Retreat!

It’s currently 11:11 AM in Dallas right now and 7:11 PM in Beirut. At 11 this morning I was sitting by the pool with a bunch of my girl students rocking out to Akon and Assi El Helani alike.
I just got back from our first camp retreat with the summer students. This was definitely the most hectic 2 days I’ve had in Lebanon so far. Where do I even start…

I got up at 6:30 in the morning on Thursday to double-check that I have everything and the bus was here by 8. We went to the school first so they could introduce us to our camp leaders and sort us into the buses. I was a camp leader assistant, but I had as little and as much leverage as everyone else.

We thought we would never make it to the campgrounds. One of the school officials passed out from his blood pressure getting too high before we even left the school. He was yelling about something concerning whatever transportation plans they had for us and completely lost consciousness and was on the floor. I was actually getting ready to do CPR on him when he woke from unconsciousness.

By the time we got to Saida, one of my 8th grade boys was hyperventilating. I don’t remember what happened…probably just some bus sickness or claustrophobia. They, too, asked my help for CPR when he lost consciousness but he eventually got up.

We got to the campgrounds and had a mini orientation and then started playing games like handball and soccer. This was when I started learning everyone’s names…finally. We broke for lunch and then the girls went to the beach to swim while the guys stayed behind and did some activities. When I got back, my guys called me over to show off their perfectly made tent. I was ecstatic until my camp leader called all the girls together and told us to make sure we weren’t stalling around with the boys too much. I knew it was directed at me and it bothered me for a bit, but then I forgot about it.

We broke for dinner and prayer. The girls and I started a dabke circle. Dabke is the traditional Lebanese dance—very similar to the Greek dancers that are always stepping side to side and back and forth. It’s really fun and Mariam and I perfected it that night when we attempted to stay up all evening.

The boys slept in the tents while the girls and the little kids drove to Jwaya, about a 20 minute drive from Sour to stay at the orphanage. I have never been inside an orphanage, much less slept overnight there, so it was definitely an experience.

We were woken up at 5 this morning to pray and get ready to go back to the campgrounds. We had a 30 minute workout before we left, which was actually really interesting. I was already in sweats and tennis shoes so I went all-out on my workout.

Jowaya is a beautiful city. The view from the orphanage took my breath away. We took the long way around back to the campgrounds on a military path. It was really, really shaky but it took us through the valley and over some mountains. The view was stunning. It was also the first time I saw lemon and orange groves in Lebanon.

I knew we were near the campground when I saw all the banana trees growing everywhere. It’s quite a sight. We picked up a random watermelon that was growing near the banana grove on the trail up to the campground.

I had completely lost my appetite in the last couple of days because I’ve been sick on and off all week. So even after more than 24 hours with fewer than 10 bites of food, all I could manage to put in my mouth this morning was tea.

We girls spent the morning and early afternoon swimming and laying out. The pool was barely filled but it was really fun anyways. We prayed and ate lunch before the boys came back from their trip to the river and we began to pack up.

A lot of the kids didn’t realize that I live in the states, so most of the time I spent talking was about life in America. The number one question I get asked is, “Which is better, America or Lebanon?” I have no idea how I’m supposed to answer. Lebanon is breathtaking, but you have electricity and hot water 24 hours a day in the states.