Ringing in the New Year in Lebanon

I think I've finally decided to give up trying to have fun on New year's eve. The last 7 of 8 have been total busts. This year was no exception. I don't know why I would assume that I would have a party to attend given the situation I'm in. I've been around noone but family for two full weeks. Here in Btekhnay there are no bars, few restaurants, no night clubs, and only a handful of cafes. All the night life in Lebanon is concentrated on the coast (and in the summer Zahle is a big party town). At some point earlier in the day one of my cousins tried to explain to me that this year instead of having a party, the family had elected to stay in. One of my younger cousins dressed up as papa noel and they did a ceremonial gift exchange (since christmas isn't exactly a holiday in this town). It was a nice show. It was further explained to me that the standard thing to do (away from Beirut) is to play cards on New Year's Eve. I said that cards to me are a tuesday night activity (and sometimes wednesday night too). I ended up playing a game called 7 1/2 which is similar to blackjack, but the betting strategy is slightly different. I was getting killed at first and then made huge bets on two very fortunate hands, so I won the night. That took me up to 10:30. Then I went searching for a party. Epic failure. No party. I rang in the new year at my aunt's house with everyone except one cousin going to bed. So that cousin and I drove around searching for a party. Again, total failure. Oh well. We killed a bottle of good lebanese wine and I had my first beer of 2010 (pronounced "twenty-ten" instead of the cumbersome "two thousand and ten").

Although I didn't attend a party, I enjoyed the fact that the fireworks were abundant! I went outside to see them, and since we're almost atop one mountain looking into a deep valley, I got to see fireworks from our side of the mountain, and from across the valley. Lots of houses have fireworks (again the whole status thing... Our fireworks are better than your fireworks). Somehow though, underneath the eerily full moon passing through thing whispy clouds I imagined those clouds and smoke from fireworks were the aftermath of bombs. I started feeling for a moment what Lebanon must have been like for nearly 20 years. So while that particular thought wasn't in the spirit of celebration, I realized it's at least something worth celebrating here. We've made it through another year and right now we don't have a war in our homes. May the next year bring the same!

To all of you around the world a very happy new year and I hope you are picking up for my slack when it comes to appropriate celebration (i.e. inebriation).