6 to 6

Today was my best day so far! I woke up at 4 AM to take my asthma medicine (I have to take it at least an hour before I work out), then I fell back asleep until around 5:30. By 6 AM I was out the door and running on the streets of Beirut. I ran for exactly an hour, but I don’t think I was ever confident about where I was going and how I got there. At one point I almost ran straight into a Palestinian refugee camp. Not exactly the best start to your day. Otherwise, I noticed a lot of stuff about Beirut that I’ve never really took note of. What tops the list is that there a lot of Syrians. Americans and Lebanese have the same problem when it comes to low-wage labor. There are a number of Americans living under the poverty line, but few of them may take the low-wage jobs that many Mexican immigrants are taking. The Syrians in Lebanon are equivalent to the Mexicans in the United States. They do the work that nobody wants to do, but that doesn’t help Lebanon’s unemployment level either. It’s a hard dilemma.

Another thing I noticed—there’s a lot more catcalling at 6 AM than at 6 PM.

Last night I meant to pack some cash in case I got lost and needed to take a taxi home. I forgot to do that, so I was less adventurous in my path. I stuck to the main road that lies several blocks west of my uncle’s house.

It seems like the entire world is awake at 6 AM. Really, it’s a spectacular sight. There’s definitely not a lot of women walking around, and there are very few people wandering aimlessly. It’s a sight similar to the streets Times Square, minus the neon lights, with about a third of the people, and with everyone dressed in slacks and dirty dress shirts.

I came home, showered and ate and got ready for another Monday at the orphanage. I did catch the bus this morning and sat next to one of the sweetest students I know, Fatima. She’s not in any of my classes but she lives in the next district over so I always see her. We took pictures in the bus. That’s when I found out that most of the kids have never seen a camera in their life.
When we got to the orphanage, we played with the camera a bit more with some of the other kids, and I realized that most of them have never seen a picture of themselves in their life before, much less have someone take a picture of them. I know I want to fix that before I leave. I’m planning on collecting all of the pictures and maybe presenting the orphanage with a nice book of all the kids’ pictures.

Today was so far the least stressful day of teaching that I’ve had so far. I changed things up today and had my boys write and perform plays in English. I loved the group that performed “Leila and the Wolf”, a spin on Little Miss Riding Hood.

The girls were also unusually attentive today. That’s definitely a surprise to me. For one, some of the more talkative ones were missing. But I think the announcement that they have an exam on Wednesday might have dulled out all of that energy.

Besides that, it was a relaxing day at my uncle’s house again. I spoke to my parents and spent most of the evening going over material for my kids and making their exams for Wednesday.
I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding before I went to bed. Classic Asil.

Oh, and I was also told by my uncle that he would prefer me to run in the afternoon and not the early morning. I’m not sure why, but I’m not going to argue. He’s the one who’s been living in this neighborhood for years, not me.