Those First Few Daze
Welcome to the mountains, to the sea, to the Cedars of God, to the buzz of life that doesn’t sleep. Welcome to Lebanon.
It’s been 11 days since we arrived in Lebanon. The journey to get here was toilsome as we faced broken COVID tests, issues with our luggage, sleepless flights, unplanned spending, and visa problems that nearly left us stranded in London. But we made it.
The first few days were a blur. Running on less than 12 hours of sleep over nearly a week, we spent our first weekend visiting family. Tony has 12 aunts and uncles on one side, and about 40 first cousins. While most of them are located around the world, many are here. Over our first weekend, I met many new family and friends, enjoyed delicious food, and soaked in all the views.
Then came Monday. We plan to spend our weekdays serving and continuing to work on our business. We thought we might set up a routine starting on Monday — good sleep hygiene, exercise, positive eating habits. But Monday brought its own challenges. I spent the better part of the day in bed, becoming progressively more dehydrated. They call it traveler’s stomach. I call it misery.
Things got better from there. The rest of the week has been spent settling, making connections. We’d like to serve with Horizons International, a Christian ministry working in Lebanon, so we have been setting up meetings for the coming week in hopes of getting started sooner. We’ve been working, exploring, and taking things in—from flying over Jouneih in a cable car (the Telefarique) to walking the cobblestone streets of Byblos, the second longest continuously inhabited city in the world.
This first week has been a bit of a daze, and now that I’m waking up, I don’t want to go back to sleep.
