Triathlon has been on my mind lately. Facebook keeps throwing up memories of races and training from over the years, and it makes me think back to how it all started. In fact, I became a triathlete—an accomplished one, actually—in Lebanon. It was 2012 when my friends and I came up with the great idea …
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Remembering Bono….
When he was first brought home, he fit in the palm of a hand. He lay on the floor in the breakfast room, and my French friend jokingly commented that with a puppy and soon-to-be dog, there would be no need for a lover. He slept under the cabinets on the kitchen balcony. He rode …
Sunday Morning Promenades in Beirut
I moved to Lebanon when my first son was six months old, thinking it would be a short adventure and life experience. When my ex asked me if I wanted to go, I thought, “Sure, why not? I can travel to Jordan and Egypt, go to the beach whenever I want, or snow ski every …
Rooly Booly: More Than a Lebanese Toy Store
When Rooly Booly opened some twenty-odd years ago, I didn’t think much of it at first. The store, located on the corner just down from our building, was small and narrow—typical of street-level shops in our neighborhood. The owner’s vision was to create an educational toy store, stocked with toys, games, and art supplies designed …
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Dr. Mubarak, a Country Doctor in Beirut
When I moved to Beirut, the city was still “small” and conventional, especially when it came to doctors. At that time, a few doctors still made house visits, which was something I had never heard of, except for country doctors in movies. One such doctor was Dr. Mubarak. Even back then, he was pretty old, …
Morning Hikes in Faraya, Lebanon with Fabienne
Lebanon is situated with the Mediterranean Sea on its western edge and Syria on its eastern edge and going east from the shoreline you will hit a mountain range and then after that the Bekaa valley. Many people think that since it’s part of the Middle East, it is a desert with camels running around. …
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My First Trip to Lebanon’s Jeita Grotto
I’ll begin with a bit of background about the Jeita Grotto. It is located in the Nahr al-Kalb (Dog River in English) valley within the municipality of the Jeita township. The grotto is a system of separate (upper and lower) but interconnected karstic limestone caves with an overall length of approximately 9 kilometers. (That’s pretty …
Bono – Our Family’s Lovable Lebanese Dog & My Favorite Child
I think my daughter first started asking for a “real” dog as opposed to a stuffed animal when she was around 5 years old. She used to see people in our neighborhood walking their dogs on leashes and would plead, “Mamonie” (That’s what my children called me – it’s a combination of Mommy and Mary …
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New Year Eve Parties in Lebanon
Since yesterday was New Year’s Eve, it is only fitting that I write a post about the many “Eves” I spent in Lebanon. First you need to know that the Lebanese love to party and have a good time and along with this is their love for dressing up. The first time I went to …
My Experience of the 2006 Lebanese War
It was the summer of 2006 and by June, my family and I had already moved from Beirut to our mountain house in Kfour, a small village in the middle of Lebanon in the Keserwan area. Before the summer, there was quite a bit of tension and aggressive back and forth words between Israel and …
Snippets of My Life in Lebanon 