Last Sunday was a day out in the snow. I went with my two little ones to the mountains of Zaarour (1600 meters),40 minutes drive from Beirut. The snow was superb. The sky was of an amazing crispy blue. The people on the slopes were colourful, happy and laughing at their clumsiness. Some chose not to venture on the frightening ski adventure and sat happily sipping their hot cocoa and lingering on the white plastic chairs. Zaarour is not a fancy place. It is a place where you don't necessarily find the snobbish atmosphere of other great ski resorts in Lebanon. No pretentions.
So here we are running after the little ones, who had no idea that snow could be so cold, and decided to walk up the baby slope to see the view from afar. As i watched people around me more closely, i realised that many families had brought their housekeeper/nanny with them, which was a great sight for my idealistic me. How nice! Most of them had probably never encountered snow in their home country and that was a wonderful experience for them.
My happy face turned rapidly into a big question mark when i suddenly realised that their presence was not necessarily for their own happiness but an extension of their services. They were building snowmen with the kids. They were holding the babies. But most chocking of all they were walking up the slope carrying the ski sticks for dads and their sons who used the chair lift to get to the top. The girl was carrying the sticks and had to walk up the slope. I was chocked and sad to see how little we knew about human rights in this country.
Two days ago, a housekeeper killed the sister of her employee. As horrible as this act of violence is, I cannot but have a small doubt on the way this person has been treated during her employment.
When are we going to see these people (housekeepers) as Humans, who are here to make a living, and to make our life much easier, and not as slaves jumping to our smallest desires.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Did twitter& facebook change my life?
I am addicted to twitter, facebook, igoogle & blog-world.
I am very busy with my laptop, and I don’t know how all of this can ever stop.
I need to check Twitter on a very regular basis (5 times a day?), if I post something then I need to see if it is retweeted, commented or just ignored. I need to read other peoples post, links, and blogs, and see their funny & sometimes bizarre pictures. I have 250 followers (depending on the days). A new follower can generate happiness (yeah an Australian person is reading my posts!) or disappointed (oh, another porn sites that automatically generates followers). The amazing part of twitter must be it’s real-time aspect. One of my first wow experiences was a tweet about an earthquake in Lebanon that happened few minutes before the tweet was created. I thought that was crazy and so vivid. Like the time people were tweeting live from Bombay during the attacks. This could not have existed without twitter.
But did this actually change my life?
My virtual world has also expanded tremendously the last 2 months after I acquired a farm (Farmville), an aquarium (fish world) and a café (café world) through facebook. They require hard work on a daily basis,& I must visit often to harvest, ploy, send gifts, receive gifts, buy fish eggs, sell fish eggs, steal fish, clean aquarium, cook meals, serve meals, decorate café, expand café. If I don’t to all of that every day, my fish will die, my crops will wilt, and my food will rot. Also I will not earn enough coins to buy more seeds, more fish, and cook more meals. And on top of that I will never ever reach the same levels as my neighbours, who by the way are my true friends, but happen to be neighbours in our virtual world. I am therefore more stressed than before and soon will need a virtual massage and a virtual drink to calm down.
Is this adding anything positive to my life?
On a social level, Facebook is making me connect with friends and family, near and far, and it might have changed my life a bit by adding a closer connection to people that I would normally only see and talk to once a year or less. It makes them closer to me in a sense. They react in a warm and funny way to my links, to my pictures; to my recipe (yes I even founded a café on facebook where members (again 200- something) can find my favourite recipes.
The positive aspects of Twitter and facebook exist, no doubt about that.
BUT, it makes me addicted and can sometimes enhance loneliness because interaction with virtual world is safer that the REAL world who is only few cm away from the screen. You can shut down the whole thing when you are tired or bored and it will be there when you come back and turn it on again.
Time flies when I am sitting surfing, twittering, facebooking, reading, blogging.. all of it only with a click.. But time is also stolen from me, as I tend to forget my dreams, my goals, and what I want from my real life. My focus is shifted to the virtual world and I need to refocus on stuff outside this laptop. My time-span is also disrupted because everything changes with a click, and following all the news, in real-time is almost as difficult as zapping between 3 news channels, 5 movie channels and 2 music channels at once. Impossible!
I need to find a middle ground with more reality and less “virtuality”, with more selective focus and less zapping..
If someone has found this balance, please share! I will definitely retweet it!!!
Happy New Year everyone, where ever you are…
I am very busy with my laptop, and I don’t know how all of this can ever stop.
I need to check Twitter on a very regular basis (5 times a day?), if I post something then I need to see if it is retweeted, commented or just ignored. I need to read other peoples post, links, and blogs, and see their funny & sometimes bizarre pictures. I have 250 followers (depending on the days). A new follower can generate happiness (yeah an Australian person is reading my posts!) or disappointed (oh, another porn sites that automatically generates followers). The amazing part of twitter must be it’s real-time aspect. One of my first wow experiences was a tweet about an earthquake in Lebanon that happened few minutes before the tweet was created. I thought that was crazy and so vivid. Like the time people were tweeting live from Bombay during the attacks. This could not have existed without twitter.
But did this actually change my life?
My virtual world has also expanded tremendously the last 2 months after I acquired a farm (Farmville), an aquarium (fish world) and a café (café world) through facebook. They require hard work on a daily basis,& I must visit often to harvest, ploy, send gifts, receive gifts, buy fish eggs, sell fish eggs, steal fish, clean aquarium, cook meals, serve meals, decorate café, expand café. If I don’t to all of that every day, my fish will die, my crops will wilt, and my food will rot. Also I will not earn enough coins to buy more seeds, more fish, and cook more meals. And on top of that I will never ever reach the same levels as my neighbours, who by the way are my true friends, but happen to be neighbours in our virtual world. I am therefore more stressed than before and soon will need a virtual massage and a virtual drink to calm down.
Is this adding anything positive to my life?
On a social level, Facebook is making me connect with friends and family, near and far, and it might have changed my life a bit by adding a closer connection to people that I would normally only see and talk to once a year or less. It makes them closer to me in a sense. They react in a warm and funny way to my links, to my pictures; to my recipe (yes I even founded a café on facebook where members (again 200- something) can find my favourite recipes.
The positive aspects of Twitter and facebook exist, no doubt about that.
BUT, it makes me addicted and can sometimes enhance loneliness because interaction with virtual world is safer that the REAL world who is only few cm away from the screen. You can shut down the whole thing when you are tired or bored and it will be there when you come back and turn it on again.
Time flies when I am sitting surfing, twittering, facebooking, reading, blogging.. all of it only with a click.. But time is also stolen from me, as I tend to forget my dreams, my goals, and what I want from my real life. My focus is shifted to the virtual world and I need to refocus on stuff outside this laptop. My time-span is also disrupted because everything changes with a click, and following all the news, in real-time is almost as difficult as zapping between 3 news channels, 5 movie channels and 2 music channels at once. Impossible!
I need to find a middle ground with more reality and less “virtuality”, with more selective focus and less zapping..
If someone has found this balance, please share! I will definitely retweet it!!!
Happy New Year everyone, where ever you are…
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
La vie en Rose
Here are some lovely pictures of pink flowers that I have found here and there in Lebanon. I thought of sharing them on my blog to show that we, in Lebanon have hidden treasures, that we must look for them, see them, enjoy them, smell them..and be grateful for their presence.
I tend to be an optimist and have a bizarre urge to more or less point out the positive in any situation, because i do believe that we have a choice in how we perceive life and its complexity. So here is La vie en rose for you at the end of 2009...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fish for frying!
I was thinking this morning (it happens!) about my blog. About writing something positive, something challenging, something that could inspire other people the way it inspires me.
And frankly the more I thought, the more I could find nothing remotely interesting and worthwhile writing about.. I had negative thoughts about the H1N1 virus, about difficult relationships towards mothers and friends. I thought that we live so shortly on earth, and yet seem to find it so hard just to be nice and good about living it.
I was nearly not paying attentions to the fact that I was walking in the streets of Beirut, while people were driving through from all directions, heading to schools, work and so on. Suddenly a loud voice coming from a very large man standing just few meters away awakened me from my day-dreaming/thinking walk. He was saying “Lokkos, Nammour, lal ale’k!”, which means “fish for frying!”. He was selling fish from the trunk of his 35 years old green Mercedes, and shouting out loud to the neighbors about his fish! I looked at him and he smiled and winked at me with his left eye!! I just laughed out loud!.. He was in such a good mood that all my dark thinking vanished and I headed home with a smile on my face, forgetting all about the fears and the worries! Simple as that.
The moral of this? Dark thoughts can vanish, if we let laughter and smiles in. Brooding over things that we cannot control is a waste of time and energy. Thinking and worrying about disease and troubled relationships is energy consuming and makes you vulnerable.
Where as a good laugh and a big hug can sometimes really be as effective as eating a huge box of chocolate and winning the million. You just feel Good afterwards!
That is all…
Have a Good day!
And frankly the more I thought, the more I could find nothing remotely interesting and worthwhile writing about.. I had negative thoughts about the H1N1 virus, about difficult relationships towards mothers and friends. I thought that we live so shortly on earth, and yet seem to find it so hard just to be nice and good about living it.
I was nearly not paying attentions to the fact that I was walking in the streets of Beirut, while people were driving through from all directions, heading to schools, work and so on. Suddenly a loud voice coming from a very large man standing just few meters away awakened me from my day-dreaming/thinking walk. He was saying “Lokkos, Nammour, lal ale’k!”, which means “fish for frying!”. He was selling fish from the trunk of his 35 years old green Mercedes, and shouting out loud to the neighbors about his fish! I looked at him and he smiled and winked at me with his left eye!! I just laughed out loud!.. He was in such a good mood that all my dark thinking vanished and I headed home with a smile on my face, forgetting all about the fears and the worries! Simple as that.
The moral of this? Dark thoughts can vanish, if we let laughter and smiles in. Brooding over things that we cannot control is a waste of time and energy. Thinking and worrying about disease and troubled relationships is energy consuming and makes you vulnerable.
Where as a good laugh and a big hug can sometimes really be as effective as eating a huge box of chocolate and winning the million. You just feel Good afterwards!
That is all…
Have a Good day!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Less destructive & more protective
My own experience with saving the planet is a mixture of being aware of our destructive footprint, of wanting more green areas for my kids to breathe in, of turning off lights when leaving a room, of trying desperately to find a way to recycle batteries in Lebanon, and so on.
I truly want to be more “green”, more aware, less destructive, and more protective. But the paradox is everywhere, I drive a suv (my 6 year old asked me why we didn’t buy the same car as before, which was a wonderful orange Fiat Punto, to which I just blabbered that we needed a stronger car, with more space because in this country you really need it! )Duh… I throw a lot of packaging (i wish we could leave them behind at the supermarket). I use chlorine and fabric softner (a big NO NO in Europe). and so on...
So what is the moral of this little entry?
Taking care of the planet is a very difficult, tedious, long term project. We need to find micro solutions that normal people can understand, and put in action. We need to educate the new generation (in schools, home and via TV) slowly but on a regular basis. And we in Lebanon need to wake up and start working even if the mentality does not always support the idea and find it the least of their concern.
I truly want to be more “green”, more aware, less destructive, and more protective. But the paradox is everywhere, I drive a suv (my 6 year old asked me why we didn’t buy the same car as before, which was a wonderful orange Fiat Punto, to which I just blabbered that we needed a stronger car, with more space because in this country you really need it! )Duh… I throw a lot of packaging (i wish we could leave them behind at the supermarket). I use chlorine and fabric softner (a big NO NO in Europe). and so on...
So what is the moral of this little entry?
Taking care of the planet is a very difficult, tedious, long term project. We need to find micro solutions that normal people can understand, and put in action. We need to educate the new generation (in schools, home and via TV) slowly but on a regular basis. And we in Lebanon need to wake up and start working even if the mentality does not always support the idea and find it the least of their concern.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
new direction for Absolut Leelou...
I started blogging in 2005, during the dramatic years of Lebanese instability. I was trying to make some sense out of the crazy times, by sharing my thought with friends and family living abroad, who did not have a first-hand experience with war and car bombs. My blog was an outlet for my fear and it helped me to write.
When the situation got a bit calmer, I realized that I wasn’t eager to write anymore.. my fuel was my anger and anxiety. I have since tried to make some entries about people and situations in Lebanon that either makes me laugh or wonder but have not been able to have a regular blog entry.
But the urge to write is still present. I love reading what other bloggers write especially in Lebanon. Their perspective is at times charming, hilarious and interesting. Writing is a learned skill. It needs practice. It is a voice to be heard, commented, and remembered. I enjoy writing. Looking at a white page makes me just want to take a pen and scribble.
So here I am again, with a mission. This time I am inspired by something positive, something challenging. I am no longer a “ a critique” watching the Lebanese from sarcastic angle, but someone who would like to inspire others to think in a positive and challenging way, to find opportunities where we could be proud of our actions.
Being a positive soul (some might say), I will be writing about Lebanese projects or persons that are special & inspiring, in any form or way...Also, since we are in the fashion of writing about environment and climate change (!), I will be including topics like Green products, green living and green design, hoping that they could somehow reach someone and inspire him or her to learn and to be proactive in the preservation of our precious nature.
So keep following “Absolut Leelou”, you might find something different and exciting to read…
When the situation got a bit calmer, I realized that I wasn’t eager to write anymore.. my fuel was my anger and anxiety. I have since tried to make some entries about people and situations in Lebanon that either makes me laugh or wonder but have not been able to have a regular blog entry.
But the urge to write is still present. I love reading what other bloggers write especially in Lebanon. Their perspective is at times charming, hilarious and interesting. Writing is a learned skill. It needs practice. It is a voice to be heard, commented, and remembered. I enjoy writing. Looking at a white page makes me just want to take a pen and scribble.
So here I am again, with a mission. This time I am inspired by something positive, something challenging. I am no longer a “ a critique” watching the Lebanese from sarcastic angle, but someone who would like to inspire others to think in a positive and challenging way, to find opportunities where we could be proud of our actions.
Being a positive soul (some might say), I will be writing about Lebanese projects or persons that are special & inspiring, in any form or way...Also, since we are in the fashion of writing about environment and climate change (!), I will be including topics like Green products, green living and green design, hoping that they could somehow reach someone and inspire him or her to learn and to be proactive in the preservation of our precious nature.
So keep following “Absolut Leelou”, you might find something different and exciting to read…
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