I wrote most of this post earlier today, but I will give an update on my mom first. First they said that her platelet count was too low and that they would try to raise it and then do surgery tomorrow. Now, that is changed and they are doing the surgery today. She says the hematologist was there and others and they decided to go ahead with it today. She kept saying "It's just as well". Hopefully all will go well. She will then go to Seabrook Garden (semi-acute care at her retirement community) for 20 days or more of therapy depending on her progress.
Since I had to make a lot of calls yesterday, I have started thinking about prices and technology in Lebanon. Telephone calls cost me $3 per minute on my Verizon Wireless plan here. In Turkey, they were $1.79. Also, when I arrived in Turkey, I got a text from Verizon asking if I wanted to activate my international plan. If I text back yes, they would charge me a flat $10 for all talk/ text/data only on days I used it. I didn't take it because I didn't expect to need it. I have wifi and rarely make phone calls here. But now that the issue of my mother being in the hospital came up, I thought I might want to use it. Well, it's not available in Lebanon. Also, I learned from Albin that the government does not provide electricity for a whole 24 hours. I had read in the hotel instructions on my door that there is no power in Beirut for 3 hours per day and that my AC will not work during that time. Since its cold, and no one would be using AC now, this hasn't affected me. But I had noticed that the lights often go out for a few seconds, but come right back in on and no one seems to pay any attention. Now, I realize that it happens when the power cuts out and then the generator takes over. Albin and Patricia said that all apartment buildings need a generator. One of the things that they like about their apartment is that their generator provides more power than most others. This is not something that happened in Morocco. The power worked 24 hours a day there. It went out one night during a thunderstorm, but came back in less than half an hour. On the other hand, I have a heater in my room here. I turn it off when I go out, but I don't freeze in my room like I did in Morocco. This is my heater. It's above the beds. I have a remote to turn it on. It also has AC mode.
In class, there is also heat. I wouldn't say it's toasty. We are dressed warmly, but we don't need gloves, which I often wore in class in Morocco.
When you pay for things, they use computers and scanners. The guy in the cafe puts your order in on a computer. He never uses a pen, except to mark off breakfast on my card. In the grocery store, there are scanners. All receipts give the total in LBP and also in dollars. In Fez, we mostly shopped in the outdoor market (souq) or little corner store (hanoot). There were no receipts and definitely no paying in alternate currencies. There was a big store similar to Costco in Fez, but it was very far and difficult to get a taxi to go there. Many things in Morocco were transported by donkey. It was common to see donkeys parked waiting to go somewhere. I haven't seen any donkeys here. A few months ago, the garbage strike in Lebanon was prominent in the news. I see lots of garbage receptacles, but they definitely pick up the garbage here. Yesterday, I saw several guys picking up random garbage on the street. They used those grabber things that Americans who can't bend over use. They were definitely workers. They had uniforms. And they were working on Sunday.
So, in almost all ways, Lebanon is more developed than Morocco. But the cut off of electricity is a big issue. Also, Saturday we went to the phone store. Albin and Patricia needed to buy minutes for their phones. Patricia's phone wouldn't take the minutes because she had let it go more than two weeks before adding them. The man in the store explained that the company had locked the phone because of that and he could not unlock it. He is just an authorized dealer, not the phone company. (I should say the store looked very modern and sold all kinds of cell phone paraphernalia). To unlock the number, she would need to go to the phone company - on the other side of town - and show ID. He was able to give her another number for her phone. (She had bought the phone itself in Mexico). She still needed to show a passport I order to get a new number. This is something you had to do in Morocco when you bought a new phone, too. I was saying to her that it prevents the person from using the phone for criminal purposes. The man said, "Yes. Lebanon is an unstable country, so we need this". I was struck by the way he called his country "unstable" so matter of factly.
And here's an interesting sign in the common area outside my room.
Do you call the Red Cross when you need an ambulance? I think you might. I have seen many Red Cross vans. (And I've learned the word for cross now, because of that. صليب. ). And what would be the emergency where I call the Lebanese army? Are the Israelis getting ready to bomb Lebanon again?
Then there's the work week here. I don't understand it at all. The reception closes early - 4PM - on Saturday and Sunday. The school has no classes on Friday evenings or weekends. But people seem to work every day. I've been here 9 days and the guy in the cafe hasn't had a day off. I asked him about it. He said he gets a day off, but not next week. Mohamed, in the reception wasn't here yesterday (Sunday) but he's been here every other day.
Water: I've been drinking bottled water. It's sold everywhere, but I just refill my bottle from the water cooler in the reception or at the school. I brush my teeth with tap water. This morning I noticed that they make the coffee in the cafe with bottled water. I would think that wouldn't be necessary. (He also grinds the coffee beans immediately before making the coffee. Maybe that's why it's so good).
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