Welcome Spring

C'mon, we had to start with this picture! Yes, Lebanon had "Royal Wedding Fever" just as much as the rest of the world, and thanks to AUB outdoors - Jad's university's spring carnival, we got to have some fun with it. So, thank you for all the well-wishes, we're so sorry that you all couldn't join us in person for our big day. :)

But, seriously, it's been a very fun & full month for us. Looking back at these pictures it seems like we spent a lot of time eating with friends. But we like to eat and we like friends, so why not? To rewind quite a bit, we wanted to put a few pics of Easter. We had 5 of Jad's classmates over for Easter lunch, where we fed them leftovers (classy), and introduced a few to the traditional egg decorating & cracking tradition. Thanks to Marwa (next to Jad in this pic) we also got to enjoy a gigantic chocolate egg.

Then we continued the theme by enjoying one of the many Lebanese holidays with lunch right on the Med Sea with Dominique and Elio. (If you notice, we have finally figured out how to strategically position ourselves in pictures so we appear "normal" height.) :) A few weeks later, we all went out again for a momentous mezza where Jad and I both ate, for the first time ever, lahmi neyyi (raw meat - a Lebanese favorite). Do you see all the fruit on that table?? I love Lebanon!

We finally were able to host our gracious land-lady (best friend of Aunt Cedar who is allowing us to live in her extra apartment), her significant other, & her sister for lunch. We got a good laugh out of our hosting Katy in her own home. Fortunately for us, everyone present happened to be a dessert lover - hence the 7 kinds of dessert on the table. It was great!

 Jad has been really busy with group projects the past couple weeks, so when his Saturday was taken up by a field trip to a rural Lebanese village, he invited me to come along. How could I turn down a 3 hour bus ride with Jad, his lone male classmate, and 30 girls? As a whole, the trip was, well, a bit disappointing, but the bus ride was really fun & the views were great. We rocked out to Spice Girls, watched a few people debke (traditional Lebanese dance), and had an impromptu performance by one very vocally talented classmate.

A few other highlights of the month were freshly-spun cotton candy at AUB's Carnival, a bowling night that included an arcade & DDR (Bushra & I were terrible, really terrible), and a birthday party for Marwa.

Currently, Jad is finishing up finals for his 2nd semester and preparing to start his practicum over the summer. He's definitely ready to be finished with group projects and have a bit of a break from class-work. I am in the process of training my replacement for the job I've been doing with HOME and continuing my Arabic classes. Jad's cousins (Farid & Joumana's sons) arrive next weekend, so we're looking forward to some time with them.