Dearest friends,

Firstly, I want to thank you all for your concern and show of support over the past couple of weeks.  My family is now back in Canada, we arrived late Saturday night and have been trying to catch up on some well deserved sleep and rest since. 

The trip home was interesting, and heartbreaking.  I still have yet to release myself from the surreal ness of the situation I have just experienced.  As I sit here in my room, safe in Canada, I have yet to grasp the idea that I am home.  I still think that I am going to wake up from this horrible nightmare and my life will be the same as it was a month ago.  Once the realization that this might not happen sinks in, I may have a hard time adapting to the reality of the situation.  But for now, I am trying to keep the faith and remain optimistic for the people of Lebanon and for the future of Lebanon.

After waiting to receive a call from the embassy to let us know when we would be evacuated, on Tuesday July 25^th, we were informed that the Canadian Embassy was no longer calling citizens and that people were being evacuated on a first come first serve basis.  This information came from both the local news and the father of my friend.  We then double check with the Canadian Embassy in Beirut, and in fact that was the new plan, to evacuate people daily on a first come first serve basis until August 2^nd (which was later changed to July 29^th).  Therefore, on Thursday July 27^th, my family and I woke up at the crack of dawn to set out on our journey back to Canada. 

We left out house in Tripoli at 5:30am, to arrive at Biel at 6:30am in order to get a spot in line.  Thank god we thought of coming early; as the embassy had said arrive at 9am.  We then waited in line for 6 hours.  This was by far the worst part of the evacuation.  It was hot, people were getting agitated, there was no information being given to us, and the rumour mill was flying.  We heard everything from, there are no boats leaving today to people saying you could evacuate family and friends with you, that you were allowed only 5kg of luggage.  In the end, I believe three boats left that day, and no luggage was turned away (which made me a little frustrated, as I only packed a backpack.  Those of you who know me, know how I have a lot of stuff).  People's emotions were running high in line, whether this was from the situation or the heat; was hard to tell.  There was little water being offered, and the water that was available was warm.  We had paid attention to the media, so came prepared with cold water and some food.  I can only compare this wait to being in a hot club on opening night where you can not move an inch. As you got closer to the front of the line people began to push, and no one could have possibly come out of the line without a few scrapes and bruises.  I in no way blame anyone for this line up craziness, we were outside with no real information just waiting, but with no certainty did we know if we would be able to leave.  I do however believe that had someone been informing the people in line of what was happening, or if there were people walking up and down the line making sure that people were being respectful to each other, the tension may have been eased a little.  This is a comment that I have for the entire evacuation process; there was very little information available to the evacuees at any point in time.  And on top of having to evacuate a country, this feeling of uncertainty and lack of knowledge was very uncomforting.

Once we made it past the line and into the hands of the Canadian government, I felt that the process was rather smooth.  Time consuming, but smooth.  We had to wait in a few more lines that were a lot more organized where they cleared us for immigration and customs.  After we cleared, we were sent to wait in a room to be taken to the boat.  This room was air conditioned, and there was food available.  About an hour later our number was called and we were taken to the port, to board the boat.  The boat we took was a Turkish ferry boat, which normally does not make such long voyages.  There was enough room on the boat for maybe about 225 people.  There were two sections were people could sit, on deck there were rows of benches, and below deck there were seats (airplane style).  We sat on deck the entire time, as the fresh air was necessary to avoid feeling ill.  My family was fortunate, as we do not normally get sea sick.  I would say about 50% (no exaggeration) of people were sick at some point in the 11 hour journey from the port of Beirut to Mersin, Turkey.  At one point, I looked up from my seat to notice that almost everyone around me was throwing up.  It was a sight and sound I will never forget, the faces of desperation, fear, hope and exhaustion.

After clearing customs and immigration in Mersin, we boarded a bus and were taken to an arena in Adana, Turkey.  The arena was filled with mattresses and evacuees, who had arrived the day before us.  The arena was as comfortable as possible under the circumstances.  There was plenty of hot water, food, towels, blankets and personal amenities.   But, the information was still slow to arrive to the people and the Canadian contingent of workers who were there were in a tough position.  They were receiving very little information as to when and if planes would be coming to take more people.  We stayed at the arena for about 20 hours before we were bused to the airport to board a plane to Montreal.  These 20 hours went by rather slowly, and were filled with much frustration.  At one point, we were all asked to line up to be taken to the airport to board planes, which was a extreme sense of relief, a call came in that said the plane had technical difficulties and was unable to take off.  At that point we were told we would have to spend a second night in the arena.  This did not go over well with people.  There were a lot of tears, screams and long faces.  But thank god, in the end most 200 of the 225 people I had come with from Beirut were flown to Montreal.  The 25 people that stayed behind, I believe were sent to a hotel to take a good shower and get some decent rest.  While I was glad to leave, I was sad that there was no priority being given.  Some of the people who were left behind were women with children and the elderly, it seems as though there was little concern for the actual individuals, and it was about getting people out.  At this point we were already out of harms ways, priority should have been given to those who needed to reach the comfort of their own homes.

We arrived in Montreal early Saturday morning. In Montreal we were greeted by the Canadian Red Cross, and then taken to a hotel where we were able to get some rest and take a decent shower.  Saturday afternoon we took a train to Toronto, where we were once again greeted by a Canadian contingent who gave us water and hand sanitizer.  From Union Station we took a cab home.   Once in Canada I would like to point out that there were a lot of services available for Canadians coming home.  Many people who came were in need of finding lodging and employment, as this stay is going to be permanent.  Social Services, Employment Agencies, Canadian Arab Federation Representatives, and government officials were on hand to send people in the right direction.

I am now home safe and sound, but there are many people who are not as fortunate as me.  My thoughts are with the people of Lebanon: the family, friends, co-workers and neighbors that are left behind with no where to go and with only hope in their hearts for the little nation that can.In peace, hope and love,

rana

hey there all...

It's been a while since my last entry.  The past couple months has been intense, emotional, and have made me grow up more than I could have imagined.  I came to Lebanon to get a taste for this country, and my hunger has been more than satistified, to the point where I feel and addiction may develop.  This is both exciting and frightening.

 

I am still working as a teacher, and am learning a great deal about the culture and the way that children are raised.  I know that after teaching in Lebanon, I am going to have a strong role in the upbringing of my future children.  So many parents are not invovled in the education of their children, and are shocked when the report cards arrive.  Most of my students have private tutors, nannies, or maids that are responsible to look over their shoulder and to ensure that homework is complete.  Most of the time, this doesn't happen or the person looking over their shoulder does the homework for them.  I feel that this next generation has been more influenced by the media than the previous, and maybe this is the pattern of progress that occurs with life and the advancement of technology.  All of my students, are constently using inappropriate lingo, a la Eminem, getting the lastest technology in terms of phones, cars and mp3 players if they bring home good grades.  Most of my students come from well off parents, and their only goal in life is to pass, and barely at that, in order to take over daddy's business.  There exists a general lack of respect for the purpose of education and it's benefits, or maybe it is just a lack of knowledge about its importance.  All of this being said, maybe I am just not hip enough to understand this new generation and their needs.

 

In the past month, I have been to both a Lebanese wedding and a condolences.  In the beginning of April a 2nd cousin and good friend got married, it was a beautiful wedding.  She was married in the traditional sense; the grooms mother checked her out and liked what she saw, so brought her son for the next visit.  Clearly, her son liked what he saw and the next thing you know they started talking for a few months.  And then shortly after got engaged and married.  This part is not what interested me.  I learned a great deal about tradition and ettiquette during the wedding preparations.  Planning a wedding requires that a great deal of attention is paid to small details, as in who is invited, who isn't invited, where this person sits and where that person sits, who sits next to the bride and groom, who are the witnesses, who is invited to the engagement, etc.  And of course there are the family battles, that cross generational lines.  Parents have certain expectations that need to be fulfilled, and since they are the ones that got tired raising you, you need to attempt to appease them to a certain extent.  So I have come to realize that planning a wedding is a negotiation process, that results in a great deal of appeasement and compromises.  But despite all the blood, sweat and tears that go into the planning and preparation, like everything else in life, in the end the result is amazing.  Plus, the event is life a fashion show.  I even got suckered into getting my hair and makeup done - I didn't look like myself.  As I have said before, women in this country take care of their image to the extreme!  I have begun to pay more attention to mine, the environment is affecting me. 

 

I had some time off for Easter, so I decided to take a trip to Cyprus.  I stayed with a good friend, who really helped open my eyes.  I feel that there are some people who come into your life for a reason, and this person has really left an impact on me.  He is a rather religious fellow, open-minded, modern and very bright.  His devotion to his faith, and the way that it guides his life and actions is impressive.  I have a hard time trying to figure out what my fascination with his way of life is.  I think it has to do with his dedication and prioritization of his family and religion in his life.  Knowing him has made me take a good long look into my own life and priorities.  This time in Lebanon has made me change my priorities, although family was always important to me I never really put it at the top of my list of priorities.  I took it for granted.  I come from a rather large family that I have gotten quite attached too, they are all wonderful, unique and amazing in their own way. And at 24 years of age, I am just beginning to get to know them.  The bond of family here is of the utmost importance.  Their is a general sense of loyalty and community the exists, one that I never knew about until I came to Lebanon and spent a significant length of time with family.  Besides the priority of family, the priority and importance of religion in my life is something that I have begun to think about a great deal.  Most of you know that I have not always been a good muslim girl.  I have begun to take a serious interest in learning more about the religion and the traditions that surround it.  Being in a muslim country, surrounded by a number of levels of practicing muslims,  has given me the motivation to explore and understand the religion from a perspective of faith, rather than from an critical academic viewpoint.  This exploration is an ongoing process and I will keep you posted on what I find in my heart.

 

This past week one of my aunts passed away.  She was older, and died peacefully and painlessly in her sleep. The whole experience hit me rather hard.  I am 24 years old and did not know my aunt.  She is now dead, and I never got the opportunity to know her.  While growing up in Canada has opened many doors for me, it closed and created a distance on the door to my family.  This makes me rather sad, but I can not live my life by weighing the advantages and disadvantages of my life so far, that would drive me crazy.  But I can change the priority which I place on family from now on.

 

hope all of you are well.

 

taking a deep look into my priorities,

 

rana

 

 

 

 

Everyday in Lebanon is new and exciting.  You never know what you are going to encounter or expect, as a matter of fact you don't know if you will go to work or the place you work will be closed for the day out of fear of a potential attack due to a meeting of high profile politicians.  In the past two weeks I have worked on and off at my evening job as it is downtown and next to the Parliament buldings.  So the rest has been rather nice, despite the disturbing political situation.  Now that I am living here I am more aware of the fear that people live in, but am surprised at how despite the potential of war, explosions and bombings that the average person lives life to its fullest.  Even myself, I am aware that something could happen at any moment but I don't really think about it on a regular basis. Actually never.  I guess when the reality is unstable, it becomes the norm and people adapt.

 

Speaking of adapting.  I have a brand new lebanese chic look to myself.  As I am working in a rather professional job in the evenings I am required to dress professionally.  Every night I feel like I am playing dress up.  I sometimes think my life here is a bit of a dream.  Only a few months ago I was dirty and backpacking Europe in the worst clothes I owned.  Now I have my hair straightened and done on a regular basis, they have this thing here called brushing where you get your hair washed and styled in a salon.  It's rather cheap and awesome, someone else to wash, blow dry and style your hair, this is life!  I go into my closet and pull out my fancy pants and tops, and then put on some pointy toe high heels and am out the door.  But I never leave without putting on my face and doucing myself in perfume. What has happened to me?  Have I finally succumb to the man?  Or maybe this is all just part of growing up.  But I don't think I am ever going to get used to the look on myself.  Some days I laugh at myself in the mirror, but other days I admit that I look good, but I don't think it is me in the mirror looking back:)    I will take and post some pictures.

 

much love and miss you all,

rana

 

 

well all...

 

I recently celebrated my 24th birthday, my how time has flown by.  Somedays I don't even believe that I am living and working in Beirut, it feels like a bit of a dream.  However, when I wake up it is sometimes scary.  I really like living in Lebanon, and the more time I spend here the more I consider making this a permanent move.  So the thought is in my head, I like being around family and would like my children - if I find Mr. Right - to grow up with family around them that they can be close to.  Being in Lebanon has made me reevaluate the prioroties of life and what one needs in order to have happiness in life.  I will keep you posted on what comes of this new found enlightnement.

 

My little apartment, well one room studio is sweet!  I like having the space and just being able to chill out and have some down time.  I have more respect now than I have ever had for teachers, this job isn't easy and take so much enegy out of a person.  By the end of the say all I want to do is sleep.  I have a view of the sea, all be it only a small corner and only on a clear day, it's still pretty cool!  This country is definately picturesque, and the sight are calming amidf the political uncertainty.  This past week the place I work downtown has been closed in the envenings out of fear of and attack in the area as there is a round table discussion with all the high profile Lebanese politicians.  The track record for politician attacks is not exactly good here, so I can understand the concern.  The downtown that is usually a bustling centre was a ghost town last week when I was coming home from work.  Despite the uncertainty in this country, people are living and relatively content.

 

I have updated the pictures, so check them out.  Some are of Life in Lebanon and the others are from Europe.

 

Enjoy and Stay Well,

 

rana

 

 

it's been a while since I have updated you all on my life here in Beirut. 

The past month of my life has been a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences.  With each passing day I learn a great deal about myself, life and the incredible experience of growing up.

 

This past weekend I moved into my own little place.  It's a one room furnished apartment in the heart of the Hamra district.  The place isn't bad at all, I have internet access.  And comes fully furnished with all the anemities that I will need.  Plus my aunts and a a couple cousins are in the same neighbourhood, so if I am hungry there is always a place to get a warm meal.  I have barely had anytime to settle into the new place as I am working two jobs.  By day I am an elementary school teacher and by night I am helping the middle to upper class of Beirut learn how to speak english... so I am going back to my basics and relearning grammar.  If I don't get anything out of this experience, at least my english would have improved.  In all reality I am filling my days quite nicely and meeting some great people. 

 

There is so much more I want to say, but need to get some sleep...

 

Now that I have internet access I will try and update the blog and pictures as often as possible.

 

rana

So I begin working tomorrow, and I am not looking forward to waking up at 6am!  After being here for a few weeks, I was lucky enough to find a job.  I am going to be teaching english at a school in Beirut.  It is a rather new school, only 4 years old and has about 160 students in total, from kindergarten to grade 12.  So as you can imagine the classes are going to be small.  I will keep you posted on this goes.  For now I am slowly getting settled, I have begun the house hunt and am looking forward to attempting to budget my life in this country. I have only signed a contract from now until the end of the school year, so come June I will know where the wind will take me.  But knowing that I am going to be here for the next five months has out my nerves at ease, and I can now concentrate on enjoying my time here.

 

Other than that, I am doing well.  I am becoming more familiar with the city and country.  Moving around is a little harder than I expected as there is no formal public transportation system, just taxis.  But I am happy that in the past week I have not been ripped off by a single one.  Often as a person with a broken accent they charge me more.  I am hoping to begin taking sometype of arabic lessons in the next couple weeks.   I am currently exhausted, and the idea of sleeping is exciting.  I spent the weekend in the village my mom grew up in with my family, and my aunt Salwa taught me how to make Kaake - a lebanese treat, kind of like a big cookie.  Anyways, this treat is not made very often, therefore when I told my family I was going to the village to make these they all wanted in on the action.  So along with my aunts and cousins, we spent the entire day making these treats producing almost 150 of them.  Does not sound that impressive, but the amount of work that goes into one of them is insane.  As soon as I am able to upload pictures, I will show you what I am talking about.

 

Take Care and Keep my posted on all your adventures.

 

rana

Hello all!  I hope that everyone enjoyed a good new year's and is getting the year started on the right foot.  I guess despite my living off my family in Lebanon and being unemployed, my optimism is still in tact.

I have been on the job hunt since the new year, however there was Eid ul Adha here, so that gave me a week off from my busy life of looking for a job, and eating a lot of tasty food.  So in realilty the job hunt is still in the initial stages, while I am trying to remain positive the political situation here stinks and the pay that one makes is even worse.  So I have given myself a realistic deadline, and from then I will make the call whether to come home or try another country!  I have made a few contacts here and there, and am waiting to hear back.

 

My father left this morning, which was hard and sad.  Even though I have a lot of family here and am not alone, it is not the same.  I had a good time with my father, he's such a cute old man.  It was he first time that the two of us were on a trip alone, and for those of you who remember the relationship between my father and I in highschool (we would fight all the time) this definately made us closer.

 

interesting things i have experienced so far in this country

1.  i ate raw sheep liver - it was actually good

2.  ate grilled sheep testicles, it took me a while to convince myself to eat one - it was okay, more of a novelty

3. people here are obsessed with appearances, women do not leave their homes unless they are dressed to the nines... which for those of you who know my style is a bit of a challenge for me.

4. i am continously getting ripped off due to my broken accent, i have yet to master the ability to barter

5.on the way to the village my mom grew up in, i saw a cow getting slaughtered right there on the sidewalk in front of the butcher shop... this made my stomach turn.

6.there are very few men here between the ages of 25 to 35 - most are off working in another country, and those few that are here struggle to make ends meet

7. people make shit money here, so they claim and i am learning from the jobs i have applied for but for some reason life here is pricey.  You go to downtown Beirut and you are paying $10 for a beer - that's US$.  Maddy doesn't seem so bad eh?

 

 

in terms of me Rana.... i am doing okay.  I continously remember how fortunate i am to be able to have this experience no matter how it works out.  My life for once is not busy, and I am taking the time to think.  I'll let you know what comes of it.

 

take care...

 

rana

 

if anyone is interested in calling me, I have a mobile number in lebanon.  calling internationally from here is highway robbery, like everything else in this country.  but if you purchase a phone card you can call me for relatively cheap... but no pressure

 

mobile # 011 961 3 472 270

home# 011 961 1 740 143

hello all!

 

Sorry it has taken me so long to put up a new entry and tell you how the trip ended, but since getting back to Beirut 10 days ago I have been sitting on my ass and visiting family.  My dad is currently here as well, so that is keeping me rather occupied...

 

The end of the Europe adventure was good.  We spent the last portion of it perusing through the Andalusia's (Cordoba and Granada) and Madrid.  Nothing too exciting occured, we relaxed, drank tea, smoke some waterpipe, ate a lot of olives and some some sights.  In Madrid we saw an amazing Flameco show, with the most buff 50 year old women I have ever see!  We attempted to see the nightlife with a couple of friends we had met in Amsterdam, one of which had the hots for Jake, but the night resulted in a bit of a bust - we couldn't get into the clib because one of the girls was wearing sneekers!  Shitty deal eh?  Regardless, we did see a number of men using the streets as their own private washrooms - gross.  I don't get it, as least go in a corner.

 

I have given myself until the new year to relax and do nothing, but that time has almost come to an end.  I am going to begin the job hunt next week.  I am looking forward to being busy again, but an a little uncertain about what will happen and where I will end up, so maybe the adventure will continue.  I'll keep you all posted.

 

Some pictures have been uploaded, and I will do my best to rotate them on a regular basis so you can see them all.

 

Happy New Year's

 

Rana (flying solo in the mid east)

 

I know this is Rana's blog but somehow I've managed to take it over...

 

So after a recouperative day in Belgium Rana and I were off to old gay Paris.  (Rana is very uncomfortable with me using the word "gay" on her blog so I will now clarify that I am using it to employ that old saying about Paris...  That's Rana for ya...)  OK so our first night in Paris was a bit of a disaster as we decided to walk to the eiffel tower from our hostel.  This should be a warning to all future travellers:  Paris is pretty fucking big.  It took about 2-3 hours and we had to take an overpriced cab back to the hostel to make it there before lock out.  We were both rather frustrated at that point and it was then that I noticed Rana likes to wave her arms around a lot when she is really upset. 

 

The next day was spent in the kingdom of the dead or the catacombs where we saw lots of dead parisians and got a little muddy.  I stepped in dog crap at the arc de triompe and we then checked out champs elysees (the really ritzy shopping center).  We went into a purse store (Lancel) and had a sales person follow us the entire time.  I thought it was because she thought we were going to steal something but Rana assures me that that is just part of good customer service and fat commissions.  I personally was rather uncomfortable in there because due to troubles at the hostel we didn't shower that day, we were still caked in dead people mud, and I smelled a little like dog crap.  Frankly it was surprising that they didn't ask us to leave.

 

The second full day we blitzed the Louvre in 8 1/2 hours, its the largest museum in the world after all. (Yet still we were unable too see the whole thing!)

 

The third day was spent in Versailles and I must admit that if I was a poor peasant and the king and queen were living in that palace I would probably want to behead Mary Antoinette too.  The gardens are also quite nice but everything is dead this time of year.  C'est la vive.

 

The last of our Parisian days was spent taking in sites like Notre Dame (which has become the Catholic church's answer to Disney Land), Napoleon's tomb (oh did he ever have little man syndrome), and the eiffel tower.  I was actually a little frightenned of the tower as we took the stairs that shook every time the elevator went past.  Rana thought I was a wimp but I think she was just so excited to look down at people for a change that she didn't notice her fear.  Anywho, we took lots of pictures.

 

We then took a night train to Barcelona that was "interesting" to say the least.  I make fun of Rana's height but it was a serious advantage in a train bed, especially when you have to sleep with your oversized bag because it's too big for the luggage racks.

 

So long for now...

 

--R and J

 

Escape from Amsterdam:

 

Well pretty much everything you've ever heard about Amsterdam is true.  Weed is decriminalized and they readily sell it everywhere, it is so much stronger than the shit in North America that our first night in the country was spent trying to feel our own faces and analyzing how Amsterdam McDonalds tastes different from Canadian McDonalds.  I also thought that some one was following me, but it was only a tree. 

 

Rana made an interesting transition while in Amsterdam, the first night we were in the city she was on a mission:  "I have to get fucking high and watch a sex show!"  she would say loudly so that all those around us could hear.  (Note from Rana:  Okay I wasn't that bad, but when in Amsterdam... you have to take advantage of the available goods!)  But after 4 nights of "activities" Rana was ready to leave:  "Jake I just have to get out of this fucking country!" she would exhasperate as she through her arms in the air in an extreme state of being hung over.  But I would probably be bitchy too if I still had the taste of booze, pot and strange Austratian men in my mouth too. 

 

It was also my birthday on the 3rd and our hostel just happened to be hosting a pimp and ho party that night so with the help of some newly made friends from Vancover Island I had a white shirt made with the title "B-Day Pimp" and collected signatures from all the hos at the party.  If we could ever find an internet cafe where we can upload pics you would laugh at quite a few of them. 

 

We never ended up seeing a sex show but we did pay for a very crappy 2 Euro peep show and saw a lot of prostitutes.  We had actually heard many bad things about the sex shows (very mechanical sex) and decided to opt against it as it is rather expensive.  (and nudity is everywhere there anyway)

 

I am currently writing this from the comfort of Belgium where Rana and myself have been detoxifying on Belgian waffles and chocolate.  But alas the train leaves for Paris soon...

 

--R and J

 

As an aside I (Rana) am doing just fine now that all the substances have left my body. 

Hey there all, Jake's here to update this thang so here we go:

 

I am currently typing this entry on a very crappy rubber keyboard at our hosel in Amsterdam.  There is loud music and to my left is a cuishioned area with several very high individual's chilling out right now. 

 

But I digress, many of you might be wondering how Berlin went and well, it was quite interesting...  Rana and I have concluded that we are a bad omen to all Berinners but particularily Rana's cousin.  This cousin, Jamil, was kind enough to take us into his home and he even picked us up from the train station.  However, on the ride back to his house he was too busy pointing out the sights in Berlin and he smshed into the back of the car in front of us. It was our first car accident on foriegn soil *sigh* what memories.  The damage was minimal though and the next day Jamil took us to Sauchenhausen (which is an old concentration camp) but unfotunately on the drive back from Sauchenhausen Jamil suffered a minor heart attack and had to pull over at a nearby gas station.  I then had to follow the ambulance to the hospital in Jamil's car.  Driving in Berlin is interesting but I never did figure out what the stop signs looked like.  While Jamil was in the hospital we stayed with his wife Barbara in there cozy apartment in West Berlin.  Barbara is crazy, she can only speak some english, rinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney, and is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.  She even did our laundry for us and folded it.  We saw the rest of Berlinand took lots of pictures with the wall.  One night we met up with Rana's friend Tamar who is also quite nice and she showed us around.  Through her we met to fellows who refered to themselves as "British cunts" and spent the whole night talking about world empires, genocide, and fallatio.  Jamil got out of the hospital our last night there (in case you are wondering Jamil is 53 and is Rana's cousin because her family are like rabbits and here are so many of them that large age gaps arise.)  but unfortunatelyJamil wound up back in hospital when we left so that was a downer and the only thing that we didn't get to seein berlin was the zoo and the balcony that Michel Jackson Dangled his baby from. (which was also a downer)  Any ways we are in Amsterdam now and Rana's getting all antsy to go out and pick up some more weed and prostitutes so we have to go...

 

--R and J

hey there all!

Thanks to those who responded.  And sorry that we have not updated in a while.  As for the pictures, I can not seem to be able to upload my pictures from public computers, but as soon as I can they will be up... keeps you reading and waiting...

 

So Pisa was a big leaning tower of disappointment!  We were only there for about 2 hours, 15 minutes to take pictures and 1 3/4 hours to have dinner and drink some tasty beer.

 

And Jake will now quickly narrate what has happened in the past week:

 

From Roma we headed to Florence, which was great.  We went on a Mike Hunt (Michelangelo hunt), to see the three different David statues throughout the city, including the original.  There is one that overlooks all of Florence, and we were able to catch the sun set there.  It was really pretty. 

Our adventures to find the orignal David were slightly miss guided, we ended up in some random crappy Museum thinking we were in the right place.  After we paid to get in we realized that we were not at the right museum... hey it happens we saw some neat art made with various rocks (I blamed Rana for the mishap, she blames me .

We were attacked by pigeons as we saw the main Duomo (which is the word that describes the main church in town), and we took in the Medici tombs which were an uncompleted project of Michelangelo.  Rana was very fearful of the pigeons but I can´t blame her because some of them were really gross and missing feet.  We also met a lot of kindred spirits in Florence, there was a nice british couple that we accidentally got drunk with and an interesting surfing Mormon from North Carolina who goes to school in Hawaii. 

 

We then moved on to the pigeon capital of the world:  Venice.  These birds will actually eat the bread out of your fucking hands if you don´t kick them away (I kicked this one bird so many times and it just would not take a hint).  The gondolas in Venice are quite expensive, so we tried to take a ghetto gondala (which interestingly enough is called a treghetto) but that was closed because of the season so we randomly picked a shady looking gondola, climbed in and took some pictures.  Rana slipped on the way out on the boat and pulled a muscle, I laughed and then helped her when she actually looked like she was about to fall in the dirty assed water.  We later went to the Island of Marano which is just off the cost of Venice and is known for its increadible glass blowing.  In our efforts to see this glass blowing happen we accidentally wondered into the back doors of a glass gallery that had plates for sale at 20,000 € a piece (which is almost $30,000 Canadian), as soon as one of the salesmen saw us in there we were promptly and friendly escorted out of the building.  It´s fun to see what rich people waste their money on.  All things considered Venice is beautiful and its easy to see how it´s an inspiration to so many poets.  The city is extremely quiet because there are no cars and there is a special mixed drink that they only make in Venice called a Sprizze which has a very unique taste.

 

But alas after a week in Italia we were getting a little tired of the country and new it was time to move on to Germany and my god Germany is crazy...

 

The first night we spent in Munich Rana wasn´t feeling so well and had to go to bed, I decided to stay up and have a few more beers in the local pub attached to the hostel...  Long story short I ended up going to a night club with guys from Australia, America, and Brazil and ended up going home with a famous German actor (who was kind of like a German version of McGyver) and 2 girls who were very... friendly with each other...  It was a crazy night to say the least...

Rana had her own crazy experience the night after when I was ina state of recovery, she and some girls from the hostel went to a club and our dear Rana even got proposed to by some wierdo from Iraq who was forced to leave because he was a part of Saddam Hussien´s regime.  All men who read this should note that as Rana can now truth fully say:  Telling a girl you were in Saddam´s regime will not get you laid.  (just in case you were wondering)

We later went on a great Bavarian Beer Tour and we met an insane American family and Rana just could not help getting into a political debate over the policies of George Bush.  I can´t blame her as I joined in a bit but spent most of the time trying to mediate the debate and the beer which comes in 1 liter mugs was not helping.  By the end of it Rana had the one son in the family crying because he lost a friend in the Iraq War but after that we had won over a new group of friends and they even picked up our bill and the father will write it off as a business expense  GO AMERICA!  The son who cried even gave Rana a "save our troops" bracelet which she is still wearing right now.  To make things even better this huge debate actually happened in the same famous beer hall where Hitler gave his first public speech. (creepy eh?)  The night didn´t end there as we stumbled into my Brazillian friend Leo and his friend Sebastian from Mexico.  We then went to another night club and stayed out till 6 in the morning and ate weiner shnetzel for breakfast (Rana felt ill again). 

 

We´ve now made our way up to Berlin and are staying with Rana´s super cool cousin and his wife who feed us a constant stream of beer which I´m currently drinking right now and seeing as how this posting is getting way too long we´ll update ya´ll on our happenings in Berlin in the next post.

 

Side Note:  German keyboards have the z and the y reversed and all the windows icons are in German so it has been slightly more challenging to type this... and the beer doesn´t help much either.

 

Jake and Rana

 

 

Jake and I have successfully taken on Rome,  and have left few rocks unturned.  This first part of the adventure was filled with history, power and plenty of pasta and wine. Plus Jake peed in the Tiber...

 

 We made our way to Vatican City yesterday, and were able to hear the pope's weekly address... it was something out of 1984 (no offense to any catholics), but he was being projected onto these large screens, speaking to his worshippers.  It was definately an interesting experience.  From there we made it to the Vatican museum, which was mind blowing and larger the we had expected it to be.  It was filled with a number of rooms from various points in history, you  can ask Jake more details as he took his sweet time checking out and committing to memory each artifact.  By the time you get to Raphael's Academy of Athens and then on to the Sistine chapel you are on overload.  Once in the Sistine Chapel, you are speechless (not that you can talk or take pictures without being stopped by security).  From there we made out way back to St. Peter's Basilica to see good ol pope john paul  II grave... it was simplier than anticipated.  But people were waiting for ever just to take a look.. however once you turn the corner you are blown away by St. peter's grave, it is guiled and vibrant that it reminds one of the role that he played in the history of the church... no i am no becoming all religious, just recognizing the impact that it has had on history.

 

We are now off to pisa... we will take some fallic pictures and post them as soon as we can.

 

Lots of Love and comment on out blog.

 

love,

 

rana and jake

Hello there! 

Jake and I have safely arrived in Rome.  Things are going well, this city is amazing! It is filled with so much art, decadence, life and of course according to Jake hot women - something about the bras here being more supportive.  Ask him about it.

 

So far our adventure has consisted mostly of the tourist stuff.  Which has been amazing.  We have seen the colleseum, which is larger then life and absolutely breath taking.  We took a tour and I was amazed at the vastness and organization that was involved in the running of such a stadium.  As soon as I have the ability to upload pictures you will see what I mean.  It is amazing to see such ancient ruins in the middle of a rather modern city.  We have seen the major sights, the fountains, the Pantheon, the Spainish Steps and have been able to take advantage of the amazing view of the city from a number of different points, due to the amzing outlooks that are here.  We threw coins into the Fountain of Trevi, one in hopes for a return to Rome and the second granted us a wish, one guess what Jake's wish was?

 

We have successfully been taking advantage of twice so far, but we have learned our lesson.  While at the Colleseum these two men dressed up at ancient Romans came up to Jake and I and offered to let us take a picture with them.  We thought, awesome this will make a good shot.  But once we had each gotten our pictures taken the guy told Jake that he owed him 10€, we sure hope this pictures turn out well.  And Jake did get to hold the guys sword. 

The other incident was on the spnaish steps were a guy put a rose into my hand, this dudes on the street are uber aggressive.  And then he tried to force Jake into paying for the rose, I returned the rose and then he insisted on giving me a petal which cost Jake some money as well.  We now have learned that we need to be aggressive in order to not get hassled.

 

The weather has been amazing, but that is probably because we are used to the brisk Canadian climate.  It s kind of funny, that we are in long sleeve shirts and the locals are all bundled up.

 

We are off to the Vatican tomorrow and then from there it is to Pisa and then Florence.  We will keep you posted as we go and would love to hear from you as well.

 

Take Care,

 

Jake and Rana

Okay so I have decided to start a blog.  I have been inspired.  As most of you know I am going to be leaving the country in about a month.  Yes that is right, after many changes of locations and dates I will be leaving to Lebanon on Nov. 1st.  The plan is to go there for a few weeks, where Jake (from Bford) will be meeting me before we begin out 6 week adventure around the Mediterranean. 

 

For now I am still working at UC, and living in Mississauga.  But keep posted to my hopeful adventures.  And I hope to see most of you before I leave.

 

 

rana