First, it feels big to me. Granted, the ranger station at Wonder Lake was a bit bigger, but it was more public than private space. After spending the two years before that in my cabin in Chesterville, Maine, it feels very roomy here. All the furniture you see came with the place. Some of you may be shocked and appalled to see a tv placed prominently in the living room, but tv here is just too interesting to pass up. Most of the channels are in Arabic, but there are a few in English with Arabic subtitles. I like watching and listening to the Arabic news channels and trying to figure out what's going on. Oddly, there is also a handful of regular US cable stations, so I could watch "Animal Planet" if I wanted to. The Lebanese who watch it must think Americans are crazy for investing so much money and effort into taking care of their pets!
Let's move into the kitchen, shall we? It, too, is very spacious, with lots of cabinets and countertops. I got a coffeemaker right off, as there seems to be an odd affinity for instant coffee here: at all the school functions (and even at the fancy hotel), all the coffee offered comes in little packets from Nescafe, with a pot of hot water nearby. I'll also draw your attention to the toaster (with the wierd toast-holding arms on top): I got it cheap on one of my first days here, before I realized that...there's nothing to toast. Nearly all the bread is flatbread! It's great, but I wouldn't mind finding a bagel somewhere. I'll keep looking. Oh, and I included a photo of the gas stove, which, as you can see, has the gas tank right next to it. I need to call the gas guy and have him deliver a new one when I run out.
And now the piece de resistance--the bathroom! Yes, all the hot and cold running water and flushing action a person could want! Yeah! (this is a contrast to my Maine cabin, and to Wonder Lake in the early season). There's no bidet, but there is a funny little electrical outlet next to the mirror that operates on 150 or 220 volts and says "for razors only" on it. I'll just leave it alone.
And thus ends our tour of my new place. (The bedroom is far too messy to photograph right now.) Bear in mind that the average Lebanese person earns about $300 per month, I'm told, and so I'm sure it's very unusual to have such a roomy, comfortable place to live. I definitely feel like I'm living pretty luxuriously. I could get used to the running water!
4 comments:
No bidet? Hee! I think it looks oddly American, so apartments must be the same all over. It looks all lovely and clean, possibly the result of being, er, clean, but also because of the light color scheme.
Enjoy the running water! You deserve it.
hmm...i wonder if lulu's can ship bagels internationally...i'll check on it for you ;)
I hate to be the history buff, but it's interesting that a country in the middle east wouldn't have coffee. Though we often associate coffee with the mountains of south america, it is believed that the first recorded incident of someone drinking coffee was in the middle east (present day western saudi arabia to be exact) when Mohammed fell ill and was given a hot, dark bitter drink made from beans that revived him. I'm surprised that neither Starbucks nor any of the other coffee house chains have used him as a spokesperson.
Perhaps we should open a cafe here that uses Mohammed as a spokesperson. I'm sure no one would mind.
I blame Nestle for being evil and forcing instant coffee on everyone, as well as monopolizing the bottled water industry.
I like your history-buff tendancies. Didn't we read that Mohammed story in a cafe somewhere in Anchorage?
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