End of our mini-vacation: returning the crappy car to the hotel

What sore muscles we all woke up with the next day! We had planned to visit Baalbeek but canceled and decided to save that trip for another time. We were all just too tired. When I returned the car later to the Gefinor Rotana, I complained. Such a prestigious hotel – The Gefinor Rotana in Beirut - should not have such a crappy car rental service. A car rental company should not – and certainly not as established as Europcar - rent out old, bad, dirty cars. Ever. And you really shouldn’t promise “immediate” service if you have no means of delivering it. We will never rent from Europcar/Lentacar at the Gefinor Rotana in Beirut again, and I already advised some of our neighbors who inquired about out rental experience not to rent from them.

How did the rental car representative react to my complaints? Did he offer me a refund? Free extra days? No. Nothing. He didn’t even apologize. He noted that he was aware of what had happened. And that was that. Bad, bad, bad!

So there you have it. Our little mini-holiday was not all smooth and pleasant, but it was really great to get out of town a bit and experience something different. And the moments that were good were truly wonderful. As soon as we find a better car rental company we will give Lebanon another shot. I still really want to visit Baalbeek, and we definitely need to hit the slopes again soon.

Mini-vacation day four: skiing

We had been told that there would be crowds of people at the ski resorts, but traffic to Faraya was surprisingly sparse. In fact, the roads were so calm, I wondered what was wrong. Had somebody issued an evacuation of Beirut without our knowledge? When we first spotted the snow, approaching the resort, the boys started jumping up and down in the back seat, shouting from joy. 

We were a couple of kilometers from Faraya when we finally ran into the crowds. A long, long line of cars, inching their way up the last couple of kilometers to the bottom of the slopes. It had taken us about an hour to get this close, and we proceeded to spend another hour in line. When we finally reached the entrance to Mzaar ski resort, we were told by a military man that we could not enter because our car was not a four wheel drive. What?! So after all that waiting, we had to turn around and park along the way. I really, really wished they had told us earlier, or put up a sign. Sigh. We proceeded to walk the last kilometer to the slopes, uphill, through water and slush, between cars. Me, carrying Abraham. By the time we got to the slopes we were exhausted. We ate our sandwiches – there’s nothing like a tasty, home packed lunch to cheer you up! - and proceeded to find out where we could get the lift passes and rent equipment. Both proved to be easy and not very expensive, although we barely needed the latter. Since it was the first time skiing for the boys, we spent the next couple of hours going over basic techniques and not covering any real slope. I showed the boys how to plow and turn, and use their bodies to control their skis, and I spent a lot of time helping them up after a fall. Although I didn’t get to try the slopes, I was excited to be back on skis and happy to see the boys learn. Next time I do some more advanced skiing. For Abraham we rented a sled, and after the boys got tired of skiing, we spent some time sledding with Abraham. We stayed until we were all too wet and cold, not to mention tired, to play any more, and then we headed home. What a great day!

Mini-vacation day three: a breather

We didn’t get food poisoning, but on Friday morning Courtney woke up with a master cold, so we decided to take a day to rest. I used the car to compliment our shopping at Fahed’s with some more shopping at TSC. Our entire family hates shopping and dreads the necessary taxi trips to and from the store three to four times/month, so I was hoping to get enough stocked up so that we wouldn’t have to go back for a while. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house, doing laundry and getting ready for our trip the next day – destination: Lebanon’s snowy mountains.

Mini-vacation day two: Tyre

We set out early on Thursday morning, armed with home-made sandwiches, drinks and snacks, as well as two guidebooks, heading south, destination: Tyre. All was going well – very well in fact, with close to no traffic and a beautiful coastal drive in wonderful weather – until the signs that said “Tyre, 26 km” suddenly were covered with warnings, and information in Arabic that we couldn’t make out. Unsure what to do, we figured we’d keep driving until we came upon something. Very soon we did: large, white tanks with "UN" written on them, barricades and a check-point with very professional looking soldiers with big guns, who had us turn back around. We drove to the previous exit and got off the highway. After a quick check on the map, we decided to go inland and around to circumvent the area that seemed to be blocked off. A few wrong turns, several UN check-points, and a wonderful picnic in the beautiful mountains later, we arrived in Tyre. We parked by the port, and walked through the souk (check out the electrical wiring!), spent some time on the beach (the Mediterranean always takes my breath away, no matter the season!), and then visited the archeological sites. There were a few other tourists there, but no more than we could count on our one hand. The sky was blue, the sea breathtaking, and the boys enjoyed the Roman remains, the Hippodrome in particular, which was very well preserved.

Before leaving Tyre we had dinner at the highly recommended – by both Globetrotter and the Lonely Planet – restaurant Le Petit Phoenicien. Why not round off a great day with some fresh seafood and good Lebanese mezze, right? Well. One very old man ran the restaurant himself, and both had obviously seen their better days a long time ago. Only the fish was fresh. The rest of the food that the man served us was rotten. In fact, Courtney only smelled the tabbouleh and the hummus before deciding not to eat it, but I had to taste it. Boy do I regret that! Definitely rotten, with some other unidentifiable taste on the side. How in the world did this restaurant ever end up in such recognized travel guides?? Even the bread was stale. We picked a little at the fresh fish, and had the complimentary oranges, hoping we would not all be sitting with our heads in a toilet later that night. Courtney noticed that the man saved the food we had rejected, and put it back in the containers it came from. Euw. On our way home – which we found a better road for – we concluded that it was the worst meal in a restaurant we had ever paid for. And it was expensive!

For more pictures from Tyre, see them here.

Mini-vacation day one: Car rental break down

We haven’t traveled around Lebanon much since we moved here. First we didn’t have the money, and then we didn’t have time or quite the confidence or knowledge enough to put a trip together. Since Christmas though I’ve had a growing desire to get out of town and explore something new, so I went online one day and reserved a car for a few days during the week between semesters.

We rented our car from the Gefinor Rotana hotel close to campus here in Beirut, so that I could walk and pick up the car. Last time we rented a car, it was from Sixt over on Mazraa, and although we were very happy with them, their offices are so far away that I had to take a taxi to pick up the car (or pay a fee for delivery), and then back home after returning it, adding inconvenience and extra costs. Walking over to the hotel seemed like the perfect solution.

The lesson we learnt here is that a convenient solution is not always the best solution. Our first day, excited to set out and leave Beirut behind us for a day, we decided to drive across the mountains to Anjjar – not too far away, yet far enough, and it looked interesting. After an hour and a half of driving on the Damascus road, somewhere in a small village up in the mountains, the car broke down. Just like that. It over-heated and died. I called the number the guy at Gefinor Rotana had written down for me, and it didn’t work, so I called him directly. By chance I had got his number while filling out the paper work at the hotel. He pretty much quoted our car rental broschure and assured me that someone would come to us with a replacement car “immediately, within ½ hour!” I wondered how in the world that would be possible, since it had taken us and hour and a half through some pretty heavy traffic to get to where we were, but I thought that surely he must have something figured out, or else he wouldn’t commit to such service. Stupid me. (I should mention here that as an added touch to this already unpleasant experience, my cell phone - of course – ran out of battery after our initial call, and I couldn’t keep calling the guy to find out why nobody was coming or when we really could expect help. We just had to wait patiently.) After well over two hours of sitting around waiting with three antsy kids, a guy showed up with a really dirty, icky car – inside and outside. Of course we had no choice but to take it. It seemed to run fine, although it too obviously needed servicing, and the tires were very worn. Since most of the afternoon had been lost and it was too late to continue to Anjjar, we turned around and headed back to Beirut to at least get some shopping in. The boys were very disappointed but thankfully accepted the reality. Driving into Beirut, I managed to find Fahed’s, which Courtney had never been to, and we got some well-needed shopping done.

While we were sitting around waiting for our replacement car, we witnessed some kind of procession that took place by the local church in the little village we were stuck in. What seemed to be a very important man whose face we had seen on posters along the road was greeted by the congregation, a band played, and some kind of mass followed. Then there were fireworks – big ones. I’m sure they were amazing, but nobody could really tell since it was still light out. Yes. Immense fireworks during day-light. Why would someone put on fireworks while the sun was still up? Although we haven’t found an answer to this question, we later figured that the procession and the important man had something to do with this.

We haven't had much time together...

...so, this weekend we rented a car to get out of town for a few days. I will fill out the details of our adventures here in the next few days, but I already wanted to share a few pictures from our trip to Tyre today.

 

 

Homeschool blogging - who has the time?

For a completely overwhelming and very long list of blogs about homeschooling, look here.

Just when I started thinking it was possible for me to do it all…

Things have been crazy busy since the holidays, but somehow, I’ve managed to keep things together. The house has not fallen apart. The kids have been on the receiving end of some really good education. I’ve worked and made some money. The husband got published. Things suddenly seemed to be going so well, in fact, that last week, towards the end of the school week, I paused for a moment and thought,

“Wow, I’m really doing it! All of it. I can do it! The kids’ schooling is going well, we’re actively potty-training Abraham [read: keeping up with Abraham’s insistence on peeing and pooping on the floor around the house], I’m managing work, which means we have enough money to not have to worry so much, and the house is under control, because we’ve got a good routine going for everything, chores, shopping, exercise – yes! I run around the track every afternoon, and things are running smoothly…”

Within moments, literally, of me thinking this, it all fell apart.

I accepted a monster-job where I might have bit off more than I can swallow (it’s long and difficult); we decided this would be a good time to get out of town for a few days so we booked a car; we also decided this week would be good for socializing and booked a couple of dinners; Abraham got a cold – again; we realized it’s Abraham’s birthday this week and that we need to throw a party; and I got some kind of flu. Fever, really sore throat, body- and headaches, that seems to only be getting worse.

Sigh. Back to… not even square one, but – back paddling.  That’s it. Watch me! I’m back paddling!

Coughing all night

The boys all got colds towards the end of this school week. With Abraham's pneumonia fresh in memory, I’m a little worried, but the colds seem to be fairly mild. Last night was a bad night though, because Abraham had a cough that kept waking him up and then keeping him from sleeping. He cried - that tired, tortured cry that says, "I just want to sleep!" - and I held him upright a bit, rocking him, until he slept. After I’d pass out though, he'd wake up coughing again. This went on all night. Needless to say, today we are tired.

Nobody in our family used to have this kind of cough. I wonder if it's the humidity here in Beirut, and especially here right next to the sea?

A weekend to breathe

Yesterday I finished a fairly long translation on injection fuel systems in cars – I know, I really hit the jackpot this time as far as interesting subjects go! - and when I looked around me (kids and house a mess) I decided to turn down any further jobs this week. Although I don’t like turning down the money, I need a breather. I need to restore or even improve the house and make some organizational rearrangements, I need to recharge my energy (physically and emotionally), focus on the boys’ education and general well-being, blow some life into my husband who seems to be stuck in a kind of vacuum, and potty-train Abraham (none of the other boys were wearing diapers at his age, and although I’m all for individual development, enough is enough!).

Pinterest and material showcasing

Inevitable I’ve been pulled into yet another something to keep me from working: Pinterest. It started as innocently as anything else, with a mentioning here and there on all the social sites. Then the blogs I read (here's one of my favorites) started raveling about it, and eventually I was invited. Next thing I know, I’ve spent the better half of an hour one morning (which is precious time for me) ignoring housework, kids and most importantly my translation, going through this one lady’s amazingly creative photographs that show how beautifully she has transformed, organized anddecorated her house. Then, looking around my own house, I became depressed, and felt like an underachiever. First of all we don’t even own our house, and we don’t own most of the furniture in our apartment, and second of all, since we are not planning on staying here for very long and can’t really take anything with us when we move, we don’t buy anything unless it’s absolutely necessary. I would love to organize the boys’ toys with buckets and shelves, and install benches and desks with chairs in their room so that they could have a good place to do projects and play, but it would cost a lot of money, and in a year or two, we would have to give it up.

In the afternoon, I took the boys to the stationary shop because we needed more pencils, and when we were getting ready to leave, I spotted some cute little photo-frames in packages of three, on sale for $3. I threw them in with the rest of our stuff.

So here it is, my hasty, half-assed attempt to fit in and feel a little less like a person who has nothing material to show for anything. Not very warm, inviting or classy, I know, but I score some points for effort, right?

Let me know if you need an invitation to Pinterest!

The view from my bedroom window this stormy morning

Taking a post-work recovery day

I walked outside today and was almost blinded by the sun. I realized that I had not been outside for a couple of days and felt ashamed. I’ve been working – every moment that I was not doing urgent housework or teaching – on translations and editing jobs, and since we’ve had a sufficient amount of food and other necessities, leaving the house has not been absolutely necessary. 

(When I have deadlines and big jobs, like this past week, ‘absolutely necessary’ or ‘urgent’ are the only criteria that will put an activity ahead of work.)

Today, having finished all my job assignments for the week (and turned down a number of jobs), I am going over the house doing things that are just necessary (and not ‘absolutely’ necessary – I bet you have no idea how many days your kids can wear the same pair of jeans!), slowly working my way through a long list of chores, to where I can do something I don’t have to.

Boy, do I have plans! (If I get there.)

Discovering new shops in Beirut

So, while wandering away from a disappointing TSCPlus in Jnah the other day, our family accidentally walked into the top floor Monoprix. I had some vague idea of Monoprix being some kind of French version of Piggly Wiggly, but I really had no idea what to expect, and we didn’t see anything that would indicate this was a regular grocery store. Entering Monoprix was certainly a wow-moment even though we only saw clothes, cosmetics and the beginning of a linen/household department. Courtney and I looked at each other when we realized the potential of our discovery, and as we walked through the store, we got more and more excited, “Look at this!” Several things we have spent a lot of time searching for during our first year and a half here in Beirut were suddenly all available in one spot at reasonable prices: lamps, curtain rods, furniture, blankets, toys, and other household goods we still miss. We were so overwhelmed, and Abraham was getting impatient after our first failed attempt to shop at TSCPlus, that we decided not to buy anything in a haste, but to come back another day, more prepared. After all, we still needed to get food for the week. 

Weighed down by our immediate task, we proceeded to try and find our way out and make our way to Spinneys, when we noticed people were coming from somewhere with shopping carts, much like the ones a grocery store would provide. We asked a guard if there was a downstairs and he showed us the way to a set of escalators, leading, at this point in our view, to the gates of salvation: a new, exciting, seemingly nice and well-stocked grocery store, right there in front of us.

Although Monoprix didn’t carry all the things we needed (the cereal section left a few things to desire, and there was no beer (no alcohol section) which I needed for one of our recipes, it had *the* most incredible cheese- and deli-department, with Italian and French cheeses we had not seen since our last visits to those countries. In general, the store had an excellent selection of meats, cheeses, yogurts, and such, and I quite liked the fresh produce department and the bakery as well. Most of the prices were normal, the produce perhaps a little higher than we are used to. We left quite satisfied, although wishing we could have bought a nice bottle of wine with all the wonderful cheeses we had picked out. The guy who helped us out in the deli assured us that they would have an alcohol section ready within a couple of weeks, and I did notice that their advertisement showed that they had special prices on wine. All in all, it was a good shopping experience, and we’ll probably go back there soon, if nothing else to finally get us some curtain rods and lamps.

Welcome back! It's a new year!

A bit of a lapse on the blogging there. First we went crazy with the holiday preparations, with more elaborate recipes, complex food preparation sessions, happier activities, bigger presents and other magnified celebratory undertakings than in the past few years. We also hosted house guests for close to a week, took care of a neighbor’s guinea pigs for over three weeks (never, never again!!) and survived a stomach flu from hell (which we so generously shared with our house guests of course).

And here we are. A little over a week into the new year and I am desperately trying to regain the money spent by taking on more jobs than I can handle. The boys are getting back into their routine with a new schedule (it usually takes us about a week to start following it exactly, and another couple of weeks to completely abandon it again ,but the boys like schedules and lists, so I indulge them), and Abraham is going along with it in his leisurely way. The professor is - as always - in work-mode, with the additional end-of-the-semester exertions disrupting his thought process.

While trying to get over the hump that is January, our post-holiday recovery – pre-spring 2012 interlude, which encompasses mainly dull things like work, diet, and cleaning, I’ve set out to make the best of our daily routine and spice up little moments here and there when possible. (The other day, for example, instead of going to Spinneys in Jnah for our usual weekly shopping excursion, on a whim, we asked the taxi driver to take us to TSCPlus instead as to try something new. The store was really quite horrible and we soon left, however, while trying to figure out how to get to our regular Spinneys and estimating if we could walk, we walked into a different store we had never seen before or even thought of visiting, Monoprix, and boy, oh boy, what a find! More on this in a blog post tomorrow.)

So, if you have any tips or ideas on how to spice up those less exciting parts of life, like grocery shopping, grading, exam proctoring, long hours of translation work, Tuesday night dinner, school-lunches, laundry marathons and hours on the treadmill or around the track, then please, do share!