Hypergraphic: Personal Updates

Showing posts with label Personal Updates. Show all posts

3-2-1, Clear!

One year ago I lived in Lebanon. Seven months ago I stopped blogging because transitioning and moving is a bunch of blah blah blah... No one really wants to read about that.

Speaking of nobody, one day not long after I got back I was hanging out with a friend who said, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" We laughed and he said, "All the kids in my class can recite the whole thing." Then:

Me: "Yeah... Wait, they can say the whole phrase? Is that what you're talking about?"
Him: "Well yeah, they can say all of the lines."
Me: "Um, what do you mean?"
Him: "The whole interview."
Me: "That's from an interview!?"
Him: "Yeah. Haven't you seen it? Where did you think that line came from?"
Me: "I don't know. I was in Lebanon and it just start popping up on Facebook and Pinterest... I didn't realize it was, like, a thing!"

Then I visited YouTube and remedied my ignorance. There have been other moments like that though, including the time I was at a family reunion and discovered one of my cousins died in a car accident while I was overseas. Oh my.

But now that I'm (hopefully) crawling out of what can only be described as the black hole of re-entry, I've decided it's time to get back on the blogging band-wagon. Brace yourselves!

T-minus 9 days...

T-minus 9 days until I step onto one plane in Lebanon and 27 hours later step off another in the US. I've started doing a myriad of 'last' things: final lunches with friends, final purchases or payments for utilities and other goods, final drop of ranch dressing squeezed out of the last bottle I'm willing to buy before I move home...

I've just started to let it sink in that I'll really be heading home soon. I very much like to be where I am, and not think of other places. Today I told myself, "In a week and 2 days, you WILL be back in South Carolina. Start getting your brain there."

I've started to take note of things I will miss about Lebanon, and in the past few days allowed myself to look forward to the things I will get to enjoy in my home country.

A few of the little things that have come to mind as I've been traipsing across the city:

From Lebanon...

Things I'll miss about Leb (other than the wonderful people, akeed):

Every food establishment delivers
Granite counter tops as a default
Nice place mats and place settings in all restaurants
Getting to speak in 1-3 languages at any time. 3anjad? Akeed.
Getting to walk so much! I've really started to love walking every where I go. It just feels nice.
How ridiculously accommodating pharmacies are. You just go in, describe your symptoms, they ask you a few questions, and give you what you need. They'll even say, "Oh, you only need 10 of these so I'll just give you one sheet out of this box." Merci ktiir!
Being able to cross the street whenever and however I like. Just walk out in front of the cars; they'll stop. (Incidentally, if I die within 3 months of returning to America, there's probably a 85% chance that I will have been hit by a car while crossing the street, Lebanese-style.)
Cooking on a gas stove... It just heats so quickly.

to South Carolina

Some things to look forward to in my return the the states:

Not cooking on a gas stove... It's hard not to burn things.
Not fighting off carsickness every time I'm in a car
Not having perpetually crispy clothes from line-drying all of the time
A phone that just keeps the capacity to work with little-to-no effort from me... No more checking my credit and buying little cards and typing in little numbers all the time
NOT getting shocked my my refrigerator/washer/computer all the time. Ugh!
That one time of year when the electricity goes out and it's novel... "Ooo! No electricity! Crazy!? Quick, light some candles and we'll play cards and talk and have fun."
Walking (or driving) the streets without incessantly being offered a taxi
Shopping carts that have wheels on the back that only go forward and backward. Carts here have casters on all 4 wheels and roll in all directions at anytime. It's disastrous, and annoying.

Of course, these are mostly the little things in life. If we wanted to talk about big things, like friends, family, hospitality, and affection, that's a whole other post with a whole other tone... I'll probably get around to writing that soon.

The count down continues...

One thing I miss about America...

My car. As I was crossing the city in a taxi yesterday with my head hanging out of the window (much like a dog), I thought, "I miss my car."

Growing up in small-town WV, I did my fair share of riding in the back seat on curvy roads. I got sick on every one of them. I don't get sick on roller coasters, or tea cups that spin, or on boats during a storm, or planes, or when I turn in circles or someone spins me in a chair. But put me in a moving car, and things go downhill.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather used to try to remedy my ailment by getting me to drink Coke from a glass bottle. I hated the taste of Coke. No matter how much I insisted that it only made me feel worse, he would still pour it down my throat at every chance. Eventually I figured out that chewing gum helped some, and that got me through a little better. Used to be, I would be fine once I was out of the car and my feet were on the ground. But this year, even that has changed...

I came woefully under-prepared for the amount of motion sickness I would deal with regularly here in Lebanon. I've already had people mail me more Dramamine, twice.

I have my theories as to why my carsickness has been worse: maybe because I live in a big city so I'm in perpetual traffic. Maybe because the Lebanese weave when they drive like their lives depend on it (and they actually probably do a little...). Perhaps it's because I'm getting older, or because I live in another culture with new food and germs and so my stomach is already stressed most of the time. I think it could be a lot of those things, but as I was riding through the city yesterday trying to gulp in fresh air, I thought, "I think it's also because at home I usually drive, and here I never do." I miss my car. I really, really miss driving, for really no other reason than it means I won't have to look at the car I'm about to get in and think "I'm about to fight off being sick."

Over the years I've tried many "remedies:" gums, bracelets little magnet thingies... Dramamine is actually my best bet, but it knocks me out. I used to be able to take Less-Drowsy Dramamine if I needed to travel during the day, but lately it's also knocked me out. Bah humbug.

So, although I will be very sad when I leave Lebanon for home, I think I'll breathe a sigh of relief when I can walk out to my own car, get in the driver's side, and go wherever I want and not have to worry about getting sick.

This was just one of those difficult overseas adjustments that I didn't see coming...

[Carsick in Lebanese Arabic is بوخ., bdukh.]

And we're back in action...

I'm writing this post on my computer. That's right, my computer. I feel a little vapid typing that, but after months of borrowing someone else's computer to send every little email and type up every little document, it's amazing how freeing it is to have my own, personal computer back.

And it did make it back, to America and back. Hardware wise, it's all spiffy and restored. Software wise, well, it has full-blown amnesia. I lost all of my files, emails, and pictures since my last update in August. Some of them sting a little more than others to lose.

However, as I recently heard it put, you play the ball where it lies, and right now that means I am back to the blogosphere, and boy o'boy do I have so much to tell you.

I haven't decided just how I'm going to do this yet... I don't know if I'm going to try to back-log the things that have happened since November or just pass them over. It'll probably depend on how much free time I find in the next few weeks. Here are a few big things I know I missed blogging about:

My photo day in Batroun
Christmas in Lebanon
My week in Italy
My week in Spain
Even more adventures in Arabic
My boyfriend Abiel visiting from America
Book reviews for the 7 books I'vre read since November
The most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen
The only monastery I've ever seen (and the 1,000 stairs it took to get to it)
Easter in Lebanon

If any of those stand out as something you just have to know about, tell me in the comments section and I'll make sure to bump it up the list. After all, I gotta win back the loyalty of my readers...

Thanks for hanging in there with me through 5 months of radio silence. Not very hypergraphic of me at all. But, you can look forward to another post tomorrow: "10 Ways to Know You're Becoming Lebanese." Until then...

Someone is returning...

"Someone is returning!... Who could it be?"

(whispered) Who is it?

Computer Down

My computer stopped working today, so until I get that worked out, the blog will have to take a hiatus. Maintain radio silence. Over and out.

Day 23: The View

So, I'm breaking from the photo-a-day mold, but I just have so much to tell you about. I'm going to give you a bird's eye view of my Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Two full days of Thanksgiving! Here we go...

Thursday, November 22nd:

10:00 am: Wake up. Slept in. Win!
10:30am: Nicole, Hudson and Elam come by, and we head to Krispy Kreme.

Day 11: Something Up Close

Unfortuantely, there was no internet last night due to a massive thunderstorm, so today I'll have to double dip on the photo-a-day.

The conversation that led to this photo went something like this:

Me: "Today is my 100th post. I'm supposed to do something up close for my photo. And I ran a 10K. How do I capture all of that?"

Kim (roomie): "I have no idea."

Me: "I could paint it. On my face."

Kim: "Yes! I'll help!"

Me: "This is weird. Let's do it."

Day 10: Emotion

Last night and this morning I made some crafts for my wall. They are a little nod to each city I've lived in. Today's photo-a-day topic is "emotion," and these represent a certain odd combination of emotions I've been experiencing lately.

Sometimes when I'm traipsing around Beirut, I stop and realize I'm not in American anymore. Odd as it sounds, some days I forget I'm in Lebanon. Before you worry that I'm careless and hopelessly unaware, I don't mean that I literally think I'm in America. I just forget I'm not in my own country, not "home." I've adjusted, and Lebanon has become my new normal.

I felt it coming on about 2 weeks in. One night I was brushing my teeth and realized that I was in a 'eap of trouble: I was starting to love it here. I have this obnoxious tendency to love everywhere I am. So, every time I go somewhere new I add another place to the ill-fated list of places and people loved and left behind. People are a little easier than places. With Skype and Facebook and Whatsapp, I'm still very socially(ish) connected.

All the more reason to love being in Lebanon, right? I literally feel like I'm starting to lose my English, and very poorly-understood Arabic words are flooding my head. I can now tell you about classic Arab instruments and songs, perform a stage-version of the debke (the Lebanese national dance), and even cook a few traditional Lebanese foods. I can order a taxi, arrange a trip, brief you on Lebanese politics, and refill the propane tank for our stove. I have favorite places now, and not just restaurants. Even more significantly, I'm starting to recognize people while I'm out and about. "Oh look, there's so and so. Let's go say hi." Aye, aye, aye. When I leave here, I'll miss it all. And I'll know what that feels like, because I already feel that way about several places.

I miss Columbia, where I lived with one of my best friends in a quirky, adventurous, and craft-filled house. I was 1 minute from my church, 2 minutes from my bank, 3 minutes from my grocery store, 4 minutes from Moe's, 5 minutes from my gym, 10 minutes from Chick-fila and Target, l5 minutes from my best friend and about a dozen more amigas, and 0 minutes from my dog. Even if I move back to Columbia in July, I know I'll never get that life back. The people may still be there (also the dog.), so the most valuable parts don't fade away, but it was a sweet time, and I was content. It was bittersweet to go.

Heraclitus said, "You cannot step into the same river twice" (or some version of that), just as I can't go back to being a kid on the family farm in WV. I can't stop by my grandmas whenever I like. Now I have to pick up the phone and call. How are we supposed to play Rummy that way!? My mom, aunt, and cousins don't all live next door to each other. On an average day, I can't look out my window and see a 4-wheeler go by with about 5 of my 2nd cousins hanging off of it. I can't go for a run and smell the crisp farm air with cattle lowing in the background, and then go and ruin the whole workout by pounding down an entire order of douby douby bread from Angelo's. I'm mean here in Beirut I have to do that with crepes...

You see what I mean? I love where I was. I love where I am now, and most of the places in between. With each season there comes the wonder of the new, and the wistfulness of the old. These simple 12x12 canvases are nostalgic, but also telling; a little bit of my heart is in each of these places.

I'm sure the point of a photo-a-day topic about emotion is to show a photo that captures the emotion, and here I've done gone and done it with a few hundred words. I'll try to do better tomorrow, when I aim to have an impressive "Something Close-Up" photo that both captures the experience of me running a 10k in the Beirut and celebrates my 100th blog post. Pins and needles, I know.

Day 3: This Happened Today

Today, we got some visitors from America, and they brought with them (drumroll please)... gifts from home! Different friends in the states sent some of my favorite goodies, along with pictures and cards. When living overseas, even a few items from loved ones at home mean so much. Thank you friends!

Flowers

This week has been a rough one. I've been duking it out with shingles, or as they call in in Lebanon, "firebelt." I feel like I've lost, every step of the way.

Some of my friends brought me flowers, beautiful, pink and white flowers, to cheer me up a little.

I love flowers, so these have brightened my day. I thought I would share some tips on how to keep fresh-cut flowers nice a pretty just a little longer.

1. Cut the angles at the stem with a sharp knife. Cutting the stem at an angle allows for more surface area for the flowers to absorb water. Using a dull knife can mash the base which interferes with the flow of water.

2. Change the water often, at least every other day, especially whenever it looks murky.

3. This is an important one. Prune away any leaves or foliage that're below the water line. They will start to decay before the flowers, and then the contaminated water will get drawn up into the flowers, speeding up their decay.

4. This may sound obvious, but make sure all of the stems in the bouquet reach the water. Sometimes in big bouquets the shorter stems don't make it all the way to the water and they die off first.

5. Remove flowers that wilt first from the bouquet. This preserves the life of the healthier flowers.

6. If your flowers come with one of those packs of flower food, use it. Flowers in Leb don't come with them, unfortunately.

You may know all of these already; not sure how common knowledge they are... Hope they help you, like me, enjoy the flowers that brighten your days just a little longer.

Birthday in Lebanon

Today was my birthday, and for the first time I am celebrating it out of the country... However, I had a blast and a really special day, so I wanted to share about it with you!