another bombing in Beirut

Tonight there was a car bombing in Beirut in the nightclub district. 2 people were injured. This was right after Sec. of State Rice visited the country, but the motivation isn't immediately known. I watched a bit about it on an Arabic-language television station, and happily could actually understand some of what they were saying.

Not to be flip, but the bombing's not a big deal. I heard the explosion from LAU and was expecting something a lot bigger. Things are pretty chill here.

I know I said I was going to do lots of updates tonight, but I spent a fair amount of time just hanging out with some of the students here, so I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow or so.

Condoleezza Rice next door!

That's right, U.S. Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice was about a hundred yards from me for a couple of hours today, in a surprise visit to Beirut! She paid her respects to the Hariri family, whose compound is literally next door to LAU. For those who don't remember, Hariri was the former PM (and speculative future PM) who was assassinated earlier this year, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. His son Saad Hariri has taken over the family political franchise and has one of the largest (if not the largest?) block in the Lebanese parliament today. He will likely be Prime Minister in the future, assuming he doesn't also get assassinated like so many people are these days.

I'm writing this from the LAU courtyard and it is absolutely beautiful! I wished I could show you all what it looks like, and then I realized I can! Here's a photo (I'm getting better at the settings with this, so it looks good):



The computer in the lower left hand corner is the one I'm typing on right now to update the blog!

Tonight I'm going to upload more of my Syria pics and videos plus pictures from some additional traveling I did last weekend. Additionally, you'll get to hear more of my reflections on my travels!