Thursday, October 22, 2009

It takes a village . . . to buy groceries!

Cultural Experience of the Week: buying groceries with input from, well, everyone.
At the small village grocery this week, I found Granny Smith apples, Bridget's favorite! In this store you place items on the counter as you go along, instead of carrying a basket. That typically leads to several people standing at the counter trying to buy groceries at the same time, figuring out what belongs to whom. I placed those apples on the counter with other items and walked to buy some mixed nuts. The clerk called me back, "Those aren't good." I thought they had bruises on them. She continued, "Those aren't Lebanese apples." OK, maybe this an extra-nationalistic store? She finally explained that you can't just eat them raw, but need to cook them with salt - she just wanted to make sure I knew that. So I thanked her very much for the tip and went to buy those nuts. I placed them on the counter and went to buy ham. She called me back, "Those aren't good. The ones next to them are better." So I went and changed them, since they were the same price anyway. She said, "No, not those, the other ones." She then accompanied me back to get a 3rd bag of mixed nuts. Same price. Mixed nuts. Good, let's go. Went to buy some ham, held my breath. Success! I must have passed the "Choose the Ham" event! OK, I admit there was only one kind. I went back and paid and bagged the groceries. The clerk asked, "How are you getting home?" I answered that I'm walking, to which she told me that my bags were too heavy and if I could just wait 10 minutes, she would drive me home. I thanked her kindly and walked anyway. I needed a moment alone!!!

While it can be a bit over the top sometimes, I do appreciate the sense of community in village life. They are very endearing people. Even the priest took Eamon car shopping, and I get reports from students everyday on when they see me outside of school and how cute my kids are. The odd dynamic (that I am told) is that they share a lot of their lives with one another, but trust is shallow because of the nature of the wars here and sketchy politics that trickle down to the experience of the general public. I find that so sad. However, the people we have drawn close to are absolutely lovely, generous, kind, and hilarious. Everyday is an adventure!

A Cacophony

We are back to the blog! I have internet available a couple times a week now, so we can start writing down all these stories that have been stacked in our heads for almost two months! Now I can't remember any short ones . . .

I can say that Lebanon living is an experience for the ears. Our normal soundtrack of children is rounded out by the wicked chicken next door. Yes, a rooster with a reputation. He is known in the village for having no sense of time. When we first arrived we thought, "How quaint, to wake up to the natural sounds of a rooster in a village." Then we spent our first night waking to those natural sounds at 1am, 2:30, 4, 5, 6, I don't even know. Now we are getting used to the sound and can sleep through it, thank God! The other night we felt a lot of empathy for Noah. Not only was the rooster crowing, but our 3 newborn kittens and our 2 2-month old kittens were all yapping at the same time. Plus we had our own two offspring, hunters hunting birds, AND we were trying to have a conversation. It is like life here, it all comes at the same time and it is rich, diverse, and truly chaotic!