Some images from Lebanon

Well, a full week has gone by, but it feels much longer. Things are picking up very quickly. We've been down to the water front quite a few times. This picture (bottom left & top right) is of the pigeon rocks in Lebanon. A very pretty area of the city, and many people hang out there. We talked to a couple of Lebanese students (top right with Erwin) from AUB (American University of Beirut). They were friendly, and it helped us to work on our Arabic.

We've also been walking around a lot and enjoying the environment. I'm in great shape now. Much less likely to have a heart attack in the future. I'm able to swim twice a week at the pool on the campus. The area we are in is pretty beat up and you can see many remnants from the civil war (middle left).

Friday afternoon we decided to go swimming in the Meditteranean. On our way there some kids yelled at us saying "f*&$ you america". We kept walking and a few meters later. We went down to the water to go swimming. We ended up swimming in the same exact area as those kids. The kids ended up talking to us and helping us with our Arabic. They were Palestinian and were a lot of fun (I say kids, but the oldest one was in his 20s). We swam with them (the meditteranean is incredibly salty) for around an hour. What an eye opening experience.

On Friday night we went downtown, which is absolutely breathtaking. Very unique buildings and environment. We sat at a restaurant: drinking, eating, smoking hooka & watching the soccer game. What a night. We also saw many of the sights, and had ourselves a grand old time. I'll post some pictures from downtown in the future.

Well, that's it from me. I'll post about my trip to Tripoli and the cedars next time.

Allah Maach, (God be with you)
Josh Wilson

P.S. the last picture is from london. I don't remember where, but the building was the inspiration for the famous ministry of information in the book 1984.