Category Archives: Life

Happy Birthday Little Miss

Today is one of my closest friends’ birthday – little miss Elia turns 22 today. About time, I guess. She’s the youngest one in our click. She’s not even a 1980s person. Isn’t that so sad, everyone?

But no matter, as little miss folds another year of her life today, I figured what better way to make her want to shoot me on her birthday than to write a blog post to wish her a happy birthday. Also, just for your information, she recently took shooting lessons so I’m putting my life on the edge over here. Yes, dear reader, you’re welcome.

So miss Elia, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you – poor ependorf tubes will miss you immensely as you celebrate your day. For those of you who don’t know, Elia is soon to be a biology MS holder (no that’s not multiple scleroris although I think all the time she spends culturing her precious cells will eventually lead her to have this). Her favorite passtime other than watching The Vampire Diaries, which she vehemntely refused to watch until my awesome persuasion skills overtook her, is to cultivate cells and attempt to “teach” biology students how to act like scientists (and limit their answers in the allocated space she has given them, which is in itself one of the most impossible things in the world, akin to asking a philosophy major to shut up).

And then I figured, who would make Elia very happy if he/she wished her a happy birthday? And the answer was so obvious that I decided to get him/her to do it. Sadly, it’s no me. But:

I’d quote Izzie over here. But that would be weird. Happiest birthday missy. May you have a hundred birthdays more during which you always remain kind, you always remain smart. You’ll always be important.

Michel Hayek’s 2012 Predictions

When I was younger – way younger to be exact – I used to get excited about New Year’s Eve when Michel Hayek came up on our TV sets to give us a “glimpse” through his “gift” of what the coming year held.

As I grew up, I became more critical of the “information” he gave us through his “visions.” I began to think of them as bland, useless, very obvious…. 2012 wasn’t any different.

If you thought this post is a list of his predictions, you won’t be very disappointed because his predictions can be compared to the following story that I was once told by an old man I know:

“I once met a man that you know but I won’t tell you who. He rolled up in front of a store whose name I cannot mention in a black, big car. I won’t tell you the make. That man told me a very interesting story. I can’t tell you that story. He was also very funny. I can’t tell you the joke either. But then something happened – a very dark, mysterious thing whose nature I cannot divulge. And the man became very sad, the kind of sadness I cannot describe. But somehow, things got better. He got into the car which I cannot give you more details about and drove away from the store. But let me tell you this, that conversation was hilarious.”

Did you get anything out of that story? No? Well, those are Michel Hayek’s 2012 “predictions” for you – unless you’re too keen on believing our national currency, the lira, won’t collapse and that the oil we’ve discovered off our shores will solve our national debt in the long run and that the political situation will remain troubled and that there will be sadness for the arts in Lebanon (Isn’t Sabah 90 and very ill?) Except those are obvious things anyone can deduce.

But if you are still adamant on checking them, here you go.

Well, till 2013 I guess. At least we’ll have elections then.

Lebanon in the 1960’s – The Golden Age

Almost all our parents tell us about the days when Lebanon was the golden country of the region. They tell us about the days when Beirut was called the Paris of the Middle East. They tell us about “Sahet Al Burj” (now Martyr’s Square in Downtown) and how lively it was.

We also heard stories about the train that used to run in Lebanon. I, for one, have a family member that worked as a train conductor back in the days.

But for all they are, these tales remain as they are – stories – of a long lost past that we try to make out pictures for in our mind.

How about a real-life video of Lebanon in the 1960’s? Well, there’s just the thing. And it’s a few minutes long, done by Harold Baim for the BBC. Bank Audi’s ad about the importance of the “lira” apparently took a scene straight out of this.

I, for one, had a sad smile as I watched this. It made me proud to know that my country was simply this awesome at one time. It also makes me really sad that it’ll be very difficult for us to get this back.

Women wore bikinis to the beach and didn’t care to be filmed. Jounieh’s bay actually has green spaces. Beirut’s skyline isn’t full of useless ugly high-rises. Perhaps the only place in the video that still looks pretty much the same is the gorgeous Lebanese North – mostly because it is one of the country’s most underdeveloped areas.

But who or what are we to blame? our go-to-for-blame sectarian political system? Absolutely not. We only have ourselves to blame: letting foreign armies into our land to govern us, not having any futuristic approach regarding civil planning, selling land to whoever and however, demolishing Beirut and turning into an identity-less concrete mess – even building inside cemeteries.

We may not be able to turn the clock. But at least you can stop the hurt before it runs deeper than it does today. Maybe it’s time to lessen the endless political bickering and focus on laws that help us preserve whatever identity we have left.

Former culture minister Salim Warde had a great initiative regarding this, one that got shoved into the depth of some bureaucratic drawer as his government toppled. This legislation is something we terribly need right now.

“Without roots and heritage there is no future,” Warde said. Perhaps by having tangible proof of ours, we can work towards saving our future.

Memories From Lebanese Christmases

The Christmas tree & Nativity Scene at my home
There’s a reason Christmas is the favorite time of the year of many people. I am one of those people.

No matter how hard life could be treating me – regardless of whether my problems can be considered grand or minute – I always find the Christmas spirit creeping up on me as soon as November turns its last page.

There’s just something about this holiday that transcends hardships, the division of religions… and there’s more to it than the glitter of Christmas decorations and gift purchases. To me, Christmas runs deeper than that.

My earliest Christmas memory is from back when I was three. I remember getting this present involving a “car” which ran on batteries that were recharged out of an electric socket. It was pretty high-tech back then. That same Christmas eve, it snowed in my hometown – the very first Christmas I remember was white.

But what’s probably the highlight of that Christmas for me was not the very awesome gift I got or the snow that piled up outside my room’s windows. It was sitting with my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunt and baby brother, next to a fireplace as my mother chanted Christmas hymns.

My mother has a terrific voice, which she inherited from her father whom I never knew and her singing Majida El Roumi’s “Bilayli Berdani” on that night will forever be ingrained in my memory: the way this simple song was able to keep the light in the room when it was dark.

However, as one grows up, the joy that is brought by Christmas starts to lessen. You get more excited about the vacation you’ll get from school and the gifts you’ll receive from various family members much more about the obvious meaning of the holiday.

The Pope called this in this year’s Christmas sermon “superficial glitter” – and he’s absolutely right. We stop at the superficial regarding Christmas without ever going a little deeper than that. Even the word Christmas has a contracted form now in the form of X-mas. How hard could it be for anyone to type five extra letters, I have no idea.

Whenever Christmas rolls around, shops start to get their prices ready for the huge influx of shoppers that are there to spend their paychecks. And we’ve all done it. But I, for one, don’t do it because I feel like getting gifts is something I have to do, although I admit when the shopping gets horrible I begin to wonder why I’ve gotten myself into that mess. Why I get gifts is because I feel happy when I see my grandmother smile as I hand her a sweater or my mother have a tear in her eye as I give her the perfume I bought her.

The joy that comes from Christmas is not one from the materialistic. It’s a joy that flows around the air, that transcends the mundane motions that going through life entails. It is the happiness you feel when you’re at a shopping mall and you find a father carrying his toddler son on his shoulders and dancing to the tunes of Christmas songs blasting through the speakers. It is the unconscious smile you have on your face when you see an impromptu Christmas parade around the streets in Achrafieh, knowing that no matter how grim the situation might be, this a time for everyone to be happy.

The joy from Christmas comes from the warmth of your family all huddled next to you, sharing a meal, hoping that these people will be present at this same meal the following year. The joy from Christmas arises from the distinct memories you have of every Christmas eve you’ve lived through – and how even through the darkest places your family has gone through, you can still find smiles on that day.

Merry Christmas to all. And on the day where God gave the world His Son, whether you believe that happened or not, it is fitting that you also give back to those who are less fortunate. Donate to a charity, or a cause or anything you might see fit. Give and let live. Forgive those who have trespassed against you for that is the true meaning of Christmas.

And on this Christmas, my heart goes out to all the people in the world who are suffering because of their beliefs, especially the Christians of Egypt and Iraq. May they find the peace they need with the smiles they have on Christmas day.

Destroying Beirut’s Culture: Achrafieh’s Mar Mitr Construction Site

It’s sad to see Beirut losing its culture with all these new buildings replacing better looking older ones daily. It hurts to see your capital slowly turn from a city with architectural taste to a concrete mess. But I never thought I’d see a construction site in the middle of a cemetery – let alone one of the most famous cemeteries of Achrafieh: Mar Mitr.

As I walked back from ABC with a friend yesterday, that friend (being the staunch Orthodox that he is) wanted to visit Mar Mitr for a few minutes. So I wandered around the mausoleums, which I find breathtaking, only to find a horrific site. Next to where people like Gebran Tueini are buried is what appears to be an extension of the church next to the cemeteries. And since space is sort of limited, what did those in charge think as the next best thing? Build on top of the mausoleums of course.

So instead of Mar Mitr being a collection of these:

It now has this to add to its “flavor”:

You’d think the block of concrete forming the Spinneys parking lot next to the cemetery would be enough. Apparently not. You know, sometimes a church is just good the way it is. I’m pretty sure extending the Mar Mitr church isn’t of a vital necessity.