Goodbye, Beirut.

I spent the last month in Beirut dog-sitting my good friend E.B.’s very playful Bernese mountain dog. It was great to spend Christmas and the New Year with new friends, and 70 degree weather! I am back in Damascus now, having left Lebanon for what may be the last time. I love that country, I love Beirut, and I'll miss it. I love the way the city sort of flows down from the mountains into the sea, and how though it is built all on hills; the streets are easy to meander through. Each street you walk down has a part of the history of the city. There were French apartments from the occupation, broken buildings with empty windows from war, and the cranes and crews in the midst of it all from the effort to rebuild. It has a wonderful mix of the West and the Middle East. Though only removed from Syria for a hundred years, it definitely has a different feel. It is more open, more cosmopolitan, more concerned with appearance, and definitely more fun. But it is expensive, and there were no jobs to be had, and if I would have stayed there instead of Damascus, my money would probably have never made it to 2010. I did have about 6 weeks to see the country and fall in love with the city. It was just what I needed when I had it. It is wonderful. But now there are other things to experience, as well as new places for me to fall in love with, so I am off to Aleppo to see what awaits me there.