Housing issues in Beirut

Beirut always been a crowded city. The 300$ 2 bedroom apartment I used to rent is 600$. I left in 2006 paying 300 what happened in 5 years? All my friends , my family and people I know tell me prices are crazy and it is really hard to find an apartment for rent.

People from all over the country in the last 5 years moved to Beirut searching for a job, sending their kids to schools and universities..... Beirut is over crowded I have 4 members of my family facing housing issues.

My Aunt who is stay at home mom and have 2 kids to raise, her husband who work as a guard for the city that doesn't pay him more then 600 or 700$ with all the benefits included. The apartment she live in is 200$ a month she been there for 10 years, now the owner of the place can not afford to keep his second condo so he tell her that by the beginning of May he will let her know if she have to move out. Where is she going to go? with 700$ income a month... Her husband thinking to quite his job and take his family and move to his old family house in the village and start a new life there..." it will be cheaper, we will have a roof over our head and we might be able to survive" he said with so much sadness and disappointment in his voice.

My Cousin who is married and have a new born daughter had to move back in with his mom because he could not pay his rent anymore working 2 jobs a taxi driver at night and a bus driver during the day.

His sister , her husband and 2 babies plus one on the road own the house they live in ( of course there is mortgage) decided to sell the place and move also to man's village so he can keep up with expenses schools, food, water.....

Last but not least my uncle 55 years single man who lived all his life in a small tiny studio, who work as a security guard for 600$ a month. The building owners sold it out and the new owners wants to demolish the old building and they are kicking everyone out with nothing more then couple of thousands ...

If I have 4 family members who are facing this crisis how many other people are in the same situation??? what's the solution??? Beirut does not fit anymore...

Marcel

Beat the wife that will bring you good luck...

That was the title for an article I read about unusual Easter traditions.

In Czech republic, Hungary and Slovakia, they celebrate Easter on Monday not like the rest of people on Sunday however this is not the weird part.

The weird part is instead of them going to churches to pray. Men and young blood people like me lool... visit their relatives and friends to spank the women ( on their butts) with a branch cut of a willow tree (shajret soufsaf).

The name of this kind of celebration is "BOOMLAZKA"( It is related to the whipping stick that is used symbolically ( I don't think their is any symbolic in this. Their will always be a jerk who will really whoop some one's behind). However this kind of traditions is not celebrated in major cities (only between family member).In villages it is a whole different story people are holding on to it and it also have it own law ( I tried to find the laws but there is no references to it online).

BOOMLAZKA is one of the most important events in the villages because during the celebration men and women alike do not care about social or economical situations of any person. They look at it as a simple way for men to compliment women. Although it includes a lot of gifts for men who do the whooping...(lucky them I guess)

Colored eggs is considered one of the most popular gifts presented by the ladies for men specially between young adults. The reason of gifting eggs is that eggs symbolise life and own some magical powers. For kids it is kind of like hallowen in USA except kids have to perform some good singing to get their candies.

According to this tradition the ladies offer eggs,food, candies and drinks to the whooper and they have to tie a colored piece of clothes to the stick that whooped them. After that they congratulate each other and move on to the next house for some more spanking.

Traditions give the ladies who have been whooped the right to throw frozen water on the whoopers specially in the afternoon of that day to guaranty woman's right to respond and get back to the guys.

Using soft tree branches and throwing water have nothing to do with Easter, it is a welcoming party for spring that happens on Easter Monday day loool.... crazy ...
Willow branches and water are used to transfer mother nature's powers that wake up in spring to the one who got whipped health, beauty and happiness till next year whipping...

Thank you letter

The word thank you is just a simple expression used to express a feeling of appreciation, gratefulness and acknowledgement of a favor what's so ever. That's how I see it when I am not using it in sarcastic way of course.... I want to thank you all for taking the time to read things I post, even a lot do not like my point of view on things thank you too for reading it. A great thank you for all the people from all over the world not what or where you are for all prayers and support that gave me strength, energy and grown my faith to keep up with my fight against cancer. A special thanks for all the Family in Lebanon, France, Australia and of course here. Thank you for being there whenever I needed something and always supporting me. Big great one for Mom and Dad who do not sleep if I don't call them every other day at least to tell them I am fine.Mom & Dad I love you so much and hope to see you soon. How can I forget the love of my life who stood by me in good and bad times... in happiness and sadness... Who maybe without her in my life I wouldn't be here now... Angie I never got the chance to tell you enough of thank yous and my feelings of appreciation even I say that days and nights will not be enough for all you been threw with me. Thank you my love and God keep you safe and healthy for us. Yours Marcel

Thursday's dinner

This is one of the few times I make dinner... Thursday was Angie's day off and all day she kept asking me :" what's for dinner?" In the early afternoon she took stakes out. Around 6:30 pm I said I will make dinner it's your day off habibi you sit and relax...

I pulled everything I need from the fridge and the knives,spoons....

As you can see I have potatoes, lemon, cucumber, tomatoes, seasoning salt and a bag of oranges that I have no idea why it is there :).....

I started by seasoning the meat each piece one by one front and back...

After seasoning the meat, I plugged in the awesome grill we have and laid down 2 pieces of this steak at a time...

I squeezed lemon on the steaks after 5 minutes from when they started to cook . The steaks are a bit dry now so it will suck the lemon juice inside the meat which will make the taste sour juicy and Delicious.

While the meat is cooking I started piling the potatoes preparing them to be washed then chopped and washed again. In between piling, chopping, washing potatoes and the frying them, I was flipping the meat inside the grill, moving them to a plate and putting new ones of course squeezing lemon as well... I was multi tasking lol...

Don't forget to always wash your hands after everything you touch :D)All garbage should be thrown in the bag right away ( less mess)... No one likes to clean after they eat a good delicious meal, so what I usually do I apply the rule " Clean As You Go".By the time dinner is ready everything used in the sink is washed and cleaned a quick sweep and map the floor is done, all what I will end up with the plates and the spoons, forks... we used to eat.

Voilà... Bonne Appetite Ma Famille :)

Facing Death

Death is the most scary word to some people and it is nothing to others... I am sure all of us faced death or lived a near death experience once at least one time in our life time... To me death is nothing to be scared off, maybe I am born that way or spending my first 10 years in life facing death each and every single second of them. Yes that's how your life is when you are born in a war, 10 years facing death I learned how to not be scared and accept the idea that I could be living my last seconds of every ticking minute. So the more seconds I have to live the more appreciative and thankful I get. During the war I was not scared to die but I was freaked out on my family my mom, my brother and specially my dad who was fighting on the most brutal fire lines... Every time that man left the house and us to go help ,support and direct on how to hold the place together, (his friends Called him Captain) I was expecting him to come back in a body bag... I know it is sad but that stuff happened to a lot of my friends, I had to adjust to the idea that my dad could one day come home in a body bag... Thank God every minute that my dad made it out of the war in one piece just missing some teeth and a lot of white hair......

So 3 years after the war ends we adjusted to the new life however things are not yet normal but there was no bombing... I get on the Attic to get some old boxes down, the cable for bulb that lights the Attic have no plastic cover and the light is on. I was crolling back and my elbow touched it , new electricity system was installed one week before changed the voltage from 110w to 220w ... I seen death again i was screaming and yelling and crying i came down everybody looking at me sweating like I had just finished sprinting 2 miles I said that I got shocked from the cable. It was fixed after I almost lost my life....

I was 16 years old when I bought my first motorcycle, I will not tell all the stories but you can imagine the accidents and the slides I got into on regular basis. at the age of 19 I lost my front teeth kissing a truck's behind. After that I promised my mom and dad that I will not buy or drive again and since the I have ride a couple but I did not drive any....

I lived an ok life from 19 till 22 that did not involve me getting killed but I got hurt a little hehehe....

So here come my 23rd Bday and I have been already a guest of St Joseph hospital (Dora, Beirut Lebanon) for 13 days blood testing, Biopsies on multiple organs and of course who can forget scanners of all kind... Here come Dr. Katan (Blood cancer specialist) congratulating me on having Cancer ( Hodgkin's Lymphoma) he said it is curable u will be fine in 6 month he damn guarantied it bla bla bla....Anyway I over heard that my life in danger and if I stayed without hospital I would of been dead in 2 weeks period... I start laughing everyone thought I lost my mind I said no one die before his "Lamp Is Empty From Oil" .

Grand pa bless his soul told me a story about him being a kid and how he got really sick and seen St Joseph in his dream giving him oil to go fill his lamp that the light was barely lit and how he woke up immediately after pouring the oil so refreshed like he had nothing... I keep laughing because no matter what we do , what we try to do to hide from Death , Death will always find us and remind us that hey I am here... People can not cheat Death, It is just Death reminding them of his existence by allowing them to get near him... Since then and I restored the every second could be my last mode there for am not scared from death that does not mean I am fearless..I am scared if I die what will happen to the people who will loose their minds ( My wife and My Mom) The 2 of them are the most important thing in my life.

Thanks for reading the craziest shit that goes threw my head in any normal day :)

Marcel