Two more visitors... Who's next?

It’s been way too long! So this entry will also be way too long.
A lot has happened since the last time we wrote:
First, on April 6, we celebrated 10 years of being together! 5 years of dating, 1+ year engagement, and nearly 4 years of marriage. Jad surprised me with a card and rose each day for the 10 days leading up to our “anniversary.” I'm so grateful for the past 10 years, and love that I have such a romantic husband!

 

We were joined for the last two days of the countdown by Andrew, who came for a whirlwind 5-day tour of Lebanon. Thanks to Jad’s busy schedule, Andrew and I spent a lot of quality time together.  It really was too short, but we managed to squeeze in most of the must-see sites, and of course there were plenty of highlights:

- teaching Andrew backgammon, only to have him beat us about 20 times in a row after that
- a dinner with some of Jad’s friends from school that gave Andrew the chance to eat Indian in Beirut sitting between girls from Saudi Arabia and France, having conversations about Hitler and American politics… anyone who knows Andrew can imagine how much he enjoyed that
- capping off his visit with an epic late-night dinner with Aunt Cedar and Uncle George that included an impromptu karaoke performance by Andrew – definitely one of the highlights of his trip... at least for us.
 

Two days after Andrew left, my mom came for her first ever visit to Lebanon! We really enjoyed our time with her, and she really enjoyed getting a taste of our daily life here. We had lots of dinners with family and friends, several walks along the sea, and, of course, the requisite sightseeing. She was a great sport in tagging along to Arabic lessons, standing in line for Shakira tickets (May 26!), and putting up with our driving and the crazy traffic. She was also here for our sponsor “kid’s” spring concert at the orphanage, and really enjoyed getting to meet him and his brothers. Otherwise, she thoroughly enjoyed Uncle Farid’s incessant comments about why I am not pregnant yet… she can rest assured someone is applying pressure for her.

 

 

After four guests in two months, we’ve really gotten to know some of our tourist connections. At one of the main sites, we haven’t had to pay for the last 3 visits (thanks to making friends with the policeman there). When Jad calls another tourist company, they know him by name. So, now that we have this down so well, who wants to come next…?

Dan and Leigh's Visit

Dan and Leigh left last Saturday, and we miss them so much! We had a blast together! Once again, Dena was an excellent hostess/tour guide, and even I got to spend more time with them during the days than I thought I would (thanks in part to a holiday on Friday). Other than the usual tourist sites, some highlights of their stay:

-    several trips to a nearby café for drinks and backgammon
-    another (yes, it’s really getting crazy) night out at Music Hall, this time with my Aunt Cedar and Uncle George, and our friends Ghassan and Madonna

-    a free, after-hours tour of Beiteddine, which Dena earned by being persistent with (read: nagging) the guard—mostly in Arabic, I am told—until he himself took them around the palace (below)
 

-    epic picture taking at some of Lebanon’s oldest fortresses; something about those places just brought out the best in us
 

-    being all together on my birthday! What a blessing to have Dan and Leigh here for that!

 

 

Speaking of my birthday, I was also very blessed that some of my classmates had a cake brought to school after our last class of the day, and they all sang for me. Was totally surprised and very touched. So, we've included a pic of that too; now you can tell why I’m so glad my friend Metwally switched to my program – it’s a lot of girls otherwise!

 

The past week has been fairly low key and we’re gearing up for the next visitor: our great friend Andrew Herther is coming on Tuesday night. He’ll only be here for 5 days, so we’ll have to condense our program a bit, but we’re so excited for him to come!