Beirut souks

January 7, 2016

Last night Albin told me I should walk to Beirut Souks. He gave me directions. Albin also said, "you can use Google Maps", but I turned my data off on the phone when I arrived in Istanbul. I only get data when I am at Saifi and use their free wifi. If I use data here, it will cost a lot. But then I realized I could go to google maps in my room and take a screen shot of the map so I could look at it on the phone anytime. That's what I did, but I didn't need it. (It gave me more confidence, though). Beirut Souks is not far, but you have to cross some very busy streets. It didn't take long to walk there. It has some very pretty shops, but most are the same companies we have in the U.S.  They have Calvin Klein, DKNY, Nine West, Gap, etc. it's very nice. I just walked around , but they were having after Christmas sales. Many things were fifty per cent off. There were lots of security guards also.  They have a great "I ❤️ Beirut" sign. A little boy was taking his mom's photo, so I asked him to take mine. 

Here are some photos of the shops. They still have their Christmas decorations up. Unfortunately, the lights don't show well in the photos. 

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.)

A day to study and meet a new friend

January 5, 2016

Today after breakfast, I decided I needed to sit out in the sitting room to study.  I can't meet anyone sitting my room with the door closed.  A Chinese woman came out and sat there. She is a petrochemical engineer living in Norway. She came here for the holidays. She's visited a lot of places in Lebanon and liked them a lot. Before coming to Lebanon, she visited Jordan. She said it's quite a bit colder there and very dry. She spent a night in a tent in Wadi Rum (which I will do, too). It was so cold that she see her breath!  Anyway, we spent a good part of the day just talking and also had lunch together in the cafe. It was too rainy to go out. She is flying back to Norway tonight, so it just gave me a one-day friend, but it was a nice afternoon and I really need to spend the rest of the time today studying. Tomorrow I will use the same strategy again, but I might make sure I get more studying done before going out to the sitting room. 

First day of classes

My classes start this evening at 5 PM. This means that now the school office is open. The school is just up a set of stairs. It seems very small. I went there and Manal in the reception remembered my name - she said because she would see it when she emailed me. Funny how it makes me happy to be remembered. I bought my books $30 each. 

Here's a photo of the school reception area with its Christmas tree. 

  

Class started tonight. We are seven students. I'm the only American. There are two Dutch women (not together), a German woman, a Greek guy, and a married couple where one is from Panama and one is from Mexico. There was another guy from London who is married to a Palestinian. He understood a lot of things, but couldn't conjugate the verbs. After about 40 minutes, my teacher looked at his book and told him he was in the wrong class. He's supposed to be in Beginner. He said that he was getting worried when he saw everyone else writing in Arabic. Now he is in a class where he is learning the alphabet. I like my teacher a lot. Her name is Sara and she has a little boy who is two years old. She is very funny and also patient. I often say something in standard Arabic and she just tells me the way to say it in Levantine. The other students seem to have only studied Levantine. Most have been here longer than I have and everyone is staying longer than I am. 

I was worried that the class might be too hard because I don't know Levantine, but it's the right level for me - not too hard and not too easy. Now, I do have lots to study, so I'll start on that. 

First full day in Beirut

January 3, 2016

It turns out that my window is directly over the cafe and I think there was a big party last night. There was lots of Arabic music well after midnight. I fell asleep, so I don't know what time it ended. It definitely sounded like it was live music and they sang happy birthday at one point. It was the Arabic happy birthday, which I had only heard on YouTube videos before. (If you don't know it, just go to YouTube and put in Arabic happy birthday). 

This morning I slept till 9:00. I guess I was tired from the travel. I was perfectly warm in my bed with the heater on. Here are two photos of the sitting room outside my room. In the first photo, you can see the number 1 on the door to my room. The second photo is taken from the other side of the room. My door is on the left by the windows. 

My room comes with breakfast each morning. I have a little card that they mark off for each breakfast. I had man2ouch because that's the typical Lebanese breakfast and Fadi told me he loves it. I didn't want the OJ and took it back and asked for a second cup of coffee. It's good that I drink black coffee because no one seems to ask if you want cream for your coffee - on the plane or in the cafe. They do serve cafe au lait, but it's not on the free breakfast menu.

Everyone smokes, even the lady cooking the man2ouche was smoking as she cooked. Here are some photos of my breakfast and the cafe. 

The cafe is sort of half inside and half out. You can see where the ceiling ends and that they have those outdoor heaters. There is a tarp ceiling and plastic "walls". Maybe they take those away in summer. Through the doorway in the back is the bar where you order food. The man in the white shirt in the back was setting up a shisha pipe for someone. 

I reread yesterday's post and realized I didn't show the entrance from the road. It's hard to find and you could easily walk right past it. When the taxi driver dropped me off, I said "You mean go down there???"

You go in behind the gray car. I keep reminding myself between the gas station and the red Christmas lights. (I don't think the lights show up in the photo, but they are on the greenery on the black building. 

Then you go down the stairs. 

And around the corner to get to the reception. 

Some prices: 

From the little grocery:

6 pack of yogurts. 8,995 LB = $5.94

2 apples 1,423 LB = $.94

2 bell peppers 2497 LB = $1.65

Large bottle of water 5000 LB = $3.30

In the fast food place down the street (Spin the Hen)

Chicken sandwich. 6750 LB = $4.46

Small water. 1500 LB = $1

Language:

Everyone says "bonjour" and then talks to you in English. More signs are in English than in French, but most are in Arabic. Menus are in English and Arabic. They say "merci" for thank you, even when speaking Arabic. But when I say "merci" they answer "welcome". 

Today in the little store, the man rang up my stuff and then told me the total in Arabic. I'm still adjusting to their money, so I wasn't sure I understood and asked in English for him to say it again. (I think even in English, it helps that you have an amount that you expect. You won't confuse 50 with 15 because only one makes sense for what you're buying). He apologized and then told me 5000 in English. I realized afterwards that he said hamza milles (at least I think so)  First word Arabic, second word French. No wonder I didn't understand. But this is what I came to Lebanon to learn - the way people really talk, not the proper way that we spoke in class in Fez and Washington. Also, it made me happy that the man spoke to me in Arabic. Hopefully it means he thought I was Lebanese. In the US, French people often think I'm Lebanese when I talk to them in French. Lebanese people in the U.S. just look confused and ask me where I'm from.  

New people

I know I'll meet people when I start classes tomorrow, but I feel like I've got to get started.  This morning on my way to breakfast, there was someone in the sitting area and I introduced myself to her. Her name is Tory and she just got here yesterday, too. She is a law student at Berkeley (I told her my daughter-in-law goes there, too). There is a small group of them here to learn about Syrian refugees. They came yesterday and are here for just a week. Then, about 10 minutes ago, a woman knocked at my door. She was looking for the women's dorm. It turns out it's one of the rooms on the other side of the sitting room, but it was a chance to introduce myself to someone else. I forgot her name, though. It was an Arabic name and she wore a headscarf, but she's American. It made me remember when I first got to Fez and we were all new there. It was like the blind leading the blind. After a while we met a few oldies to learn from and we quickly became oldies ourselves. 

Arrival in Beirut

January 2, 2016

Today was basically a travel day. I didn't sleep well at all last night. Basically, it seems that I'm very sleepy around 8 or 9, but later I'm wide awake. The first two nights I took Melatonin at around 11 and I slept most of the night. Last night I was out of Melatonin and I hardly slept at all. I guess that answers the question of whether the Melatonin helps. Next time I'll bring more. 

I had to leave early for the airport. I had a pickup at 8:20. Breakfast starts at 8, but I went up at 7:50 so I would be sure to be ready. The driver seemed to take a very strange route. He really drove in a huge circle around the hotel to get to the main highway. It's possible that there are a lot of one-way streets. He definitely didn't hesitate to go down very narrow streets. Sometimes those little streets were steep uphill covered with snow and ice. The driver definitely knew how to drive in the snow. It was very hot in the airport, especially since I was wearing several layers of clothes because it was snowing out again. I had to stand on a LONG line to check in. I was actually a little afraid I might faint. I didn't have any water because I was planning to buy some after I went through security. Then, when I finally got to the check in, the man said, "you have a business class ticket and you don't even know it?"  I told him it's not business class. He looked again and said yes it is. I have no idea how I made that mistake, bit it was really nice when I got on the plane. My seat was even bulkhead.  Here's a photo I took from my seat. Do you see how much space there is in front of me?  

 I was expecting a snack, but they brought a full lunch - grilled shrimp with spinach and mashed potatoes, fruit, bread and cheese. It's a good thing, because I wouldn't really have had time to eat anything till much later. It was kind of strange that we boarded on time, but the plane sat on the tarmack for an hour. Then we were only 30 minutes late, but I was concerned about my airport pickup. I had to go to a line for a visa. You can get one in DC before you go, but you have to mail your passport and it costs $20. At the airport, it's free and there were only three people in front of me. The man only asked two questions. Why did I come to Beirut and where do I live?  He gave me a 30 day visa. I told him I was staying 35 days and asked if I would need to renew the visa. He said no. Then I went to watch for my bag on the luggage carousel. In all this time, I didn't see an ATM. I usually go to an ATM right away to get local currency and then buy a bottle of water so I can get some small bills. This time, once I got my bag, I walked towards the exit and suddenly I was at the place where drivers hold up your name for your ride. I found mine right away. When we got to Saifi, I thought I would pay the hotel for the pickup and just tip the driver, but he told me that it was $25. He took American money. 

To get to the place, you go in a path down some stairs. I'll try to take a photo tomorrow. You could easily walk by and not realize it's here. Apparently, it was originally a villa (200 yrs old). My room is off a big sitting room. It's pretty big. There are two beds and an armoire. I also have my own bathroom. There is a heater on the wall. You program it with a remote. Mohamed programmed it for me, but I fooled with it and now I think I messed it up. 

I went out to the street to find an ATM. I had some trouble getting the money. It tells you to enter an amount in multiples of 20,000.  I think I did that, but the first time it didn't like the amount. The second time I got 100,000 Lebanese Pounds (about $66)

There's a little cafe in the building. That's where I will get my free breakfast in the mornings. I went there to get dinner tonight. I got some kind of chicken thing and a bottle of water. It was good. You go into the bar and order and they give you one of those things that tells you when your table is ready at a restaurant. When it lights up, your food is ready and you go get it. The meal was less than $5 so if I eat there all the time I won't spend much money. The cafe was full of groups of young Lebanese. I didn't see any foreigners, but Saifi classes have been on break for Christmas. Classes start again on Monday, so there may be more foreigners around then.  It's also very smokey in there. 

When I came back to my room, I was sure my heater was being an air conditioner. I went out to the sitting room and found someone to help me. He was very nice and showed me you have to change the mode and when you see a sun, it's on heat. 

Everyone starts talking to you in Arabic, but I'm not ready to speak Arabic. It's been too long. When I ask a question in English, then they answer in English. Next week I'll need to start speaking Arabic to people. Then I should make a lot of progress.   And now I need to make some friends!

Getting ready to leave Istanbul

January 1, 2016

I'm mostly taking a lazy day today. Isn't that what you're supposed to do on New Years Day?  Of course, I don't have the excuse of having partied last night. I did hear Istanbul's fireworks at midnight. I looked out my balcony, but couldn't see anything. I think if I had gone up to the roof terrace, I might have seen them in the other direction. You can see The Blue Mosque in the distance from the roof and I think the fireworks are done from there. But I was already in my pajamas and didn't want to get dressed to leave the room. 

The main purpose of coming to Istanbul was to have a comfortable to adjust to the time difference before heading to Beirut. I had to fly through their airport, anyway and I love the Saruhan Hotel. It's in a great location and the people are so nice and friendly. It's my 3rd time here and it feels like coming home. 

As for the time adjustment: the first night I was very tired and fell asleep at around 7:30 PM. I thought that would be fine since I hadn't gotten a real night's sleep on the plane. But I woke up again two hours later and about every hour after that. I took melatonin at 11:30 and made sure I kept the room very dark and didn't look at screens, but I'm not sure how well it worked. Last night I fell asleep at around 10 and woke up several times, but I think I slept from midnight till morning. Tomorrow I need to get up and be ready early. My airport pickup is at 8:20. I went downstairs to arrange it, but Farah told me it was already set up. I don't remember doing that at all, but I must have done it from the US by email when I booked the room. Breakfast is at 8, but he says I can go up at 7:45 if I want. I think the same may have happened last time. One thing that helped this adjustment is that I've finally gotten my ears under control when flying. I always used to have terrible trouble adjusting to the air pressure when landing. It would be difficult for me to think because my ears would feel blocked up for days. Now, I take a decongestant before getting on the plane and chew gum on take off, landing, and for a couple hours after landing. I force myself to chew a lot and it definitely helps. 

This morning, I went to the ATM to get more money to pay my bill. I walked back to the same area I went to yesterday to buy the fruit and yogurt. It's amazing. I got so list yesterday. I walked around the same streets going past the same places over and over for more than an hour. Twice I asked people for directions, but they had very little English and would try to explain, but I never could get it. I knew I was always in my neighborhood. Finally, I looked down a street and saw the soccer court that's across the street from the hotel. This time I was careful to remember where I turned. The ATM and food store are only about 4 blocks from here. I could have done the whole walk in five minutes!  

As for money, I got 800 TL at the airport on Wednesday and 400 more today. It's plenty. I'll have money left over. The hotel was 949 for 3 nights with breakfast, airport pickup and drop off and one bottle of water. Lunch yesterday was 100 TL (with the hot spiced wine). The ticket to Topkapi was 30. (the price goes up in 2016, but I don't know how much.) 

Yesterday, I emailed Saifi Urban Gardens, where I'm staying in Beirut to ask if they have airport pickup. I gave my booking number and said I was arriving on 1/2. I forgot that only Americans write dates that way. They wrote back that my booking is for 2nd January, so I need to change the booking. I wrote back clarifying the date and time, but they never answered. Finally, I called them on the phone. They seemed to have the correct date, but thought I was coming at 1AM.  I arrive at 1PM. I think we have it right now. We'll see tomorrow. Being able to just call people on the phone makes things much easier. 

I just got lunch in a little restaurant in my neighborhood today. Yesterday's lunch was 100 TL. Today's was 15. It was just a little place. They had a heater, but no fireplace and no wine. Still a good lunch. 

I had hot tea. They always say "Turkish tea?" But the tea always seems no different from home - just in a glass. Maybe they mean no milk. I will just have yogurt and fruit in my room for dinner - and I bought some baklava. There are several pastry shops on every street and they look so delicious. 

Tonight I need to get myself packed up again.