Went to the Hamra Festival this afternoon. What a breath of
fresh air to see normal people. Normal as in, like me. ;)
Normal people |
For some reason, when I
get into town, I tend to be in places that have a homogenous group of citizens.
They’re either all down-and-out despondent refugees, all Hezbollah partisans,
all botox inflated ladies, all disheveled teenagers, all athletes, all Filipino
housekeepers or all grey-haired Frenchies from the Ahrafiyeh quarters, but for
some reason all these different components of this very diverse Lebanese society
do not really mingle effectively. And slthough each component in its own right is interesting and have a story to tell, it does get a little boring now and then, always these same faces and same looks.
Funky gear for sale |
But today, on Hamra Street, I saw them all together! And they all
mingled, quite nicely as well, and it looked good.
Morose teenagers in black
with bad hair cuts and pimples, veiled muhajababes, grey-hair ladies that
refuse to dye their hair, the alternative youngsters, the obviously well-to-do
and the not-so-well-to-do, dadies in suits and daddies with kids on their necks, men pushing baby strollers, construction workers and housekeepers, bankers and
bakers, ladies with short hair, ladies with tattoos and piercings and ladies
with filled up lips and cheekbones, it all merged, and it had a very good feel
to it. Just walking the street and seeing the crowd was a positive experience in itself. The street had good vibes, we'd say (but I do not know where you'd say that), it just sounded right.
Some good musicians |
It was good to see some street musicians, and people selling
their home made products, whether it was honey, cookies or woven bracelets. It
was also good to see they served alcohol for a change. I feel it is often the
heathens like I that have to constantly adapt to the mores of a more conservative
society, but it was good to see that this does not always have to be the case. I ran into several friends, all in the same mind set.
And so
overall a good and mellow ‘jauw’, as we say in Arabic. The festival is still on
until 11 tonight.
Be a Princess |
2 comments:
always surprise me the large amount of policemen at any event in Beirut
welcome to Rotterdam
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