"He was dancing like a Bird!!!" : )

TODAY....MarHaba (hello in arabic) everyone! Kiifik(how are you)? If you are good, you should say "mniiHa." Yes, you are probably saying it wrong, but thats okay I will tell you how to pronounce it when I get home! Well, I am doing great today, just a little bit tired (considering it is 1:20am here right now). This morning we had to go to the other side of Beirut for something and the funniest thing happened on the way back. When we travel somewhere more than 20mins away or at nightime, we call a taxi. We use a company called "smart taxi." So this morning on our way back, we got into the smart taxi with a driver that has driven us before. He speaks French and Arabic, so he would normally try to communicate with Brandon because Brandon's minor in college was French. Sometimes the communication is clear and sometimes its not. Like I have mentioned before, driving in Lebanon is one of the biggest differences compared to the states! Everyone drives very aggressively by using there gas pedals, horns, & headlights. The laws are not strictly enforced, and it is not normal to use a turn signal or to stop at stop signs or stop lights! Also, they waste money by painting lines on the highways. Okay so now that you have a little context, I will tell you what happened on our way home in the taxi. We were driving in the "right lane" and a car was stopping in front of us, so the driver decided to "switch lanes." He never hit the breaks, but instead, he sped up. When we moved into the "left lane" an older gentlemen was walking across the street (from our left walking toward the right side). We didn't hit the man walking, but we definitely scared him! The guy thought we were going to hit him, so he did a funky "dance" with his feet(trying to get out of the way) and he threw his arms up in the air. As we were about to hit this guy, our driver busted out laughing! I couldn't do anything for ten minutes after this but laugh. It was hilarious. One, because our driver laughed at him. Two, because the guy looked very scared and did a funky "dance" tyring to get out of the way. And three, because about 5 minutes after we stopped laughing about the situation, the driver randomly started laughing again and said, "he was dancing like a bird!" Of course, I laughed for another 10 minutes and it was great. The driving in Lebanon is something that took us a while to get adjusted too, but we are definitely used to it now. If this situation had happened a few weeks ago, we might have been scared too, but it was hilarious.

We had to get used to the driving especially after what happened the very first day we were here. We were taking the bus with our national friends. Out of no where, the bus driver SLAMS on breaks, hits a car, drives off, and fusses out the driver of the car! It pretty much happened that fast and Marcus, Brandon, & I just looked at each other like "did that really just happen." We have learned that yes that does happen and it happens alot! Welcome to Lebanon : )

I'll be in touch again soon! Have a great week.

XOXO,
Tiffany