Update and Something for you political-economic fans

Things have been moving pretty non-stop since my last post in a couple weeks ago. Thanksgiving went really well, and I had a nice time remembering what it was like to have an American holiday. After that we spent a couple days in the villages in the south doing visits and distribution projects. When I came back to Beirut I spent a couple days up at the orphanage I stayed at, because there was a human resource crisis, and I was the only person who could come and watch the kids. I have been spending some time with a few families in one of the refugee camps here in Beirut, and things have begun to take off with them, so I spent a few days in the camp meeting family members, drinking tea and coffee, and talking about various issues. I remember when it was weird and uncomfortable for me to go through the custom of meeting new people here (it is more complicated that in the states). But now I am quite comfortable and even enjoy it quite a bit...I think I enjoy it more inside the refugee camp than inside a nice house...maybe I feel more at my own level.

Things are starting to look Christmassy here...Lebanon is definitely not Jordan. The other day I saw a big mosque all decorated and covered with christmas lights. It just made me chuckle, though on a serious side it is nice to see that there is higher level of tolerance and acceptance here than in other middle eastern countries...at least on some levels.

Before signing off I will leave you all with this video link. It is a response made to a leftist, environmental video called "the story of stuff". I was actually shown the video during a UN traning course a couple years ago. The video has some decent points, but is obviously biased and stretches the truth out of proportion. The response video is quite funny (or was to me). He also some good points, and calls her out on her truth-stretching "facts", but he is also biased. Aaron, I think you'll get a kick out of these videos, haha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5uJgG05xUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZzHU3ZfTtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgLrZc7cws8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XeW5ilk-9Y

Thanksgiving

So here is the 'final product'. In typical Lebanese fashion, as soon as I started cooking the power went out, so these pies were made under LED headlamp lighting. Thank God for LED's. Anyway, all is well that ends well. I haven't tasted the pies, but I think they turned out...they smell good.

A few years ago I heard a reading of Abraham's Lincolns Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, when he officially made it a holiday. Just imagine if a our current president got up and said something like this! Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone.

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggression of foreign states, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict, while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. The needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship. The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be reverently, solemnly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Pumkin Pie

Well, it is getting close to Thanksgiving, and normally I woudn't care since I am 7,000 miles away from America, but there is an american family that I know here who is going to celebrate it, and asked if wanted to come. We are actually going to invite quite a few of our lebanese friends to come. Somehow I was elected to make the pies. I found some frozen strawberries and some fresh apples, but there is no pumpkin pie filling (or if there is the other americans beat me to it). So instead I got on google (I seriously don't know what people did before internet searching), and looked up how to make pumpkin pie from actual pumpkins...a truly novel though. I know my mom does this really well, but being the lazy, selfish kid that I was I didn't learn how to do it. Anyway, I found a nice recipe and got to work. Pumpkins are in season now in Lebanon, so it worked out well.
Below is a pictorial account of the project:
Sorry about the low quality of pictures, I had to use my cell phone since my camera and memory cards (and 5 hours of my life) were recently taken by a certain militant fundamentalist group...but that is another story, and one that cannot be published publicly.

Mr. Kabaar is as good at splitting and skinning pumpkins as he is at gutting and skinning moose...a truly all-purpose tool
The Ulu came in handy to chop up the pumpkin into cubes, after which I steamed them on the stove top for about 15 minutes, until soft.After the pumkin was soft I put them in the blender and got this nice puree of pumpkin.

I have not purchased the spices and other ingredients yet, as my car is in the shop (again). I totally destroyed one of my shocks driving the high quality roads of southern lebanon. Trust me, if you ever saw the roads down there you would think Break-Up pot holes in Alaska are a kiddy ride.


I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
wa li kul as7abi bil-urdon: kul yom wa antum bi5eer wa 3id mubarak!

Ranting and a Request

Over the last couple years of living abroad I have noticed a number of things about myself, probably the most prominent of which is that I can be a very impatient person about certain things, namely those things which I consider to be unimportant and trivial. Recently, I caught myself getting irritated while waiting for a friend to cook dinner. He kept asking if I wanted this or that in the dinner (which was a dish mostly comprised of eggs). I told him I didn't care, and that it makes no difference t me what the food tastes like, something no lebanese person would understand. The questions continued about what I wanted to drink, if I wanted ice, what channel I wanted to watch, where I wanted to sit, etc...I don't really know why it annoys me for people to ask me all these questions, except that people rarely accept the fact that I just don't care. It makes no difference to me if there is salt in a dish, or if I'm sitting on a chair or on the floor, or if I drink warm or cold water; all I care about is the nutritional value of what I am eating. (BTW, I've finally gotten back to a mostly sugarless diet, no soda, no sweets, no ice cream, no pastries) The same thing goes for clothes, jewelery, cars, and any other appearance related object...I just don't understand how people can honestly be concerned about such things. I mean who cares if your shirt has a collar or ruffles or stripes, or if your shoes are white or black or yellow, or if your car has some dirt on it. I mean none of these things affect the functionality of the object!
After explaining this to my friend he replied, "I don't think you are every going to get married"...que sera sera, shu bido yasir yasir.
*Disclaimer: These are all MY personal preferences, I don't expect, and probably don't really want, other people to be like me. I'm not saying its bad to care about such things (trivial as they may be to me), I just mean I don't understand why it matters...probably cause I'm missing a few marbles upstairs.*

Anyway, I guess that is my random rant. Those of who you know me are probably all nodding your heads thinking, "yep, Noah has no taste" to which I say, don't put spice in my life, just give me a second helping of life.


HAHA, now having said all that, I want to make a request: I need a recipe :)
Thanksgiving is coming up and an american family asked me if I wanted to come over, so I said yes. I am going to make pies, and I want to try making some clam chowder (I have a big pack of Alaskan razor clams I brought with me). I know clam choweder isn't a traditional thanksgiving meal, but Thanksgiving is not a traditional holiday in Lebanon...so, I was hoping that you all could send me your secret clam chowder recipes.

OK, I'm done now.

PS (can you use PS for a blog???) Congratulations to Molly, may all your puppies grow up to be just as crazy, annoying, and neurotic as you

For Mom

What I am going to write cannot explain the feelings in my heart, nor could the tears flowing down my cheeks express the depth of value or the irreplaceable worth of a mother. Nevertheless I make my feeble attempt.


A mother is a gift from God. She is a grace; I do not deserve her and there is nothing I could do to merit her love. She loved me before err I was born. She loved me when I was weak and helpless. She loved me when I rebelled and scorned her. She loves me.

I owe a debt I cannot repay; Indebted for every hug, every kiss, every loving caress. How could I pay back the sacrifice she made for me? the pains, the sleepless night, the prayers, and every tear she shed on my behalf.

I still hear her voice singing to me at night, those songs I know so well; reassuring me that I am loved now as I was then. Every song, every hymn, every story echo through my memories of yesterday and shed their music onto the hopes of tomorrow.

I can never forget all you gave me; your care and tenderness, your compassion and pity, your time and money. Yet you gave one thing which time shall never tarnish nor shall life's thorns diminish its glow in my heart: you gave yourself.

Neither will I cease to forget all that you took from me; In my loneliness you took my sorrow, in my sickness you stole my pains, in my deepest griefs you wiped away my tears with your gentle touch.

A mother is a gift from God; a gift I do not deserve and cannot repay. Thank you God for my mommy.


I love you mom. I miss you so much.