Meals and new friends

January 6, 2016

My sleeping has adjusted to the time difference, now. I go to bed at around midnight and pretty much sleep through the night. I'm totally off on my eating times. There's no reason to get up early, so I usually get breakfast around 9 or 10. They serve it from 8 to noon, so that's works fine. The cafe isn't crowded when I go for breakfast and I stay sitting at a table studying. Their coffee is really good, so I drink two cups in the time I'm there. I think others tend to eat late, too. Yesterday at around 1:00, I asked the Chinese girl if she had had lunch and she said she had just eaten breakfast. So, we had lunch at around 3 PM. That's about my usual time. We both talked about how we don't feel like we're getting enough fruits and vegetables from the cafe. They serve fattoush and tabouleh but I haven't tried those.  They also have loobyeh (green beans) and foul (beans), of course.  The people in my class said everything in the cafe is good, so you should order something different each time. I downloaded the menu onto my iPad, so I can study the menu in my room and decide ahead of time what I want to order. I also went to the grocery store today and bought some bananas and apples. The bananas are from Somalia. They taste like any other bananas, but I've never had one from Somalia before. 

This is today's lunch. Are you getting tired of food photos?  Anyway, it turns out that you get some greens with your lentils. It was very good and very filling. Also, I looked at my receipt from the cafe for the first time and noticed that the price is also given in dollars. I have always paid in LBP and he tells me the price in LBP, but I am thinking I could pay in dollars if I wanted. At the school, when I paid for my books they told me the price in dollars and that's how I paid. 

There are many bottles behind the bar, but I only see people order soft drinks - basically Pepsi, Fanta, coffee or tea. They sell water, but I usually just refill my bottle from one of their water coolers. (At the hotel reception or at the school). Maybe people order alcohol at night. I haven't gone in late at night. It's very crowded then. Also, I don't think there is any issue about alcohol. Lebanon is 41% Christian and the cafe also has people from many different countries. 

I don't know if I mentioned that many of the people who are staying here are not students at the school. In a Fez, you couldn't live in the house if you weren't a student at the school, but here, many people are travelers looking for a cheap hostel.  And I don't think any of my classmates live here. Tonight Dmitri was late for class because he couldn't find parking. I was impressed that he drives here. 

Tonight, on the 15 minute break from class, most of us went to the cafe. Patricia paid for her food with dollars. She said she always gets her money from the ATM in dollars because her bank is in Mexico and she will have to pay for the money transfer if she takes it in LBP. She says she has no trouble paying for things in dollars. 

When class finished, Alvin (who is married to Patricia) asked if I had friends here. I told him I don't. He said even being two, he and Patricia found it boring here at Saifi and we are going to do something together on Saturday. He will email me. He also told me about Beirut Souks. It's a big fancy shopping center that I can walk to.  I'll go tomorrow. (It has finally stopped raining.)