Beirut Street Art

One of the many things I love about Beirut is that the arts seem to be really supported.  There's always flyers posted around town for some dance festival, or a music festival, or art shows here and there.  And then there's the street art.  It ranges from political to sexual to religious to totally random...

31 and you're not married?!? And without kids?!?

I turned 31 a few days ago, my second birthday in Beirut, and i can't imagine a better place i could have spent it. After wandering amongst the roman ruins in Baalbek all day (still working on that post/photos), followed by a much needed nap (I'm old), I met up with my friend Fahad (who i know from my Sacramento salsa days, now living in Kuwait), Nizar, and Nikki (Nizar's friend who is also visiting from Kuwait, and happens to know Fahad thru the small world of salsa) and headed out for some dancing. Wow, that was a long sentence with lots of parentheses.

I was warned that there'd be a surprise at the salsa club, and around midnight out came a cake with a giant candle :) The candle was impossible to blow out, or maybe my lungs are so damaged from the second hand smoke here, but i just let it burn out after 5 tries. This photo is of me in disbelief at how hard it is to blow out the candle...

There's a tradition here that involves the first cut of the cake. Apparently you have to cut the cake with the dull side, and do it in one continuous motion - no sawing back and forth. Anyways this wasn't explained to me ahead of time so it was like a 3 stooges moment with my friend handing me the knife dull-side down, I'd flip it over, he'd grab it and flip it over and hand it back to me, I'd flip it over, etc, etc, until he held my hand with the knife in it up to the cake.

The other birthday tradition...more of a salsa birthday tradition...is the birthday circle, where the birthday girl (or boy) is surrounded by all the guys (or girls) and everyone takes turns dancing with them for a few seconds during a song.

After working up an appetite we had some cake, called Lazy Cake, because it has thin biscuit cookies inside (I guess implying that whoever made it was lazy and threw in some cookies). It was soooooo good, so chocolatey with a little crunch. I had some of the leftovers for breakfast the next day.

Finally after the club closed around 2 we went to get some late night snacks at a restaurant nearby, and after eating and ending down the evening it was suddenly almost sunrise...good times with great people. Thank you Nizar, wassim, Henry, hagop, Nikki, Jihane, Fahad, and Benoit, for such an amazing night! It was all topped off with Henry's response to me saying how old I was, "you're 31 and never married?!? No children?!?" He said it while laughing, so I didn't punch him.

Sunburns and speedos

I drove a car in Beirut!! For those who don't know what kind of an accomplishment that is, picture a world where lane lines might as well be invisible, traffic lights exist for mere decoration, and one-way streets are only used as one way if it's convenient. Oh yeah, speed limits are not exactly adhered to either. But I survived, and it felt a bit like a real-life video game where you have to be super vigilant of all the other death machines around you. It was fun but not something I plan to do again, it was just out of necessity.

It's weird to be back after almost exactly a year. Some of my favorite restaurants are gone, but there are plenty of new pubs, all tiny and crowded and hot-boxed with tobacco smoke. But the food never disappoints. I can't believe I never put fresh mint in my hummus before, I feel like i had a revelation...

I really missed all the little markets, with bags of lentils and unlabeled spices piled on shelves in the doorways, hummus, hanging carcasses, flower shops all around, men parked on the corners with espresso machines in the back of their vans ready to dole out caffeine whenever you need it, and trying to not get hit while you race across the street. I love where I live in long beach, but it feels so much more alive here.

And where else will you see a group of shirtless sunburned men playing soccer on a concrete slab literally right next to the sea, with one wearing nothing but a bright blue speedo and matching sneakers, and another with running shorts short enough to expose his prosthetic leg.

Pictures to come later :)