2 days missing?

Two days of no blogging.... mind you it was a very hectic 2 days. I have been preparing for the trip... very excited for that. I also have been doing some family stuff. Yaay! Anjad, kil ma badna nsafir, byitla3oulna bi million family 2oussa! Friday i did a simple blog about the Lebanese beauties...so I didn't really mention Thursday! Thursday my friends and I, got together at a beautiful park here in the city. We made some argeelis, chopped up some watermelon, and had our diet mango pops (very good), and just sat around and had a good time. So as the group died down, 4 of us remained in the park, so we ordered a pizza to the park! Time goes by and we realize we are the only ones there... we are locked in as they close this parks entrances at 11PM... it was the 12am. So we circle the park and through the park, and honk our horns, and call the city to have someone come and free us...and we are freed. I was going to post some pics of that day, but my Sony camera betrayed me, and deleted itself. I got some pics, but those are not for posting hehehe. Friday night, i did some MAJOR shopping for my trip...gifts, clothes, necessities, and Gravol (<3). Saturday night was a good day spent at the movies with my sister watching...ECLIPSE! good movie you guys, ill have a post dedicated to that one later on hehe, and today IM BACCCCK! Beso!

South Lebanon Beauties X2 ?

Ok so EVERYONE knows about Rima Fakih, the Lebanese girl who won the Miss USA pageant, and how she is from Hezbollah run and controlled South Lebanon. Well she just met her match. Last night Miss Lebanon pageant crowned a neww Miss Lebanon, and yup...you guessed it, she is from South Lebanon too! (Way to jump on the bandwagon Lebanon!). Rahaf Abdulla who is from Khiyam is not very far from Srifa, Rima Fakih's hometown! Wow, baneit el manta2a competing for Miss Universe? "Ya 3aybeshoumm", their fellow Jnoubi's are thinking! hehehe But in all seriousness, I think these girls are pretty, but I've seen better representatives of Lebanon walking up and down the hallways of AUB. I mean, you could stroll down Gemmayze and find someone who is better looking than both! Don't get me wrong, anyone to say they are ugly would be blind, but to call them the best 2 representations of Lebanese beauty?? Not so much. Anyways, here's their pics, let me know what you guys think?!

p.s. Nadine Njeim is still my number one Miss Lebanon to ever win!

p.p.s I decided im going to put up Rima Fakih's pic, Rahaf Abdulla's pic, Nadine Njeim's pic, and 2 pics of Miss Lebanon and Miss Universe winner Georgina Rizk.... Tell me what you guys think then!

Rahaf Abdulla (Miss Lebanon 2010)

Rima Fakih (Miss USA 2010)

Miss Lebanon 2004 Nadine Njeim (<333333)

And last, but DEFINATELY, not least... Miss Lebanon/Universe 1971 Georgina Rizk

The rant: Think versus feel?

Men think, and women feel. Thats just how it is.

Why do I make such assumptions? HUH? I just established this is how it is. FACT! Women have what I call "feeling overload syndrome". Example number 1: "I feel fat", "I feel happy", "I feel this is going well", "I feel this food could be better", "I feel my lipstick is wrong", "I feel alone", "I feel like the world is coming to an end", "I feel like my cat is feeling sad", "I have a feeling the bacteria on the table are worried about something", "I feel like you have no feelings". OMG! SAVE SOME FEELINGS FOR EVERYONE ELSE! I mean it's perfectly fine to have feelings, the problem is you say what you feel. Us men, we are thinkers. We don't let whats on our mind leave us, it's not because we have no feelings, it's just maybe we don't want to broadcast it to every living organism in the world.... like imagine a man, tall, muscles, suit, and briefcase walking up to a squirrel and saying "I feel radiant that you have an acorn for winter! I feel you feel prepared!". NOOOOOO! It doesn't work. We will walk by him,look at him and think to ourselves, "Dude I think that acorn is gonna feed his babe girlllllll", we don't beat down the news reporter on the street, grab her microphone, look into the camera and start firing feelings left, right and center! It's not us. I came to this conclusion today after an argument with who I now call "Headache Lester", aka the gf. She said to me "ya allah! ma 3endak e7seis", meaning "oh my god, you don't have any feelings!". Actually I do have feelings, but it's a good thing I was THINKING about them, instead of blasting them your way. You would have really known I have feelings. I love feelings. Feelings are good, but are to be kept quiet, or confided in with a person who expresses their feelings in a similar way. This could also be a good thing though, now that I think about it. If women thought instead of felt, and men felt instead of thought....the world would be a disaster. Come on, Imagine George Bush running around telling people about his feelings, or Clinton. Oh God. "Hillary, I feel good I slept with Lewinski"... or Bush "I feel dumb". Us, men I mean, would put our lives in mortal danger. So maybe God wanted it this way, which makes sense. Eve had to FEEL so loudly, and so constantly. "I feeeeel that apple would taste good, right hunni? I feeeeeeeeeeeeel it looks good. I would feeeeeeel much better if I ate it. I feel you should go pick it". By then, Adam couldn't handle it anymore and thought to himself "gee, I'll pick the damn apple and give these feelings of hers a rest". Good job Eve. You and your "feelings" got us booted out of Eden. :)

UH-OH

My friends don't listen to me. At all. Which surprises me because I can often read what people think, know exactly how they are feeling from their face, and give some good advice. I have a good set of friends, but ok, remember the chika back in Lebanon my friends wanted me to hook up with? You know...the one I talked about in an earlier blog. Well, I declined their offer. Not that it mattered because I came online today, and sat myself on MSN, when I noticed someone had added me. I accepted the add, and what do you know? Its the girl they wanted me to hook up with. The idiots have given her my e-mail. We got to talking, bringing up topics from food to blogs (as she has her own), and all that fun stuff. Mind you, there was no pictures being shown or sent to one another throughout our 1 hour conversation. Curiosity got to me, and I asked for a pic. So we swapped some, and I must say she is a very beautiful girl indeed. My friends described her as a female version of myself (in personality and hobbies), and that she was. Curiosity killed the cat, remember that. After describing our unbelievable bad luck in relationships (we concluded Aries suck at them), I brought up some people from my past. She knew two of them. And thats where the cat died. Not died, lets say the cat was missing.

So I take it, the newest thing in Lebanon is, women gain more interest in men their acquaintances have previously dated. Not only do they like to have someone that was once belonged to someone they know, they let the news spread... quickly. So as of today, kermeil Allah, don't hook me up with anyone. Relationships? Na2isneh waja3 rass ana?

Blague du jour :)

Oh Twilight, oh Eclipse. I GET IT. They are out. Look, coming from a male perspective I liked the books. Reading them as a challenge from my sister, and for an English 255 book report, I have to say I have a love/hate relationship with them. I like the little mystery, the romance, and the crazyness...all parts of a good film I guess. But come on! Woman loves vampire unconditionally? How the heck am I going to look at relationships the same? You woman give Edward all this praise, HAVE YOU GUYS THOUGHT ABOUT THE RISK BELLA IS IN? I mean....she's the mortal. Big deal Edward acts like a gentleman, she's the real hero....mon obsession du jour if you will.
Anyways, films = okay...nothing great. Books = good story. MEH. So in all this Twilight craze, I came across a video that killed me. I literally died from laughter at this little British bloke, and his reading of Twilight. It was a good way to start the day. Check it out. :) Time for an argeeli! Tfadalo!

P.s. : ALL his videos are pretty funny. Check those out too :P

The ever failing love life of a nice guy.

Nice guys finish last? You know how much I hate that phrase? Like what if we would like to finish first sometimes. Do we have to be 40 before we find the right woman for us? I tried to find an answer to this. Maybe we are too picky? Nice guys can be picky right? WRONG. If they were picky they would have been called picky guys... not nice guys. I came to the realization that, heck you know what? It's not us nice guys. Women just like assholes. You sit there and smile, they would like to know what is it thats sooooooo funny. DO YOU SEE ME LAUGHING? It's called a smile. Or better yet, when they get angry and you tell them how cute they are when they get all worked up.... it gets them irritated that you cant get mad. I mean SHU BADKON? So maybe we are too nice. Maybe too perfect?! All i know is that pushing my buttons, and testing my patience isn't going to help in the advancing of this relationship. I think I was a nice guy in all of my relationships, looking back, the one where the girl was the most interested was the ONE TIME I WAS BEING A JERK.

Maybe I will take some of my friends's advice. I hear a perfect match for me awaits in Lebanon.... on second thought, I'll pass. I think too much failures put me on a dating strike. Welcome back life of the single... *rolls eyes*.

Whatever it is, finishing last sucks. Big time. Tanti baci to the bellas out there who like nice guys.

Lebanese Diaspora!

Wow. Lebanese EVERYWHERE you go. It's crazy actually, because there isn't a continent on this planet that doesn't have a huge Lebanese population. I came across a cool distribution of the Lebanese diaspora. However, something is off... my Social Studies textbook, 6 years back told me that Brazil ALONE has 12 million Lebanese. But on a striking, and pretty cool, note there is something to take into consideration. The diaspora moves to certain parts of the world depending on where they come from in Lebanon. For example, West Africa and parts of Central Africa has a majority of it's Lebanese diaspora from South Lebanon. Western Canada and Michigan in the USA has a heavy population from the Bekaa. Michigan has its Bekaai's from Baalbek, Hermel, and Shmistar. Western Canada has a huge diaspora from the Western Bekaa, Central Bekaa, and Northern Lebanon. Beiruti's and the Lebanese from Mount Lebanon also take up much of Europe, USA, and Eastern Canada. Brazil and Argentina are MIXED, since theres almost 9 million in these two countries alone. Where are youuuuu guys from?

Freedom of Speach In Lebanon!

"Three men have been arrested for making fun of President Michel Suliman on Facebook" reads the headlines. Three men WHAT? Are you kidding me? Since when has Lebanon become North Korea? I mean guys...Lebanon is the ONLY country in the Middle East (an one of the few in all of Asia) where people have this right. I find it disturbing that people are getting arrested for this! What in God's name? Anyways, my favorite blog, Blogging Beirut, posted a link to an online petition demanding our freedom of speech. And freedom of speech we will have. Like my fellow bloggers have mentioned... I think you should worry about the corruption, poverty, electricity, the people above the law, pollution, our continuous problems with Israel and Syria, weapons everywhere, cancer caused by power plants in North Lebanon, the unhealthy food that is produces, the drying up of our lakes and rivers, our decline in healthy fish in our rivers, landfills left for the sun (hello they produce methane!), deforestation, theft, failures in infrastructures, deterioration of our ancient landmarks, and the oil we have now discovered off of Lebanon's shores (thanks bloggingbeirut for that). Do you see Obama arresting people left, right, and center for mocking him? Nope. And trusttttttt me, a lot more people do that.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lebanese_freedom_of_speech/

2 things people say about Lebanese people??

The two things I always get about Lebanese people? "Your country's accent is so annoying" and "you guy's flirt like crazy! Do you always have to say habibi?"

Number one. Our country does not have an accent. Simply because the people in countries have accents. Do you see a rock saying "Shu haydaa?". NO. Why? Because countries don't speak. Their people do. Now lets re-phrase your question. Shall we? I believe what you mean to say was "why do Lebanese people have an annoying accent?". Number one, dont let the jealousy kill you. What is sooooooo annoying with the way we speak? Ok, so it has a little dala3, it is a bit feminine in parts, and we have a lot of emotion in our words. Big deal! If you haven't noticed, it also has class, and a weird and beautiful flair to it. It's like music to the ears. It's... great. I mean come on lets compare words you bunch of rudes! What would you prefer:

Kashouga? or Mala3'2a?

Sareer? or Takhet?

Shako Mako (wtf?!)? or Shu fi ma fi?

Khosh Gowwa? Foot la joowa?

Beenayah? or Beenayeh?

Shlonak? Keefak?

Moo? Mish heik?

Like COME ON PEOPLE? your talking about Lebanese dialect and yours are not much better. I love the Arabic language. I love all the dialects, but people... We top it all! So stop asking me why our accent is so annoying. What's annoying is the jealousy problem you guys are facing. Maghribeh anyone? Wait...I gotta grab my translator. Sooreh? When I have time I will listen to you and the immensely long endings you put on words. Shlonnn?

Number two. Whatever happened to emotion. Expression? Tkaffnineh, to2obreeneh, hayateh, albeh, rou7eh, habibi, sanadeh? We love to love. Besides, we don't complain about the "tishkol 2aseh, titlla3 3ala 2abreh, and tid3as 3ala rou7eh" popping out from Syrians. At least we do not include DEATH in our emotions about love ALL the time. Besides, Saudi's say "ba3ed galbi"... you dont hear us running around asking you why you want her after your heart do you!?! And Egyptians say "ya dalaya".... ya what? What the flip is a dalaya? What im saying is, we like to dalee3, and we like dala3... its a weakness. Walk down the street and see. The only person who's going to comment you will be a Libneneh. hehehe (ya right!).

The thing is, I find us Lebanese to be...misunderstood. A litttttle bit hated on. Some jealousy. And seen as easy targets. Go call a Bekaai man a na3nou3, you'll be in for a surprise.

P.s. Guys im being a bit "out there" myself. No insults intended. All in fun, and part of my venting. Done now. :)

So check out these cool links. From Wikipedia of course but still interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Arabic (Libneneh)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levantine_Arabic (Libneneh, Syrian, Jordanian, and Palestinian accents are Levantine)

Cafe Beirut

So hellooo there! Friday night I blogged about a crazy Lebanese restaurant I came across. Well it is only 25 days old... so I will not badger myself about how my "restaurant hunting" skills have gone down-hill. Today we got together a good group of us (4 of us) and had a nice argeeli. We got a little bit hungry, and being all smoked out, we decided to check out this "Cafe Beirut".

Everyone around me knows, I am the PICKIEST of all eaters. If I like a place, and it's food....then it MUST be good. We went in there, expecting it to be like every "average" Lebanese place here. I know guys reading this, some of these places are a little less than average **cough-the Palace- cough cough**. But I think we can ALL agree that Cafe Beirut was one of the BEST we had to date in this city. I mean the place is small, it reminds me of the small shawarma places on the streets of Beirut, but WOW WHAT A SANDWICH.

Never in my life have I seen a shawarma sandwich served up so lavishly. My friends I am talking about seasoned bread...the herbs on the top made it look amazing. Served with a side of lettuce and yes guys, brace yourself...a piece of pineapple and strawberries....the dish was to DIE for. Can i add that the lettuce was GREEN...meaning it was fresh and was crispy to the bite. Some places should upgrade their lettuce before they hit the meat (thats to you Mr.Hajj). The owner was pretty cool too. He's got some musical skills, and makes you really feel at home. I called him the shawarma artist. Taking tips from Amsterdam and Parisian chefs, his food looked JUST as good as it tasted. Come-on guys...someone who can make a simple shawarma sandwich look like that is definitely an artist. After we finished our meal (in silence at how good it was), he brought us out a cool mango, cut and raised up in a simple but ever so classy way. Ill have the pics up. Check this place out fellow food lovers, divertiti! Arivaderci!

P.s. Marinates with wine and reallll Lebanese spices. What a God-send to this city.