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April
May Continues More Ramblings
May 2, 2000:
Lebanon:
As the Syrian computer programmer chatted away about salaries
and price of living I caught a glimpse of the bombed out buildings
and brand name department stores that fill Beirut. I was still
in shock from the brief stop at the truck stop the bus took just
after crossing over the border -- Snickers and Sweet Tarts sat
next to (yes, I hate to say it) Twinkees and Ding Dongs while
Coke and Pepsi cans battled for space in the fridge -- and my
new friend's words couldn't compete with Beirut's. The taxi took
a left onto Hamra Street and my mouth fell open. Tucked not so
conspicuously between a movie theatre and a Benneton lounged
a Starbucks. The caffeine depleted blood in my body started to
race and I could already feel the buzz from the triple americano
I wanted to blurt out the window to order. And, as I sit here
in my hotel room just around the corner watching CNN, unpacking
and debating whether or not to visit the big coffee house, the
adhan, the call to prayer blares throughout the city.
I think I'll go take a walk to see how this laissez-faire
capitalist state works.
May 5, 2000:
Oooo-weeee, talk about a happening
place. As I was resting peacefully last night, after winning
my battle with the mob of mosquitoes that infiltrated my hotel
room by spraying deodorant on just about everything, some Israeli
jets flew through the city air on their nightly fly-by. That
could possibly be two feet from my balcony, I thought as
the sonic boom followed the jets shaking the buildings. Then,
as I was about to contemplate getting up and going outside to
see if I could catch a glimpse of the planes a bomb exploded.
Holy shh... and I jumped under the covers and huddled
in a pile at the foot of the bed. Two bombs, both sounding like
they were hitting the Starbucks around the corner, had hit the
main power stations just outside of Beirut. Earlier A couple
of Australians who work for an English daily here had been telling
me how the same thing had happened just three months ago. Presently
power has been shut off throughout most of the city minus the
main business section where I happen to be staying. But, where
the Aussies live it's being rationed. "You use it when it's
on, and you don't when it's off." said Mike. Sounds like
sage advice to me. And I'll have to agree with that because in
a few hours I'm packing up and moving into the flat just below
them.
(I rolled into Tripoli on a slow Sunday afternoon.
Not too many people were out since Sunday is the weekend in Lebanon.)
(There happened to be a crafts fair scheduled where I ran into this
soap exhibition.)
(And, just around the corner from the crafts all the citizens of Tripoli
hid, doing their Sunday shopping in the food souqs of
the old city.)
May 11, 2000:
If you hold your hand out in front of you in a fist it would
be the size of the cockroaches that inhabit my one-room flat.
I have never in my life seen such creatures. My mother used to
tell a story about visiting my father while he was in the army
down in Texas: she, opening the door to his apartment and seeing
a mouse run across the floor and up the wall, exclaimed, "Did
you see that mouse climb the ceiling?" My father, responding
quite un-amusedly I'm sure, said, "That was not a mouse."
Besides the bugs, though, it's nice to have over a dozen feral
cats living right outside my window to help drown out the sound
of scrambling roaches on cement floors. Even the birds join the
fun early in the morning by sitting on a windowsill chirping
away lest you forget the day has begun.
I can only imagine Beirut 10 years ago, and similar birds
waking up the city, as I walk around through the many neighborhoods
which the Spring temperature and a cool breeze off the sea make
pleasant. People smile, wave, ignore me as I stroll by and taxis
continuously honk, thinking I need a lift. "Where are you
going?" one shouted and stuck out his hand and twisted it
like you might do if you were opening an imaginary door -- the
Arab signal for 'What'. The UN House was a kilometer down the
road and I was popping in to get some information. "Just
walking." I replied. "Oh," said the driver, "You
can do that now."
Years of civil war destroyed Beirut. Bombed out buildings
sit scattered in between newly renovated ones. The television
and the news ridicule Lebanon's attempts at forming a solid government
but looking at where they started I'd say they've come along
way... At least its citizens can walk the streets freely.
(Bombed
out buildings are being restored. And along with its sea rocks
and a newly constructed downtown, Beirut, in 50 years, is aiming
(again) to be one the world's top vacation sites.)
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