Summer o' Lebanon

The adventure is coming to a close

2006-07-20T04:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I am now safe in London, and am enjoying the city during my 12 hour layover. I fly to New York next, and have an 8 hour layover their before heading home. The evacuation was an interesting experience to say the least. I have photos that I will post when I get home, but let me simply say that 11 hours on a cargo ship with over a thousand people, was not a good experience. However, we did have a good time once we arrived in Cyprus. It's a very westernized little country.

I was sad to leave the rest of the group. Over the past week I have experienced a lot with them. Going through bombings and an evacuation really ties people together. If anyone reads this blog (Sean, Pat, Alec, Ferris, Irwin, Ali, etc....) please leave me a post with your email and phone number, or send me an email at jfwilson33@hotmail.com. I hope that all of you got home safely.

Well, that's about it. I look forward to seeing many of you when I return. My parents are having a get together on Saturday, so hopefully you can come. My phone should start working once i get to new york. 8:45 pm PST. Thank you for all of the posts, and for the caring that you have shown.

Peace and love,
Josh

Final Update

2006-07-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hey, It's Josh's sister. He gave me his password because he couldn't update the blog in Cyprus.

Here is the final update. He is currently on a 4:25AM flight from Cyprus to London. He has a layover of about half a day in London. Then he is on a flight from London to New York City with an hour layover in New York. Finally he will be on a flight back to LA and should arrive Friday morning.

He has told us that he is looking forward to partying with everyone on Saturday but that he plans on sleeping for a long time when he gets home.

He said Cyprus is terrific and wishes he could spend more time there drinking and partying with school friends but he is happy to be on his way home. We told him to be glad he is leaving now because there is a 7 ship strong group coming in with thousands of people flooding the area and the airport.

Thank you to everyone for the support and wonderful words of encouragement. If we have any other news to impart we will do so in the comments section below.

Thanks
Sara

P.S. They are only charging him 16 pounds to change flights which is a vast improvement over the 2,000 dollars American Airlines was originally talking about charging him to change flights.

Get me to a chopper

2006-07-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the evacuation should happen in the next few days. People are saying that Thursday should be the absolute last day that we are here. I'm excited about donating a bunch of my clothes to the people of Lebanon. I need a new wardrobe anyways. And I bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker gold label in Syria that I was hoping to bring back to a bunch of the uncles, but the only let you take one small bag with you. I guess that means I'll have to drink it on my own. I will be going to class tomorrow, and I am excited to continue to learn.

We played soccer and basketball today which was fun, but we are confined to the campus. I am sad to be leaving these people soon, but I look forward to seeing all of you back in the states. We continue to watch Lebanon getting bombed, but I just can't talk about it anymore. I hope this post finds all of you doing well. Hope to see you soon.

Peace and love
Josh

PS If you could call your congressperson, and say something about the American citizens in Lebanon having to pay money it could help many of us out here who do not want to worry about money. All of the other embassies have been and continue to evacuate their citizens for no charge. (French, British, Swiss, Dutch, etc...)

Safe in Byblos

2006-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well as you already know I've arrived safely in Byblos and we are staying at the campus here. It's actually a much nicer campus than the one in Beirut. Byblos is a gorgeous city. They say it's one of the oldest cities in the world. Today we visited an 11th century, french castle. The sad thing is that the castle was built out of Roman, Greek and Persian ruins. So they destroyed these ancient ruins to build this castle. We did see the stone outline of a Phoenician temple from around 2800 BCE. Obviously things are much more relaxed here. We can still here the jets at night, but there is no explosions or gunfire anywhere near us.

The state department is emailing us and saying that they are working on an evacuation. I was at first considering staying, but everyday the fighting is getting worse, and I get the feeling that this will become a regional conflict. So, I think I will go with the evacuation. The bad thing is that one of my bags is still in Beirut, and all the gifts I bought for people are in Beirut. I might be going home without a lot of my clothes and other possessions. They also said in the email that there is a cost to be evacuated, and they will tell us how much in the next email. This is becming very complex, and I will be very sad to leave Beirut.

I included a lot of pictures this time there's one of a bunch of the sinarc people with hussain. He's and LAU student from Lebanon. He was pretty sad to see us leave and is kind of trapped where he is right now. A few pictures from Byblos, including a beautiful one from the balcony of my room. One of me and Pat with our concerned faces as we drove by a military base on the way to Byblos. One of the ships stuck because of naval blockade. One of Karim sticking his head out of the bus window. A few (I don't know how well it will come out) of smoke rising from the airport in Beirut. One of a building in lebanon still damaged from the civil war. One of the roads out of Beirut which is packed with overcrowded cars and trucks. Well, I have to run because other people are waiting to use the computer. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and comments (the comments mean a lot to me, so if your not leaving them please start leaving them.)

Love
Josh

What a morning

2006-07-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

The heavy attacks started at around 3:00 am. The first call to prayer is at right around the same time. They are attacking a little bit south of our location. Probably around 1-2 miles from where we are. You could here the jets flying overhead, the sound of the anti-aircraft, and the explosion of the bombs. It was surreal to hear the call to prayer while all of this is going on. The call to prayer is done live, so the person doing this was hearing everything going on and continuing the call to prayer. It's one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The area being attacked is mostly Palestinian camps. The palestinians we met at the beach live here. I pray that they were able to stay safe. I've never experienced anything like this. You could see the anti-aircraft fire (It's a light red color) from the window. Some of the explosions seem to be vey close and a few of them shake the building. We are going to be evacuated to the Byblos campus of LAU at around 12:00 noon (4 am PST) My personal safety is still not a major concern to me. Beirut is one of the most beautiful cities i've ever been in, and now the infrastructure is being obliterated. This is Mish ma3quul (unbelievable). I'll never forget this experience. As I'm writing this I'm finding out that we are no longer being evacuated. I'll try to keep you updated.

Peace and love
Josh

addendum - We are going to Byblos at about 1:00pm. The drive should take 40 minutes or so. Today is friday. And friday in the muslim world is the day that they go to the mosques. I'm not worried about the drive, but it should be interesting to see people of prayer reacting to this war.

Another quick post

2006-07-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

I've never been woken up by the sound of anit-aircraft fire before, but today has been unique. Israel has immobilized all 3 runways at Beirut international airport, calling the airport a 'hub' for hezbollah weaponry. I find myself getting very angry. Lebanon is just beggining to rebuild its infrastructure. Syria has been gone for only around a year. Israel blames the government for this (I know that one of the members of the cabinet is Hezbollah), but the government has no control over the actions of Hezbollah. Any effort to disarm Hezbollah would lead Lebanon down the path to another civil war. The Israeli government is saying that they will send Lebanon back 20 years. Unbelievable!! All of this talk of terrorism, and now i think i realize what terrorism is. Terrorism may be kidnapping soldiers, but a much more severe form of terrorism is what is happening now in Beirut. Terrorism is waking to anti-aircaft fire and the sound of bombs stiking the airport (only around 9-10 miles from my present location). On may 8th of last year there was a parade in honor of hezbollah and syria where almost 200,000 people came out in support of them. On May 14th of last year almost 1.5 million people took to the streets of Lebanon to counter the hezzbollah parade, and demanded that syria exit the county. Lebanon is not the same as hezbollah, but now this uniquely open city of Beirut is seeing the infrastructure that was built in the last few years destroyed for the actions of hezbollah. What more can I say?

If you are worried about me, you can know that i am very safe where i currently am, and i will not leave unless advised to. Worry instead for the people of Lebanon, and the people of Northern Israel. I am going to class now, and I thank all of you for your thoughts, comments and concerns. I'll try to post about my trip to syria next time.

PS Go Centurions! (that's for you eloy)

A very quick post

2006-07-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

If you've been watching the news you may have heard about Israel entering southern lebanon. no worries just yet. They are keeping us updated on everything going on, and they say that we are safe here. Most of the Americans are staying together and are not leaving the campus except for food. I'll keep you updated if I here anything else.

Just Pictures

2006-07-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone for pointing out my lack of pictures. I am hoping that they will post now, but I am having a lot of computer problems. These will be pictures from Tripoli and the Cedars. Tomorrow I will do a post about Damascus & Aleppo.

Well Blogger puts these pictures up in a wierd order, so I'll just describe them generally. The guy in the bus is the coolest proffesor ever. There is a bunch from a crusader castle (later an Ottoman castle) in Tripoli. Some little kids in Tripoli. Soap in the shape of the Quran and also in the shape of the former Prime minister. Some pictures of the cedars. The Khalil Gibran Museum and former house. Snow in Lebanon. The largest grasshopper I've ever seen. And the cutest little military base ever. There is also a picture of a bedouin shepherd, and a bunch of us eating dinner on the meditteranean for my birthday.

Tripoli & the Cedars

2006-07-06T04:10:00.000-07:00

Marhaba, (Hi, hello)
I walk around downtown Beirut on Tuesday night. There are around 20,000 people packed into one square mile. People around the world love their soccer. It doesn't matter who is playong. The crowd roars everytime someone kicks the ball. I'm walking around with one of the LAU students Bilal. He is a fan of Germany, and for 115 minutes he had a good time. There is nowhere to sit so we keep walking. We stop at the liquor store and pick up a couple of 40s of Almaza (the local beer). We pay a grand total of $2.50 for two almazas. We keep walking. My Palestinian friend from the beach sees me, and we talk for a little while. Italy eventually wins. Bilal is upset, but I'm not. The women in Lebanon love Italy. This should make for a great time downtown on Sunday.

I kind of went nuts with the pictures this time, but there were a lot of pictures from Tripoli and the Cedars. We started out in Tripoli, which is a city from around 2,000 BCE. The city has a lot of history, and is much more conservative (women in the coverings is much more common in Tripoli than Beirut) and poorer than Beirut. There are several pictures (at the top) of the entire city and also some of a Crusader castle built around the year 1250 CE. It was used by each conquering empire since and today is the largest preserved castle in Lebanon. We toured the prison, stables, and inner defenses. One picture you see is of a cannon from the Ottoman period. The cannon is pointed directly at a mosque. You can't make this stuff up.

We then toured the market area. They have a very famous soap company, so we took a tour of the factory. You can see pictures of soap that looks like writing from the Quran and there is also a picture of the former (now deceased) prime minister who was killed by a car bomb around a year and a half ago.

After leaving Tripoli we began to head towards the cedars. As we got closer to the cedars, we could see the military presence increasing. This is because the cedars is somewhat close to the Syrian border, and there are also a lot of wealthy ski resorts in the cedars. You can see a few of the military pictures. We also stopped at the Khalil Gibraan museum and gravesite. And there was also an ancient Phoenician gravesite. The gravesite could have been from as early as 1,200 BCE. From there we visited the cedars of Lebanon. "The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted." (Psalm 104:16) Unfortunately the cedars are almost entirely gone. (See America isn't the only country that can destroy the environment). The next day we went on a hike and enjoyed the scenery before heading back. Well, if you've made it all the way here I'm very impressed. I would have stopped reading a while ago. I leave for Syria tommorrow and I'll be back on Sunday. I'll post when I get back.

Josh

PS I can only load five pictures per blog, so I'll have to do some other blogs of just pictures.

Some images from Lebanon

2006-07-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

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.

London Part 2 & Lebanon

2006-06-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, my stuff arrived and I finally have new underwear. How exciting!! This stuff is very hard, but I'm picking up on it quickly. Were not just learning new words, we have to learn the entire alphabet first. We also have a colloquial class where we are learning only to speak. It helps alot when walking around the city. We spend a lot of time walking around. This place is actually much safer than I expected. The mediterranean is gorgeous. No pictures from there yet, but we had lunch earlier at a cafe hanging over the mediterranean and looking at a landmark called the pigeon rocks. The meal was only ten dollars. Amazing!

We've stayed moslty in West Beirut, but we'll probably go downtown one of these weekends. This weekend I'm going to Damascus and Aleppo in Syria. Really, truly do not worry about me. This place is much safer than I thought it would be. The college is right next to the Prime Minister's son's house and the Saudi embassy. Security is everywhere. People do stare at us a lot though. I stick out like a sore thumb (As do most people in the program). The food here is excellent, and we are learning very quickly it's all been great.

I also have some pictures from London as part of this. The one in the park is part of regents park. There are people playing sports everywhere and there are also beautiful gardens. This picture i was taking and a soccer ball rolled right through. All in all it was a great trip. I have homework to finish and its 11:00 at night. I cant believe I'm in an 8:00 am colloquial class. So when you're partying at 10:00 pm know that I am speaking Arabic in a far away land.

Live from Lebanon
Josh Wilson

I survived the flight, but the guy next to me smelled really bad

2006-06-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

1st Post from Lebanon

I will have a second post about London with pictures later, but there is a little problem with my baggage. My baggage currently rests in the beautiful island country of Cyprus. I had a feeling that this would happen when I landed in Cyprus. The airport was very disorderly. Fortunately I have most of my valuables with me, but certain things like the USB cord that connects my camera to the computer are in my bag. I had to buy some clothes out here also, and the clothes out here are really small for the sizes. I bought a large shirt and it barely fits me. It looks like a muscle shirt. I need my clothes!! I can only suck my gut in with these tiny clothes for a little bit longer.

On a positive note, the flight out was remarkable. We flew directly over Paris, and I could see the entire city lit up. I saw the most amazing lightning storm right around Rome, and I woke up to the sunset peering over the horizon in modern day turkey. That was my favorite part. The area of modern day Turkey is historically such an important region, and seeing the horizon was fascinating. And the Mediterranean was pretty nice too.

When I arrived in Lebanon (after the sadness of not getting my luggage. Although I am not the only person whose luggage got lost. There is actually a group of around ten of us without luggage. We’ve used it as a bonding experience and have been hanging out. So it’s not all that bad.) When I arrived in Lebanon the driver was there to pick me up and he drove me straight to the school. What a culture shock driving through Lebanon. It’s somewhat similar to parts of Mexico, but you can still see some of the remnants from the civil war. There are bullet holes in some of the houses, and some building have large chunks missing. Pictures can speak much louder than words, so I will post some pictures once my baggage arrives.

The food has been great. The beach is gorgeous. And they say that we are in a very safe neighborhood. I hope to hear from all of you and I will post again soon.

P.S. Thank you to Amy for such a great time in London. I really enjoyed myself and it was a great prep for this trip to Lebanon. Have a great summer preparing for the year at Louisville.

Regards, Josh Wilson

“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation” Khalil Gibran

Welcome to London

2006-06-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm in London now. It looks just like the east coast, but people drink a lot more. I met Amy at the airport and the adventure began. On the first night we visited Regent's park, and it was gorgeous. People were playing softball, soccer and cricket as well as a variety of other activities. (Actually those are the only sports they were playing) The gardens were amazing. I would post a picture, but there is no USB port on this computer.

Today, (Thurs.) we visited a lot of the city. (St. Paul's, Tower of London, London Bridge, Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Tate Modern, Southwark Cathederal). I realized a few things so far. First, art is great, but some art makes no sense to me. There was a video in the Tate modern of a guy that looked like an oompa loompa going crazy and jumping up and down. And then on top there was the same video upside down with the guy wearing different color clothes. What the f*%$ is that? I was actually kind of frightened. But Picasso and Warhol were pretty cool. Second, people in England love their soccer, and soccer is more fun when everyone around you is going crazy the whole time. Third, I like beer. I started drinking at 11:00 today, and there are pubs everywhere, so the drinking didn't really stop.

Well, I'll post again soon. Hopefully with pictures.