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