Unlike the second half of our group, which didn’t get in to the Hotel Alexandre until after 4 a.m. this morning, my group and I made it to Beirut by 9 p.m. last night—meaning that I just made it to Lebanon’s capital in time to say that I have had the opportunity in my short 21 years to live in four national capitals! For this particular adventure, this means only a mere ten days of living in Beirut, but it is living nevertheless!
Our first official night spent in this thriving city included bonding over dinner at a falafel and schawarma restaurant before a few hours of dancing right outside the restaurant. The intersection of the street was blocked off this evening to make room for the stage of the famous Lebanese singer (although I am unfamiliar with her) Najwa Karam. As I was sipping on my salty liquidy yoghurt-style drink that I 
thought I’d try, fireworks started going off in the intersection (how appropriate for my birthday! haha just kidding). This scared me silly for a moment, which I believe is understandable given the violence in Syria taking place right now and Beirut’s own bloody past. Fortunately, the exploding sounds that I heard were only the pops of colorful happiness that filled the sky as friends gathered on the streets and families shuffled onto their apartment balconies to get a good view of the fireworks. Once my colleagues and I were happily finished with our dinner, we joined the crowd in the street and, relying on the buddy system, we made our way through the throngs of people until we found a spot with a reasonable view of the stage. I couldn’t help but start dancing, as a young local girl caught on, and she invited me to join her family’s dancing circle. I happily obliged, as I absolutely love immersing myself with the locals of whichever nation I am in. I think that they get a kick out of me as much as I get a kick out of them, and this time was no exception; before I left, the mother insisted that I get a picture with her so I followed by requesting my own picture with the mother and then the two daughters, including the one who invited me to dance with them in the first place. Before she left with her family, she even ran back to my group to say in English “I love you” and I tried to repeat the same thing in Arabic although I’m not sure if she understood me by the way I mix my three years of formal Arabic and my one semester of Levantine Arabic. Still, these kinds of experiences in a foreign country is what I find priceless about traveling and made my birthday! Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, so I think I’m going to pass on any further dancing for the evening (although it is one of my favorite things to do) and call it good for the night! Leila sa’aida! ليلة سعيدة! Good night :)
No comments:
Post a Comment