My Dinner Chez Bread Republic

Took a taxi from Ready Taxi from my apartment to Hamra. As I’m walking out my door, the taxi rolls by and it’s George. George took me 13 months ago from my hotel to my apartment when I moved. He picked me up several months ago and remembered me very vividly. Of course it was in a good part due to my over tipping him. He was so happy to see me.

George and I talked about work, the cost of things and other small talk, in a combination of English, French and Arabic. As I get out of the taxi on Hamra Street, I see two muscle bound guys, parading their stuff down the street in their tight tee shirts. Near them but not with them, is a young woman dressed ultra-conservatively with her veil and floor length skirt. This is Hamra!

I get to Bread Republic and it’s the usual crowd of waiters and waitresses and they greet me like the long lost prodigal son. I’m sitting by myself near a table of college ‘intellectuals’. They’re speaking in ‘High EFA’, a combination of English, French and Arabic. And all with air of ‘I’m such an incredible intellectual’.

Although all the seating is outside, there is as thick cloud of cigarette smoke surrounding the tables. ‘Are you going to Damascus? You know we really should go, my Aunt used to live there and I went all the time.” Now the conversation has sifted to the concept around the exhibition. And just as quickly, the conversation has shifted to French. The waitress asks the table near me, are you here for the scallops?’ ‘Chagall is so your thing, I think you have attention deficit disorder.’

There’s an unusually high percentage of hugging going on for this crowd of 40 people. Love is in the air, everywhere. It’s hip, it’s pretentious, it’s all this and so much more. It represents all what I love about Hamra and in one small area is the quintessential mix that is Lebanon.

Bought a bottle today

Who buys empty bottles and writes about them, right? Well, at my local supermarket they have a second floor with something akin to NWL (national wholesale liquidators in Queens). They have one liter and 1/3 liter bottles made in Italy, with some sort of locking mechanism. They are called Italian swing top bottles. They even have some with flower design thing going on. It was all of $1 or 2. Similar item goes for 9-10 dollars on Amazon. They are the rage in the office with the hip crowd from Achrafieh, the hip & chic part of Beirut where I live. Well, I live on the fringes of the tres chic area to tell the truth. Perhaps I'll use it to carry my iced Turkish coffee to the office.

Khalil Gibran Museum, Lebanon

New English Expressions I've Learned in Lebanon

Missed call

When you call someone's mobile phone and let it ring once and then hang up. From the caller ID they can see that you called. The person receiving the call is expected to call you back. The reason for leaving a missed call may be because you don't have enough available minutes on your phone or just to say, 'Hi, I'm thinking of you'. This is the rage here.

Celebratory Gun Fire

This happens when someone is happy with an occasion or with what is being said during a speech. From time to time I receive security notices warning that such an event in such an area may be cause for celebratory gun fire and that the area should be avoided. The notices also tell us to avoid windows and balconies during those time and in those places.

He did a Between

This happens on highways. The highway lane markers are not very clear and where only three lanes should exist some drivers create a fourth lane by squeezing and driving between two cars in those not very clearly marked lanes. When that happens the other drivers will exclaim in exasperation, 'Arrgh, he just did a between'.

Rental Advance

For some reasons landlords here expect rent to be paid anywhere from 6 to 12 months in advance and when looking for apartments, rents are quoted in yearly amounts. I don't know if the Lebanese do this with other Lebanese but foreigners are expected to pay 6-12 months upon signing a lease. My place of work takes this as common place and provides us with salary advance equal to 6 months rent to help us out.