First impressions

24 hours spent in Beirut. 24 hours of wondering why I'm here. 24 hours of feeling out of place. 24 hours of hoping I had someone next to me to tell me that everything is going to be ok. All this because the city is very different than everything I expected. Although I have read about the destruction caused by the civil war, I forgot that it ended only 15 years ago. And in a third world country, 15 years is not enough to erase the traces left by shelling, killing and bombing. Everywhere, there are buildings carrying the marks of the war. A wall covered with gun holes, a house decayed by years of abandonment. So many people have fled during the war that everywhere homes are left to rot. War has also left a tradition of guns and tanks. Just a the corner of the house in which I live, a tank and 3 soldiers are posted. My roommate tells me it's to protect a deputy that leaves in our neighborhood. For me, it is scary to think that a deputy needs that sort of protection. Evidently, such an environment is at the opposite of everything I've seen before and the choc is huge. Even if my house is relatively clean and nice, we are still victim of hot water shortages and electricity cut. This, this is the reality of Lebanon. It will take a lot of time for me to get use to it. Much more than 24 hours. I hope that soon, I'll be able to see some beauty in Beirut without also loosing my sensibility for the decay in which this city and its people find themselves.