March so far

The past 2 weeks have been busy! First off, I turned 27...which my 25 year old husband continues to gloat over. But, in his defense, he did surprise me by baking my favorite cake from scratch for my birthday. It was delicious!

Jad has also been busy with his own little project. In an effort to increase his exercise (i.e. playing any sport that requires a ball), he decided to promote his own public health initiative to his classmates: "Sports Day."   The first one was a rousing success, even though only 1 person outside of his normal buddies showed up. We ended up making some friends and playing soccer, throwing frisbee, and juggling for 3.5 hours. The second one brought many more people, and it has already become a Friday tradition that all the girls look forward to.

We also had the privilege of working together for the first time since I became an RN. Jad joined us for a medical trip to the south of Lebanon this past weekend and got to put his clinical skills & medical Lebanese to practice. Afterwards, our team decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and do some sightseeing. Qala'at ash-Shqif (Castle on the High Rock) is a Crusader fortress perched on the top of a mountain in southern Lebanon. We had a great time exploring and taking lots of pictures.

The Mobile Clinic Team

This and next one are from Qa'alat ash-Shqif -- beautiful!

This past Sunday, the March 14th party had a huge demonstration downtown with upwards of 500,000 people, so we walked down to check out a bit of the end. This week has been full with work for both of us picking up a bit. We did take a break to have a good ol' American tradition, "Mexican night," at our house with some of Jad's friends from school. Now, we are getting ready to host our next guests... Dan and Leigh come tomorrow, Lord-willing! We are SO excited!

Masses leaving the rally

Mexican night with friends!

Tony and Laura's Visit

Tony and Laura at a beautiful seaside monastery

It’s been almost a week since Tony and Laura left, and we were definitely sad to see them go! But, we had an amazing week together here! I must say, Dena was hostess extraordinaire (as usual). Not only did she do the usual things around the house, but when I was in class, she drove them all over Lebanon – and never got too lost! (You have to understand, that is quite the accomplishment in a country where road signs are, let’s say, undervalued.)

 

 

At the market in Byblos.

Besides not getting lost, a few other things we were thankful for during their visit:

-    Good health the whole time! No traveler’s, um, issues.
-    Pretty great weather. It rained quite a bit just before and just after they were here, but during their week here, only a couple times.

Me, Metwally, and the tow truck driver.

-    Flexibility: Tony and Laura were so chill, and always up for modifying plans, and that made hosting them even more fun.
-    Safety when one of our (and by our, I mean my family’s) cars broke down while I was trying to make a u-turn on a mountain road. Long story… but suffice it to say, in a country half the size of Vermont, there should never be a car trip that is 8 hours long. That day, there was.
-    The company of my friend, Metwally, during said car trip. I might not be talking about it so fondly if I was alone. And Metwally spent a good bit of time with the four of us, so we all had a lot of fun together.

Tony insisted on a McArabia before leaving.

 

Otherwise, we are getting back into a somewhat “normal rhythm,” as I’m a few weeks into this semester, and Dena is still working hard with HOME and in learning Arabic. And then, in two weeks – more visitors! We’re so excited for our dear friends Dan and Leigh to be here!

Back in Beirut

We got back from Thailand a few days ago, and had an amazing trip! We took a ton of pictures, and to see some of the best, we’re just going to refer you to Dena’s facebook album.

The trip was a great mix of sites and activities, and we felt like we really got to see a lot of Thailand. We especially enjoyed spending time with my college roommate Josh and his fiancée, Amy. Some other, more obscure, highlights from the trip:

-    Turns out we don’t get tired of Thai food; we ate it for pretty much every lunch and dinner and were still wanting it when we left.
-    We enjoyed hanging out with people our own size. Okay, yeah, we were still probably shorter than the average Thai… but not that much shorter!
-   We heard Thai versions of "Country Roads" not once, but twice during our stay at the beach. The Mountaineer pride was almost too much to handle.
-   I read two whole books during this trip. Yes, for most people, this is normal vacation fare, but I don’t think I’ve read an extracurricular book in around 5 years, so this was quite an accomplishment; we literally celebrated.

 

Anyway, I start the next semester this week, and this weekend, our first guests come! We’re so excited for Tony and Laura to get here!

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!)

No, that's not Lebanon

Jad's first camel ride, Dena's already a pro

Two weekends ago, we got to take a little trip to Egypt to meet my dad. He was there for two weeks and didn’t have time to stop by Lebanon, so instead we got to meet him there for his only 2 days off. We made the most of them! In one day, we tried to hit the big sites in Cairo – pyramids, museum, and Old Cairo. The next day, we went to Luxor, which blew us away! We saw the Valley of the Kings (lots of the Pharaohs’ tombs) and the ruins of two huge temples. The sites really were amazing, but it was even better just to spend that time with dad.

We are enjoying our last week in Lebanon before we come back to the states for Christmas.

Bit hazy but nice panoramic of the pyramids

Us and the sphinx

Hatshepsut's Temple in Luxo

Other enormous temple in Luxor

Same

Our first McDonalds since arriving - at least he got the McArabia

Nighttime over the Nile