House Arrest

We did a lot of this during "house arrest."

Not sure how many of you have heard, but the past few weeks have been fairly eventful here in Beirut. In the words of my uncle, "Action and reaction!" (Incidentally, he has other words for the situation, but we're not gonna put those here... keeping it family friendly). After the collapse of the government, there were a few days of social unrest -- protests, road closings, some tire burning, but thankfully no serious injuries and no deaths. Consequently, our family "ordered" us to come up from our section of town to their safer suburb. We were then put on "house arrest" and strongly encouraged to refrain (read: prohibited) from returning to our neighborhood for a few days.

We also did a lot of this during house arrest.

Fortunately for us, house arrest did not preclude us from going skiing! The resort is north and higher in the mountains, i.e., farther away from the "danger zone." So, last Sunday we went with a friend of mine from school, Dominique, and her boyfriend, Elio, and had a great time! We loved it so much we went back on our own two days later! Turns out skiing here is a lot like driving. The "line" for the lift is really just a mass of humanity skiing and snowboarding on top of each other to get to the front, only to awkwardly stare at each other while figuring out who is actually going to get on the chair. Once at the top, disorder continues, as you can basically choose your own path down the mountain. Sure, there are trails, but they look suspiciously similar to the "boundary" areas. At any rate, we had a blast, and thought it was a great change from sitting at home and reading/studying.

At the top with Dominique and Elio

Jumping or skiing on the rocks?... You make the call.

Thankfully, the political situation has calmed down quite a bit. It's still unclear where the government will go from here, but the situation on the streets has almost returned to normal. We are continuing to be careful and definitely listening to our family, but praying that the peace and stability will last. We would appreciate your prayers too!

Beautiful views!

In other news... we are off to Thailand tomorrow! I finished the first semester here today, so we have a two week break before next semester. We'll get to see Josh, one of my college roommates, in Chiang Mai, and spend some time at the beach as well. We're really excited! When we get back, Lord-willing, we'll have our first guests in Lebanon - my dad, and then another roommate, Tony, with his fiancee Laura. We can't wait!

Another house arrest activity - Dena made an awesome Mexican meal for us to share with my uncle George.

Not at all related to anything I talked about, but we like the picutre. She's organizing the pharmacy for the mobile clinic... doesn't it look fun?

January thus far

Well, we've had a bit more of an exciting January than we had hoped to have. For those of you who haven't heard, the Lebanese government technically "collapsed" last week. While serious, this isn't entirely uncommon in Lebanon, so we are watching and waiting, but continuing on with our lives just the same. Some key decisions affecting stability should be made this week, so your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Finally, we wanted to share our reliable address. (Really, we've actually received mail from the states!) 
Jad Jabbour #2818
American University of Beirut
Bliss Street
Beirut, Lebanon

Because posts without pictures are boring, here we are getting ready for a double date with friends. After being back in Lebanon for 2 weeks, we desperately missed American food and couldn't wait to hit up our neighborhood Applebee's! (In all seriousness though, Applebee's is actually fairly popular here - imagine, a country where greasy burgers and nachos are a novel thing.)

A little look back at December

Well, as you can see, we've been a little delinquent with blogging the past month. We'll blame it on the holidays. But, before we catch you up on what's new with us, we have to put up some pictures of all the fun we had in December since our last post. Jad & I enjoyed our first Lebanese concert experience rocking out with Bryan Adams when he came to Beirut.
We then had the great pleasure of logging more time with our Khalife cousins (Nina's brother's sons) than we have in years. We enjoyed lots of good food, some fun evenings hanging out at home, and of course, the requisite night out.

Back to Music Hall - this time with the other side of the fam

Jad and his cousin TinTin

Me with Uncle Farid & Aunt Joumana

I also got to watch our sponsored little boy and his brother perform their Christmas program. Several friends from church (and our small group) work at the school/orphanage where the kids live, so it was fun to see & support them.

Dar el Awlad Christmas Concert

The holiday spirit also got a hold of Jad's artistically inclined friend during class one day, so he decided to make Jad a portrait as a Christmas present. We liked it so much we couldn't resist including it in the blog. We also got to enjoy the Public Health department Christmas party at AUB - decorations consisted of giving out Santa hats to everyone who walked in the door.

Thank you Kareem

Jad & classmate Metwally at the Christmas party (Jad is close to successfully convincing Metwally to be the only other guy in his concentration - keep your fingers crossed!)