Our last day- head to UNRWA to give back my radio- and then walk on the highway to have a big van stop and we ask Baalbek? And they say “yeah” so we get in, after some confusion, get to the back of the bus. Long long bus ride up winding mountainous roads. Nice though. Arrive in Baalbek and get some turkish coffee at this small place set up like someones parlor, with chairs and a coffee table and a television. See that a bomb has gone off in Beirut, and see the visual too, as the camera man zooms in on a man who has lost his legs. It was a bit scary. We proceed to the huge ruins, really impressive. After walking around for a few hours we go to find a place to eat- walking through the town- men trying to sell us Hezbollah t-shirts- and so many little begging children follow us, pulling at our arms and hands. LA HABIBI BAS! BAS!! People coming out of their businesses to look at us- I guess this isn’t as much of a tourist destination as I thought, we stand out a bit in Hezbollah land. We eat some mediocre food at a place that is clean and empty but relaxing. Get on a 3 hour bus ride home. Later, trying to find dinner quite late everything is closed- Socrates, Abu Hashams’, everyone! So we go to Bread Republic for our last meal in Lebanon and get a drink with Rita and Masa and Will drops in. I miss you Beirut. 

Get texts from my roommate that he is leaving (starting a new job) and is changing the locks- so is leaving me a key hidden. The next morning at 6am he sends me a text saying he packed all of my things, left it with a friend, and is taking the key and good luck. As in, kicking me out. As in, we have no place to stay in Beirut. Because of this, we take a short panicked swim in the sea and then head back to Beirut to sort things out. I leave Adam at Cafe Younis and go to talk to roommates mom, who I’ve befriended a bit, but whose English isn’t great. She doesn’t know whats going on really. I tell her, and the truth is, my passport is now locked in an apartment that ‘no one’ has a key to. I know there must be a key somewhere. They say that he will call them later in the day (by 8pm) and basically for me to wait. Again, have luggage, and am homeless in Beirut. I WAS FURIOUS! I payed my roommate for half a month in order to stay. I asked him if it would be a problem for us to stay there while he was not there, he said no no. If I had known or thought there would be a problem, halas, I would have left or made other arrangements. But he assured me. Liar! Adam has been at younis for a while so I go back and we decide to wait outside my apartment, after a semi-suspicious phone call wanting to know where my passport was hidden in the apartment. We wait out side the apartment and sure enough comes roommates sister and his friend walking up, with the key! After assuring me they would call if they knew anything. Lies again! They were really trying to screw me over. Anyway, they let me into the apartment and decide we can stay there for the remainder of the visit. Oh, thanks. Whew. We bounce back though, and head out for a good dinner and to walk around Beirut more, to see the gigantic mosque and the Hariri memorial and Martyrs square. Then we head to get a nice local Rose and a Nargeeleh to celebrate Lebanon. The next day we take it easy and go to Gemayze and get Avocado smoothies and do some souvenir shopping. We gather at Speakeasy for my goodbye hurrah- get to see a lot of my favourite people from work and Beirut and get to say goodbye.  I miss you guys! 

Chateau Ksara Rose. Mmm.

More swimming, jumping off of high rocks and a journey to Batroun, again, walking on the ocean highway tryna flag a cab. Ended up finding one after a bit of a struggle and tried to find this AMAZING small fish sandwich joint off the beaten path. Found it, but it was closed for some reason, possibly Ramadan. So, headed to Pierre and Friends to get a bit of food and do some more swimming, and enjoy dinner in the middle of the sea. Back to Amchit for some nutella and banana Kak and sleep. 

Hey. So my last week in Beirut:

Friday went to Captains for a last dive-bar hurrah and some pool with the regulars. 

Saturday picked up Adam from the airport!! Walked him around Beirut a bit and down to the corniche. Went to Barometer for some food. 

Sunday got up early and headed to Dora to get a bus to Amchit- we arrived at the central circle and walked around for a minute before a dude yells out Byblos and we exchange a few words and get on a random bus. This bus driver is great- singing and rough housing with his little bro while driving. In the middle of nowhere we are told to get out and switch buses. But we arrive at Amchit safely. Amchit is a camp site with little rooms… the beach is all huge rocks but is so beautiful… clear water and churning waves, with one rock with a groove in it big enough that there is a little pool before the ocean. The warm embrace of the Mediterranean. We get lunch of fatouche and shish tawook and fresh curried prawns with the heads still on them. To get to byblos we start walking in the direction on the ocean highway and within 4 minutes are picked up by a cab headed to Byblos. We saw the ruins and the sun set on them.

super deep. But really, tensions are rising a bit. It’s weird, to an extent people become use to constant political statements and bickering and small clashes that could insite violence. You get so use to the multitudes of events like this that it’s very weird to see the slow change in reaction- recently people have a bit more on edge, everyone is a little more tense. Maybe it has something to do with Rammadan. Protests are getting more intense. Hamra, our little international neighborhood, happens to be the home to the syrian embassy (hide it with the internationals) and therefore a place of lots of protests recently, some that have turned violent. Pro people vs. pro Assad. It’s ok for now. But the feeling is changed. A collective anxiety.

the pictures below are a quick snapshot of Nahr el Bared and a store window in downtown Beirut which has a male mannequin and a female mannequin in bed together. This is Lebanon

Went to Nahr el Bared today to the health clinic. Long drive, up through tripoli and then east toward syria. Passed through many towns with butcheries- Ramadan is a time of many a slaughter and we saw sheep waiting to be slaughtered, sheeps laying on the ground with their throats slit and bright red blood pouring out, and sheeps in various stages and parts. A celebration.

This clinic was very busy and we tried to keep our interview short as the medical officer was very busy with patients. People waited to meet with the doctor and we walked right in. She answere our questions and then told us some of her problems- when local organizations come into her office and threaten her and force her to close the clinic- when there are protests- that there need to be 6 a/c units in their offices, they cannot work in this heat. The senior staff nurse was great and showed us around. They proudly showed pictures of children who had graduated from an Anemia campaign- going through a program of supplements and then ‘graduating’ with little hand-made paper graduation caps, and t-shirts. A nice and creative way to make it fun. These women were great and really dedicated to their jobs. 

The tour around the clinic went a little less well, less friendly faces. People were glaring and leering and glaring. An old man came up to me, asked me where I was from, I told him, and was yelling about the conditions here. Why don’t we help him. Life there was bad, very bad. A group of men in the corner spoke in Arabic about me and Rita, a few words I could understand- glaring- I hated to feel so hated by these people. I had to leave. We left. 

They have a right to be angry, absolutely, even at me. Its a terrible situation. I just wished I could have helped? Or offered something? I was at a loss. Something changed in me a little today. 

Tuesday, and the rest of the week I will be visiting different refugee camps around Lebanon in order to interview the Medical Officers of the health clinics. Rita and I are trying to find inefficiencies, places where tasks overlap with the different levels of bureaucracy. Tuesday we went to Wavel, in the Bekaa valley. The camp is relatively small and so is the clinic. It was almost empty when we first arrived. We met with the MO and then chatted with the senior staff nurse. We had a few language barriers but for the most part nothing that couldn’t be solved. The camp took about 2.5 hours to get to and we went with a maintenance engineer from our office as well who needed about 2 hours there. After we finished with our interview we went to sit in the Camp service office. Chillin. Generally unaware of what was going on around us as our Arabic isn’t great, Rita’s is better than mine. Around the camp we get disapproving looks from people, a few people were yelling a bit but it was generally fine. I did find this poster here of a man wearing a suit with UN on it (filled in by an American flag), with a yamaka on, painting over palestinian struggles within Israel with the Israeli flag. I was pretty amazed. It didn’t make me feel welcome, but thats not really their job. We tried to avoid drinking and eating all day (2.5 hours there, 2 hours at the camp, 2.5 hours home)- as it is Ramadan and everyone around us is fasting. I forgot to bring anything but Rita brought some lunch and so we hid in the car at one point to snack a bit. We saw lots of car accidents on the way, apparently there are more in Ramadan as people are a bit more exhausted. No eating or drinking all day, with all that sweating and heat, must be very difficult. I’ve been trying to be as sensitive to is as I can, being more discrete with my eating and drinking. 

Later in the day, my Berlinian roommate and our friend Zach from Portland went to the Beirut Art center. It was incredibly difficult to find, and the art was mediocre but the cafe upstairs was a calm delight. 

Sunday traveled to Tripoli with Mo, Guy, Will, Maya, Manal, Joe, Sania, (I hope i’m not forgetting anyone) anyway. Stopped off in Batroun to get a fish sandwich and then journeyed north to take a boat to the Rabbit Islands, a series of 5 islands off of the coast of Tripoli. This is the journey that I tried to take with Rita and Dan a while back- and was wildly unsuccessful because of the wild waves, the boat didn’t make it. This time I was a bit nervous to get on a boat again, and even more nervous when I saw the same 15 year old kid who led us astray last time offering up his services. Anyway,  we got onto a more sturdy looking boat with some sort of Indian wedding party? I think? Blasting Hindi music and dancing all over the place these people were so happy! It was great, and infections. Made me feel a little stiff because I wasn’t quite ready to stand up and dance too, but it was really nice to be around. A boat in the middle of the water off the coast of Tripoli. Got to the Island, did some swimming, some sliding around on slimey rocks and also some snorkeling. Was really beautiful. Headed back around 7 as we got one of the last boats off the Island. It was incredibly packed, the boat sagging with the weight. People were sitting on the edge of the boat with no guard rail, I got in on the tip, no guard rail and sat down. We were all so so so smushed. Some drunk (maybe just off energy drinks?) kids were being all rowdy, causing a hubbub. Ashing their cigarettes everywhere and trying to feed me cheetos. Anyway, we made it off and ate a watermelon in the park. Nice day. 

Saturday night went to Captains Cabin, a nice dive bar- to get a cheap beer and shoot some pool. It is run by a man whose family is from Puebla, Mexico, but he grew up in Venezuela and is half Lebanese. Really nice man and I got to practice spanish. The next morning my old roommate Abir came to pick up some things (at like 8am…she had just gotten off a medical rotation) and offered for me to beach with her and her friend. Another beautiful beach near Jbeil.