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).