Monthly Archives: October 2010

Home and Abroad

beirut continued

I’ve been so bad at updating this blog. But, now I’m going to give you an update. First of all: Beirut in bullet points.

Water: Here, at least in my apartment, water doesn’t just come as one may be used to. There is a indicator on the wall of the water level, and when it’s low, you have to call a water tank that comes and refills the water tank through the window. Smooth and easy, huh?

The traffic: The traffic in Beirut is, with Swedish eyes, chaotic. Compared to Cairo it’s a summer breeze. You cross the street when you want to, eye contact is the key. U-turns? No problem. Traffic jams (zahme). Yes, certainly. Also, there is no public transport system, at least not one that’s functioning properly. Beirut is actually the first city ever where I’ve wished I had a car. In Cairo, the taxis are so cheap that it doesn’t matter, but here, no. I want a car. However, if you take a service it can be fairly reasonable price-wise. For 2 000 lebanese pounds ($1,3), you can get to a place in the same area. If you pay serviceen, i.e. 4 000, you’ll get practically anywhere in the city proper. A service is simply a taxi car that picks up more passengers along the way depending on where they want to go.

Electricity: In my house, we have electricity most of the time, except from 3 hours per day on a rotating schedule. Also, something that is both charming, quite dangerous and scary is that there are electric chords hanging down from houses onto the pavements practically everywhere.

Language: In my area, which is a predominantly christian area with a big French influence, you hear Arabic and French mixed in a wonderful melting pot. Personally I like the mix. For instance, a common encounter in a shop at night would not be “Masaa’ ilxeer, hadritik/-ak” as one would talk in for instance in Cairo or in more Arabic parts of Lebanon for that matter. No, here, the right way to go is to say “Bonsoir, madame/monsieur”, but with an Arabic accent, of course. In general though, you also hear a lot of English as well. Depending on background and education, Lebanese people themselves also talk English or French with each other, to various extents. On the whole though, Arabic dominates.

The nightlife: Lebanese people love to party. There are bars, pubs and clubs everywhere. Something that surprised me though, is that there are basically no clubs with proper dancefloors, that’s just not how you party here. No, instead you book a table with your friends, spend the night there and dance around your table. I find it nice, but personally, I miss the dancefloors.

The weather: I think it’s a lot hotter than usual at the moment, but it’s October and it’s like 27°C! Earlier this week it was 36. Sometimes though the weather can go crazy. One time, there was a big-ass thunderstorm accompanied by hailing and heavy raining. To be fair, quite exciting.

In general though, I’m living, breathing, going to yoga, going to school. I study at this nice little institute where I’m acquainting myself with Lebanese Arabic. I will get you some pictures soon when I have access to a faster internet.

Love

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