The next day I spent getting my visa extended with the sick Frenchman Eric Lhardy at my side, went for a long walk that took me through the old city and down to the Bab Touma (St. Thomas Gate) internet café where I emailed and chatted with big brother Shar for almost four hours. In the process I asked him what the family had been saying about me a Thanksgiving and learned that mom and dad worry that I do not miss them and that they are somehow “standing in my way: mom specifically seemed to feel I was neglecting her even though I write at least once a week and call or chat every month. In response to this I said to Shar “how about mom and dad taking real interest in what I am doing – I have yet to hear one good question from them about any place I am, anyone I met or any of the photos I have taken and put up online.” He rejoined with an excellent point: “don’t confuse your neglect with mom’s neglect.” Who taught this guy to be a family therapist? He must have swallowed the transformational sections of Barnes and Noble. He also said he and mel had lost ten kilos and are feeling fine.

The next day I took my bag to the Damascus bus station storage area in a rush of decisiveness and went to the Syrian National Museum: just inside the gate I saw the Korean innocent Seon Su who greeted me and upon hearing I was en route to Beruit ran out to change her plans, pack and join me at the museum front at 2:45 PM. The museum had many fine pieces of pottery with great glazes, the best samples of Palmyrene cloth (some pieces with clearly recognizable patterns allowing researchers to pinpoint the exact Chinese silk factory where they were produced), and an entire temple inside (colorful cartoonish frescos) from a 2000 plus year old synagogue from Dura Europos, and archeological site on the Euphrates in far East Syria.

At the appointed time Seon Su did not show up, I went to the bus station alone and at the last moment she sent some running shouting men to whip me aboard a large nice bus going the right way. In the night we arrived at Beruit after riding behind a friendly Lebanese Brasilian man.

Beruit is a large modernish city with nice beautiques and a healthy spending public. Store attendants look down on our travellers garb and were by and large not friendly. The next morning we set out in the sparkling sunlight and admired Beruit’s sweeping hills rising boldly from the sea and backed by white snow-covered mountains. We visited the artificial new city center with its nice stoneworked very security-minded layout. In the central clocktower square alone I counted fourteen soldiers with M-16s – alsmost outnumbered the civilians about.

We had a great fatah salad (red beans, tahini, liban fresh yoghurt, garlic, toasted bread) and the waitress had lived in Saudi Arabia and had a perfect mid-america accent even though she had never been to the US. We tried to do the “heritage walk” around the city center but it did not exist yet or was blocked up by impassible barriers (but there are signs everywhere about this heritage trail). At one barrier we struck up a conversation with some soldiers doing their one year military service. They walked us out the police post on the other side of their trailer park barracks where we could overlook some older buildings clearly blown out by gun and mortar fire. I asked them if an M-16 or a Kalashnikov was a better weapon. They were surprised by my question: “Isn’t the M-16 and American gun?” they stated rhetorically “why don’t you know about it?.” Their answer can be bulleted thus:

- Kalashnikov bullets are more deadly tthan M-16s’
- M-16s have a 1200 meter range and Kallashnikov only a 900 meter range
“You will see the M-16 everywhere here,” one police soldier said “every house, shop, and soldier has one.”

In the light of day amongst the nice new buildings evidence of the civil war was clear in the large swiss-cheesed buildings. Almost everything past puberty in Beruit wears bullet-hole freckles.

We went to the house of one of the soldiers afterwards, experienced good Tabouli salad (lemon juice, parsley, Bulgar wheat, tomato) and fried fish and rode around with him and a friend (with an old Honda Accord) later – all the city was decorated in public places with Christmas decorations.

Vulgar Arabic Lesson & Even A Bit of Vulgar Korean

Beruit area observations:

- “This rich country is only for Christtians” one of our hosts stated (himself Christian).
- US fast food chains are everywhere: DDunken Donuts is the dating spot. We went there for a donut, coffee and watched the young jet set.
  One girl there was wearing skin tight snakeskin pants.
- “Super night clubs” in loud neon everrywhere mean ‘prostitutes.’
- The Juni area north of Beruit is grouund zero for hookers and gambling, evidently it is a big draw to all the middle east.
- Many Beruitis we ran into said “Syriaans are stupid.” And went on to say “all Arabs want to come here - we have a rich country.”
- The ‘famous’ Mary of Harissa appears to be made of some synthetic material (maybe thick white plastic?), she is small relative to the base she stands on, she looks towards Beruit to the South with her head tilted towards her left, arms outstreched, face full of compassionate sorrow: the inscription reads "Quasi Cedrus Exaltata Sum" which is a quote from Jesus about the crucifixtion and the glory of his suffering meaning "I was exalted like a cedar in Libanon" and the missing second part "it quasi cypressus in monte Sion." means "and as a cypress-tree on Mount Sion." - at the Mary we spotted two devotees there in hotpants and miniskirt.
- The area is full of older men missing limbs. I presume this is from the mining and fighting of the civil war.




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Prices in the Beruit Starbucks (as of December 2001):


Drink Cafe Americano, Reg $2 USD, Tall $2.75 USD, Grande $3USD

Drink Cafe Mocha, Reg $3.30 USD, Tall $4USD

Drink Mocha Frappuchino, Reg $3.75 USD, Tall $4USD



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Morality or Self-Discipline: To Be or Not To Be An Absolutist?

Some people are like a dam where one small hole appears and the dam cracks in two.

Other people are like a pressure cooker where the valve releases a bit of steam and prevents an explosion.