Life in Lebanon

Well, we’ve been here 3 weeks now, and are really starting to settle into the Lebanese way of life. Some of you have asked how that’s different from life in Chicago, so here are some of the many differences (most of which we love, some of which we don’t exactly love):      

• Long, late dinners: either at our family’s places or at restaurants, meals last for hours and often don’t start till around 10 pm 

• Extensive fruit courses: May be one of the original reasons Dena fell in love with Lebanon. 

• Mediterranean beaches. True, Chicago has some pretty great beaches, but we’re enjoying time with our family at some of Beirut’s beaches as well.

• Driving that one friend has described as “go-karting.” Best description we’ve heard yet. No lines on the roads, no speed limits, no semblance of order, few signs, many blind passes, and neighboring cars close enough to reach out and touch… just a few of the things that make a simple drive across Beirut a rush.Unbelievable bureaucracy. I’ve gotten several extensive tours of AUB trying to get simple tasks done, after being referred from one office to the next, back to the original office, and finally losing it and yelling, “Shou bedkoun yaini amil?!” (What do you want me to do?) Amazing how they respond to a little Lebanese exasperation.
• No notion of lines/waiting/order. On one of my first days, I arrived at the registrar’s office at 7:45, and they didn’t open until 8:30. I was the only student there at the time. By 8:30, about 30 other students had joined me in waiting. I naively thought they’d recognize “my place” in line. Big mistake. The doors opened and what followed was a mad rush that left the 5’5”American guy somewhere closer to the back than the front. We’ve since noticed many times at stores, bank, etc., that lines are really just for looks. When you want something, you either just yell from the back of the line or kindly make your way to the front. And of course, you act shocked if anyone seems troubled by your initiative.
  
  There are many more we could mention, but these are some highlights. We really do love it here. The people and the country are beautiful, and we’re blessed to have this time here.

 E

First Week

After a fantastic week with family, we have finally embarked on our own (relatively speaking). Thanks to the incredible generosity of our family, we have a cozy apartment, drivers licenses, and a car! We officially moved into our apartment on Sunday, so we’ll post some more pics as soon as we unpack the rest of our suitcases.
In the meantime, we both started “school” today. Jad had his first day of class at the American University of Beirut (AUB). The campus (as you can see) is beautiful. It is perched on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
 

While Nabil and Nina (Jad’s parents) were visiting, we had fun walking around campus and hearing stories from their time here. In this photo, we are standing outside the science building where they lived during the war in order to be able to continue their education while the city around them was tearing itself apart.

In his first week of orientation, Jad learned quickly that public health isn’t a guy-friendly field. He was sorely outnumbered in his first orientation session (read: he was the only guy) and the only person who hadn’t majored in nutrition. It’ll be a good experience. (I asked him a question about an outfit I was wearing and his comment was, “I’m not a fashion expert…although, I might be by the end of this year.”)
I, on the other hand, had my first Lebanese tutoring session today. I have a fabulous tutor who I’ll be meeting with twice a week. She has a lot of experience, and I like her already.

In other news, we are starting to find our footing and learn some cultural lessons. At the grocery store yesterday, I was thrilled to find natural peanut butter. (Am I American or what – gotta have my peanut butter). I’d looked in a couple stores with no luck, so I snatched a jar and a few more things and Jad checked out. He came back with the receipt and we only then realized that my peanut butter cost $18.00. Jad said he doesn’t care how bad hydrogenated oils are for you, avoiding them is not worth $18.00 a jar.

That's all for now!
Love,
J & D

We made it!

We safely arrived in Lebanon on the middle of the day on Saturday. Our bags arrived 24 hours later...but they made it, which is the important thing! We are so glad to be here!

Jad retrieving our bags from the airport on
Sunday - we were very glad to see them.

We have been enjoying time with family, hot weather, and really good food. We also got to see our new home for the year - a lovely apartment a 7-minute walk from Jad's school. Jad's parents are arriving tomorrow and we look forward to having a few days with them & getting settled into our new place.

Our living room

Mom - this one's for you! This is the steel door
outside of our apartment. It's like living in a
vault.

Off we go!

On September 17th, we will be heading off to spend a wild & crazy year in Beirut, Lebanon. At the urging of many friends, we have decided to create a blog. Since the title "we're not that interesting" was already taken, we settled on this. We will try to post regularly and hope to use it as a place for pictures, updates, and prayer requests. Thank all of you for your support and encouragement thus far! We are excited to share our adventures with you. Next post - from Beirut!

Love,
J & D