I never seem to be able to figure out how to create a headline for these posts. Hmmf. Anyway! Got lots of things to tell you and a bunch of pics, which I will have to put in at a later date because.... never mind!
So today I ran the "10 K", as they call it, read: 10km run, as part of the Beirut International Marathon. 17,000 people ran in it as well, but it felt more like 170,000!!! Major crowd event!!!! It was part of a charity run for work, raising awareness for a project that tries to get kids out of work and back into school. So we weren't timed but happily running along with some colleagues from the office (Lili wenn Du das liest: meine Zeit war ungefaehr so wie bei unserem ersten Lauf, allerdings war es hier auch ziemlich heiss und sehr huegelig... ;) ) and it was quite an experience. Great fun to be part of it!! Also running as official teams were the Bank of Beirut (they must have had about 200 people), SonyEricsson, just about every business in Beirut and even (!) UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon as well as various branches of the security services (identified by their black tank tops with 'Security Forces' printed on them). Everybody was in for the advertising space! It just so happened that today was actually the first really warm day since I've been here, about 26 degrees I think and it was quite a hike up the steep hills here at times - and there was an especially evil climb of about 300m just before the finish line....!
Hmmm, what else... on Friday I went to a major club called Basement. I have to say it's been a very long time that I've partied like I do here. It just feels like everybody's out there to have 100%, no-inhibitions-whatsoever parties. And so far it's always been really great fun, even if the music may at times have been questionable.... especially at this pub we went to beforehand, which was playing nothing but R&B non-stop and at top volume, making any conversation virtually impossible, and which appears to be a favourite hangout for hip hop style dudes.


Before that I went to have dinner at 'Flying Pizza', decorated entirely in 80s style with a lovely Versailles-garden wallpaper completely covering one wall and a model chopper hanging from the ceiling. Apparently the owner used to be a pilot and the place was frequented by air hosts&hostesses back in the day. Or something like that. In any case it's a really nice place!


And the other evening there was a lecture by Rashid Khalidi, a historian who now teaches at Columbia Uni in NY, on 'Iraq & American Empire' held at the super-elite American University here... everybody's favourite quote of the evening was that George W.'s administration was 'faith-based and fact-free', and he had lots of similarly witty and scorching rants to give about the administration, the U.S. media etc. Very entertaining, if not really a big revelation.
Otherwise I'm trying to figure out where I can take Arabic classes that won't cost a fortune - I literally haven't spoken a word of Arabic since I've been here, especially in Ashrafiyeh you can get by without ever knowing the language it seems. I really have to do something about this. I try to pick things up by listening to the radio and watching TV - I figured watching the Smurfs in Arabic should be about my level. But even there I don't understand very much and I definitely need some teaching and lots of practice!!