Tasted the Watcher

So its 4:56 am here in Beirut and I can't sleep for shit because of the call to prayer being blasted by 5 diferent mosques at one time. Can't they coordinate or something like ill take the ridiculously early one and you can take the next, and so on and so forth.

Anyways, Eric's blog has been resurected which I'm pretty happy about he's a good writer and likes to share alot of interesting stuff he finds on the web...so if anybody out there is reading this (besides eric and those who know him) check out burgersonthebackstreets.blogspot.com.

My first day in Beirut:

So I awoke at around 5 o'clock (idk how that happened) and skyped with the Hil Dawg, I could tell she was unimpressed by the "call of duty" looking area of Beirut but I will post some shots that will (hopefully) change her mind. After that my teta (grandmother) made some turkish coffee, and I took some artsy 35mm shots from the balcony, and a video on my camera.


Afterwards got some breakfast known as "man-oo-shee" it comes in different varieties but the main kind is with zatar (olive oil, sasame seeds, thyme, and sumac) spread on a pita and baked and rolled up with tomatoes and cucumbers, and sometimes kefir cheese. Around 10 I headed out with my cousin to get my cell unlocked and a new sim card and she dropped me off at AUB campus (holy crap look at these pics, I felt like I was at a resort or something).

(so my dorm has a balcony and stray cats)

After AUB I came back to my uncles apt and took an 8 hour nap cause I was donesauced from all the traveling and walking all over the city (got a bit lost on the way back...and people kept asking me for directions like I knew where I was going). When I awoke my cousin took me out on the town with some of her friends we went to Gemeizeh street to a bar known as treesome (aptly named due to the tree growing inside the bar). They played some really good music like the doobie brothers, urethra franklin, kings of leon, the police, and some black eyed peas and that song thats like "1, 2, 3, 4, uno dos tres quattro...let me get that rooomba see and then i get a rooomba soo, and then I let the rooombaa clean and that this rooombaa's dope". I had a couple interesting drinks like something called a doo-doo shot which was lemon juice, pepper vodka (i think), and a spicy olive, and one called brain damage which was vodka with bailey's poured on top then a little bit of cherry syrup tasting thing, it looks like a bleeding brain or like a mushroom cloud. Here's a pic:

Then we headed over to some place I forget the name of, got some pizza baguettes and called it a night.

So my first night on the town was pretty effin sweet. Many thanks to petra! and tonight were going up to the village where my dad is from (Mtein) for some sort of concert and dinner, should be snawsome.

This is the view from the village:




That's it for now I guess, I feel like I write way too much per post.

P.S. everyone should check out http://www.vote7.com/n7w and vote for the new 7 natural wonders of the world, check out the jeita grotto its sweeeeet.

Blue on Black

Sitting in my room, can't sleep, feeling nervous (and excited, restless, confused, etc.), and above all feeling stupid for having to look up the spelling of so many simple words so I don't look like a moron. For those of you who don't know me, I am getting ready to embark on quite a trip to a faraway land known as Lebanon.

For the geographically challenged:

(Its the small poop colored country in the center)

I will be spending 42 weeks studying abroad at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the heart of one of the most amazing cities in the world. I decided to start this blog not only as a journal of sorts, but as a way to share whats going on half way across the globe with my friends and family. And also to help people in general learn more about the Middle-East without having to risk their lives (jkjk). But seriously, way to many people think Lebanon is some war torn piece of crap country in the middle of the desert with nothing but bombs, savages and camels. When in actuality it's a beautiful country with a rich culture that is up to date in every aspect of life (by western standards). Yet they still manage to uphold customs that date back centuries, while maintaining a very free society. I'm not saying Lebanon doesn't have it's share of problems, because it does (what country doesn't?) I'm just trying to open up peoples eyes so that maybe they can catch a glimpse of what life is like in other cultures. There's more to life than watching Kanye West make an ass of himself (although it was pretty funny), or how much shit you can possibly own.

Mohamed is the most common name in the world, read a fucking book.

Aaaanyways, my flight departs tomorrow from JFK (shit) at 6:30pm to Cairo, then Cairo to Beirut. Despite the aforementioned feelings I am pssyyyyyched to get there and put my best foot forward.

To all my friends, I miss you guys already. We've had some great times just jamming, partying, chilling, shootin' the shit, messing around, etc. (hopefully we'll get to the bottom of who in world flipped the table, but that's a whole other ball game *cough* hawkins *cough*) I hope you guys have a great year at Rutgers (and lehigh(and others)) (Oh snap double parenthesis!) I'm already itchin' to get back home.

To all my family, thank you all for your support and you are the best family anyone could ask for. Rima, please take care of my car and I hope you have better luck with it than I did. Rania, good luck with freshman year, study hard!

I leave you all with a sweet photo compilation of Lebanon (I wrote the song in the background btw)




So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goooooodbyee

(I think I like to use parenthesis(es?) a little too much)

Peace to the Middle East