My Trip to Lebanon: Gunshots and Celebrations

Note: These were written during my trip to Lebanon and so are not currently occurring. I wrote them each day during my trip on my computer because my internet accessibility was greatly restricted. They are each being posted on a different day. The time and date is usually mentioned at some point in the piece and you may notice changes in word tense because I alternate between what I’m doing as I type the blogpost with events that happened throughout the day. Although I went for family, I took the opportunity to blog my experiences mostly surrounding my discoveries of political, social and religious issues in the country.

Sunrise from my window (My picture)

I went to bed shortly after 5 am Saturday morning (just a few mins after I finished my last blog post). Jetlag still controlled my sleeping habits and I stayed up as the sun rose. I’d watch my second sunrise in Lebanon until all my three sisters’ alarms rang. They had a busy day to prepare for the wedding. As they dressed and left for their Salon appointments I began to dose into sleep. Finally I would get some rest before the long day ahead of me.

                Suddenly, a loud bang rang through the neighborhood. My head jerked out of sleep and my brother and I made eye contact; he asked me “Did you hear that?” before he slowly went back to sleep. We both knew it was a gunshot (my sister later told me she heard another one several weeks ago). Instantly I remembered the story my dad told me of violence in my diverse neighborhood when sectarian tensions were running high some years ago. I couldn’t go back to sleep because my bed was directly underneath a set of mammoth windows with curtains covering.

The shot seemed so close to the building that I wanted to see what was going on (without dying of course). I sat up in my bed and slowly peaked through the large curtains, pushing them open enough to allow an eye to look through. Peering to the tops of buildings first (sniper), I found nothing. Looking down to the street below, again nothing. It was clear I had waited too long to see anyone firing, but maybe that was a good thing. I stayed awake for two hours before I was able to fall back to sleep and get some rest for the long day ahead of me.

Late in the afternoon my brother and I decided to walk around the neighborhood searching for a male barber. I was guiding him around since the previous day, my sister and I had walked all over the place while buying some delicious Lebanese ice cream. Making our way up and down the hills and buildings, we were walking back through our own memories. Every other young man had pounds of gel in his hair while the old men sat outside on plastic chairs discussing the day ahead. We recognized so much from the stores we always used to buy from to the largest waste management company in the country, Sukleen. Walking on the street with taxis from the 60s and 70s and mopeds driven by teenagers brought back many a good time.

Much had also changed, as stores we once knew were closed now and at least 7 more buildings were being built around us. Our much treasured ocean view was now blocked by a new building which rose just 6 floors (ours was on the second floor). Neighborhood friends had grown up and moved on, or became so different I couldn’t relate to them anymore.

By nighttime we were back and prepared to leave. Everyone was dressed in formal wear: men in fresh and clean suits, ladies in beautiful night gowns (in typical Lebanese extravagant style). The wedding was in old fashioned castle and everything was profligate, from the dancers to the singing to the other festivities. I’d take this time to congratulate my sister and brother-in-law on their wedding and hope they have a great honeymoon (this happened at least a week ago but only got internet when I returned to the U.S.).

We returned home at 2:00 am. There wasn’t much today in relation to politics and sectarian disputes because today was a day of celebration; a day that began with a gunshot but ends with smiles and a thousand pictures worth one million words.

Sunday 6/26/2011 4:00 pm

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