A trip back home....

For all us Lebanese expats, a "trip back home" is usually an exciting event. That first sighting of Beirut from the airplane, the family waiting at the airport , all that heart-warming stuff. Only this time it was different. You could feel the tension in the air from the minute you stepped off the plane. The logos and counter-logos line the billboards all along the roads, the tense looks on people's faces when they talk to each other pretending that everything is alright, the shopkeeper in the Nabatieh asking me what I was doing there if I am from Beirut....

I didn't feel good this trip. Oh,we managed to do the usual, ate too much sushi, saw a movie (were supposed to see "300" but got there too late and ended up dragging my poor husband to see "Music and Lyrics" which was surprisingly funny), even managed to take a trip to the beautiful Barouk Cedar Reserve, but still, there was a bad taste in your mouth wherever you went. Some sort of dissatisfaction at the ridiculous Status Quo in this country. The same question in my head all the time: when is all this going to be over so we can get on with normal life again?

I'm sick and tired of it all, and for the first time in my life, I was happy when I flew back out.