Found in Beirut!

That's right, Kroger-brand Peanut Butter is avaliable in the 24/7 convience store around the corner. 
Also spotted in a shop:  Kroger- brand Pizza Sauce. 

Arabic

During my time in Lebanon I set my mind to learning Lebanese Arabic, which feels a little like fighting an angry hippo with a Q-tip.  I am taking a few Arabic classes while here, but a couple hours 4 weeks a year weren't getting me very far.  After realizing there is no casually learning Arabic, I invested in a few books on the Lebanese dialect and a few orthanography books on the Arabic language.  I am about halfway through the Arabic alpabet, and I can ask you your name, your friend's name, and if it's time for a break.

Arabic class is good, but we always leave tired!  There are just so many sounds in Arabic that we don't have in English.  Not only are they difficult to pronounce, but it's hard to even hear them apart.  We love our Arabic teacher Nivine though.  She really wants us to learn Lebanese Arabic, and she makes class fun. 

It's Laundry Day!

One convenience that is pretty unique to America is clothes dryers.  Most other places in the world air dry their clothes, if not wash them by hand all together.  Americans are some of the only people in the world who are so impatient for their clothes to dry that they would spend money to own and run a machine to speed up the process. 

I however, lack not only a clothes dryer but also a clothes washer here in Lebanon.  Thus is instituted the weekly ritual of laundry day.

My friends Mikey and Cindy came with their baby Cooper, so they have a lot more laundry to do than I.



For convienence Mikey does laundry in the bidet. 
Don't worry, they don't use it as a bidet, and Cindy thoroughly cleaned it. 



I'm an old-fashioned girl; I do my laundry in the sink.

 

My Morning with Cooper

Today I got to spend some extra time with my little buddy Cooper.  I stayed home because yesterday I twisted my ankle getting off a bus.

This morning the rest of my friends went to culture class to learn about Lebanese geography and tourism, but since you have to walk up hill all the way to get there I didn't think my poor ankle could handle it.  I did laugh a little though, because I hurt my knee and was on crutches on my way over here, so it would make sense that I find way to be injured on my way home next Tuesday.

Since Cindy was sick this morning, Cooper came up to my room to hang out with me while his dad went to culture class.  I was wondering if Cooper would be okay with me not being able to pick him up and throw him around like I normally do, but he was very content to sit with me.

Cooper came with a coloring book, a Magna Doodle, a
Pooh Bear, and an airplane.  We had lots-o-fun chilling on the bed. 

He also took these all apart.  Twice.

And he really likes to play in curtains...

Had fun with you this morning Coop!



Tonino's Crepes!

As I walk along Bliss Street and across from a 200 year old wall surrounding the AUB campus, I pass many great food booths, but none so wonderful as Tonino's, a crepe stand. 

In any other part of the world crepe would sound like crape, ryhming with grape.  But in Lebanon it's pronounced crep, rhyming with step.  It's very important that as you read this post say crepe proper accent. CREP. 

My favorite crepe is the white chocolate Nutella with strawberries, but you can get almost anything on them. You can mix and match the entire list of ingredients, including Nutella, Kinder, Hershey's chocolate, butter, sugar, strawberries, bananas, nuts, cookies and cream, peanut butter, etc.


The Sweet Crepes Menu



Just a few Tonino's ingredients.



The White Chocolate and Strawberry Crepe=My Favorite

Tonino's is owned by Kareem, who was born in Canada and lived there until he was 17 and his father, who is Lebanese, decided to move the family back to Lebanon.

Tonino's has served crepes forby AUB for 12 years, and is an essential part of an authentic Hamra, Beruit experience.  I highly recommend it for whenever you're in Beirut.

My Flower

I was walking around AUB and saw a flowering bush that I really liked.  I showed a photograph to Mikey (our resident shrub expert) and he told me that it was a Lantana, a flower we have these in the US, but that doesn't grow from flowers to bushes because it isn't warm enough. 

A few days later Mikey and Cindy came home with a flower they bought off a man off the street, and so I set out to find him to buy my own lantana to keep while I'm here. 

Mikey and Cindy bought a Verbena.

When I found him, I knew:

I asked if he had lantana and he said he didn't, but could get one if I came back the next week.  He also helped me practice the proununciation of my good morning, which is "Sab7a L5iir" when transliterated (the 7 and 5 stand for different complicated h sounds we don't have in english).  You have to say it like you have something stuck in your throat.

I went back this week and sure enough, he had a lantana for me.  He could only find yellow, but told me he would look for one in other colors and I should keep checking in.  It was only 4,000 Lebanese Lira, which is about $2.66.

I'm excited to wake up to my pretty yellow flower everyday.  I plan to give it to a Lebanese friend when I leave, and since it only has to be watered twice a week, chances are it'll live until them.  Whew...

Who knew!?

I knew there would be many suprises as I traveled back to Lebanon, but I never expected to catch a cold here!  It seems very odd to have a cough and runny nose in Lebanon's sunny dry weather, yet 4 people in our group have colds, sore throat and all.  We brought a provisional amount of Dayquil and Nightquil, which we officailly used up today.  Guess we'll have to make our inaugural run to the pharmacy this afternoon. 

All-in-all we are a sad group of 9, consisiting of 4 colds, a sinus infection, one case of bronchitis, a broken toe, and a bum knee.  Despite the infirmities we are all in good spirits, content to be in Lebanon and excited to be experiencing a new culture and making new friends.  So glad to be traveling with people who won't let a little ailment stand between them and the middle East!