More Pictures

The weekend was definitely a relaxing one, as I stayed around the apartment, only going out Saturday for groceries with my roommate. On Friday (or maybe Saturday...I can't remember) evening we went up to watch the sunset from the roof of our apartment. The buildings here have flat roofs that usually have a door to get out onto them, unlike the U.S. where roofs are peaked. (Roofs? Rooves? How in the heck do you pronounce the plural of roof?!) :)

Here are some pictures that I took recently...

This is from our balcony looking down towards the alley and then street. On the left some sheets are drying. I always experience a bit of vertigo when I go to hang up my clothes on the line, because it hangs out and it is a straight drop to the ground 3 stories below.

The sunset over the city from the roof of our building

A church just up the hill a bit from our apartment. Our area has  quite a few churches, mostly connected with more orthodox streams of Christianity

This is looking down the jabel from the roof. Notice the graveyard right below? Well, along the wall between the buildings and the graveyard is a set of stairs that goes down the hill towards the main road, which then streams down to that big circle. I have been walking down those stairs most mornings to catch a taxi, which then goes down to the circle and then heads around the far side of that circle, north towards the University. 

If I were to turn right instead of left towards the circle I would end up in the balad.

Classes this week have been going better...I am finding that I'm maybe not the quickest in the class, but definitely not the slowest, so I don't think I'll get left behind like I was worried about. 

I think the most draining part of each day is not the classes, it's the heat. The sun beats down and makes me wilt, especially walking awhile in it. I have a lot of respect for the women who wear a veil and a long coat every day in this heat. I feel like I'm dying in thin long sleeves and long pants. :)

Today my roommate came to the University to see the campus and to meet a friend of hers who is a student there. We enjoyed some Lebanese food and then this friend helped me figure out the bus that comes back a lot closer to our neighborhood, instead of having to walk through the balad. My roommate is going with me in the morning to make sure I can find the bus okay, and then I'll probably use that as my primary mode of transportation getting there, instead of a taxi.