January 23, 2007

Shall I Go to Work or Not?


Beirut skyline; 6:45 A.M local time. My guess is they are burning tires to block the roads. The smokes rises on three sides of the house. I should be grateful that the wind is in the right direction, and I’m not stuck in it. So this is how the strike begins.
So shall I go to work or not, that is the question. I know I can reach work. Question is: (to state Frangieh again) ‘will I be able to come back in the afternoon’?
Update: Oops. The wind is turning! And it’s on five sides now. They're bruning tires in my neighborhood as well and there are practically no cars out there. In the distance I hear the foghorn of a ship. It's not THAT smoggy yet, is it?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Sietske,
Do you still understand Dutch?
I'm Dutch from Eindhoven and have some friends in Beirut.

Anonymous said...

like Charles commented on Naharnet:
That's Lebanon: 15 minutes to the beach, 15 minutes to ski, and 15 years of civil unrest to come.

Let's hope some will be wiser this time, though...

Anonymous said...

Hoi Dimphy, ja hoor, ik spreek nog perfect Nederlands. Nou ja, niet perfect. Maar wel goed. Beetje moeite met de d's en dt's.

Anonymous said...

mmm...
I can even smell a frangieh sabotage behind your car's behaviour : )

Anonymous said...

Hallo Sietske,
Heel fijn dat ik bij jou van dag tot dag kan lezen hoe het onze Libanese vrienden vergaat in hun omgeving. Het is moeilijk mailkontakt met hen te houden.
Ook voor jullie hoop ik dat nu rustig blijft en er een oplossing komt die voor lange tijd (altijd!) het leven in het mooie Libanon weer aangenaam is.