The General Situation

It's been a while!
This is my first post in 2013, and unfortunately, the only thing I'm thinking about is how we are surviving this situation. Elderlies, who lived and participated in the Lebanese war, say that surviving nowadays is harder than during war.

The Situation:

1. Most of the public sector (including teachers), except public authorities and judges, are protesting to get their new grades/salaries lists.
   The schools' parents committee refuses the teachers' protest, and threatens to stop paying to the schools.
   And students turned to vacation mode.
   In my humble opinion, only teachers deserve that raise. Most of the state employees do absolutely nothing at work, and they all leave at 2h00 PM max.
2. Many restaurants and hotels, in and around Beirut closed or will be closing soon. Zaytouna Bay, Kaslik and Broumana had their shares. And Maameltein is a disaster (not its usual kind of disaster).
3. Airport is empty, except for Syrian refugees, who are all over the country (Syrians now make up 10% of the Lebanese population).
4. Gas oil prices are unbelievable.
5. Real estate prices are ridiculous.
6. Those public authorities (Politicians) are still living their war dreams, making all the state institutions their own properties!
   Electricity, Communications, gas oil, tobaccos, ADSL, port... and each and every big project (no matter how insane it is to invest in Lebanon these days) has to have a 51% ownership to one of those warlords, depending on the location.
   There must be a map somewhere that shows under which influence each zone falls,  for example:
   Zgharta, Chouf, Batroun, Aakkar, Tripoli, Saida... (All of them are Beiks and Cheikhs of course)
7. People are being kidnapped everywhere, and the process is well-known now. Kidnappers demand a ransom (1 million dollars usually), the kidnapped's relatives try negotiating a bit, and then give them the amount agreed upon. This process is free of any government/Security Forces intervention, even after freeing the hostage. The same guy will be threatened again in a week or two since kidnappers knew that "2araybino daffi3a".
8. Crazy drivers, angry valet parking, outraged neighbors...
9. Al Assir! (No explanation needed)

And the list goes on and on.

The Solution:

None. The country is so corrupted that I don't believe there is a clear solution anymore.
The solution should start by changing how the public authorities think and how state employees work. Job descriptions can do the job!
And of course those responsible must be held accountable, no matter how equipped they were.
Not voting for the same people, trying to breathe before talking to anyone, and get a gutty minister of interior, not an "Abou Melhem" are some useful ideas too.
Note for Abou Melhem: A law is a law, even if it makes some people sad, or unsatisfied! Being a minister of interior requires making some people, especially criminals, sad sometimes!

And for some reason, it's still hard to leave this country.

Beirut Scary Drive

While driving to work a couple of days ago, a super black tinted BMW with a 4 numbers plate (of course!) passed by, driving insanely in traffic. So I thought:
What if that car  just exploded next to me?
What if that driver was another Wissam El Hassan (may his soul rest in peace)?
What if I was one of the other 9 persons that died in the latest explosion in Ashrafieh?
How can we still drive to Beirut everyday just like nothing happened or might happen?
Is it all about receiving that salary at the end of the month to keep on surviving?
Is it what our life in Lebanon should be about?
Did we become emotionless zombies?
Scary...

Moral Economy

I was thinking about blogging the same thing, when ToomExtra had the job done!

And this doesn't stop here, this continues when this same guy (mentioned in ToomExtra's post), after finding an 800$ job and while eating a 12,000 LBP tuna sandwich in a casual diner, thinks about getting married!
You'll get a shock when knowing that a "regular" wedding in Lebanon costs nowadays between 30,000$ and 50,000$!
A wedding dinner costs around 30,000$ if you have some acquaintances! And if you do the same reservation without saying that it's for a wedding, it will cost you 10,000$!
"Monsieur, if you want a plexiglass dance floor, it will cost you an extra 4$ per person" knowing that both wood and  plexiglass dance floors are in the same freaking basement.
I know a couple of girls who do their Hair, manicure, pedicure and make-up for 50,000 LL just because they didn't mention that they are getting married, or else it will cost them around 1,000$ for the same "shit"!

The prices will stay high as long as all these restaurants / hotels / hair stylists are fully booked, and those F&B suppliers overloaded.

Anyways, like ToomExtra said, something has to change, as long as we're going with the flow, nothing will.

A Lebanese True Story

A friend of mine, who's a volunteer in the Lebanese Red Cross in Antelias (North Beirut), had an overnight shift this last Friday.
His shift finishes at 7h00 am, when he goes straight to work.

At 7h, he left the building to find out that his car was stolen from the parking next to the Red Cross center!

So the good guy Shady called the ISF (Internal Security Forces) immediately.

At 8h00 am, he asked someone in the ISF if they told their Information Branch about what happened?

And the answer he got was: 'We will tell them later on, it's still too early for them, haram!'

SERIOUSLY! these are the people we're trying to build a safe country with!

The poor Shady did some investigations on his own around that parking to see if there are any cameras or any witnesses, but none has been found.

And now he's desperately waiting for the thieves to call him, knowing that the ISF will do nothing!

If you don't know the usual car stealing process, it goes like this:

1. They steal your car

2. They use it in some ‘legal’ businesses (yeah right!)

3. Call you and sell it again to you (but less than its usual price! They are good guys after all!)

4. You bring the money and head to 'Britél' (somewhere in Bekaa), give them the requested amount and get your half-wrecked car back.

The ISF know where the stolen cars are, but can't do anything about it... Since the gang has its back covered.

Shady man! Keep on Surviving!

PS: Britél = Bretelle (or shoulder strap) in a Lebanese ‘bad’ accent ;)

Surviving Lebanon - Unavoidable Tips - Part I

'If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere'
By "here" I mean Lebanon and not New York... Excuse me Sinatra and Jay-Z.
I decided to write some ‘unavoidable’ tips if anyone ever decided to survive Lebanon.

1. First and typical tip: Don't watch, listen or read the news! Or you’ll be singing Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing me softly’ soon; I mean really soon!
2. Don't panic when you see equipped soldiers or tanks on the road. That's normal. Surely not stable, but normal.
3. You need to know and trust a doctor. It would be better if he's from your relatives, and more specifically, the relatives that you do not share any kind of property (Land, building, ...) with! Or you'll find yourself killed by a 'law abiding' doctor.
4. You need to know and trust an auto mechanic. Or you will be changing the whole engine each time you go changing your car's engine oil.
5. Never drive when you are already angry. keep a stress ball in your car.

I feel like I can write a whole novel about 'Surviving Lebanon'.
Feel free to comment and share your tips/ideas.