Tigermama talks

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Raw Veg



I thought it was the centerpiece but it was meant to be eaten. The tomatoes were fantastic!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Traffic!

I started to drive here in Beirut. That may not seem like a big deal to most of you but I assure you, it`s quite a brave step. Here are some typical traffic scenarios from around town.

There are lanes but nobody uses them. If there is room, you squeeze yourself in between to get as close to the people in front of you as possible:


Nobody uses their turn signal and it is not uncommon for someone to suddenly veer over 2 or 3 lanes to exit or stop at the side of the road...especially taxis. People will also sort of glide around from one side of their "lane" to another just to keep you on your toes. Usually they are talking on their cell phone.

There are very few stop signs or traffic lights although there is usually a traffic policeman "guiding" the traffic as best as he can at the very busy intersections. You just have to "stick in" and hold your breath to get through the intersection.

There is no speed limit. At least none that anyone follows. If there is space, you should gun it as fast as you can for the 20 or so metres until you catch up to the traffic ahead of you...and there is ALWAYS traffic ahead of you!

There are no rules about seatbelts or carseats. In fact, it`s perfectly acceptable to ride standing in the sunroof, in the trunk of the car, or hanging out the back door:








Also, every second you are here blasts of the horn. If you wait one second after the light (when there is a light!) turns green...BLAST! If someone wants to pass you...BLAST! If someone thinks you are too slow....BLAST! If someone wants to merge into your lane....BLAST!

Lastly, if you are lucky (and brave enough to take your eyes off the road), you can see posters such as this one of Miss Ooolala:


The most amazing thing about all of this chaos is that there is very little road rage (except from dh...haha). People just shrug and honk and smile and gesture and continue on their merry way!

Friday, July 04, 2008

Internet woes

I never know when it`s going to cut out and I can`t seem to upload any pictures to my blog or through my hotmail. I`m currently trying some alternative ways to upload and will see if that works. If not, I`ll just have to use my powers of description.

Not only does the internet cut out, but the electricity does as well. It hadn`t bothered me because the generator always starts up right away and things go right back to normal but then it happened right when we waiting for the elevator to take us up to our apartment. Now all I can think about is what would happen if we were actually IN the elevator and between floors or something. Eek!

Then we have the noise. I mentioned the honking right? Well, it is constant and it doesn`t seem to matter what time of day or night it is. People will honk for anything and everything. Of course you can get used to honking. Gunshots, on the other hand, are a bit harder to get used to! At midnight a few days ago there was sudden and sporadic shots along with honking and yelling. The reason: Spain won the European Cup. Apparently the Lebanese like to celebrate with shooting their guns into the air. Yeeeehaw!

We have been looking at apartments all this week and last. Hopefully we will find something soon. It`s hard to know what`s what when you have people telling you conflicting things about where you should live. Is it better to live downtown where it`s noisy (gunshots, remember?!) and where the kid`s school is located? Or, is it better to live a bit outside downtown where it`s quieter but you have to face horrible traffic every morning? As for the apartments themselves, it seems we will get something pretty nice and large enough for GUESTS (hint hint!).

Here`s a few random shots of Beirut (if I can upload pictures!):











Hey, it works!