Time fly and Beirut!

Time fly and lots happened recently. Mostly, i went on a visit to Chaos land aka Lebanon and had an amazing 10 days visit to my parents/family and took hell of pictures as also managed to get myself some sun.

Sun is the only thing we worship here in Scandinavia. People belong to church but their only believe in my opinion is the sun as it is a rare privilege after the long months of winter!

Lebanon is a surprising place, full of controversy of diversity and becoming an expensive destination. All the life standards we take for granted in Scandinavia are extremely expensive in Lebanon but well the food is amazing and just taste ( an issue i have with Finnish supermarkets where fruits and food items are never fresh and tasty ) , Lebanese choose to live in ignorance of their daily problems, the country is full basically of Syrian refugees due to the sad crisis in there.

Beirut itself is striving … life goes on, coffee shops restaurants, design outlets, stores, luxurious stores, fancy cars ( too fancy for my taste, in a small country with small roads there is really no need to have tons of jeeps.)  Also, horrible the lack of public transport. Basically, Lebanon is a no go without a car and if you drive there you must be insane!

I leave you some photos from my trip and more blogs to come about Finland’s amazingly warm summer, except the few rainy days 🙂

 

The Hours

” Happy Birthday me!” 1 year older and a 100 wiser, is a popular proverb from back home.

It has been again a while, but thanks for a week of holiday’s or well sickness in bed that I managed to come back here.

I have so much to write about, and really don’t know where to start but well I will let the words fall one after the other.

There has been so many events lately happening in where I come from and where I am today, Finland lack no action as some of you might think! There has been elections, a strong win for the True Finns party and awesome celebration’s after with the golden win in the ice hockey championship, Finland defeated Sweden 6-1 in that game and that my Helsinki became a mini Beirut, I actually did hear enough car horns on those 2 days of festivities to compensate on the 4 years of silence!

The events in the middle east lately, Lebanon and Syria fill a lot of my free time, watching all kind of media sources and following up but comparing my new home to my ex-home is  taking  a toll when I mostly check the Lebanese media, Finland is a fair place even if I sometimes fear what the future hides us here with the win of the True Finns and the rise of the extreme right-wing . I admired this nation since I came back in 2006 for things that differs it from the corrupted, sickening Middle East.

I  see though beautiful things that makes me grateful, like the excellent medical system that showed its care to me this week.

But let’s, go back to the hottest zone on earth, the land of the Arab spring. Is this spring still kicking? It seems many believe that it is fading. I see that it will fade but will rise again, the people want change but what is this change.
Coming from that region, I have enough knowledge of the people and their ways. This might not be fair, but I believe that hunting down the leaders will not make much effect, democracy and I mean the one I enjoy daily is taught, it comes from learning and understanding and respecting the values of humans, animals, ourselves. something we lack!

I see lots of young Arab youth on Twitter, Facebook revolting but the dreams they aim for need one thing they forget: A system of education and time and hours. nothing changes in one day, there will be chaos then perfection, it is the way life works.

These freedoms and democracies comes from rising above selfishness and working hard to build a sustainable system for all, equal citizens. But well, that spring is still very young and we will live to see its future. Meanwhile,I wish that the western societies become more supportive to those young groups forming there, the Arab spring youth of Egypt, of Lebanon, and sadly the youth of Syria are dying fighting for a better future without tyranny. Europe and the west, should do more.

While all this uncovers, and the future becomes clear I keep counting the hours and days I spend  comparing this world to that world.

Will write again soon, meanwhile I enjoy the peace and stability wishing that one day,the youth of my home country will taste the beauty of this real democracy!

Like a fairytale winter

Again, after a long period of inactivity due to the human laziness and life! I came back…

In my last post, I was mentioning a wish, my wish was to get a real winter and god what have i asked for! I ended up getting the full package, a winter that i have never seen here in Finland! A winter that amazed me with its beauty and froze my heart and soul with its cold but it was all white and glittery and it still goes on.

We had a season of Joy and wonderful Holiday in Vimpeli, where my parents in law live and it’s just so spacious and huge and all frozen, from the lake to the roads and fields. it was a unique Christmas, all white full of great time of relaxation after a busy month at work. Then came the new year and it’s festivities in Helsinki, The traditional fireworks overlooking the city from the rock. Finland keeps impressing me more and more, It would be great to share more with you about my great experiences here so far, and specially not blogging daily!

The winter came fast, it hit us hard with -25C in Helsinki for some days and snow covering the streets and the cars all over. But then came the sunshine and the green warm weather of Beirut, I left after the New Year to visit my parents and family in Lebanon where i spent a week of great time and memories! It was so fun to go back and picture the city of Beirut in a  different way, to notice the things i miss there and to appreciate the good life standards we have here, the social system and the good benefits of a hard-working society. I  was still impressed with the good weather which was not a winter as i expected Lebanon to be at this period of the year. It was a simple spring!

Coming back to here, i met the first time in my life the Winter Wonderland, the fairytale place on earth.

In this fairytale place, you will see the trees all white, the city all white, the trams all white and frosty. It was something really to share. I let these pictures below taken by Maiku talk …

Winter Wonderland!

Amazing!

I will try to share more blog posts from Lebanon and Finland soon! Stay tuned …

C’est la vie en bleu!

So many ideas and so little time, work is a big part of life here and you must use your free time carefully!

I started working recently and it looks good, well regularly at least and with a lot of Finnish colleagues, a true Finnish experience. I am enjoying it, enjoying the organized system and the work place. and the old ladies working with me are treating me well.

Finns tend to trust a foreigner if he gains it with time. It’s a global rule i think, this reminds me of a Lebanese proverb  my mom used always to say: ” Live with the people 40 days, either you stay with them or you leave them.” The unfortunate thing happening in my own opinion in Finland, is the fact that the Finnish media does not fetch real stories on relations between the  society, Media tend to exagerate and show foreigners are victims but in my case and concerning my work field, The answer lies here : “Read this to know more!” I am proud of this article.

Finland and Lebanon on the mind still always, pro’s and con’s always. Everyday, Facebook is  offering a comparison to the two cultures free of charge!

Finland’s reputation has been seriously damaged recently by it’s beloved politicians to a level that we could for sure send them to Lebanon. Why?

Well, they need to get some courses on “how to hide well your corruption.” A scandal, well scandals have erupted here about Finances of the government parties by companies and the last story was contributed to M. Vanhanen our prime minister here that accepted gifts as bribery for building his home. Yes! M. Vanhanen could for sure form a Lebanese goverment since now he has all the capacity and the necessary demands for the job 🙂 Unfortunate, M. Harriri got  the job alas!

Otherwise, winter is coming, it has been raining here and its getting more boring then ever since we see no snow neither sun. Am so waiting for the snow to come, that will cheer me up for sure.

People abroad do not understand why Finns loves the snow, based on my experience after living here, snow brighten everything when it’s dark, the darkness is a big part of the winter since we get only a few hours of light or something similar to light, makes you so frustrated and causes a lot of depression so when it snows it actually turns into all white and blue, a beautiful scenery. Will post a picture about it one day!

Christmas has been knocking on our door here, the festivities and celebrations are all about to come and the plans of the next year with it. I am going to  continue in my current job for a longer while, which is good news in this time of crisis. Nothing that i am doing is my favorite carrier, since i wish to be in the hotel field, but c’est la vie!

I will be writing a few posts to recap on the lost time and since i have a lots to share with you about Finland, I seriously feel like a child here born again discovering things from scratch.

A quiet city and a dull weather,  still the Finns and their country have a way to amaze me with the smallest details ever! and their care of the smallest details. Only a Finn would do such a thing i told my wife when i read the article. Read this link!

Thank you for dropping by.

Jad ( With Swine flu) … Oh that’s another blog story to tell! 🙂

Time to make a tea and lots of honey, and to read Maiku’s newest blog posts on AngoraKaneli (in Finnish only!)

P.s: To the people of the world, remember Santa comes  straight to your house all the way from Finland  where he lives under the northern lights 🙂

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Just a note!

I found this in a Book i bought from Beirut last summer in 2008 and it was funny back then. When i look at it again, i cant stop myself from laughing! Is it true that nothing changed since 1870 in there. It seems so …

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P.s: I am employed now again, if you are reading my older posts but sorry i haven’t had the time to keep this blog updated! maybe …