Hugging the Mediterranean

It's a little too late to go back to the beginning and give a detailed account of trip so far, but a few observations should be relayed.

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The eight-hour stop over in Dubai was fun for the first few hours. But given that I hadn't gotten much sleep on the way over (Emirates spoiled me with food and television. As a suggestion, do not watch the following: Enchanted, Definitely Maybe, Vantage Point. Do watch: The Office, Scrubs), after the initial awe of the infamous duty-free airport wore off, the rest of the time was spent desperately trying to keep myself awake. It became a routine too: Read, walk around, drink caffeine, roam the stores, sit down, repeat.

I still remember some of the candies and chips they have. Seeing Arabic on almost everything was a good reminder that I wasn't at some mall in the U.S.

Coffee can cost up to $5.

However, a huge Toblerone bar can cost up to only $8 (Yes, Joey, you can have all the chocolate you want!).

There are more South-Asians at the Dubai airport than I have seen in my life. I am sure that is an exaggeration but not too far off.

Hijabis definitely know how to dress, even when they're wearing all black. Apparently the hijabs and clothes come with shiny sequences. Talk about bling.

People generally stand two inches away from you if you are using a phone or the internet. This does not bode well for me given that I usually need at least a foot of space from people.

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When I landed in Beirut, the first thing I saw was a line of run-down homes hugging the airport. The thought of having to hear multiple airports land and take off day and night was a bit nauseating. In general, people at the airport were nice. I discovered I can't get away with pretending to be Lebanese. As soon as I passed security, I was surrounded by people screaming "Pakistani! Pakistani!". I hear Pakistanis fare better here than they do in Syria...(In fact, I have only gotten mistaken for an Indian once while I was getting coffee at my office and someone said "namaste!")

Taxi ride from the airport was interesting. I had to argue excessively in order not to be heavily overcharged for a 10 minute taxi ride from the airport to my hotel. After the argument, the driver mentioned something about principles which I found somewhat ironic. I pulled a Friedman and couldn't resist asking him about the new president. He said he was excited because the new president seemed to be neutral. That opinion was confirmed by one of the receptionists at the hotel. The hotel, by the way, is small, but everyone is incredibly nice and knows you by name (Cheers!).

In general, people here have been incredibly nice, even when they discover I can't speak Arabic or French. (Even though I have one year of Arabic, formal language doesn't cut it and I find that even when I speak in it, people don't quite understand.) If people are not nice, they are at least helpful...like the many taxi drivers I have had encounters with. Sometimes you get lucky and they take you exactly where you need to go but other times they drop you off around the general area and overcharge you. Even when you argue with them.

Yesterday I had to take the taxi four times. It was probably the longest day I've had here yet.