All moved in and ready to leave

Things have been so busy the last month I don't even know where to start. About a month ago I had a big fight with my land lord, of which I had only been with for about 3 weeks. They wanted to start making all kind of crazy conditions and asking for more money, and threatening to throw me out if I didn't pay. As it turns out, they are con artists, and I am not the first one they have tried to cheat. Anyway, long story short is that I moved out and bit the bullet, losing my deposit. I could have fought it, but it wasn't worth it...this is just Lebanon. After three more weeks or searching (and being much more careful this time) I finally found a nice place in southern Beirut. The lady who owns it works for USAID, and said she was either going to sell it or rent it to foreigners, because she doesn't trust Lebanese. I got a pretty good deal. It is a fairly large apartment, at least for Middle East standards, about 900 sq. ft. It has two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, a living room, and a balcony. The neighborhood is decent, but kind of noisy since it full of traffic, but once again that is Beirut. You cannot escape the sound of cars. I also (the also referring to Aaron) recently went to the shops and dropped about 250$ on household items like a blender, iron, cutlery, etc. However, unlike Aaron I wasn't thinking that it would be nice to have a cute little doe around my arm (or a doh, since I already have one, and he isn't cute or little...plus he's kind of annoying if you live with him). I was actually thinking it would be nice to have someone who would just go and do the shopping for me...but then the problem is I don't really trust people to do my shopping for me.

This is the entry. The TV is purely for looks...I don't even have an antenna, and I intend to keep it that way.

This is the Dining room and the Sitting room. If you look close there is a can of A&W Root Beer. The other day I was in the store and found a place that sells Root Beer and Dr. Pepper. I have never found those before in the Middle East, so I bought some.

OK, enough of all that. While searching for the apartment I was living and helping out at the orphanage/shelter the majority of the time. I have gotten pretty attached to the kids, and I would like to think the feeling is mutual (for some of them I know it is). It will be pretty hard to leave them. Perhaps the Lord will allow me to stay involved with them in some way. I have sure learned alot about myself living with them and taking care of them. I've made a few trips to the south of lebanon to visit some people in the refugee camps and do some Distribution. There are so many things I wish I could do here, but don't have the time or energy. My back is feeling better, in general, but if I push it too hard the pain starts to come back. My back is very sore and the muscles are very tight. I started going to Physical Therapy, but it required too much time, so I quit...we'll see what happens.
My flight back to Alaska is in 10 days...I can't believe it. How did it get here so fast?? Whats worse is that I know that my time there will go by even faster, despite the midnight sun. I will be glad to be back in Alaska to visit. I definetly miss it, and all my friends there. In reality, I am glad I haven't had much time to think about coming back, cause it usually only causes me to be sad and confused. Sad because I know it is only a temporary visit, and confused because I have no home, and no real sense of belonging anywhere I am. It is a very strange feeling...

A friend of mine is coming from Syria and I am taking a day or two before I leave Lebanon to go see some of the scenic part of the country. Hopefully I will post some pictures before I travel. Until then, Hasta Luego

To Jordan and Back

Well, I just came back from a quick trip to Jordan. I mostly went to visit old friends, renew my Visa for Lebanon (they only let you stay 3 months, like every middle eastern country), work a little for the University of Jordan, as well as do some other work of more eternal consequence. I never thought I would say this, but Jordan is such a well-ordered, clean, law-abiding country! Of course this is only in comparison to Lebanon, which gives you an idea of how bad Lebanon must be. I feel like I can actually trust people in Jordan. Also, the driving in Jordan amazed me; people actually stop for one another, and although jordanians still can't drive in a straight line, they at least don't go opposite to the flow of traffic, like lebanese.
Overall, the trip was very nice. It seemed like everything fell into place, and I was able to see almost all of my old friends. I even got in a couple games of squash, and got to take a day in the dead sea. Work at the University went well, and they even paid me for it...quite well this time, which is because they have no one who can replace me and do they same work I did (specially since another article I wrote just got accepted for publication). I had a couple of meetings, and the rest of the time I spent with friends talking about various things and praying together. It was a good trip, and the seven days went by incredibly fast. It was a nice vacation, eventhough I was busy the whole time (except the hiking trip). My back did pretty good, and didn't seem to be too bothered by the walking.
Anyway, I am back in Beirut now, and things are in full swing. Lebanon is as frustrating as ever, and the day I came back I had a run-in with my land-lord...Also, the elections are in 3 days, so things are pretty tense. I am hoping to lay low.
In parting, here are a few picture of Macheraus, one of Herod's forts, and the place where a certain Salome danced for Herod which resulted in John the Baptist being beheaded. It is not that big, but it has all the characteristics of a Herodian castle (of which I have now seen all them still in existance).

Brief News

Well, I don't really have any news. Things have been pretty slow actually the last week. I spend two days down in Tyre visiting some new people in the refugee camp, which I always love to do. It always seems to me that the poorest of people are the kindest in heart. The people in the camps are always so hospitable, even when they have nothing. One of the families we visited was a widow with five kids. The all live in one room the size of what we would consider a small bedroom. That room includes their bathroom and kitchen, complete with an infestation of rats. They have been living that way for about eight years, since the father died. One of her older girls is engaged to be married, and she is only 15 years old, because they think that getting married will solve the problems. I have not seen anything that so pungently displays the wickedness and devastation caused by sin as visiting places like that. So, one might ask why I enjoy going to places like that??? Because armed with a heart of compassion and a knowledge of the gospel you can offer to them something they know nothing about. Hope. and Love. Most of the time when I leave the camps I feel like I have made some small difference, but even more it renews my passion to do more, and to draw nearer to Christ, that I might not just speak about him, but also show him to those who know him not.

Other than the camp I was busy trying to prepare a sunday school lesson. Well, the lesson was mostly prepared, I just had to prepare myself. Now, normally that wouldn't take extreme effort or preparation, but this was the first time I have given an entire lesson in Arabic. Let me tell you that teaching in a foreign language, which you are still trying to learn, especially in one as difficult as arabic, is much harder than you might think. I managed to get through it, and cover most of the points I intended, but I had a constant feeling of inadequecy. Some of that comes because I am a perfectionist and I don't like feeling incapable, and part of it came because I knew how many mistakes I was making. Needless to say I still have a ways to go before I do public speaking in a fluent manner. I think only other studiers of arabic will realize just how dificult this language is. Not that I am complaining, I enjoy the challenge (most the time), and seeing my inadequecies usually encourages me to study harder.

On an unrelated topic, here is a picture of my Lebanese Lemon (that is it's name until I gain complete confidence that it won't break down). It is running more or less well, but still lacks the power it should and is burning more gas than it should. I've replaced almost everything in the fuel system and the basic parts in the ignition. It is pretty small (which is nice when driving and parking in Lebanon), but has a respectable amount of room inside. The picture makes it look smaller than it is.

This is a picture of a few of the kids from the orphanage. I am still staying up there part time and helping out. I've been looking for apartments for a while, and I think I've found one, but we'll see what happens.

Lastly, I am making a trip back to Jordan at the end of the month to visit some friends and a do a few other errands, as well as renew my Visa. I wanted to drive, but I am afraid the trip will hurt my back too much, so luckily I was able to find a cheap flight. Anyway, I am looking forward to it.

Well, I guess for not having any news I said quite a bit. Summer is setting in here and its getting pretty steamy. I envy you alaskans with your cool weather and longs days.

where is noah

Well, I would apologize for taking so long to make a post, but it is becoming so common that I figure everyone is getting accustomed to the long delays. Things have been very busy here in Lebanon. I am still in the search of an apartment that is reasonable priced. Plus, after being here for two months I have realized that I do not want to live in Beirut proper. It is quite possibly the most disorganized city I have seen. There are times it will take 2 or 3 hours to get across town, which is only about 10 km (6 miles). I think a suburb would be just as good, but I’ve been told that I should wait until the summer when it gets scorching hot then everyone will move up into the mountains and there will be lots of good places for a cheap price. Also, after a year and a half of living in the middle east I decided to get a car. I think I have finally gotten used to the “driving” here enough to feel confident enough to drive. I never thought that all the racing video games (especially grand theft auto) I played would actually help me in real life. However, basically the way things work here is that you forget everything you learned about rules and drive like it is every man for himself, because it is. The only rule you follow is “also pay attention”. You never know when some guy on a motor scooter will come flying up the road going against traffic, or someone will pull out in front of you without warning. In light of these conditions I decided to get something small (so I can fit into the non-existent parking spaces in Beirut) yet something that is strong. I was going to get a Jeep, but after thinking and praying about it decided it against it. Instead I found a Toyota Rav4. I thought I was getting a decent deal when I bought it, only to find out that the guy who sold it is quite possibly the biggest cheat and liar in Beirut (which is saying something). In addition to the mandatory government inspection, I even took the car to a mechanic before buying it. I later found out that the guy bribed both the mechanic and the government official to tell me the car was good. Anyway, to make a long story short, I got a car that needed some work, which for those of you who know me is nothing new, in fact if I ever had a car that didn’t need work I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I sure miss my mechanic tools though…

On a more positive side, my back is getting better, much slower than I want, but I can at least move around with relative freedom. I still can’t play sports or do anything too strenuous lest the pain comes back. Right now I just have a light, constant pain through my left leg. I am hoping that with time it will go away too.

I’ve been able to make a few trips down to the some of the villages in the southern part of Lebanon. It is very pretty there, and we met lots of people. However, we ran into some problems with a certain extremist group that has hence temporarily disallowed me from entering certain areas. The most important thing to know in lebanon is to expect the unexpected.

Another positive thing is that I finally got internet access. After being told by nearly everyone that there is no wireless internet in Lebanon (by wireless I mean the microwave based internet technology), I met a guy who has wireless internet. So I went down to the company, and in two days got hooked up with a USB wireless modem that works in all the major cities of Lebanon. It is not super fast, but fast enough. So I guess I have no excuse to not write more blog posts.

The pictures are from what remains of the famous Cedars of Lebanon. There is only about 10 acres of them left...pretty sad.

the virtue of patience

I don’t have too much to speak about. Things have been kind of slow for the last week or two. Not because I have a lack of things I could be doing, but because I have been restricted to limited activity (some of which is self-imposed). As a consequence I have had more time to read, pray, and think, which has been very good. I am reading a book called In His Steps, the first English book I’ve read for 6 months. It is a good book, quite challenging. I would recommend it to anyone. Also, living with the kids here at the orphanage has been good for my Arabic. Lebanese dialect is similar to Jordanian/Palestinian, but with enough differences that you have to spend a bit of time adjusting, especially with kids. Nobody except the director here speaks English so I am forced to learn and adjust. I still have a hard time with some things, especially when the kids are arguing and all speaking at once. There are days when I feel like I actually have a good grasp on the language and then there are days when I feel like I don’t understand anything. Anyway, I feel like I am still making progress…it’s just never as fast as I want.
Ironically, that is the same situation as my back. Some days it feels pretty good and some days it feels terrible, like the other day we went to church (me and some of the older kids), and after the service I went to stand up and the pain was so sharp and so strong that I couldn’t stand up and I fell on my knees. I have been taking IB profen to try and take down the swelling (and thus the sciatic nerve pain), but I think it is a waste of time and money. I am up to taking between 2400 and 3000 mg a day, which is more than twice the recommended dosage. What is more, is that I don’t feel like it makes any difference. I went to the chiropractor for two weeks and didn’t feel like that was making a noticeable difference so I quit that as well. I am trying to just rest and stretch a lot. If I don’t get noticeable better in two weeks I am going to get an MRI. I met a person here in Lebanon who said she had the same sciatic pain after having her first child. She said it lasted for around two months and has never come back. I am hoping for something like that.
Anyway, life goes on. Hopefully it doesn’t sound like I am complaining. I am actually doing quite well. God is good, and continues to bless me with His goodness and grace. We are planning on making a big easter service in one of the refugee camps in Tyre on Monday. I really like going to the camps. The people are so...I don’t the word, Simple perhaps. I enjoy so much going to a place where people have next to nothing: no cars, no cell phones, no trips to the mall, no suits or fancy clothes…their concerns are whether they will have food and shelter for their family. To me, there is something relaxing, even attractive about being like that. Plus the refugee camp is right on the beach, which makes it even more amazing. Anyway, the plan is to distribute food and clothes and bibles, then have hymns and a sermon, then have activities for the kids and bible study/lessons with any of the families who are interested. I am looking forward to it, and praying that the weather and my back will cooperate.
I will try to take some pictures of it all and post it when I can.

This is a picture of southern Beirut from the orphanage at sunset