Back in the Motherland

       It's been 4 days since I've been back in Beirut.  Trying to get internet here is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  Once you DO get internet, have fun trying to find a decent connection.  I have to place the computer in a specific spot to get full bars (just like I did in Saudi, on the edge of my bed rotated at a 20 degree angle to the door lol).  Oh well, c'est la vie.  Its good to be back here!  The weather is definitely cooler than in August.  Beirut wasn't humid at all, there was a beautiful summer breeze.  I'm currently in the South of Lebanon, and I have to say the scenery here is beyond words. 

Yesterday afternoon we took a trip down the valley to a cute little cafe near the river.  They serve coffee and freshly pressed juices and ofcourse the customary sheesha!  I ordered a "laymoonada" which is arabic for lemonade.  I ended up with a fresh orange juice, but it was so good I couldn't complain that it wasn't actually lemonade.  I don't know how they do it here, but the fresh orange juice tastes spectacular, no matter if they're not in season.  I suppose its always the little places that hold the largest gems.  

        Again, I was surprised at how much I had missed small places like this.  Its a completely different world!  No one speaks English in the South, just Arabic and French if you're lucky.  The subject of conversation is always about politics, family gossip or what someone nearby is wearing/doing/saying.  Life is simple here.  You wake up, go to work, come home, eat and go to sleep.  The older generation have no idea what the hell internet is and what the outside world holds.  Just yesterday my grandmother's cousin was talking about how the younger generation go out "almost naked" and smoke sheesha all day, young girls smoking cigarettes as young as 13.  All I could think was, "That's it?" Come to North America and people actually ARE naked, and some 13 year olds are losing their virginity, doing drugs.  Like I said life here is simple as it gets. 

       I've been trying to start my plans for the trip I want to take around the country.  Since I'm in the South I can visit Tyr which is about 40 minutes away from where I am. I'm just waiting for the weather to get a little cooler.  It's still a little hot during the day.  As I visit places I'll post my thoughts and pictures here.  If I happen to find places I didn't originally have on my list, I'll add them to my map!  On the flight over there was an article about all the fun things to do in Lebanon, such as paragliding, RVing, having dinner in a glass restaurant 50 meters above ground. It truly is great here!

Happy Tuesday! 

Heading back "home" soon

I don't know if many of you know this but I'm originally Lebanese. So Lebanon is considered home, although I only visit once a year during the summer. I'll be honest. I don't know my own country very well, and as a child you don't really consider the value of something like that. I'm twenty-two now, and I feel like its more important than ever to understand for myself where I come from, what history my beautiful, albeit small, country holds.

As a result, I'm planning a trip around Lebanon in the 3 weeks I'll be there from mid September to mid October. I KNOW Lebanon has a million and one things to offer, from great nightlife, to beautiful beaches, huge mountains, high waterfalls, amazing cuisine and of course the people. I was once told it was the only place you could go to the beach and ski in the same day. I wonder if you really can. Anyone done it before?

Well anyways, here is what I plan on doing and seeing. Hopefully.

Jeita Grotto Caves:

I think this should be one of the seven wonders of the world. What a beautiful place. Famous for its stalagmites and stalactites, this cave is approximately 7000 meters deep. Of course I visited as a child, but its definitely got to be a different experience as an adult. More info on them here.

I Need...

I need a beach with white sand, turquoise blue waters, clear skies, a margarita in hand (man optional) somewhere in South America...

I Have An Itch...

No not of the nasty kind. I have this incredible itch to travel. It's not like anything I've ever felt before. It physically hurts. I want to travel. I'm dying to go to Brazil and all of South America. I just go to sleep every night unsatisfied. Something is missing in my life and I don't know what it is. I want to EXPERIENCE something different. I want to meet new people and feel new things. I want to get out of this city that I've been in for 5 straight years and go somewhere different and invigorating. I feel like I need something new, rather than this dull, monotonous routine that I go through every day. I want to give up Architecture for a year and travel across all the cities I've been dying to go to and actually SEE all the buildings I've been repeatedly shown in class. Why not? Well other than the money issue. We only live once so why should we slave away working from morning to night barely making ends meet. I suppose I sound like every person in the world. I just feel empty. I have nothing exciting to do or feel, nor someone to share anything exciting that could possibly happen to me. This urge is killing me. For some reason its really potent today. I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE!! Grad trip is to South America. That's it. I've made up my mind! I think its reading blogs about people rowing across the ocean and a guy running from Amsterdam to Athens, that has made me especially needy today. I feel so...unaccomplished. Here they are, these people spending a summer doing something the rest of the world would never dare to do. I applaud them for going after their goals and dreams. It must feel amazing. Not only to achieve what they set out to do, but the memories, experiences and people they meet along the way is absolutely priceless. (Sigh) Someday I'll make it down to Brazil, or some island I've been dreaming about, but for today I'll just have to make do with the rainy, gloomy weather of Toronto. (And some great pictures of Porto Dos Corais, Natal - Brazil and Bali)

Before I Die

I was on the subway the other day and for some reason decided to make a list of things I wanted to do before I die. I think I learned things I didn't know about myself. Here it is:

1. Go to a FIFA World Cup Final Match (or any match)
2. Visit all of South America
3. Visit Italy, Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland
4. Write a book
5. Design my own house
6. Learn how to surf, ski and snowboard
7. Go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef
8. Dye my hair a ridiculous colour (blue, red?)
9. Learn piano again - guitar too
10. Sing at a karaoke bar

Some are silly, some I'm dying to do. A lot of traveling on my list

11. Bake an outrageous cake like on Ace of Cakes
12. Learn Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian
13. Create my own blog (hmm I guess I can cross this off)
14. Work for OMA, MVRDV or with Renzo Piano
15. Write a movie script
16. Paint a huge mural
17. Love someone so much it hurts
18. Invent something pointless but cool, like this or this
19. Make my own jewelry
20. Buy my parents a beautiful home

mmm I might just bake a regular cake right now...

21. Ride a horse
22. Drive a Ferrari or Corvette for one day
23. Own a Jaguar
24. Live in Spain, L.A. or N.Y
25. Die absolutely happy ( I don't know if this counts...as the list is called Things I wants to do BEFORE I die)
26. Speak to a total stranger for a whole day
27. Visit Moscow (Michael Jackson inspired this with "Stranger in Moscow")
28. Marry a Scot, Spaniard or Italian man
29. Try the lotus (yes yes I know)
30. Try new food (like sushi...I still can't bring myself to try it)

What does sushi taste like? Smells fishy...

31. Go backpacking through a jungle or the Amazon
32. Go camping
33. Host an amazing party at my OWN house/apartment
34. Make up my own drink and name it
35. Open my own firm
36. Open my own restaurant ( I just came up with that one!)
37. Sell my artwork/photography
38. Go to a cooking school/class
39. Go to a concert of a legendary performer (such as MJ)
40. Spend a weekend in Vegas

41. Go skinny dipping in the ocean
42. Get a tattoo
43. Take a dancing class (salsa, samba, tango!)
44. Graduate with honours
45. Meet Ricardo Kaka
46. Swim with a dolphin
47.Visit Rio during Carnivale
48. Get over my fear of heights
49. Send a message in a bottle
50. Get my portrait painted with all my flaws present

Thoughts on Relationships

My friend just became a lesbian after giving up on men. I know she had an attraction to both sexes, but recently she's been exclusively into women. I wonder if we should all take the same route. Hmm...

How can someone find their so called soul-mate in today's world? With MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, and dating websites and so on I feel like the fun of meeting people has been watered down. Whatever happened to meeting people at a bar or on the subway. A month or two ago my friend told me that she met a random stranger because he had lost his phone. They had a conversation for 4 hours outside her apartment. They're friends, nothing more. Even just meeting new people has become so much harder. The world is in such a disconnect. If you say hi to someone on the street or simply smile at them you're immediately deemed a creep or 'weirdo'. There was a time people used to know their neighbors and who they lived next to. I haven't met one person from my apartment building in the 5 years I've lived here. Doesn't that strike people as strange? Everyone is so focused on their Blackberry and the newest game or application they can download to their iPhone. I don't have dinner on a table anymore with my mother, instead we both sit on our respective couches with our laptops in front of us and the T.V. on eating off our laps.

I remember there was a blackout in Toronto a few years ago, resulting in no T.V., internet, radio, nothing. It was only then that my brother, mom and I sat around and actually had a deep conversation. Is that what it takes to bring people together? A blackout? I feel like it would do our world good to live without our phones and computers for a day. Ofcourse there are two sides to any argument and I wouldn't be blogging with out the internet. I'm simply stating anything in moderation is good. We, however, have gotten so out of hand with the techonolgy and how it controls our lives.

I'm ranting now. I'll stop. Stopping.

Image courtesy of defencedebates.com