Everybody should just take a day off.
The idea is especially appropriate for folks here in Lebanon, which includes the faculty here at American Voices. Finally, Sunday brought such a day and a chance to catch up on the news I have neglected for many weeks. The campus was quiet, so I sat and enjoyed a diet coke and read the paper. There was a price to pay, however, for both my decision to catch up on the news and for eating my breakfast “in public”.
It took me a minute to realize why I was receiving an unusual amount of attention from the locals here at AUB. At one point I counted 12 of them…each with his or her unique tactic for finding their way to my breakfast sandwich… all surrounding me like generals strategizing battle tactics and placing their army.
When the woman responsible to feeding showed up with food, it became clear that it was all simply a case of mistaken identity. Within seconds I was abandoned.
Reading the news was a degree more threatening than the hungry kitties (if not by as much as one might expect). Yesterday, the Israeli army and the Lebanese army exchanged fire across their border south of here…a minor event if not for the recent tensions building in this region over the last couple of years. (These specific shots were fired …wait for it…wait for it…over a disputed tree.) The overall strategic reasons for regional tensions (primarily involving Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel) are complicated, but the immediate worries center around an expected verdict from a UN tribunal, previously expected to be handed down in Sept. or Oct., that is charged with investigating the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s prime minister. Recently, a respected German source published an article suggesting that the verdict has been essentially reached, and that long suspected members of Hezbollah (as well as Syria) are among the guilty parties, thus escalating worries that the announcement may come sooner rather than later. A reaction from Hezbollah is expected, and Israel has made it clear that they intend to flatten “all of Lebanon” should this occur. I am somewhat comforted by the notion that Hezbollah has much to gain from unrest here, and thus are pressuring the media to fan the flames of unrest. Regardless, with my departure only a few days away, I am looking forward to my final concert tomorrow night and heading home.
The arrival of a van for 10 faculty offered us a way around Lebanon on our Sunday off, and we took advantage of it. First stop, the great cave Jeita. There is a lobbying effort by locals who think the site should be one of the 7 wonders of the world. I haven’t seen the other “wonders”, but find it hard to imagine other places of such awe inspiring beauty.
Picture taking was not allowed inside the cave. However, a few of the students took pictures anyway (names withheld to protect the guilty). However, no pictures I have seen do justice to the enormity or color of the place. After exploring the upper cave, we ventured downward to the lower cavern, and its massive lake. It was another first for me…I had never before driven a motor boat in a cave. The gardens surrounding the cave were a nice place to relax after our healthy trek below.
The people on the walkway add perspective to the vastness of the space.
In the gardens outside of Jeita Grotto.
Our next stop was the town of Harisa (The coast of Lebanon is pretty much one continuous metroplex) and the cable cars to the top of the mountain, where sits the Notre Dame of Liban, a large statue of the Virgin Mary that towers over the city of Junieh below. The view was fogged in for most of the day, but we were lucky to get a clear view for the hour we spent on the summit.
The ascent to the mountaintop above Junieh.
The statue of the Virgin Mary watches over the city of Junieh below.
A woman takes a picture of the Virgin Mary statue.
It is hard to argue with the way the Lebanese eat, and Texas has no hold on portion size. Just the “dessert” at our stop at the seaside restaurant was enough to make a meal. Our table was showered with fresh fish, chicken, beef, and my favorite part of the meal… the “Fruit Bombardment”.
“Fruit Bombardment” A welcome tradition in many Lebanese restaurants.
During lunch, I finally got some quality time to visit with Aram, who was one of our string students in Iraq. Aram is a fine violinist, so I was surprised to hear that he was in a serious car accident in Erbil in Feb. (see my post “I Found Matt”. I have added a couple of links to videos of the Iraqi violin players). Aram was the only survivor of the accident, which resulted in the loss of two of his closest friends. His arm was severely broken and he was restricted to a cast for 5 months, a potential career ender for a musician (Everyone in Iraq has a story). Today, he is volunteering for American Voices here in Lebanon and taking violin lessons, along with Omar and along couple of our other new friends from Iraq.
Ater lunch, we managed to drag ourselves from the table with great difficulty, and headed to the unusual French castle, “Mussaylha”, that sits overlooked below a highway bridge just north of Harisa. We thought it was closed, but the owner saw us wondering around the fence and offered us the key to the place. We had a splendid time during our private showing, and ran around like children playing fort for the first time.
If only we had this place when we were kids.
On the way home, we stopped for a Swim in Byblos…the site of an ancient Phoenician seaport, the oldest port in the world, dating from 3000 BC. Aram and I forgot our swimsuits for the swimming beach, and we opted for picture taking instead.
Aram takes pictures of the swimmers near Byblos.
Omar’s first trip out of Iraq and first encounters with the sea leave him in love with swimming.
Yesterday, Omar, Hezha, and I went for a leisurely lunch in one of the many restaurants below the upscale Crowne Plaza Hotel here in Beirut. We spent most of the time recapping the events of our Sunday adventures, while trying to escape the frantic news on the TV and media. Towards the end of our lunch, and our brief armchair analysis of the political situation here, I said, “Geesh, Guys…as I look around at the street outside, it is hard for me to imagine the chaos that war here has brought in the past, or how it might ‘look’ in the future.” We all just looked at each other like we knew the solution…a day off like we experienced together on Sunday…as Iraqi’s…as Americans…as Lebanese…as fellow humans. As if on cue, the alarms were set off and we wondered outside to see what all the commotion was about. We still do not know the cause of the fire, or whether anyone was hurt in the incident, but the timing was chilling.
So, as I approach my departure set for Sunday morning, I feel a strange mix of an eagerness to see my home and family, and a heavy heart. As I think of leaving my new students and friends, I realize that this summer has put a personal face on what was otherwise a vague and faraway place and people, and given me an even greater resolve that I should, and can, make a difference. I look forward to working to facilitate ways for these surprising young talents to receive accreditation so that they can return home to rebuild their country, while at the same time hoping that the arts contribute to a day when they won’t have to rebuild at all.
In the meantime, I suggest that everyone take a day off.
