The Lebanese Official Exams (SV/SG/SE/LH/Brevet) Results

It was a weird month this July. Apart from the unbelievable heat and the dismal electricity, among other things, my hometown didn’t have bursts of fireworks every 2 days starting mid July as students passed their official exams and either advanced to high school or to universities.

The official exam results were nowhere to be found. And I hadn’t given it much attention until I asked a friend whom I knew had sat for the exams back in early June if she passed or not and she said the results weren’t out yet.

But it’s August! I said. She shrugged. There was nothing the students could do.

It seems the teachers whose job was to correct the exam were on a strike. A strike against a government that refused to give them their lawful rights in wage increases whilst it gave those rights to the professors at the Lebanese University after they closed down said university for months last year.

This government – arguably the worst that has governed Lebanon in many years – apparently doesn’t care that there are students who don’t know if they can pay their enrollment at universities. They don’t care that there are students who might fail and with each passing day they lose hope of ever having a second round of exams soon. They don’t care that they’re literally ruining the life of teenagers whose only fault was to sit for an exam they were forced to take in this God-forsaken country.

The minister of education on the other hand apparently had the audacity to throw threats around. The fact that the results that should have been out early July weren’t out by early August wasn’t indicative enough for him to know exactly how horrible a job he’s doing. But no matter… the results will be out tomorrow, Saturday August 4th.

Starting in the afternoon, students can text their corresponding exam branch (SV/SE/LH/SG/Brevet) followed by their student number to 1070. SV (LS) and SG  (GS) results will be out tomorrow while the other ones will follow soon after.

So for instance if you are SV and your number is 20842 (that was mine back in 2007), you text: SV 20842 and you send it to 1070. You will get a reply with your result: whether you passed or not.

I have no idea if texting that number is free of charge or if it’ll cost students. I’m fairly certain it’ll the latter, adding insult to injury: they wait a month and a half for results that they will have to pay to get. Let’s jump on any way to make money off of people.

Good luck to all the students and for those who aren’t so lucky, it won’t be the end of the world.

Blaming Gebran Bassil (#BlameBassil) Now Has a Website:

One of the “in” things in Lebanese society at the moment is basically blaming Gebran Bassil about, well, everything. In order to do that, some people have come up with a website especially for this purpose after Twitter user @Elysak came up with the idea back in February, I believe.

The website is: www.blamebassil.com

It’s basically a twitter feed of the #BlameBassil hashtag. And as you can see, people are loving it.

Personally, I think people who don’t see the sarcasm behind it are being a little harsh on him. Either way, it’ll remain a way to vent and for people to have some fun. When it gets down to it, I’m probably one of the few people on Twitter who can actually vote for or against Gebran Bassil next year. Any bids for that?

Stick around for a few minutes on the website. The funniest part is something that pops up every now and then. But don’t be too startled.

Summer in Lebanon: A Trip Through the Lebanese Mountains

After much talk, a few friends and I decided to go on a North Lebanon road trip yesterday that took us through Batroun to Tannourine from which we crossed over to Becharre, descended to the Bekaa and then returned to Ehden.

Massive amounts of driving aside, I took a few pictures that I figured I’d share with you. All of these pictures were taken with a Nikon D5100 and weren’t modified in any way. I’m also not a professional photographer so these aren’t supposed to be perfect – they’re there to show the beauty of the Northern Lebanese mountains.

Some of the cedars at Tannourine

The cedars of Becharre

Residual snow

Lebanon’s highest peak – Kornet el Sawda

The Bekaa valley

Saydet el Hosn – Ehden

And the following picture I took with my iPhone and modified using Camera+:

This is what you see when you’re literally above cloud nine

 

Blown Away (Music Video) – Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood has released the music video for her second single (review) off her album of the same title (review): Blown Away.

After a few months of waiting and increasing hype, which culminated in a competition for radio stations for the right to hold a premiere for the music video, the video is finally here.

A few comments:

  • The video is very well done. The build up is intense albeit the ending was a bit disappointing and too colorful for my taste. A shot of the destroyed house to the backdrop of retreating storm clouds would have been more dramatic than the current way the video ends.
  • The Wizard of Oz inferences are present throughout: be it the yellow brick road, the tornado, plaid shirt, red shoes, scarecrow in the cellar and Carrie’s own puppy as Todo.
  • The relationship with the dad could have been illustrated a notch more. Instead of a history homework problem at the beginning, why couldn’t they take it to where the song clearly says the relationship is? The father looks like a drunk in the video – not an abusive father. You need to make that jump through the song but the video could have easily illustrated that.
  • There were small hints throughout the video that tie in very well with the song such as the main character touching a grave and walking through a cemetery around the lines “mama was an angel in the ground.”

Overall, one of Carrie’s best. Some of the comments above are merely being nitpicky about the video. But it’s truly, really, well-done.

Congratulations Lebanon. The Whole Country Won’t Have Electricity Tonight!

EDL held a meeting this afternoon – exceptionally – to bestow upon us the good news. (Source).

You don’t get electricity. I don’t get electricity. We ALL don’t get electricity.

What’s electricity useful for again?

Why do they want to bring the whole country into blackout? Because EDL HQ have apparently been occupied by workers who don’t really work and who are displeased by the decision to let them off.

Therefore, somehow, making the whole country suffer is the way those whose jobs are safe at EDL decide to retaliate .

I guess those 2 or 3 hours were also considered as too much for people like us.

I never thought I’d say this but I actually want Gebran Bassil to come out winning of this. Enough with the pandering of nonexistent resources. Enough with useless workers breaking the back of whatever we have left in our coffers. Enough with politicians getting their people a job they will never attend to just because they need their votes every few years.

To all you couples out there, candlelight dinners are especially romantic. Perhaps the state of hopelessness will get you to seek a higher degree of comfort… if you know what I mean.