Wedding- Part 2

For those who are not very familiar with the Lebanese traditions, the groom's family has to go get the bride from the parent's house and take her to the church. So after taking pictures and offering our visitors champagne, juice, chocolate, baklawa and other sweets it was already time for us to go get the bride. My parents went in the nice rented white car I don't remember what it was but definitely in the standings of a jaguar or such.
Celine designated me to be the driver and Helena- my cousin- decided to hop in the TIDA with us. Since we did not know where the house was we had to follow the convoy and not lose them. So while i was running to get into the car to start , tishhhhtttt I stepped with my heels on the bottom of my dress, resulting in a small tear at the bottom. Helena reassured me that this will happen over and over again during this day but no one will notice and it will be O.K. so I decided to follow Helena's advise, and I soon went back into the "let's do it" mood. I was following the cars pretty closely, until we got to an intersection. And for those who don't know Lebanon very well, they might not know what driving in Lebanon is.
Driving in Lebanon is an adventure I must say or rather an adrenaline booster, at least when you're driving with me while I'm trying to keep up with a convoy.
So when you get to intersections "Kil min ido ilo" meaning, there are no stop signs, no lights (although they're starting to spread nowadays) so you have to have enough courage to drive you car through and hope other cars will stop for you. And that's what I was doing the whole ~40 minutes drive. So I had my back leaning forward towards the steering wheel, after all I was pretty excited! And in the back Helena was calling all the Saints that she had ever heard of and praying the rosary- she made it to 14 times... We were in serious danger some might say, but as for us, we were laughing of course!
I forgot to mention that while I was driving i did hear two 'crac' sounds, but we were taken in a far more exciting ride so I decided to ignore until we reached the bride's house and all of the bride's family were waiting for us. Yes, and especially Celine and I. We had to go up the stairs with my mom and dad leading the flock of family members that were following us. I then asked Celine if there's a tear on the back of my dress, she looked and said: "Yeah but it's not really showing." So I, again, decided to ignore until I was out on the balcony talking with my aunt who was sitting on a chair and then I turned my back and she called me saying: "Auntie, you have a tear on your back." My other auntie replied: "Turn around let me see. Oh yeah you do! We can sew this don't worry..." Don't worry!! When are we going to sew this now? and my dress is PINK! where are we gonna find a pink thread and how am I going to get from the balcony to the other side of the room? I called Celine and asked her if it's obvious. She said: "Oh the tear actually grew wider." PERFECT! I was so embarrassed, Helena was consulted too and at the end of the negotiations we decided to pass by Helena's house and get another dress -just in case- and get a needle and a thread.
So here comes the convoy part 2 from the bride's house to the church. The convoy passed by Helena's house, so if we do the operation in minimum time we could still catch up with the convoy we though. The plan: I park the car, run -barefoot of course- downstairs with Helena who is also barefoot. Helena chooses the dresses, meanwhile, I get a needle and a thread, meanwhile Celine jumps from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat . Helena and I get back to the car and sit in the back seats. Why? because Helena is going to try to sew the dress in the car while Celine is trying to catch up with the convoy!
No I did not have to take my dress off, Yes she was sewing at a place where the dress was very tight on my body, No she did not pinch me more than 9 times, Yes I was kidding she actually did not pinch me, No we did not catch up with the convoy, Yes we were stuck in a huge traffic jam, No we weren't late for the service and Yes people in the cars next to us were looking at the car with three girls "tirees a 4 epingles" while one of them is driving (we gave her a french driver's name that I can't quite remember), one is sewing (the sewer's name is alas also forgotten) and the third one is lying bottom up having her dress sewed (That was the baroness of course).
By the time we got to the church, the dress was done and we were able to attend the service and relax... but not for long!

Wedding- Part 1

This summer's highlight was my brother's wedding, I went back to Lebanon to attend and all of the family was pretty excited. I bought the perfect dress, Pink. I will tell you the story of Pink later on. Before I go to my brother's wedding in Lebanon, I had the chance to attend a couple of months before that my first American wedding here in Fayetteville. It was a very cute wedding with a Cajun theme. There was Cajun food and a Cajun band and we danced to Cajun music.
I arrived to Beirut couple of weeks before the wedding and the preparations were already on their way. My mom had already taken an appointment for me at the hairdresser and make up artist.
It took us at least 4 visits to the chocolates and sweets shop to fix the plates and decorate them. Actually some of the chocolates had a pretty butterfly clothes clip that the women can use after eating their chocolate.
The seating of the 400 people on the tables took us hours of work since we wanted to make sure everyone was happy with their seating area and happy with the company they have on their table. and believe me, this is not an easy job!


Wedding day, June 4th, we woke up early. Made sure the house looked clean and neat and we went to the hairdresser. After almost 3 hours, my mom and I were ready from chin to the tip of our hair! We passed by the flower shop to get the rented car, a white Mercedes 2010 now decorated also flowers, which I drove very carefully home. By the time we got home, there were five beautiful bouquets of flowers decorating our living room, they are presents from close family for Ralph with little notes of wishes. There were two young men also to help with presenting the sweets and drinks for the guests that will be coming. We had some food and Celine arrived home. She looked beautiful and we noticed that our hair looked almost the same, except the fact that i had an extension which made my hair look longer (maybe that means also prettier). Then I did notice that I actually used to slide my dress' neck really tightly from the top of my head but that would be impossible in this case since my make up and hair volume would be damaged if I do (Part 1 of 3 of the adventures of Mirna with her dress). Luckily my aunt Jacko was there to save the day, she cut the band, put it around my neck and sewed it! Perfect.
Dress, accessories, shoes, bag, perfume were not that easy to mix and match. But finally we were all ready for the family pictures.The wedding can start.

Origami

How to do an Origami Butterfly

Cut a square paper

fold it in half

and once again

open one of the two sides

and press on it

like this :)

do the same

with the other side

like that

then fold one corner

and the second

flip it

and fold the upper corner

past the lower edge

fold the sides

symmetrically

flip it

and then fold the tip

flip it

now fold it into two

and fold the wings to a shape

VOILA!

Articles about LEBANON

I've been reading lots of articles about lebanon this past few months in reputable newspapers and I guess it's a good way for other people to know about Beirut and Lebanon.
So whenever I'll pass by an interesting article, I'll share the link here with you.

January 2010 on BBC: Fashion in Beirut:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8438858.stm

Spanish article in elmundo on August 24th 2009:
Beirut, cuidad de perdicion:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/08/24/orienteproximo/1251111222.html

CNN Video: Beirut best party city?
Youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGI_MGBfOvM&feature=related


CNN Video: Lebanon tourism 2009-Beirut #1 destination city in the world
Youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBSYfLI6yA&feature=related

Article from New York Times-Travel on Agust 2nd 2009:Beirut, the Provincetownof the Middle East
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/travel/02gaybeirut.html?pagewanted=1
Slideshow: The New Party Capital: Beirut:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/08/02/travel/20090802-beirut-slide-show_index.html

New york Times- Travel:The 44 places to go in 2009 on January 11th, 2009: Beirut, Lebanon ranked #1:http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/11/travel/20090111_DESTINATIONS.html

My sister's blog :)

www.celinek.blogspot.com

Learn the World in America

It has been almost 3 weeks that I am here in Arkansas and I still feel I'm new to this whole thing. In other words everyday I'm still meeting new people and introducing myself.

I noticed that for the past 3 weeks, every single day I told someone my name. Since they would not be able to say it from the first time I would have to repeat it and then tell them that I am from Lebanon and that I am doing Food Science. In some, actually most, cases I had to explain what Food Science is. In few cases, I also had to explain where Lebanon is.

I'm writing and listening to Mashrou3 leila www.myspace.com/mashrou3leila on Myspace. It's not that I am nostalgic or anything but I love their music.

First week in Fayetteville was a good start to get to know some people and the area. I arrived a bit early so there weren't many students. Mainly it was the clean roads, the green everywhere, the rules for driving that everyone respects, the huge Walmarts and the college parties which marked me most.

Second week, orientation started and that's where I met people from the States, Mexico, Austria, Germany, France, Serbia, Colombia, Nigeria, India, Kosovo, Spain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, China, Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Japan, Ukraine, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Brazil, Peru, and I'm sure I forgot some. But yes, in less then one week, I was able to meet people from all these different countries.

One frequent comment I got whenever I met someone was about my hair. Asian girls loved it. Since most of them have straight hair they try to make it permanently curly. Some Lebanese with curly hair do the opposite, they do it permanently straight. That's normal, human kind always wants what she or he do not have.

What I have learned from the Brazilians is that I really look like Brazilian girls. A girl from Macedonia (see here's a nationality I forgot to mention before) thought I was Greek.

A cool fact about Koreans, in Korea when you're born you're already 1 year old!

Graz is the second largest city in Austria (after the capital Vienna) that's where the exchange students are studying.

There are over 100 Saudi students here in Arkansas, though I didn't meet any new Saudi student.

Asians can recognize each others, meaning, a Japenese knows that this one is most probably a Chinese.

In St. Lucia they speak a french dialect that I could not understand, not even one word and they cannot understand easily the usual french.

This is basically what I have learned until now about the world. I'm sure there will be a lot more to come

USA 101

I don't remember the first time i watched an American movie or the first time i ate a hamburger (though i remember the first McDonald's in Daoura). I don't remember my first English class and I don't remember the first time I knew that Washington DC was the capital of USA -and not New York. I thought that the American culture was part of my culture.


The first time I heard about culture shock was a month before I left to the states in a pre-departure kind of orientation. An American woman who has been living in Lebanon for over 15 years, was jumping up and down in a very interactive way trying to compare and contrast the American culture to her oh-so-loved Lebanese one. I remember what stroke me was the fact that she used "We" to speak about Lebanese and "Them" to speak about Americans. A way to let us feel closer to her, a denial of her origin, a desperate urge to be a Lebanese, I wonder. Anyway I don't remember much about her talk, at that point I was thinking that if she knew Lebanese people well, she shouldn't be giving this talk. WE (proud Lebanese) know Americans more than she does, WE speak English fluently, WE adapt to different cultures easily, WE are Lebanese!


My first culture shock was in Paris airport on the gate of the United Airlines, Paris-Chicago flight. I looked at the chairs in the waiting room, there was an American couple, older than 50 of age with 3 adopted Asian girls aged between 9 to 13-or maybe they all had the same age, not sure. There was a big group of American teenagers who were on some kind of camp or seminar, they were all wearing the same outfit, boys and girls and 75% of the kids were overweight. There was an Asian family, the mom and the dad and 2 very well dressed and well behaved boys wearing glasses who spent their time playing video games.


And so I started to first enjoy this "melting pot" looking right and left observing this and that and trying to let the time pass.


When the gate was opened my Lebanese friend and I stood up wanting to get on the plane early. I leaned on the wall behind my friend when one of the security officers asked her to see her passport.


I should add here that when we were checking in, the employee asked us to pass by his colleague. His colleague checked our passports and asked us about our luggage number and he put a red sticker on our passport with the letter "S". Later on I noticed that only us Lebanese had our passport marked with the flashing letter "S" on the back.


So the security noticed our passports and asked us to follow her. Instead of going right to the tunnel leading to the plane we went left where there was a table, a thin sheet folded into four and place on the floor next to the table, a man and a woman both wearing gloves- Exciting!


Note that the people sitting in the waiting room of the gate can see the table, the sheet and the gloved people since the separator is made of glass. Therefore, all passengers had the opportunity to see us and wonder why we were having this special treatment.


The special treatment consisted on emptying all our handbags and checking each and every item for ... no idea actually. What I know is that she literally touched every item. My friend was the first to go so I waited and watched. Since we were moving to the states we both had 2 fully packed bags which made the job harder and longer.


When the guy-who looked like "un sale arabe"- was done searching the purse of another Lebanese man I asked if I should move my stuff to his side and if he should start palpating my stuff. He smiled at me and said: " I wish, but I only do guys." I smiled.
And then he went on asking me if I was from Lebanon too and if my friend and I were sisters and few more friendly questions of the kind.


When it was my turn the girl asked me in English with a french accent if she can open my bag, I smiled -at the fact that she is actually asking me if she could- and said yes. She then asked me if she can open the small purse where I had all my money, smile and yes. She said: "Oh you are rich!" We both laughed. Then I added: "Je parle francais si c'est plus facile pour vous." She smiled a big smile and told me: "Ah vous parlez francais! Ton amie ne parle pas francais, alors j'ai cru... Bon je m'excuse pour ce protocol... je sais, c'est pas agreable." I replied that I was OK with that. She repeated her apology several times which made me aware of the awkward situation I was in. I looked at the people who were in the same waiting room as I am, coming through the door, no problem and I felt even worse. She then asked me to take off my shoes, stand on the folded sheet so she can palpate my body and she apologized for the final time. Finally she asked me if I prefer to put the things back in my bag or if she should do it. I did it.



This "protocol" was done once again in Nashville airport, the passport control guy was not very knowledgeable about what to do in a situation where you have a Lebanese Arab in front of you. He looked at a list he had. I took a peek, it was a list of countries that do not need a visa to enter the USA, yeah right!
Then he asked one of the other security guys about Lebanese citizens. He showed him another list, the "black listed countries"? Anyway, Lebanon was listed, so he marked my passport again and I moved to palpation. I have to admit this one was smoother:
One- I did not have to observe my luggage being emptied and searched-I was in the glass room where everyone else can see me, my luggage was on a table outside the glass room.
Two- The thin sheet was replaced by a rug that had two feet printed telling us exactly where to stand, no confusion.
Three- After the body palpation, I was asked to sit down for a feet and toes palpation which I considered a very relaxing massage for travellers.

I got my bag faster then the security explained to the the other girl what she should do: "You take the ticket and you stamp it like that, here and here. If you forget, you're in trouble!" I was happy that I got two star stamps on my ticket and that no one was in trouble.

I have to also add that many of the airport employees in the US were old, yes old, not sure why though and most of them were friendly, asking me about Lebanon and Fulbright. The security staff not very friendly though, but I guess that's part of their job, so no hard feelings. I was allowed 2 bags on an internal flight thanks to some tears and complaints, saving myself around 50$.

And after more than 30 hours of airports and airplanes I finally arrived to Fayetteville!