The Trip Diaries: The Time We Did Beirut - In Beirut

This wasn't our first time in Beirut. Well, except for D.

The charm of this city never ceases to seep into my blood the moment I breathe its air each time I'm there; it's always new to me with a strange sense of familiarity, the magnificence of it overwhelms me. And while to many people Beirut may be just another city, to me it simply is not. When you have done a bit of traveling, just a bit, you develop a way to know when a city is "not just another city"; that is, inter alia, Beirut.

The trip revolved around a lot of music. After all, what is culture? According to one source it is the acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science. I really only care about the first part, "acquaintance with and taste in fine arts and humanities". My understanding of culture came to me on its own. Having done my share of "cultural exchanges" less than a decade ago I learned to understand that cultures aren't only about customs, religion, a set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular people. While it may be that, it also has a lot to do with film, music, the fine arts, and things of the like. Unfortunately, we were only taught to talk about the boring aspects of our lives that were eventually going to change as we grew older, and we didn't focus on the more artistic aspect of each others' cultures that possibly would have made a deeper impact on the people we grew up to be. Also remember, respect is key.

You know the famous saying "you are what you eat"? Well, it is about to be permanently replaced in my mind with "you are what you listen to". Having had a talk with R, someone known to roam the streets of Beirut on certain days of the week, depending on the weather this time of the year, we came to the conclusion that we define people according to what they listen to. For example, fans of a certain musician/band , make that your favorite musician/band, are always on top of the rest of your acquaintances and friends. Any how, the more I discover and rediscover music in my life, the fewer people there are on top of my list. But I digress.

One night in Beirut, with really high heels on and having done a good deal of walking around, my feet were crying, they were tired with zero tolerance to any action that may force them to do their miserable job, as does every single pair of feet in this world; having people tread on them as they please.
Later, M asks if some water or tea would be of any assistance to my misery, to which I answered: "yes, darling, just water and we'll drift off", drift off into endless sleep followed by lots and lots of midday sunshine. Of course I needn't tell you about my temporary abode in Lebanon...
Well, perhaps I need to, just to get it out of my system. It is one of the most charming places that I have ever had the pleasure to live in. The perfect-looking garden; green, old, with a hint of nonchalance. The way it looks, smells, and feels in the summer is totally different than the way it does in the winter, although it's the same, the seasons are not. The cozy interior. The cats in the interior and the exterior. The fireplace. The balcony overlooking other mountains and small villages. You get the picture.

Other than that, the trip was really awesome, it's nice to have a place to which you feel you belong. And you do all sorts of normal stuff like meeting people who go by the name Cuckoo Judge and want to shoot people and things out of a canon with the assistance of others who are ridiculously tall and study aerospace engineering, to people who resemble English chefs in Hamra. Which also happens to be the perfect place for late night walks, chats, eating skittles, and bumping into people you know. Not to mention the very charming Gemmayze where you find all kinds of cozy and very Parisian coffee places and nice little bars, crocodiles trapped in inhumanely small containers, Boa Constrictors also, friends, their news, their shopping and umbrellas, flirty waitresses, and charming hostels with charming boys in beanies... Good trip, indeed.

PS. Too much light hurts the eye.