A solid update.

My roommate and I met on the plane (under semi-interesting circumstances which I will omit for the sake of time).  She (Leila) is from Missouri, Iranian by descent, and of the take-everything-on-at-once variety (she will be attending classes at both LAU and AUB while in Lebanon).  We bonded instantly over the fact that we both happened to bring an obscene amount of crap, but were a little irked when we realized we'd actually packed nearly identically as well: same pharmacy of over the counter drugs and toiletries, same shampoo, even the exact same tooth brush in both brand, model and color.  We're also about the same size, shoes and all, thus doubling our wardrobe (which is fantastic, as Lebanese women are expected to dress, and consistently wearing the same crummy flip-flops instead of stilettos apparently makes you look like either tourist, peasant or both).  We've done some pretty serious pedestrian traveling since we've arrived (on the same flight from Chicago to Beirut).  I'm pretty sure we've walked the entire length of the district we live in at least twice now.  We also have been grocery shopping, and cooked some great food for lunch in our tiny kitchen yesterday.  Another perk: she has a friend here, and he very generously assisted us in getting cellphones immediately after landing, in addition to giving us a night tour of the city.

We are living in a two bedroom apartment in the same building as the rest of the SINARC crew (of which I have only met two others, thus far).  One of the bedrooms is a 'double', meaning someone will be joining us soon and sharing my room with me-- I've just gotten accustomed to the concept of having a roommate in general, thus I can't say that I'm entirely thrilled to be giving up my spacious private room just yet... but I'm sure I won't be so bitter once I meet her (inshallah).

In our apartment there is a night manager, Haytham, who watches the building from the first floor lobby throughout the night.  To be honest, I'm not actually sure if he's there ALL night, as I haven't yet taken the chance to test the theory... and furthermore, he is generally around in the morning drinking Arabic coffee ("ahwa arabia", in Lebanon) and is in and out during the day, leading me to wonder whe/if he sleeps.  Haytham and I have developed something of a rapport, partially because I'm an early riser in new  environments and also because I keep breaking things. Example: I somehow blew out the power in our apartment around 11:00 PM last night, just after I'd taken my leave from watching a Ramadan series from Syria (in which every male over the age of fifteen sported the most sinister looking mustache I'd ever seen) and smoking hookah with him and another fellow SINARC student in our lobby.  When I came down to tell him I had a "mooshkila kabeera" (big problem), he gave me a sarcastic "where do you think you're going?", assuming that I was off to explore Hamra alone at night.

The running joke since arriving is that everything that is broken in Lebanon will be fixed "tomorrow", and you're likely to hear the same the next day.  It began upon arrival with the elevator -- oh, yes, it's not working properly, but we will get it fixed tomorrow. Then yesterday afternoon the internet went out in the lobby:  tomorrow, we will fix it!  So, I've begun attaching the phrase to more minuscule problems, quick fixes like the dying batteries in the lobby TV remote, someone wanting you to get up off the couch and buzz them in the front door, or the fact that I can rarely puzzle together Haytham's thick Lebanese dialect:  "yalla- mumkin bokra" (sure, I don't understand you today, but maybe tomorrow!)

So far I don't have a single complaint to speak of.  Life in Beirut has been more comfortable than I could have ever anticipated-- all pre-traveling anxieties have completely disappeared.  Getting by in this city is easier than I ever could have imagined, everything always seems to fall right into place at exactly the right time.  Language-wise I've already learned a ton in the short time that I've been here, not just from being out and about, but also from the extensive collective knowledge and experiences of the other SINARC students (those that I have met so far).  I can only imagine how much I'll know by the end of this stay.

I'll try and post some pictures soon, and I hope you're all well back home.

yalla bye!