Pines under a warm blanket of snow

This trip to Lebanon has been multifaceted. I really did come for mathematics this time. I came for the LSMS annual meeting last weekend, but decided while I'm here I might as well try to get some good contact at AUB and give a seminar lecture. I could go sit with faculty members for a while and POSSIBLY improve my chances of getting hired from 0.1% all the way to 0.5%. If you know anything about getting hired in academics that's a big jump and one that any self promoting person would be remiss to ignore.

Well I'd been hearing about possible snow fall the last couple days. Being up in the mountains it is likely. The snow was supposed to come down heavily Wednesday and snow through Thursday afternoon and let up. Well, nothing came Wednesday except cold rain. But this doesn't close roads or schools. I thought my chances were good. So I woke up on Thursday and realized there was snow everywhere. I saw maybe 3-4 inches, which in Chicago speak is "a dusting" and didn't worry too much about it. My family decided that I should try to take the bus down to Beirut. I am totally willing to catch a bus to Beirut so that I can go give a lecture and hang out in Beirut for a while. Well, one of my cousins drove me to the next village over to the bus stop and we asked about the bus. Apparently, negotiating the mountains in Lebanon is different than negotiating them in east Tennessee and especially different from chicago. The bus was only going half way, then I'd have to catch another car or bus or something, but it's not the easiest task to cross that point. Well, my cousin decided we might try to go to the halfway point and catch a bus there. We couldn't even make it. The weather turned very bad before we got there and we decided to turn around. So back we come, my chances of employment holding steady at 0.1%.

Driving back though, I was able to look out the side windows as we had to drive very slowly. I realized that it is really wonderful to travel to places in the off season. I'd been asked why I would come to Lebanon during the winter as "there's nothing to do." I think I got my answer today. In the summer, you don't get to see the snow on the pines. I'm again terribly sorry to not have my camera (stupid me leaving it in Sri Lanka!). I think the pines all over the pines are stunning. Driving back I got to see them in a way that I never have before, and if I only came during the summers, I wouldn't ever get to see. The valleys really are empty and so the snow balances delicately on the tree branches, dances atop old run down buildings, and blankets fields. Having grown up in east tennessee's mountains I had seen mountain snow before, but this is different. The scenery is different, and the appearance of freshness will last longer I'm sure since people tend to just buckle down and bundle up during the cold. I'll be sad to not have another opportunity to lecture in Beirut for several months, but at least I got to see something new and beautiful.