A Fantastic Weekend

I had a weekend in Beirut truly worth writing home to Mom about.

-- Yeah! I have something to do!!!

On Friday morning, I met with a lady named Lina from a Beirut-based NGO called the Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTDA). I had met with her before about volunteering with the CRTDA, as they are doing a lot of excellent work in Lebanon with regard to increasing the participation of Lebanese women in the formal work sector and the reform of citizenship rights, among other things.

Just the day before this meeting, I had coffee with a Canadian ex-pat journalist (from T.O. -- but we will try not hold that against him) and bored him to death with my complaints about having nothing to do. The poor guy. Well, that changed as of Friday, as I have been given a big project with the CRTDA that is right up my alley... ok, maybe not TOTALLY up my alley (it's not about income tax law) but it will keep me extremely busy until I leave for the Christmas holidays, and the results will be immediate. I have been put in charge of producing a report/publication that will serve as one of the main marketing and information tools for the CRTDA. Hopefully I will be up to the task.

Between the contract work at the Embassy and my volunteer work, I should be quite a busy girl. I am so happy to finally have something meaningful to sink my teeth into. I'm pretty sure that my brain muscles were beginning to atrophy!


... Doing nothing -- With style!

It is so ironic that I was complaining about having nothing to do because, as a belated birthday gift, Glenn bought me a whole day of doing nothing -- at the swanky Movenpick Resort Spa on the Mediterranean coast (on the Corniche by the Pigeon Rocks) in Beirut. I've never had a spa day before, much less at a luxury resort!

During the 6 hours that I was at the Movenpick, I was treated to a sea salt exfoliation scrub (a weird feeling, but your skin feels fantastic afterwards), an hour-long aromatherapy massage, a full body mud wrap (30 minutes in a warm cocoon -- the best treatment of the day!), a facial, and a manicure and pedicure.

The spa day also included the lunch buffet at one of the Movenpick restaurants overlooking the outdoor pool area. I took the full hour for lunch (after the mud wrap and before the facial), making sure that I sampled everything that I wanted, from the shrimp cocktail to seafood tempura and even a tiny piece of chocolate mousse cake. There I sat in the restaurant on the 8th floor while I dined on this delicious food. The afternoon sun was shining over the Mediterranean, making the waters shimmer past the palm trees. I watched as speedboats whizzed by and as a smattering of tourists lazed around and sunned themselves by the outdoor pool. What an unbelievable sight for a gal from Edmonton who is used to having her snowboots out by this time of year!

The most remarkable thing about the post-lunch spa day was a conversation that I had with the young lady who did my facial. Many Lebanese people have friends/relatives in Canada, many of whom live in Montreal. This young lady started off the conversation by telling me that she has three cousins who live in Canada, to which I replied, "They must live in Montreal." "Oh no," she said, "They leeve een this state of Al-behr-ta een a city called Ed-mon-ton. Do you know dis place?" If I had been standing up, I probably would have fallen over.

If (or should I say WHEN) you come to visit, I will be sure to take you around to the Movenpick. If the spa treatments aren't your thing, then at least we will go for lunch and savour the view.


-- Saturday Night on the Town

I wanted to top off my fantastic day at the spa by going for a night on the town in Beirut. For those of you who haven't heard, Beirut probably has the best nightlife in all of the Middle East!

But it is so hard when you are the proverbial CFA (Come From Away) and you don't know many people. I would have given my left arm on Saturday night to be able to call up Kyle, Craig, Allison, et al to go out for a pint or two... even if we had to go to that little hole in the wall called Biddy Mulligan's.

Anyway, in order to get past our temporary bout of the blues, Glenn & I decided to go out for dinner and drinks. We headed out to Ghemayze Street (where there are a lot of bars and restaurants) and, after a nice dinner, we found ourselves in familiar surroundings -- an Irish pub, of all things! It was called Maggie Malone's. It was chock full of various western ex-pats who were singing along to cheesy retro hits (case-in-point: "I Was Made for Lovin' You" nearly brought down the house). Needless to say, it was my kind of place!!! I know that I am supposed to be out here experiencing a new culture, but every now and again it is nice to get a little piece of home.


-- This is why I never became an artist.

On Sunday, Glenn & I made a foray into downtown and managed to find the Ceramic Cafe, one of those quaint lunch places where you can paint a ceramic bowl or plate. I have always wanted to do this. There was a ceramic cafe in Halifax that I always wanted to go to, but we just never got around to it!

Because we have been in search of a vase, I decided to go for broke and painted a rather large one. I picked a simple, Japanese-inspired design with leaves, branches and white flowers. Before I started, the woman who manages the cafe helped me to pick colours and even showed off the design that I had chosen (from a book) to other customers. 4 1/2 hours and several bottles of paint later (many of which ended up all over the ceiling and my elbows), the manager wasn't showing off about my vase anymore. The thing looked like it was painted by a 5-year-old! When I signed the bottom of the vase before we left, I was very tempted to write "Cheryl, age 6".

Glenn has tried to assure me that it will look more "professional" after it is fired in the kiln and polished up. I guess we will find out in a week when we go back for the finished products. One part of me is almost too embarrassed to pick it up, but the other half of me is strangely fascinated with what this monstrosity is going to look like!

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On a parting note, I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me about this blog, as it is so nice to hear from everyone! I will be posting more pictures tomorrow and I will take some pics of the apartment as soon as it stops looking so embarrassing (cardboard and books everywhere!).