Welcome to Lebanon

Black clouds pressing on Beirut
Originally uploaded by Jane Rubio.

Probably the most sarcastic phrase ever evented. Whenever something jacked up happens, the people explain it and then end the explanation, with a smile and "Welcome to Lebanon."

For example, when I bought a callback card and the company told me they issued a new one and I'd have to go back to the place where I bought it to exchange it, I went and of course the people there didn't know anything about it. A dude in the store who spoke English, just kind of smiled at my muddling through my attempt to get the right card. He was like "Callback is illegal in Lebanon. You're not going to see your money. . .Welcome to Lebanon."

And then there's the whole no lights/no electricity thing. The lights go out all the time. Nobody flinches. I've learned to carry around a flashlight with me at all times. (Always have wallet, keys, phone, flashlight.) The people here say this is normal. They lived through a war. They always had there flashlights. I just live in a place where the second biggest generator in the country broke because they kept putting off reparing a leaky ceiling. Every other night in Aley at 6 p.m. the power goes out. But that's okay because Aley was a hotzone during the war, and everyone has a generator. . . Welcome to Lebanon.

And then of course is the crazy weather. Snow, clear, sleet, clear, hail, clear. The way you say winter in Arabic is shitty. (It's a similar word for rain, too. Or maybe I'm just confused. . . This happens a lot.) It's a fun English pun. "Winter here is shitty. Welcome to Lebanon."

It's snowing in Aley right now. So I'm stuck in my apartment blogging. I could risk my life and go down to Beirut. But the Damascus Highway is very dangerous even when weather conditions aren't crazy. Dilek is under four feet of snow in Bcharre. The weight of it knocked down a grape orchard and somehow knocked out the electricity. . .Welcome to Lebanon!!