Middle Eastern Nightlife...

For most Americans, the Middle East is the last place you would expect to find great nightlife but then again, many of them would never make it to Beirut. One can find themselves drowning in the choices of different bars and clubs in gesemynie street. Of course you have to be really careful getting into gesemynie street since it has one of the highest traffic densities in Beirut, especially on weekends. The club we did settle on incorporated a nice mix of Euro trance, rap, and Arabic music. What you have to watch in Beirut unlike most Middle Eastern cities is prices. We easily ended up running up a $160 bar tab between six people in one bar alone (Andrew, if you want us to pay our share of the tab, we’ll understand). While food and transportation are cheap (chicken swarama is $2 a pop and taxis are $1.25), entertainment clearly is not.

While fun, clubbing is not the peak experience for me here in Beirut. For that there is the question of what can I do here that I can’t do back home. Yesterday we went to pigeon rock which is a natural rock formation you see on a lot of postcards from Beirut. Even though we are in a major city, the water is as clear as you would see in a small resort town (though you do see more trash). The rocks themselves and the cliffs are truly breathtaking and the swimming did feel great. The only hard part is getting out since you have to move with the tide. When I finally got out I felt like a beached whale.

The Arabic classes that I am taking have been fun and simple enough thanks to Aziz’s tutoring even though I am in the Intro class. I get one hour of colloquial Arabic and four hours of modern standard (al-Fars?). While the write is important I want to take more time to devote to speaking and vocab so I can get out and practice among the local population inshallah. Although the homework does take awhile, I am here to learn Arabic and not go clubbing so I don’t really mind. I’ll be back with more later.

Finally in Beirut.

"Wow, your finally in Beirut" my friend says with a look of near disbelief. I can't blame him: I'm surprised that I'm in Beirut myself. This place is hard to understand in many ways. It is extremely beautiful and very prosperous. It is hard to imagine that nearly a month ago that everyone was worried Lebanon would slide back into a civil war. I also want to stay so badly that it is hard for me to see why people would want to leave. Of I course I know that I am more well off then some and feel that I can maintain my safety here should something happen.

The thing I can't shake is the feeling that I should have been able to place myself in high introductory instead of regular intro. It is probably better that I go with a class I know I can handle and I don't regret coming to Beirut without knowing any Arabic but I just felt that I should be able to do more. There will be more updates later.

Abusing peace...

Some calm has finally prevailed over Gaza but there is much doubt over whether it can last. Even though rocket launchers have dismantled from the border, Israeli tanks still sit on the Israeli side waiting for the call to go. Even Ehud Olmert said the calm was to be short lived. On top of this settlers in the West Bank set fires to Palestinian olive trees which will anger the Palestinians. The Israelis have also ruled out a truce in the West Bank which is sure to agitate Palestinians further. This is strange since there haven't been many attacks from the West Bank and the West Bank is controlled by Mahmoud Abbas who is very committed to keeping peace and stability in the Fatah-controlled West Bank (Where is all the talk now of supporting Abu Mazen?). So if the Israelis keep raiding the West Bank, will Hamas launch counter strikes or does this go to show that the powerful can once again bully the week while using the peace process to impose its own agenda with the facade of an agreement? Does this also mean that starving millions people becomes a legitimate tactic for those who oppose US and Israeli plans? I just wonder when everyone will wake up and realize what is really going on.

I'm also hoping this goes to show that boycotting Hamas is not going to work and that the only way to actually achieve peace is through engaging it. Hamas has shown itself as willing to amend its position on the two state solution as long as it is accepted by the Palestinian people while Israel refuses to budge from its positions on settlements and refugees. Hopefully if everyone is living in peace for awhile it will give them time to come to their senses and make a just and lasting peace agreement.