More about Lebanon and protests

I mentioned a few postings ago  how even the Lebanese are protesting to have their economic concerns addressed. It's not hard to understand that they would if you spend any amount of time living there.  

My understanding seeing it from the outside, is that the people are fed up that so much energy is expended figuring out which party represents what and is allied with who and all this political posturing all the while pocketing the money that belongs to the people and nothing gets done about ruling the country and making things work again. 

I get that the country has gone through various forms of war and military actions that have left some of the infrastructure in horrible state. But it's far worse then it should be if they actually spent the time and money to fix it instead of fighting over who should do what and how and when,.

I can't remember if it was on Facebook or on blogger that I mentioned that cooking in Beirut poses some interesting challenges. As far as I can remember, every time I've visited Beirut there were rotating electrical cuts. Generally 3 hours a day that means there is no electricity at my mom-in-law's house. My understanding is that in less populated areas, you might be without electricity 6 hours a day. Generally on a rotating schedule. It also means that you can't keep food half as long as you can in a place where the fridge stays constantly cold. 

There's also no water provided by the city at my mom-in-law's building. The water that comes into the house is brought in by cistern. And if there is no electricity when the water arrives, you have to wait 3 hours before it can be pumped up into your container on the roof.  It also means this is not drinkable water, so you have to buy your  drinking water and lug it home.Even those homes in some parts of Beirut that do get their water from the city, still must buy their drinking water.

As a Montrealer I take having electricity and drinking water for granted.  Sure we have electrical black outs, generally following storms, whether it's rain, ice, snow and/or wind but otherwise our electricity is pretty stable. As well the drinking water is pretty drinkable . Of course using a Brita filter improves the taste, but you don't get sick drinking Montreal water. My hubby who would not drink anything other then bottled water and not even make tea without using bottled water will drink Montreal tap water. 

Then there's the salaries and the infrequency at which people are payed. You get paid on a monthly basis but sometimes you won't get payed for 2 months. Makes it kinda hard to make ends meet especially when you are living from paycheck to paycheck.

People complain about the roads in Quebec.. you should see the roads in Lebanon. The one thing I won't complain about is overall Beirut is quite clean as a Middle-Eastern metropolis. However some areas outside the bigger urban centers are nasty so is the shoreline in some areas.  The pollution can be pretty bad. They still have really old cars on the road. There's also no really good public transport, which means there are far more cars on the road then there could be. No train system either.

I could go on and on and on about all the things that need to be addressed.....

On the other side of the coin I have nothing but profound admiration for the Lebanese in general. Most I have run across are ingenious and resourceful, generally friendly, warm  and passionate people. Sure sometimes that hides a darker side where they pull a fast one on you [most Lebanese will tell you never to trust a Lebanese, but I can safely say there are just as many you can trust!] but then there are black sheep in any group! 

I'm hoping their new leader Mr. Mikati will address some of the more pressing issues, but as with every political change in Lebanon, one must wait and see.