This past Summer, I had a life changing event. I had the opportunity to visit my home country Lebanon for a massive two week family reunion. This had been a very special trip as it is the first time my dad has been back since he left his country during the Lebanese Civil War when he was 18, (32 years ago). This was also the first time for my brother and I to visit. Since my only form communication was via blackberry email, I sent out an updated journal to over fifty friends and family during my two week adventure. I have decided to publish these journals in my entertainment blog.
Enjoy!
Day 1
My younger brother Dylan and I made it into Beirut Sunday morning after 28 hours of traveling. We immediately drove 40 mins up the mountains to our hometown gharife to see most of the Saad family, 75 of em to be exact, 12 of us from Texas. We ate ate amazing food and conversed and then dylan and I passed out pots and pans to everyone as we started the biggest SaadFamily DrumJam that ever existed. Everyone loooved it!!!
We then toured the small village and saw where my dad and his family and my grandpa and great grandpa grew up. We walked in the village and people were coming up to my dad and recognizing him, after 32 years!!
We then went to visit my grandpas grave site to light some candles. This was the first time my dad had ever seen his dad’s grave as he passed away in ‘86 when my dad was in the US. It was an extremely emotional experience for all of us. We then drove down to Beirut to our condo that overlooks the entire city. The beach is so close and the sun set right in front of us. The smog, however, is strong as I was able to look strait into the sun for minutes.
There is a sense of uneasiness here, we passed many military check points and there are many army helicopters constantly flying over us. Also, they announced someone’s funeral today on a loud speaker that could be heard throughout the entire city. Pretty. Crazy! Five times a day, the Muslims sing their religious chants on loudspeakers as well. There are nooo driving rules! No signs, no stop lights no speed limits, nothing! I have seen many near accidents.
Yesterday, we went to the north side of the mountains to a couple different wineries. The
wine tasted pretty amazing with a fruity, tannin and acidic tastes. We were taken on a tour through these caves
underground where the wine ages in oak barrels at 10 degrees Celsius with 80 percent
humidity. The syrian army used these caves during WW1 to hideout. The winery originally opened in 1918 as a monastery to create wine for the kings and Jesuit priests. It opened to the public in 1972 and now is know to be the number 1 winery in Lebanon. I’ve never seen so many barrels of wine in my life.
alt="Photobucket" >Today, we traveled up to the very top of the mountains to the cedar tree national park. Lebanon has been known to be the oldest country in the world as the Phoenicians used the wood to build boats. The cedar tree is also on the Lebanese flag. We took many family pictures at the highest point of Lebanon with four generations of Saad family representing.
Everywhere we go, people are so nice. They offer us food, tea, mate, fruit, lemonade and snacks. Even the park guard invited us to drink coffee with him on the way out! Everyone seems to be in a hurry on the road, but when it comes to visiting, they like to genuinely take their sweet time.
My family believes in a small religion called Druze. It is a sect of Islam that separated a long time ago. It originated in the mountains of Lebanon. There are about 250,000 Druze in Lebanon. So far, we have stopped at four different temples to visit and pray. You have to be born in the religion and in order to learn about it, you have to fully devote yourself to it.
Tonight, a group of us went downtown Beruit to a street called Gemmayzeh, (similar to 6th street but with class). On the way we saw many UN tanks patrolling the streets to keep the peace. The first cafe we stopped at had live music from two Arabic musicians playing the oud (arabic guitar) and the dirbecky (Arabic hand drum). We ordered a couple argeliehs (hookahs) and clapped along to all the traditional Arabic songs.
The eclectic rhythms are so powerful that you cannot resist moving to the beat. It made me so happy seeing my Dad sing along to these songss that he once knew when he was a teenager.
Well, its time for sleep. We don’t have air conditioning here so we keep the doors and windows open and let the cool ocean breeze flow through. Tomorrow, we are headed to the prettiest place in Lebanon!
Stay Tuned!
Warm Regards,
Chris Saad
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