A Vodka Gimlet Is All I Ask
I stopped in the little shop across the way and for some odd reason, felt it was high time I tried arak, the Lebanese moonshine.
Whoa, damn! Burning my throat, blurring my vision, and blunting my brain, it had me stumbling blind drunk across town to my hotel. Screaming at the Ministries building for being in my way, until the nice men with guns chased me off? Check! Babbling Russian with a random cab driver as he was changing a tire in the middle of Rue Bliss? Check! Being questioned by armed security guards three times in three blocks? Check thrice!
Read MoreIts Beer Pong – Not Beirut
Back in my first days of DC residency, I was introduced to this most American of games; Beer Pong. Meant to be a drinking game for college kids, it’s a skill-less game of bouncing ping pong balls into plastic cups as an excuse to get wasted on bad beer. While its so foolish its banned in Virginia bars, the NoVA kids still hold it in high esteem, and beer pong tourneys are hotly contested.
Read MoreBang Bang Beirut
Arriving in the Beirut airport to super-tight security, we head to the hotel in a somber city. On the way there, I look out on a wild city. Half-finished buildings compete with half-ruined, and half-rebuilt ones, the legacy of a decade of civil war followed by a decade of rebuilding, and decades of neglect. Poverty next to opulence, Christian next to Muslim, church next to mosque, it is a land of differences defining logic.
Read MoreLebanon – Here I come!
It’s 4pm today, and I’m in a meeting with the VP of Field Operations and the CFO of my company. We’re talking about this new Geekcorps program we just won in Lebanon – Access to International Markets through Information Technology (AIM-IT), and how the VP is going to Beirut to start the program Monday. I’m excited, for not only does this project mean Geekcorps doubles again in size, but that I get to go to Lebanon in January to start the programmatic cycle of the project. Or so I thought.
Read MoreA Cafe Citron Thursday
The night began with the last-minute email from Amy that says there is a par-tay at Cafe Citron, a Latin-themed bar favored by the hotties for its cheap and tasty mojitos. She’s celebrating a promotion and work, and me, happy with a new Geekcorps program contract, am ready to make the night right.
Downstairs, I find Amy and crew on the second drink, mellowing form the daily grind. Think I should catch up quickly, I spy the sangria pitcher pour at the bar and try to get my own sampling. If only!