All Good News

It's a sunny day in Beirut, and it's my mother-in-law's birthday. We'll go downtown to celebrate her over lunch later today. It's a wonderful day, packed with good news.

Good news 1: Our bag has arrived to Lebanon! It took my husband a late night trip to the airport and some negotiations with a corrupt airport official but finally he got the bag back. My husband came back around midnight and we had a little celebration for the bag.

Good news 2: In Lebanon, the power company shuts the electric off three hours each day, alternating the intervals every day. The hotels and shops have their own generators, but for the life at home, you learn to live around the power cuts. You know when to cook, have access to the internet, do laundry, and other things, and you avoid going into an elevator when you know the power might be cut any minute.
So I asked, "when is the power being cut today?" and it turns out that the building now has a generator that my parents-in-law have bought themself into. It is luxury redefined!

I've spent the morning with my mother-in-law to run errands in Hamra. We've met the retired judge, the old man from the money exchange, and a guy in a gold shop that has a cousin in Vasteras. It's very nice to meet people and I realise I learn more and more Arabic for every day.

Inflight Entertainment and Lost Luggage

We have arrived - I am at my parents-in-laws apartment in the middle of Beirut, fixing my dear father-in-law's computer. This is truly our second home outside Sweden!

We went here with the Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus. They were on time and ridiculously inexpensive, so what more could you ask for? Well, as soon as we took off from Stockholm, a nausiating smell of human gas appeared in the cabin. And once it blew over, another cloud of gas came over us from another direction. And then another. I thought to myself, "What are these people eating..?" My dear husband said it was the Turkish inflight entertainment - the game of guessing who popped the latest fart.

After a two hour transit in Istanbul, we boarded the plane to Beirut. Guess what happened just minutes after take-off? That's right, the Turkish inflight entertainment began yet again! Disguisting and funny at the same time. I couldn't help laughing.

Arriving in Beirut, we got the unpleasant surprise of just getting one of our bags - the other one is currently lost. We hope there is a possibility it could be on the next plane from Istanbul, arriving tonight. Keep your fingers crossed, it's an uneasy feeling of having one's property disappear.

Today we're having lunch at Mehanna's in Byblos - it's a wonderful gourmet experience.