My Visit With Mirvate Days 3 and 4

I woke up this morning and realized that my prediction had been completely right. Let's say I was not feeling my best that morning, but I knew we had a big day so I had to wake up and get ready. At least I wasn't the only one in my family feeling under the weather. My parents were taking quite a while to get ready. Luckily, as we walked out of our room, we saw Mirvate preparing breakfast, which consisted of many similar things to an American breakfast, toast, jelly, eggs, and carob spread on pita bread. It was all quite delicious. Now normally Mirvate would be headed off to work, but for our trip only she has asked her son to fill in for her.

Today we decided to go to the ruins of the Baalbeck temples. It was really a sight to see. There were remnants of amazing structures, littered all around the grounds. I took lots of pictures, one of which I will show you. And to think that I barely knew this country existed just a month ago! As if reading my thoughts, Mirvate said "There are many more sights to see in Lebanon, it truly is a hidden gem.

After a while of exploring these amazing ruins, at was already starting to be late afternoon, so we decided to go get some lunch. Our lunch was very similar to tapas, where we got many tasters of lots of different dishes. Some of my favorite dishes were the baba janoush (eggplant dish), chich taouk (a chicken dish), and the mediterranean famous baklava. Of course, the was a dud every one in a while, but as a whole the lunch was very good. We had a two hour drive back to Mirvate's house, so we had to say goodbye to the quaint little town the ruins were located in. The drive back to Mirvate's house was very quiet; I think we were all just exhausted because of the little amount of sleep my family got last night. When we got home, we had a short dinner and headed off to bed so we could bank some extra hours of sleep.

When we woke up the next morning, we were all feeling much more rested, so we decided to do a little more with our day today. We had a very short breakfast, packed up our stuff and walked out to the car. We decided to go up to the Cedars of God forest, which is one of the most notable forests in Africa. The Cedar of the Gods forest is a one of a kind forest in the world, containing cedar trees that can be up to 3,000 years old! I was very excited to get to witness these trees in their natural environment.

When we got to the forest, I was in awe. The trees looked like giants, their protruding branches looking like outstretched hands. I immediately started taking pictures like a madman, until Mirvate started laughing and told me that we should start our hike. Let me tell you right now, our hike was not easy, we had to conquer steep hills, trudge through weathers up to 95 degrees fahrenheit (35 celsius). After an amazing hike, we started to approach the parking lot. I was happy to be able to sit down, but I was sad to leave the forest, because I would never experience anything like this again. Even the drive home was beautiful, with the rolling hills of of that arid country. There were scarcely trees, and lots of dry grass. It looked like wildfire central for most of the drive home!

We were very lively that night, talking about all that we had experienced that day. Even Mirvate had never been to that particular forest, and I am led to believe that she had as much of a good time as us. We said our good nights and then headed off to bed, we needed to bank some more sleep; another big day was around the corner.

My Visit With Mirvate: Final Days

I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning, we only had two days left on our trip! "Time has gone by so fast," I thought as I put my jacket on. Luckily, we might be able to do something on the last day of our trip, as our flight didn't leave until later in the day. Mirvate greeted us this morning with a cheese knefe, which is like a pancake that is filled with gooey cheese. It was delicious, and I had a feeling it would fill me up until our next meal of the day.

Today we decided to go big, since it was our last day together. We decided to go to (I know, this is very American of us) Waves Waterpark. I had looked them up on the internet, and they had tons of long and fun looking slides, so after lots of begging from me my family decided that we could go. We packed up our swim gear and headed off to the waterpark.

When we got there, we nearly had the place to ourselves, but we had a feeling that it would become more crowded as time went by. We knew the crowds were going to show up, so we hit the waterslides hard. Mirvate was a little scared to go on her first ride, but after that she was laughing alone with the rest of us. She was a maniac! She would do 180s, she would go down backwards, just watching her made us have more fun. After a while of riding, we decided to take a little break and have our picnic lunch that we prepared, but none of us were done with the slides just yet.

After lunch, we looked at the time and saw that it was already 2:00! Since it was a three hour drive back to Mirvate's house, we had to power for a few more hours and then we had to throw in the towel. Since there were six different slides, we could have stayed the whole next day, but before we knew it, we had to get back in our rental car and make the long journey back to Mirvate's house.

When we got back, we ate our dinner in silence. I suppose the meal was good, but I couldn't really taste it. All I was thinking about is that we had to leave the next day early in the morning. We had been avoiding thinking about this for days, but there was no mo denying it. It was our last night together. We all said our good nights and headed off to bed, with visions of our departure dancing in our heads.

The next morning, we woke up and solemnly started to pack our bags. There was a deep sadness building up inside me, this was started to be like a second home to me. I was getting so used to the delicious cuisine and scenery that going back home was starting to seem like a vacation itself. I was dreading having to say goodbye to Mirvate, she had been so good to use and so excited to see us, but our bags were packed and we were cramming them into the car.

We spent the car ride recapping the best parts of the trip. My favorite was the initial look on Mirvate's face when she recognized us. My dads favorite, no surprise, were the epic water slides that we went on the day before. Also not surprisingly, the water slides were also Mirvate's favorite part of our journey. Also, we watched the sun rise over the horizon, casting a peachy pink glow over the surrounding mountains.

Finally we had to say goodbye to Mirvate as we were walking through customs. We all kept our composures, but inside we all had a gaping hole. We promised to keep in touch, and then we turned our heads, and left Mirvate standing alone in the terminal.

My Visit With Mirvate: Days 1 and 2

"May I see your passports, please?" "Of course." I was nearly jumping up and down in anticipation. We were finally getting to go to Lebanon! Of course, it was still about 22 hours until we got there, but after 2 weeks of waiting in anticipation, a day seemed like no time at all. Either way, I knew these three flights were going to seem like forever. After what seemed like forever, we finally boarded the plane to Chicago. However, to my surprise, the five hours to Chicage seemed to go pretty fast, between my iPad, talking, and sleeping, we were in O'Hare International before we knew it.

The next 17 hours went by in a blur, and before we knew it, we were arriving into Tripoli, Lebanon. I was so excited! My parents once again warned me that her english was limited, but I didn't care. We waited in our rental car for about 10 minutes, until we saw a small figure lacking up to where we were parked. It was Mirvate! I don't think she recognized us at first, but then as she drew nearer, she realized it was us and a smile appeared on her face.

Unlike my visit with Maruge, I did not expect or give a hug this time, just a firm handshake and a warm smile. I had actually researched this ahead of time, so as to not offend Mirvate or her family. It was getting late, so we decided to just have Mirvate give us a quick tour of her neighborhood and her business and then it would be time for dinner.

Dinner Etiquette in Lebanon

Now I had also researched dinner etiquette in Lebanon on the internet, and it seemed to be quite complicated, with many crucial table manners. Now, I am not known to be rude at the table, but I am most certainly not acquainted with the rules of fine dining. This was actually one of the more stressful things about this trip, because the last thing I needed to do was be rude to Mirvate. Dinner went by alright though (not to mention the food was great), and next thing we knew it was time for bed.  Mirvate gave us her room which she shared with her husband, which was very selfless of her, and we had  a surprisingly good sleep, considering the time change.

The next day, we were very tired because of the time change, so we decided to take that day slow. We decided that Mirvate was just going to show us around the city. We found a little of everything in the second largest city in Lebanon, some breathtaking views, some heart-breaking sights, mansions, and slums. I really learned how opposite some styles of living could be in just one city. Even though I was hungry and waiting to get back to our house, I was almost sad when our little tour ended.

Dinner was, once again, a nervous spot for me, but I think Mirvate understood that we were not prepared for all of the etiquette that was accustomed in her household, but boy did she crack down on her child if he got out of line (which he did very little)! However, when we retired to our bedrooms, I had a feeling that I was not going to have the best night, and I was spot on in my predictions.

My Visit With Mirvate: Currency

Now that my family has both the transportation and the language worked out, the last thing we need to do is exchange some money into the Lebanese currency, which is called the Lebanese frank. We were hoping to do this before we get to Lebanon, because we don't have a sure place to do it once we are there. If Mirvate will let us, we are hoping to treat, so she doesn't have to spend any extra money on accommodating us.

We had a very hard time deciding how much money to exchange, but it didn't matter all too much if we went a little over, because whatever we had left over we were going to going to give to Mirvate's family to support their business. After all, not much you can do with Lebanese money in America!

Exchange rate (look at built in google widget)

We also had to keep a log of how much money we spent in total on our trip. My family that we would spend most of our expenses on travel in Lebanon and sightseeing, but food could also be a large factor in out finances. Overall, I personally hope we exchange a bit too much money, because I love supporting Mirvate and her business.

My Visit With Mirvate: Communication

Like I said in my last post, we needed to do some work before we could go to Lebanon. Just like we needed to book our plane tickets, we needed to be able to communicate with the people in Lebanon, or else our whole trip would be pointless. After all, some of the most enriching experiences on my trips to foreign countries is interacting with the people there, and getting to know their culture. My family decided that to be confident in speaking Lebanese, we needed to come up with the 10 most commonly used phrases in English, and then translate them into Lebanese. Here is what we came up with:

1. Hello - مرحبا (nar-haad-ra
2. Thank you - شكرا لك  (shi-kar-i-li-ka)
3. OK - موافق (moo-wey-filk)
4. How are you? - كيف حالك (kay-fa-haar-like-e)
5. Can I have the... - هل يمكنني ان يكون (yump-kin-na-a-loo-gee)
6. Can I use the restroom? - هل يمكنني استخدام المراحيض (y-yump-kin-na-en-ya-am-an-sten-da-a-el-al-mor-a-hi)
7. Goodbye - وداعا (wed-a-han)
8. Where are we going? - الى اين نحن ذاهبون؟ (el-a-ain-an-u-ha-le-he-gu-na)
9. Can you give me directions? - هل يمكن ان تعطيني الاتجاهات؟ (hay-u-kim-an-a-to-tree-lee-ah-he-te-j-had)
10. What time is it? - ما هو الوقت؟ (na-hu-a-locht)
11. Nice to meet you! - لطيف لمقابلتك (le-traif-lee-mo-ca-de-la-tica)

Now that we now a little Arabic, all that's left until we leave is exchanging currencies, and that will come next post.

My Visit With Mirvate: Transportation

Today Mark two weeks from my departure to Tripoli, Lebanon. Why was my family going to Lebanon? It's a long story but I'll start at the beginning. In Social Studies my teacher assigned me a project where I had to go on to Kiva (a micro lending website) and pick one person to learn as much as I could about. We then had to make a keynote on that person, and if it was approved, we would then get a free $25 to lend to that person. I felt I had a real connection to Mirvate, the person I was lending to, so we attempted to make contact with her through Kiva. We succeeded and before we knew it we decided to book a trip to Lebanon. Now everything seems fine and dandy, but before we could go we needed to work out some logistics.

The most cost-effective flight we found cost around $1000 per person one way. It had two stops; one in Chicago and one in London. The estimated time on the way up was around 19 hours, and on the way back it was around 21. My family decided that this is the most cost-effective flight, after all with me going to Santa Barbara Middle School we had to save as much money as we could. Now all we could do is wait until the time came to board the plane.