Winter is coming

I am sitting in my apartment listening to probably the loudest thunder storm I have ever heard. Every car that has an alarm is going crazy. It is almost scary. Good thing all the buildings here have lots of steel in them. Thunder storms here usually indicate the onset of the winter season. I bet in the next couple weeks it will start snowing up in the mountains, at least the bigger ones, like mount Hermon.
I spent the majority of today taking care of the house and getting supplies and fixing miscellaneous broken stuff, which has piled up over the last month. The day reminded me just how aggravating Lebanon, especially Beirut, can be. Traffic around Beirut is terrible and the closest place I could find to park was 5 minutes from my apartment (and that took me 30 minutes to find). Just when I got back with the stuff I needed to fix everything the electricity cut out. Afterward my greedy neighbors came and said he needs 60$ for building maintenance. Then the water ran out, and since there was no electricity I could not turn on the motor to pump water (though that is partly my fault for not doing it earlier). The list could go on, but I guess it just goes to show I still haven't adapted to life here in Beirut. Nevertheless, things are going well and a few days ago I had a nice, and promising, visit with a Jordanian man and his wife.

Twice a week I have bible activities/church service in the shelter home where I was living for my first 5 months in Lebanon. The kids generally enjoy it and look forward to it. We (my friend and I) spend the first 20 minutes singing hymns, then we break them into two groups and each of us take a group and teach them a bible lesson. After that we have some activities for them, and then at the end we give them a little snack. It can be very tiring trying to maintain any semblance of order with these kids, especially for two hours, but some of them genuinely listen.
On my most recent trip to southern Lebanon we passed of the Lebanese mountain range and descended into the Bekaa Valley right near the only lake in Lebanon (pictured). It is not huge, but it is nice. One day I'd like to hike from mount Hermon to the lake (about 20 miles), but mount Hermon is near Israel and given the current political tensions I think it will be a while before that desire will even be a possibility. I didn't get a chance to stop and see any of the lake so this is the only picture I had, taken from my cell phone (it is not a good idea to take cameras into southern Lebanon, as an acquaintance of my found out...the hard way).

No News is...

I don't really have any new news. I have been busy between southern Lebanon and work here in Beirut, as well as working on my car. Yes, it seems no matter where I live I can't get away from the fact that every car I own has problems. This time it is the brakes. I fixed them once, then something else broke on them so I took it to the mechanic... I think the problem was actually worse when he gave it back. I have learned that mechanics in Lebanon, although cheap, do not know how to fix cars. I would say 'you get what you pay for', but I think here you actually get less than that.
In other news I am starting work on an inexpensive, sustainable resource water filter. It will use sand and bacteria to filter dirty water. The style of filter is called a SlowSand filter or BioSand filter. I am doing just for fun in my spare time, so it may take a while to get results. It is going to take the place of my Bio Gas generator as my pet science project, which is producing gas, but not much as I don't have a ready supply of animal feces. I also have abondonded making Bio diesel because Methanol is way too expensive here, although I am still interested in using the by-product glycerin to make soap. However, since these are projects I mostly do in my spare time I don't expect much to be done in the near future, since freetime is something I seem to be lacking these days.
On a completely unrelated subject, Lebanon is trying to get into the Guiness Book by making the largest plate of Hummos and Tabouli. They are trying to get everyone to make Hummos and Tabouli and bring it to downtown Beirut on Saturday...There are tens of thousands of homeless , displaced, and poverty stricken persons in Lebanon, and peoples big concern is getting into the Guiness Book....
OK, I am done rambling. I just thought I'd post something since nobody else in the blog world seems to be alive any longer (hint hint) :)

The American Embassy is for who???

I went to the American Embassy here today, which is a pain to find and a long drive. One thing I have noticed while living abroad, especially in the middle east, is that unlike every other country in the world, the US Embassies do not exist for the service of American Citizens. The exist for the citizens of the local country, so they can get Visas and ask questions, and other things. What proof do I have? American Citizen services, for the US embassy, is only open 3 days a week, for 3 hours a day. Now, you can make a special appointment with the consular, but you have to go in person to make the appointment...On the other hand, non-resident alien services have about 16 hours a week dedicated for them.
What is worse is that you are treated almost like a suspect criminal (at least in Lebanon, Jordan was a little better). After I finished my required tasks I wanted to go look around the Embassy grounds, since it is in a very pretty location, very large, and well-maintained, plus they have basketball and tennis courts, and supposedly a swimming pool, only to be told by security guards that I was not allowed to do any such thing. I decided to protest a little, and said "ya khay hada mish ma32uul, hal-ard ard amerikiiya" - which means (roughly) "hey man that's not right, this is american soil". I figure I have a right to walk around and see it. So he sent me to another guard who said they same thing, who sent me to another guy who said the same thing, who sent me to another guy who...yep, said the same thing, but gave me a phone number for who I should call...I had given up by that point. I think the whole thing would have been easy to take if it had been a US Marine telling me these things, but I did not see a single US serviceman in the entire place...it is all guarded by Lebanese forces...kinda disheartening haha.
Anyway, not sure why I decided to ramble about that. Just in case any of you who have never lived outside the US were interested in how our Embassies operate.

Lebanese Diet

So, I have been trying to adhere to the promise I made (mostly to myself) not to eat any processed sugars. So far I have been successful, with the exception of drinking a little soda and coffee when they are offered to me as a visitor (it is very rude in Arabic culture to turn down something when it is put in front of you...and people usually don't ask if you want something, they just do it). I've also lessened my white flour intake, except for flat bread which is pretty much unavoidable seeings that if you don't eat the flat bread you have no eating utensils...Anyway, about half of my diet right now is consisting of fruit and yogurt. There is so much fruit right now in the market places...you Alaskans would go nuts (just like me). a pound of bananas - 25 cents; a pound of apples - 40 cents; a pound of grapes - 50 cents; other fruits like guava, nectarine, pears, figs, and pomegranates range from 50 cents to a dollar a pound...and its all fresh. Half of the fruit I don't even buy, friends just give it to me. A week ago I had such a stock pile I was eating fruit like mad just so I wouldn't throw it away. Some I had to throw away, but I justified by putting it into my experimental Bio-gas generator. Oh, and the other very important thing: my blender, what an awesome tool!
OK, so that is an inside look into my dietary life. By the way a couple weeks back there was a baptism in brother Issa's church and we had a fellowship, so I baked pies (also from fruit). There was an american family who came, and all their kids came up and told me that I was their special friend haha. I told them to thank my mom for teaching me...Thanks mom.
Until the next time. Peace out