Back home in Montreal.

So I've entered all my thoughts in this steno pad for the past 3 weeks. About 44 pages worth. Now I must transcribe all of these entries into this blog. Will probably take me a week or two.

Mind you I won't be transcribing everything. For one I was taking notes to remember events, so I can write about them in chronological order, and secondly I kept a dream journal and no one needs to know those.

Some of the entries are very mondane and boring. They will be entered with the correct date so will appear before this one, dating from June 8th to June 28th. The first Entry is called "Flying to Beirut Today"

More ramblings from the Air Canada flight

3:00PM Montreal time
Half an hour more. I'm so impatient. So fed up of being on a plane. So sad that my sweetie and I had to split up at least until December. Sigh. I managed not to cry somehow, by not thinking about it. I'm so tired. I don't think we managed to sleep more then 2 hours last night.

We got back from Byblos with Sandra and Patil around midnight. Then we had all this paperwork to fill, pack our luggage. He had to burn for me several DVD's. We had to be up at 5AM to catch the cab at 6AM. Beirut airport is always fun. First before entering airport, you get some of your luggage searched. As luck would have it, we got the surly guy. HE was obviously not pleased to have the early morning airport duly. He even opened the file folder from my carry on with all the immigration papers.

Then you line up for a securty check, where all your luggage is passed through the x-ray machines. People taking you to the airpot must leave you there. You cannot get in airport unless you're flying. THen you check in your bags, and go through yet another security check with your carry on. And people worry about security???

Just like yesterday walking in Beirut to set get to this university type bookstore. We had to go through an army checkpoint. Samer was surprised they did not stop us and search my purse and frisk him. I never went anything in Beirut without my passport. And while we went through dozens of chec points, in the 4 days I was there, non gave us any grief. THough it's fun to navigate in parts of Beirut. THe streets are a veritable obstacle course, meant to prevent anyone from going fast. One of the taxi's we took commented about if they could make the obstacle course any tighter. Gotta love the sarcasm.

Neat taxi system. For 1500 leb pounds per person [or $1 USD], you get a 'pooling taxi". If the cab is going your way he picks you up. He picks up to 4 passengers. If you're walking along , each cab that passes you buy that has a free seat will honk to let you know he might be going where you're going.

You get used to the constant honking after a while. Not that I'm not used to it in Montreal, but usually it's because I'm female... :P Beirut is a city that never seems to sleep. Between the honking cabs, the noisy mopeheads, that also beep, honking people, Mosques with loudspeakers, roosters, and local cafes, there always seems to be noise.

Also it seems there are very few single unit homes left. THey all get torn down to make 12 story or so buildings. Despite the buildings taking up every inch of available land and living in close proximity to neighbors, people manage to have vegetation growing along balconies, roofs, and edges of buildings. Saw Laurel and hibiscus trees.

Also what amazed me was just the sheer volume of Lebanese flags everywhere, lining streets as banners, off balconies. Of course pictures of various leaders are displayed on homes, billboards. Most buildings have some kind of shop on the ground floor. Near the gate of the building Samer's family lives in, on one side is a little convenience store, on the other a small coffee shop/casse croute type place. All mom & pop type shops.

Another thing I found surprising were the metal doors in front of the wood door. Mostly to prevent people from barging into your home. Handy during war times. Of course it probably makes it theft proof as well.

I was toured quickly through "downtown" Beirut, which is almost all new buildings made to look like the older buildings that were destroyed during the civil war. What struck me there is that other then army checkpoints, there seemed to be a security guard outside just about every building. The downtown area was very quite, so where the pubs in both areas I was driven around in both Beirut and Byblos. Seems the explosions in the past month has killed business and tourism. People stay home, visit with friends.

Blogging from the Air Canada flight

2:15 PM Montreal Time
As per usual food, on AC flights suck. THere afternoon snack is a pizza pocket. Loaded with white flour and sugar no less. Funny how other companies, including MEA tend to make their veggie meals without tons of sugar or white flour. So I'm setting here feeling totally hungry from the semll of food, knowing I'll be sick if I eat

I'm tired and crabby and I want to be home already. I know there's about an hour before we land and I have to be patient. But after the stress of Charles de Gaulle, I'm feeling pretty annoyed. And the worst part is that I'm going to get thome to an empty house and there won't be food and I won't be able to sleep in the morning since tomorrow is Friday and my cleaning lady will be in bright and early.

Rant from Charles De Gaulle Airport

Paris 1:13PM
I've never seen such hell to get passengers between terminals. I was sardined for over an hour in terminal 2F waiting for a shuttle. Cattle are better kept. People started getting impatient and rude and almost caused a mob scene.

Mental Note: when I travel to Dubai in December, I'm not going to transit via Charles de Gaule. At least the security check in Terminal 3 in Heathrow might be a bitch to get through, but at least there is a longer corridor and people do not mob so much.

THankfully I'm in my place finally, which should be leaving in 5 minutes. Plane seems reasonably full, it might actually leave as planned. I was one of the last 3 passengers onboard they were waiting for before departing.

THank God, I do not faint as easily as I did at 18, and I have a decent control over my claustrophobia. I mean were were squished likie sardines. Worst design I've seen in a long time, like WTF? Charles De Gaulle airport SUCKS! I'm so grateful at the moment to be on a plane. I was starting to think I'd miss it [Breathe girl, breathe]

Ramblings while waiting take off from Beirut Airport

The two days spent in Beirut were so incredibly rushed. Somehow managed to meet 20-30 of my hubby's closest friends and relatives. Friends took me sight-seeing in both Beirut and Byblos. So much in so little time in Beirut. Pity we spent so little time in Beirut. However Sonia suggested we spent a week in Beirut at Christmas. But as it goes with travel to Beirut, I bet it will be a last minute decision. I will book my UAE tickets and if things look good, we will fly to Beirut for Christmas. Will get to see a bit more and who knows things might be less tense by then. [After which all I can hear in my head is an uproar of laughter]

We flew in from Cyprus on Monday and arrived just after midnight. There I got to meet Karim, Samer's "Step-dad". He picked us up at the airport with Samer's mom. Tuesday morning we woke up early. Samer, his mom and sis were supposed to to to some notary's office but it was closed till afternoon. Samer took me to a souvenir shop on Hamra street. Then we ended up at Cafe Prague and had some lunch. Got to eat some falafel. Was quite yummy. Did some more errands. I seem to remember we picked up a hard disk. We also went to a couple of bookstores, one of them "La librarie Orientale", where I bought 2 humourous books on the Lebanese, One caled "Life's like that!" and the 2nd "Live's ... even more like that!". Also picked up "Le Liban, Vue par l'objectif de Munir Nasr". At least I have pictures of all the things I was not able to see.

Side note on Cafe Prague, really unique decor and menu's. Pub at night, hangout place with decent food by day. You know the type of place people go hang out to meet up with friends, or to pretend to work with laptop. Everything from the menu's to the bathrooms was unique, and artsy.

After our errands, we went back home, Sonia was working hard to make sure everything was ready for the party that evening. Around 4PM, Samer, his mom & sister went back to the notary. I was left in appartment with one of his mom's friend, Jumana [I think that's how it's spelt]. Ended up showing her pictures of my kids, and some of my garden on facebook!!!

Does not seem like there is a woman in Samer's life who did not check me out. However, I was told most seemed to think I was fine. Only 1 person at the party seemed to think I was too old for him. Though the party was at 6PM of course no one arrived before 6:30PM. His friend Souad was there first. Then slowly people arrrived. I'm guessing a total of 40 people showed up, though some came early and left just as quickly and some came late. But it was still a lot of people for shy little me to meet. I pretty much stayed in two seats most of the night. Thankfully some of Samer's closest friends were nice enough to try to engage me into convo, like Bshara, Sandra and Patil. Sadly I was too shy to say much, but there is always a next time.

Last day in Cyprus, she can only whine about the heat.

It is so bloody hot again today. Been wearing a wet face cloth on my neck to help no9t make heat rash worse. Dunno if it will work or not. It's about 40 here and will be for the rest of the week. IT's about 33 in Beirut. At least will be somewhat cooler.

Baby and 2 of her kittens have been hanging out for the past ho0ur, resting in a shady spot. Hot for them too.

Ubber cute kittens

It's so cute, 2 of the kittens are sleeping in the house beside the kitchen door next to the vacuum cleaner. Today is probably the warmest day we've experienced here. IT was still incredibly warm when we went walking around 7PM and we only walked to the golf club. Sadly by the time we decided to leave, so were the remaining of the golfers, and there was way too much dust in the air.

Made French fries from scratch for the first time. They came out reasonably good considering it was my first time and on a gas stove. I wonder if it will be as warm in Beirut the rest of the week? I hope not since it is more humid there then here.

I woulnd't do anything rash

I'm not a happy camper today. I've realized the rash in my neck is a heat rash. And on my hands it's exzema. From the water and the soap. So I have rashes on the various parts of my body and it's not even the same.

I probably haven't had a heat rash since I was a child! My allergies are really bad today. It's going to be 35 in Limassol, meaning 39-40 up here. Thankfully it's not humid.

Walk to the golf went to the dogs.

We walked to the golf tonight and sat the the bench in front of the driving range for an hour enjoying the wind. It's always so peaceful up there. At some point 3 dogs came around. Guessing some golfers let their dogs roam while they play. A white female, some type of retriever, a chocolate brown male, he looked more like a Labrador, and a white male, shorter legs and obviously an ear infection as he kept stopping to shake it and to whine .

When we walked home, we saw them running about on the road, and they decided to follow us to the village. As we approached the first house, a man came running out to shoo the dogs away. In broken English he mentioned that the female had killed a chicken before and he did not want her near his chickens. We said the dogs came from the golf. Once at the Old Mill house, the white dog kept standing in front of the house for a while then she finally ran off.

Tomorrow is our last day of doing nothing in the hills of Cyprus. Monday night, we fly to Beirut.

Post mortem on the tourist day

We ended up talking till around 1AM yesterday. Sadly when I went to bed I could not sleep. First I was too hyper, then he snored! By 2AM the rooster was already at it. Obviously something woke him up, and he kept crowing. If anything I tossed and turned most of the night. I probably fell asleep between 5 and 7AM only. I'm not tired today despite the heat.

I think visiting all those sites yesterday, some which dated back to 2000 BC really recharged my batteries. Especially standing in several pagan worship circles at both the Amathus and the Appollon Yliatis site.

It's like 36 or 37 out today. The wind is actually warmer then the outside temperature. This is the third ant infestation we've had this week. Ants are the same everywhere. Haven't seen any cats today, except the little gray female this morning. This is a first. The long bowl I'm using to feed multiple cats [Often Baby Sr, and her 3 kittens], still has food in it.

This morning the church Bell rang around 7:45AM. WHen I looked out, there was more cars then I'd ever seen parking in our village. I looked out the window and I noticed that there was about 2 dozen people in the courtyard of the 16th century Church, near the crosses on the side. Seems like it was a memorial services. They all scattered around 9:15. Some went to one of the houses in the village, others just left. One of the crosses is always decorated with fresh flowers. I'm guessing this is who the memorial service was for. So despite the age of the small church, it still seems in use. The mutka of this village apparently has the key, and I've seen her show it around some of the neighboring Brits, and their guests. I should have tagged along. I'd like to see the inside of the church. It seems hundreds of years old

Touring the Antiquities

I'm exhausted and a bit burnt from all the sight-seeing. We started our day by visiting the Amathus Archaeological site. It's not far from where we are staying but closer to the waterfront. It boggles the mind how those who lived there so many years ago had running hot water! We think we're so cool with our technology, but we're not.

We then drove along the waterfront to Lady's Mile beach. Some some blokes para-surfing. Like having water ski's and being drawn by a parachute. Then we found the Convent of St Nicolas of the Cats, or "Agios Nikolaos ton gaton". Coming back we drove along the salt lake.

Our next stop was Kolossi Castle, was a medieval castle. Not a particularly big castle compared to what I've seen in other parts of Europe. Then we went to Kourion Archaeological site. There's a small amphitheatre that is still used even today for Shakespeare plays. The view from there was breath-taking.

From there we went to Kourion beach and stopped at a restaurant right on the edge of the water for lunch. After eating, I could not resist walking in the water. Took pictures of the sea and the rolling hills while I was walking in the water.

Then we stopped at the Temple of Appollon Ylatis, another archaeological site. Interestingly enough, most of the sites we visited were on hilltops, from where one could see the Mediterranean sea. It was funny. Both Steve and Samer thought that the Appollon Ylatis was something else. Samer thought it was the Kourion site, and Steve thought it was at the birthplace of Aphrodite. But when I pointed it out along the road, they were both surprised. It was one of the bigger archaeological sites, with nice remains. Loved the circle there. Stood for a few minutes to feel the energies.

Our next stop was "Petra tou Romiou", the birthplace of Aphrodite. Basically a series of 3 large rocks on the waterfront. Steve stopped at a nice Vista point from where we could see the rocks down below, and took a picture of Samer and I with the rock in the background. Then we went down to see the Rocks proper. This particular waterfront is not so much sandy but has tons of 'gallets', round rocks polished from the sea. I could not help myself but had to walk into the water there. Also 5 stones decided that they must come home with me. And I also ended up tying a kleenex on the ribbon tree before leaving there.

We drove to Pafos, to the harbour. Kato Pafos, in the old harbour was another medieval Castle, which we visited. Seemed from the same time frame as the Kolossi castle. Nice view from the top. Perfect lookout to see if enemy is approaching. From there we also visited the Kato Pafos archaeological site. This is a huge site, that includes 4 homes, excavated to show teh ceramic floors. Took lokts of pictures. There was also an amphitheatre, which Steve thought was bigger then the one in Kourion but didnt' seem to be. People were starting to set up for a play, we took pictures of the set too :) We also saw mosaicsm and the ruins of a 13th century castle. We picked up some souvenirs at Kato Pafos for Chris, Michelle and Eliane.

Antiquities, here we come!

Today we are going to do the tourist thing with Steve. We've going to visit all sorts of Antiquities, near both Limassol and Paphos. Looking forward to checking out "The Birth Place of Aphrodite". Good place to bring back a souvenir for my friend Chris.

The purple tree in Kellaki

We walked to Kellaki today around 6PM. We went to the school yard to take photo's with the purple tree that had caught my attention each time we cross the village with Steve. We also walked up to the church "Agios Georgios", which is an ancient church. The view from there is pretty nice. We stopped at the local store to pick up more phone cards for Samer's PDA so we can get our internet fix. We're both such addicts! Of course since we ended up walking past the Taverna 4 times, we got gawked at 4 times!

Cyprus' rolling hills vegetation

It feels so hot already and it's only 10AM. It's sunny, not a cloud in the sky. The kids seem home today so perhaps yesterday was the last day of school.

I'm amazed at all the vegetation there is despite fact that the land seems so dry, and no rain. I mean of all the wild plants I've identified, there's lavender, some yellow sedum, different types of thistles, some wild rose type flowers, and other vegetation I have no names for.

THere's this flowering tree that comes either with white, pale pink or dark pink flowers, that can be found along most of the main roads, that we also saw in a deep crevasse yesterday on our way to Akapnou, in full bloom too. What makes me smile is all the bushy red hibiscus. Mostly they are red, but I've seen pink ones too. Hibiscuses, especially red ones, already remind me of my mom. Brings me a warm fuzzy feeling.

The geraniums are absolutely the biggest I've ever seen. All sorts of shades of reds and pinks. Also various types of palm trees and cactuses seem to both grow wild and people seem to cultivate them too.

In the back near the patio of The Old Mill House is a fig tree, with tons of green figs. Sadly it's too early in the season to be able to sample some fresh local figs. I was so looking forward to eating fresh figs.

Owls, and Cats oh my!

I managed to get a better picture of the Owls tonight. I tried while it was on the edge of the 16th Century church facing the Old Mill House, and I guess the flash annoyed it, so it flew on top of an electrical pole which was closer to me. So I took 2 more pictures, which probably pissed it off more, so it flew away.

Earlier when I noticed the first one on the church, it flew in my direction and I guess my presence in the street distracted it, so it flew into the electrical wires, and barely made it to the top of another electrical pole. What huge wing-span that bird has. Comes out around 8:30-9:00PM just as night falls, and sings all night.

As for the cat count? Baby has 3 kittens, Mommy has 4. That makes 9 cats. Then there's the 2 big male black tabbies, then there's the one male that looks like baby, one male that's all black and white, one that looks calico, so should be female. So easily about 15 cats that roam around this village. And I thought I had too many cats at home!!!!

Where has all the time gone by?

Where is the time flying buy? Only 8 days left of vacation. I could get used to doing nothing! Today we got up pretty late. I could have slept more except for the fact I was asleep by 10:30 last night, and so tired, I forgot to tkae off my contacts! One of those rare times I slept so much. Must have been the heat in Nicosia yesterday.

Today we walked to the golf club in Vilka, then to the other village, Akapnou, then back to Klonari. TOok us about one hour for the round trip. THe section between Vilka and Akapnou was mostly all steep downhill. Was hard on the calves, but Samer wished he had a bicycle to go downhill very fast. Of cousre since it's a dirt road, he would have had fun trying to stop and get the curves.

I made pasta for lunch today, and made 2 sauces. One with ground beef for Samer and one with Zucchini & lentils for me. Both also had onions, garlic, green peppers and carrots. Both came out well, though I must take Samer's opnion for the meat based one since I didn't touch it myself. Still get grossed out, especially by uncooked meat.

I thought we had filled out all the immigration forms the other day, we had spent 3 hours doing so, but apparently we forgot to fill out the Quebec specific ones it seems. Ahhhh, more flucking forms! Oh well one must do what one must do!

I talk about the weather because I'm Canadian.

It was more then 40 in Nicosia today. Thankfully, it was mostly dry heat. Was about 29 in Limassol, and about 35-36C in the hills of Klonari. We waited around 6PM to go take a walk to the golf club before heading back. I was amazed how hot it was even by 7PM. Usually where there is a lot of vegetation, it cools faster. It's actually cooler in Limassol with the breeze from the Mediterranean sea then it is in the mountains.

Nicosia, Lebanese Embassy Part Deux & Sightseeing

We went to Nicosia again today. Didn't leave quite as early as yesterday. The Canadian consulate had stamped our marriage certificate. We were in and out in under 5 minutes. It took maybe half an hour at the Lebanese Embassy. She was unhappy with the fact she didn't get the original, but we h ad told her it was with the Canadians. So she stamped the copy. In 15 days, Samer must call the embassy to get a number, which he presents to some Foreign affairs office in Lebanon, and our marriage will be registered with them. But the documentation they wanted. In duplicate.

After we finished with the paperwork, we went sight-seeing in the "old Nicosia". Inside the old Venetian city walls. We walked around, and went up on teh Shakolas building on Ledra street, which boasts a panoramic view of all of Nicosia. From there we can see the Turkish side. We saw the Turkish flag carved into the mountains. What an insult it must be to the Greek Cypriots.

We had lunch at a nice little place on Ledra street. Samer had a spicy folded pizza and I had an eggplant, mozarella, tomato salad. Our guide buddy Steve had an orange juice. We went into a tourist shop, but nothing was appealing. We also went into a Tourist Info center and I picked up a few brochures, makes for nice souvenirs.

Internet hasn't been working on Samer's mobile today either. Annoying really since we are both internet addicts! He could live in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, so long as there was fast internet. :P

It's more fun when you're Lebanese

So we get to Nicosia. First we stopped at the Justice Ministry and they told us because we're Lebanese and Canadian we do not need them stamped by the Justice ministry but by Foreign affairs. So we went to Foreign affairs and we got the original and the 3 copies stamped. That proved to be cheap and painless.

Then we went to the Canadian consulate. They wanted a bank draft for $50 CAD for certifying the paper. I gave them the original. We figured we'd pick it up on our way back after going to the Lebanese embassy. Well the Lebanese embassy wanted all sorts of papers. Including a paper which Samer will have to fill out with my name in Arabic.

ALso need to put a religion for me. So since we didn't have half of these papers, we had to go to Limassol, to get copies made at city hall. Orthodoxia, was there smiling and very helpful. She even made copies of our passports for us free of charge no less.

So tomorrow morning, we're going back to Nicosia to pick up the original from the Canadian consulate, and to deal with the Lebanese embassy. With all our papers with copies in duplicate.

Baby my adopted Cypriot cat is doing so much better. Her eyes are brighter, her fur is shinier. She seems more energetic. In fact she didn't touch the food tonight. She let the kittens eat it mostly. I saw her later in the filed behind the house with several kittens. She seems to be teaching them how to hunt. Good for her!

Nicosia bureaucracy

Today we were up at the crack of dawn, well 6AM and I was awake at 4:30AM when Bob started signing, because we're going to Nicosia. First to the Minister of Justice, then to the Minister of Foreign affairs. After we have to hit both the Canadian consulate and the Lebanese embasy. This will be fun. Supposed to be over 35C in Nicosia today. Weeee!