Beyrouth

Okay - I have been atrocious about posting and this post is not going to rectify the long absence. But will reassure you that I am still alive (I have another draft saved - will finish and post eventually!)


Have just returned to Kabul after training in Beirut. We had a bit of an abrupt exit from Kabul - we were meant to stay over night here, but that was the day of the riots and we were having anxious phone calls in Herat as we prepared to leave, and then when we landed in Kabul. We couldn't leave the airport as the roads were totally closed and were facing hours at Kabul airport (not a prospect to be relished). The national director was with us and just said we should catch a different airline out to Dubai that same day, instead of waiting until the next day - so that is what we did and flew out an hour later. That night we were in the air conditioning of Dubai, having Mexican food at Chilli's and feeling a little guilty (still not sure how long the national director waited at the airport before he was able to get home!)


On the security front - I might mention as I am getting concerned emails from people. Yes, there are security problems here in Afghanistan. However, it is a large country and the problems are primarily centered around Kandahar (a total no-go-zone) and Kabul (much safer than Kandahar, and also not a place we spend much time). Herat is much safer and we are fine there. I cannot go into great details on a blog, but please be assured that many precautions are taken with our safety, we have built in procedures, safe guards and emergency protocols, but essentially we are pretty safe in Herat - I wouldn't be here if I felt in danger!! I greatly appreciate your concern and I understand that seeing things on the news can be scary, especially when you don't necessarily know where I am in a country and how far away I am from the problems. Thank you for caring, and I promise I am okay!
(P.S. If anyone prints this out and takes it to Nana, please delete the previous two paragraphs!!!)


So anyway, Beirut (or Beyrouth, as it is spelt in Lebanon - which they actually also call Liban - the French term, I think?) This is nuts by the way - it is pitch dark in this room and all the lights have blown so I can hardly see as I am typing!!! We had four days there and did some fairly intensive training. In between, we managed to get a sense of the city. It is rebiulding itself at a massive pace, although there are still buildings with holes in the side, or in a few cases, totally bombed-out shells. What is gorgeous is that they are rebuilding in the old architectural style - so the buildings are gorgeous.


We went out on Friday afternoon to Byblos. This city is claimed to be the oldest in the world. There were the remnants of a village from 2700 B.C. – that is Early Bronze Age! How cool is that! There were also buildings in this site from Greek and Roman times and a Citadel from the Crusades that the Arabs then took over. Just amazing history. It was wonderful wandering around there – and also having the drive up there.


Lebanese drivers are known as formula one drivers – they are completely insane (coming in from the airport on Tuesday night we were dong 130 km/h!) so you take your life in your hands every time you get out on the road, let alone try to cross it!! I think the city has gone World Cup mad as well – so many cars were trailing Brazilian flags, with a number of German, British and Argentinean ones visible as well. Gave the Germans in the group a thrill to see their flag everywhere.


Coming back that night, we had dinner ‘Downtown’ which has been redone in a beautiful manner. There are some stunning buildings and the center of town is kept only for pedestrians, so you can feel free to admire the architecture without fearing for your life should you take your eyes from the road for a split second! Lebanese are incredibly social people and love to go out to eat and party – things start to get going around nine in the evening. So we arrived at exactly the right time and thought we did quite well securing a table for eleven! It was great fun to sit eating yummy Lebanese food (can’t remember what I ate, do remember it was good!) and watching the stunning and very well dressed (although sometimes a bit too glittery for my taste) Lebanese strut their stuff down the road. What I loved to was the mixture of ages – young and old out, often together, to enjoy their Friday night. The smell of Shisha, that I always associate with the Middle East and Central Asia now was always in the air – that sweet, apple smell that I have no desire to smoke (I tried once in Egypt, purely because I was there and felt I should – did absolutely nothing for me!) but love to smell. Children were running everywhere (or cycling on little tricycles!) and it was just a gorgeous atmosphere.

The next day we went out to Baalbek, which is an old Heliopolis a few hours away from Beirut. It is an amazing structure, several joined temples built from BC times through to 551 A.D. (I think) when an earthquake destroyed the temples and they began to be hidden under the dust. It wasn’t until a Prussian-funded digging expedition in the very early 20th Century that much of the ruins were uncovered and they give the image of an amazing temple complex – and just huge. Apparently the main temple is the largest Roman building in the world! That night I also dropped into an Orthodox church in the center of Beirut that was also very old (and being rebuilt after the war). It was beautiful, but I was also surprised at how moved I was, simply being in a church again. I hadn’t realised how much I missed being in a physical house of God, until I stood at the entrance (I didn’t go any further due to my shorts and sneakers!) and got really quite choked up – I stood there for quite a long time.


Sadly I don’t have pictures to share at the moment (which is why I linked to websites). Getting pictures developed in Afghanistan is a very costly and dicey procedure and I am not sure how I would go getting them saved to disc here. As I am unwilling to trade in my SLR for a digital, this means you have to wait until I go home on R and R and have my photos developed to show you – sorry!


P.S. Someone hacked my hotmail account and deleted all of my addresses (almost 500 of them) and all of my emails stored in folders. Naturally I am fairly devastated at the loss of seven years of saved email history and also am cross that I have lost all of my contacts. If you know my email address, could you please email me so that I can save your address again – I am having to rebuild my contacts list from scratch!!!