Beirut @ MindSay

I finally decided that I had to pack my bags and get ready to go, after a long talk with my host mom. She kept saying, “I don’t think you’ll be able to fit all of that in your suitcases, you might want to start that so we can send a package if we have to.” Of course she was right and I had to send yet another package home because I couldn’t carry it myself in my two giant suitcases. That’s a total of three packages that I had to send. You’d be surprised at how much crap you accumulate over the course of four months…especially when you arrive back on Christmas Eve. Buying presents is so hard!

 

During the packing process, my room was a wreck and my host mom kept calling it Beirut.

I have to admit that I was so sad while packing up my stuff, and I cried big time when I had to give my apartment keys back. My host mom gave me a keychain that is just like hers to remember her by which was so nice. I gave her my favorite book, Everything is Illuminated, only translated into French of course. I wrote in the inside of the cover a little letter. Basically it said thank you in a thousand different ways and that this semester has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and it has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life too. It said thanks to her for being my friend throughout, for taking care of me and helping me, for being my host mom, etc.

 

Leaving Montpellier is something I’ve known I would have to do from day one. I even knew the date and time that I would go. Yet leaving was so difficult. I really have started a whole new life in Montpellier with new friends, a new school, and a new language of course. It’s been so taxing on me at times, emotionally and mentally. And now, I have this perfect thing that I’ve achieved. Something so wonderful and complete; something I have to give up. How terrible is that? I guess it’s not terrible at all.

 

I got to thinking that there would be a lot of things like that throughout my life especially since I graduate college soon. Actually I’m really lucky that I’ve had and will have experiences like that in my life. I’ll have things that I’ll be able to look back and say, “yeah, I really did that, and I loved every minute of it.” As for the friends and family I’ve made here in Montpellier, I hate to leave them. I have made ways to keep in contact with each of them, even some of my professors. Something about the process of Study Abroad just links you to other people so quickly and so firmly that you feel like you were born to know them. Like you were destined to be friends. So I definitely can’t let people like that slip away.

 

The morning of my departure, my friends came to the train station to see me off, and my host Mother, Akila, was there with me too. After crying about a million times, I finally said my goodbyes, snapped one last picture, and made my way on to the train.

I forgot how much it sucked to carry those two giant suitcases. Thanks to Pat for helping me load my stuff onto the train. As I sat in my seat on the train, I looked out the window to see Carly and Steph signing to me and waving, and as the train pulled away, they ran after it for a good minute and a half waving and yelling the whole way. Of course by this point, I was crying uncontrollably and the man sitting across from me had officially decided that he had the worst luck ever.

 

“Il faut pas pleurer,” he told me. “You don’t have to cry.” “You’re coming back, right?” The fact is—I’m not. I won’t be back, not with these friends, not under the same conditions. So, here’s my last blog about Montpellier, the place I’ve called home for the last four months of my life.

Thanks for reading everything I had to write during my short stay here, and I hope that you have at least been slightly entertained if nothing else. One more when I get back to the States. Wish me luck.

I have a number of dear and precious friends who are in Beirut, Lebanon right now, awaiting evacuation. One girl works in an orphanage. One family, natives to Lebanon, lived in the US for a number of years and just returned there to live and serve as missionaries about 3 years ago. They are citizens of both the US and of Lebanon. I worked with this family for a couple of years on their projects in Lebanon and have to tell you, being in this man’s presence was like being in the presence of a legend. I’m not sure I have ever known anyone as genuine, as godly, as courageous, as passionate or as inspiring as this man and his family.

Another large group of friends are there on a 2-week trek that has been made annually every summer for the past 5-6 years, to assist our friends in their various projects going on in the area. In addition, there is a large number of native Lebanese who, though I’ve never personally met them, I feel a real bond with them through our mutual friendships and from the many incredible stories shared by my friends who make these trips annually.

I have been getting regular email updates from my friend who works at the orphanage and from another friend who is serving as a sort of spokesman for the group here at home, relaying the many messages from everyone to families and friends. Just yesterday, they witnessed the bombing of a pier that was only several hundred feet from their hotel. Hezbollah was gathering for an attack on the rescue ships coming in and Israel had to take out the radar along the pier to protect the ships. Israel is working very closely with the US government rescue efforts and those of our allies and our friends who have witnessed some of the attacks, have marveled at their accuracy in hitting very specific targets.

They are all staying in a bomb shelter near the hotel and underground awaiting evacuation. It is not safe for them to go elsewhere and there is a high demand for the computers there, as so many are trying to stay in touch with family and friends here at home. All our friends are in good spirits, though somewhat tense (understandably!). They still have no definitive word on when they will be able to get out but are hopeful that it will be in the next couple of days. As you may have already heard, though evacuations have begun on a small scale, it is the sick that are being hustled out first.

All of this stuff going on in the Middle East right now is really hitting home to me, since I have so many beloved friends there right now, as I’m sure likely many of you do as well. I’ve been able to think of very little else the last few days. I’m not really sure if I really had any particular intentions in sharing this with everyone – I think I just needed to express my concern and how special these people are to me. And to request prayer, karma, incantations (as snuggs says!) and whatever else you can offer, not only for my friends but for everyone caught up in this serious conflict over there. Regardless of your stands on foreign policy, Israel, Hezbollah or anything else over there, remember there are so many precious innocent people who just want to be at peace with the world – but for the insanity of a few – many are made to suffer the consequences.