Summer in the City

NOTE: Again, I started this post weeks ago and I'm only just now getting back to it.

Well, at least this last weekend has felt like summer.  We actually had two hailstorms this week and it was rainy and miserable the rest of the time, but this weekend has been warm and magical.

I'm still backlogged on posts about my (literally) accidental trip to Tripoli and my week with my dad, but this weekend was just too lovely and I don't want to forget any of it.

Friday night - finished my Arabic class at 6, wandered around campus trying to meet up with my friend Tess where a student club was showing the film "City of God - Cidade de Deus," finally got there half an hour late, had my mind and heart thrashed by that amazing movie.  Go and see it, if you haven't yet.  Unforgettable.  After the movie, Tess and I just needed to do something happy, and since there were no roaring fires and cuddly kittens available, we went for hot chocolate and blueberry cheesecake at Cafe Younes on Hamra St.  

The next morning, we hopped a service (pronounced all fancy and French-like...serveeeees) cab down to the Souk al-Tayeb, a new farmer's market in the Beirut downtown.  It was AMAZING.  So many different kinds of delicious fruits, vegetables, herbs, dried fruits, sweets, jewelry, books, soaps...all set up in little stalls run by the farmers or the craftsmen.  Tess and I spent more money than we'd meant to, but the food was so good, we were both craving green vegetables and health food, and everyone was so nice.  Older people in Lebanon tend to be bilingual Arabic-French (the younger people are more likely to be English-Arabic, though everyone speaks some English and lots of young people are French educated...) so I actually got to dust off my French while we were shopping!






Saturday afternoon, we just wandered around downtown Beirut.  Tess had never been to the masjid Rafic Hariri, the massive new mosque that dominates the Place des Martyres downtown.  So we went in there - after being covered by the doormen in generic abayas and veils - and pondered religion a little, and then wandered around the Roman ruins and the three churches within a minute's walk of the mosque.  Welcome to Beirut.


We'd already eaten lunch at Souk Tayeb, but when an adorable maitre d' started chatting us up, we convinced ourselves we needed dessert.  After delicious ice cream sundaes and some adorable/awkward table service, we were back outside, and wandering through more ruins, picking flowers, enjoying our city.  I went back to my apartment, dropped off all my loot from the market, grabbed dinner, bought wine, and I honestly don't really remember the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, we got up early again to go shopping again!  This time, to the Souq al-Ahad, what we had been was a massive and kitschy flea market under a highway overpass somewhere in south Beirut.  Since this sounded completely amazing, we thought it would be worth getting up early for.  After waking up late and meeting about half an hour later than we'd planned, and getting large cups of coffee from the amazing Latte Art guy outside school, Tess, Lindsay and I grabbed a cab and were on our way.  Everyone in Beirut tells you, when you need directions to something, "Just tell any cab driver, they'll know, any cab driver!" and then you tell the driver and you really only have a 60/40 chance that he'll know (obviously except for the main touristy places, etc.).  But this time the first cab we asked actually knew where we wanted to go and didn't try to overcharge us.  A good start to the day.

We went on March 14 - a day of huge national protests in Lebanon, so all the streets were closed off and it took us ages to get there, and we were even afraid for a while that the souq would be closed.  But Beirut's a modern commercial city, and business stops for no ceremony.  We saw that it was bustling when we got there and enjoyed wandering around for a few minutes, taking everything in.  After about 10 minutes, we'd kind of seen of everything - "Is this it?" we awkwardly asked each other.  Then turning a corner under the underpass, we walked straight into a huge covered-stall city, full of everything we could have wanted and a million things we'd never want in our lives!  Success!  I bought two dresses for ~ $1.75 US, 5 brand new (bootleg) movies for $7, 4 pieces of falafel, a bowl of pickled veggies and a blackberry juice for $2, photographs of Beirut and Beiruts from the 1950s, and an amazing carved antique red cabochon ring for $15.  Not to mention all the Arabic we spoke, all the crazy things we saw (parrots and turtles for sale, a perfume called "Obama," knockoff designer clothes with hilarious misprints, carved bone pipes, mother of pearl cigarette cases, sneakers with Tupac's face printed on them (WHY did I not buy these?!?) and so much more...).  After almost getting ripped off by our taxi driver on the way back (we didn't though, don't worry) we all came back to my apartment, drank some wine, tried to do work, and ended just talking for hours and making delicious pasta for dinner.  I think I did some work Sunday night, or very early Monday morning.

A perfect Beirut weekend.