Two Years Ago

Two years ago now we were living in Lebanon. It had been a wonderful almost a year. The Boss was finishing up the 2nd grade at Broumana High School and getting ready for summer camp.

In the 2 weeks between our neighbors from the States came to visit and see the country. We went all over the place. We visited places I hadn't seen since my first visit to meet Baba's family when the Boss was a year old.

Since Baba was working here in Kuwait we visited places with my SIL and Baba's aunt. SIL took us to visit Our Lady of Light, where a Greek captain's ship had been saved because he saw lights on the mountain which led him to safety. We went to Moussa's castle, which is a real treat. The re-creations of traditional Lebanese daily life is neat.

We visited Our Lady of Lebanon on our own. It's pretty easy to get to. You have two options. You can drive to Jounieh and go down to the coast to catch the Teleferique (or, as our friend called it, the Tele-ferique-me-out) and ride up in a cable car over the highway, apartment buildings, trees, up the mountain to Harisa to the shrine. With all the daily power outages in Lebanon we'd never been stuck in the Teleferique until that trip up with our friends. We were almost there, hanging over the pine trees, when we suddenly stopped. S and her son were facing us so she found it easier to keep her eyes open as we were swinging. The kids and I, however, were facing the horizon, so keeping my eyes open just made me rather sick, so I preferred to keep them closed. I expected a jerk when we started up again but it was very smooth. However, I have to say I prefer to just drive up to Harisa. It's not a bad drive, very nice, actually.

I like the story of Our Lady of Lebanon. She was built looking over the sea. But during some bad fighting during the civil war, she suddenly turned and now faces Beirut. Apparently the Vatican has sent people to investigate how it happened and they haven't been able with all their experts to figure out how it happened. You see Christians and Muslims visiting her. Mary is very important in Islam, being the mother of one of their prophets. In fact, this last summer there was a Muslim family visiting when we were. The mother was fully covered. Her kids were up on the stairs climbing up to the statue and her son was yelling down to her. About all I could see of her was her eyes and that was enough...the universal look a mortified mother.

After our trip back down we walked around in Jounieh. It's an old port with lots of picturesque charm. If you like sidewalk cafes and quaint shops...you'll love Jounieh.

While our friends were with us the Boss began to complain of a stomach ache. He had them very frequently and it was getting to be a regular occurance. But this time he was really moaning and complaining but he's known for going for the drama when he's wanting attention. And, let's face it, the twins were getting most of it due to being 2 years old. We were getting in the car to go to the movies and all of a sudden he started crying loudly and saying that it really hurt. We went back inside and rested until my appointment (I had made an appointment with the doctor because I wasn't feeling very well) and then I took him with me. The dr. examined him first and said it felt like his appendix. He called his surgeon friend at Bhannes hospital and said he was sending us there. I stopped by the house where our friends were watching the twins and let them know where we were heading. I took him to the ER and they immediately put him in a room and had him hooked up to an IV. The last time he'd had a shot it took myself, my SIL, and the doctor to hold him down. I wasn't going through that again. He'd gotten a GameBoy for Christmas so I told him, when the dr. mentioned a blood test, that if he was good, I'd get him a game cartridge. When the nurse came in with the IV before we even saw the doctor, I said I'd get him two. Then when the doctor said it was his appendix and he was doing surgery, I upped it to 3.

I called Big M (their godfather) and he got in touch with Baba who arranged to come in the next day. Two days after the surgery the Boss was discharged and we hopped in the car and drove to Jeita Grotto for more sightseeing (since the surgery had interrupted that). M and Baba carried him up and down the multitude of steps but otherwise he did fine.

The next day we went to St. Charbel. I like his story too. He was a priest in Lebanon who was very devout. The other priests in his monastery were jealous of him and decided to play a trick on him. One day he asked someone to bring him a lamp. As a joke they decided to fill the lamp with water instead of oil. When he put the match to it, it lit! Imagine their surprise. Guess the joke was on them, huh?

We had so much fun with our friends that summer. They'd heard about Lebanon about us for ages and they finally got to see it for themselves. A few days after they left the Boss started summer camp at BHS. Not long after that Israel and Hezbollah started going at it and S was worried about the people she'd met and the places she'd seen. But that's another post.

In a week and a couple of days we'll be there again! Whoohoo! I think the first restaurant I want to visit is Alcatraz. They have the best fish. They have other stuff too but I can't get enough of that fish. We're heading to the beach. Summer camp doesn't start until the 8th so we can hit it on weekdays and miss a lot of the crowds, I'm hoping. I have a new swimsuit that I ordered last summer and didn't get to wear until a few weeks ago at the water park. I'm looking forward to putting it to very good use. I'm also putting all those hills where we live to good use and walking with my iPod everyday so I don't look so hideous all summer in that swimsuit. LOL