A Beirutiful Weekend.

As I'm sure I have mentioned, our school schedule is such that we have a semester's worth of coursework in the first four weeks, a week off, and then the second semester in the next four weeks.  This week, is somehow already my fourth week here! Just as we would at the end of a Columbia semester we have a cumulative exam at the end of the week--as in tomorrow. So, here I am 'productively procrastinating' by writing here. 

  Last Thursday, after a BBQ at the center, Evelyn, and I departed Amman to meet up with Emily Y. and Rachel (they were already there) for a quick weekend in Beirut.  I swear we had to go through security at least three times before ever seeing any planes but all and all, we had a very uneventfully pleasant hour long flight. Upon arriving, we jumped in line at the money exchange as Evelyn only had travelers check (note to parents- regardless of how you dealt with money in the 80s no one, anywhere, ever uses travelers checks anymore. Don't force your children to carry them). While in line I noticed that the large group of men thoughtlessly cutting us were (irrelevantly) all Iraqi business men carrying wads of $100 american bills. Apparently, in Beirut, it is totally chill and common to pay for things with American money, and be given change back in Lebanese Lira. Weird.  After the customs officer thoroughly scoured my passport to make sure that I had definitely never been to Israel, we headed out for the taxi line. A man scurried over to us and sort of against our will herded us into a cab. He asked my name, said a lot of things in very fast arabic and something that sounded like "ash hash ysa gast...45 dollrs" then slammed the door and we drove off. Evelyn and I spend a good 10 minutes trying to decide what that meant (we didn't know American money was so prevalent yet) and asked him how many lira it would be.  He said 70,000.  Once we arrived, we skeptically paid our 70,000,  he guilt tripped us into another 6000 worth of tip, and we headed up to the room where we were greeted by Emily and Rachel who informed us that they had paid 20 bucks (likeeee one third of what we paid) to get from the airport to the hotel. Damn.  We had obviously been financially violated but what could we do? After sulking for about 20 minutes, and showering, we headed off to explore the city. 

Mohammad al-Amin Mosque

We stayed in the neighborhood of Hamra, a bustling part of town with lots of hip shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants however that night, we ventured over to what I understand to be the Art district, Jamaizy (I am sure I am totally butchering that spelling but, what else is new?) We got some food, had some good conversation, and headed back on the early side to make sure we were well rested enough for a full Friday of touring the city.

View from the restaurant on Pigeons' Rock

Friday morning we woke up early and walked back towards the sea.  We had heard that "the sook (markets) in Beirut are great!" so we decided to check them out. We of course thought that meant old ladies trying to force their jewelry down our throats or old men telling us "special price on this hat, just for you." Wrong. The alleged 'sook' turned out to be an absolutely beautiful outdoor mall, home of almost every fancy designer brand I have never heard of.  We spent an hour or two browsing until we came upon my favorite part of the sook, the super fancy swanky grocery store. I bought a diet crush (yeah! like orange crush but diet!) and a Time Out, Beirut, and we were on our way. The rest of the day, we walked, and walked stopping in at touristy sights such as the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque (modeled after the other huge blue mosque in Istanbul), and a lovely jewelry museum.  We ended up back in the area of our hotel for dinner at a new, cool, very Westernly named restaurant, Main Street. After dinner, we headed out to Jamaizy to one of Time Out, Beirut's 'Best Rooftops in Beirut" where we spent the rest of the night chatting and enjoying the beirutiful city. :)

Saturday, we got lunch at Pigeons' Rock (which, despite the name, it is the absolute most beautiful place ever.) then walked along the sea eating ice cream and  trying to cherish every last minute in "the Paris of the middle east" before heading back to the grammar/vocab test that was waiting for us back in Amman. After a fabulous weekend relaxing and exploring, we arrived back in Amman safe and sound with just enough time to review for our test.

In front of Pigeons' Rock

In other news, I have gone back to hash run every week since i first posted about it! The running part is getting much, much easier. I am stopping to chat rather than making other people slow down to talk with me. The crowd seems to be basically the same every week and I am starting to get to know the regulars. Who knew I would have so much fun hanging out with a group of almost strictly middle aged men! They are a bit weird but seriously hilarious and all have such interesting stories. The hash is my favorite part of my week and a great way to get away from the semi-monotonous routine of the school week.  Last week two Columbia students who are also studying in Amman for the summer, Alexander and John, came with us. It was nice to have some familiar faces around.  I am a bit sad I won't be able to go to the run this week, but I'll have to get over it quickly because I'M GOING TO EGYPT, in like, 20 minutes!! I suppose the timeline of this post is a bit off as I have taken a few days to write it but today, Thursday, i am off to Cairo! Then off to Luxor (the one sans casino), Aswan, the Pyramids of Giza, the whole shabang! We will be traveling by steamboat and train. Can't wait to tell you all about it.  

Although we are staying near Tahrir Square, I suppose I'll restrain myself from joining any revolutions (vocab word again (ثورة)!). Pinky swear.