Run, Forrest

Direct quote from my brother's e-mail--

"Don't do anything stupid, and if shit goes down, run."

I think he's trying to be funny. But where Oh, Charlie, shall I run? South--oh wait, that's a foreign territory that had been illegally occupied by Israel for 18 years and is now being pounded by it. They took out all the major bridges yesterday.

Then there's the east, towards Damascus. . . But then I'd be caught in the traffic with all the tourists from the Gulf who are hightailing it out of here.

And anways, since October, Syria has been giving Americans a hard time getting in. I went about 5 weeks ago with 2 Lebanese friends to go wedding shopping for a day. At the border, the Syrian officials told me that I'd probalby have to wait 8, 10, 12 hours. . .who knows? Could I go and come back? No. If I get the visa today, can I come in later with that visa? No. You must wait here and then when we decide to give you the visa (they say they have to fax people somewhere and wait for something), you must proceed directly. So I just came back. I went to Syria and Jordan last year twice. There was no problem.

Then there's the sea, but Israel has imposed a blockade. Can I swim to Cyprus?

I actually know these Americans who are so freaked out right now that one of them is paying a driver $600 to drive her to Aleppo, Syria, which I think is about 15 hours.

It's going to kill our tourism, and the economy. But at least right now these taxi drivers can get $200 from a Saudi to drive them from Beirut up to Aley in the mountain, where I live. It costs me $0.67 when I take the van with the Syrian workers or even less when I take the public bus.

And then there's my dad's e-mail message--

"I hope you are wll and safe. Make every effort to get out of there and come home. Dont wait any longer. Things will not get any better. Recover your passport and just pack a backpack and find you way out."

He's not trying to be funny. He's being serious. At the time (yesterday morning) I thought it was a little over the top. Now, it doesn't seem that silly.

I was at a birthday party about 10 minutes from my house. My dad called from Brazil and convinced me that I needed to get my bag ready, because if they do an evacuation I won't have that much time. I haven't packed the bag--but I'm mentally planning. All I need is my computer. I just need to start backing up, but I'm blogging instead. (That's a brain back up anyways.)

And then there's mom who immediately started calling the State Department. I thought that was funny and mom-ish and over-the-top in that mom-ish sort of way. But actually with all the calling that we Americans have been doing today, passing along her information has been very helpful for all the others.

Either way. I appreciate the e-mails and the calls.