1. When traveling internationally, American-owned dogs are issued their own passports.
2. The traffic in downtown Beirut can turn a ten minute drive into an hour-long excursion with a taxi driver who like talking American politics.
3. On that note, the traffic laws seem increasingly optional in a country where the southern half of the highway has been bombed out because it once led into Israel.
4. If graffiti can be used as evidence of collective memory, the Armenians haven’t forgotten the genocide. We lived next to an Armenian neighborhood in Beirut, where most of the street art referenced the events of 1915 or was decidedly anti-Turkish in nature.
5. In the absence of an overseas gym membership, ten flights of stairs and a series of free YouTube videos can double as an acceptable foray into physical fitness.
6. Freedom requires choice. There are churches in Beirut full of women who still choose to wear a hijab. Maybe someday they’ll choose differently. Maybe they won’t. Either way, it’s not on us to make needless demands.
7. The cedars of Lebanon were used to build the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and the ships and temples of Egyptians Pharaohs. They also make for a lovely stroll through a snow-covered forest.
8. Sometimes, terrorists own ice cream shops.
9. When in Beirut, unplug everything before you start the washer, or the power will go out, and forget about running the drier and the microwave at the same time.
10. When visiting a Syrian family at home, expect tea when tea is offered, even if the offer is declined. Then expect Nescafe, Turkish coffee, and an invitation to stay for dinner.
11. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desires to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Luke 10:23-24)
