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?