Author: Maya Zankoul

  • Trip to Tripoli

    1-tripoli-tweetup

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    2-meeting-for-real

     

     

     

     

     

    3-twitter-comparison

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4-al-hallab-breakfast

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5-tripoli-vs-beirut

     

     

     

     

     

     

    6-boat-trip

     

     

     

     

     

    7-fisherman-children

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    8-khan-al-saboun

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    9-visit-tripoli

     

     

     

    The Tripoli tweetup was a great chance for me to meet lovely people in a beautiful area of Lebanon that I was not familiar with. I loved Tripoli for its authenticity, its vernacular streets, smells, colors, political posters – not to mention the amazing hospitality of the ‘traboulsiyyeh’. Oh it’s great to be a tourist in your own country, and in Leb, you can never get enough! I recommend all of you who haven’t been there to visit it and enjoy its beauties. 

    Who was at the #tripolitweetup? @funkyozzi, @azzi, @dashkoun, @sunkentreasure6, @sdarine, @beirutspring, @larazankoul, @ghassanb, @danyawad

    Last but not least, I met someone in the tweetup who will probably never know what twitter is.

    rabih

    I had a lovely little talk with 14 year old Rabih, who was working on the boat, just like an adult! Made me wonder about child labour in Leb. I don’t have any idea about the ‘numbers’. But this boy’s eyes were so full of a weird mix of innocence and harshness. He went to school for 2 years only, but then spends his life working just like an adult. It’s too sad to see how basic education can be neglected due to poverty.

    Anyway enough for now, I should get back to work (I am super-overloaded in the coming days!)  Wish you all a great week! 🙂

  • Meeting with French press

    As you should all proudly know, Beirut is currently hosting the VIèmes Jeux de la Francophonie. The event has put our country into focus, especially by the french reporters and press who are getting to know and show how Leb really is.

    This week, Laurence Le Saux, french journalist, got in touch with me for an interview about the book, that she saw at Virgin.

    We met at Torino Café in Gemmayzé, where I also got to meet Emilie Mazoyer, who interviewed me for the french radio le mouv”. (Charbel from Scrambled Eggs was also there being interviewed). You can listen to the interview .

    I”m also posting you the interview right below (Thank you so much Patrick Semaan for helping me with this!)

    As for Laurence”s interview for Télérama.fr, you can see it here.

    What can I say… Vive la France! Sorry for not posting as usual in the last days, I am so overloaded with work, but hopefully things will get back on track after the weekend! On Sunday, I will be attending the #tripolitweetup, so if any of you are in the Tripoli area, it would be a great chance to get to meet you! Have a great week-end!!

  • Amalgam in TimeOut Beirut!

    As Mustapha kindly announced it on Twitter, Amalgam is featured in October 2009’s issue of TimeOut Beirut magazine! And because I love you all so much, I scanned it for you to check it out. I recommend you to run get the issue because it’s full of so much more interesting things (where to eat, what’s the latest music, latest art events, cultural events, etc.)

    On the cover!! 

    TimeOut_Cover

     

    On the 1st page!

    Contents_TimeOut

     

    The way too nice article! (Thank you so much Natasha!) Click to enlarge

    TimeOut_Article

  • Wedding bells

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    2-invited-to-wedding

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    3-quarrel

    4-condition

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5-simplicity

     

     

     

     

     

    6-all-set

     

     

     

     

     

    7-at-wedding

    8-lebanese-social

     

     

     

     

     

     

    9-women-at-weddings

     

     

     

     

     

     

    10-positive-aspect

     

     

    11-easys-stairs

     

     

     

    12-closing

     

    First, I’d like to thank you all for your lovely comments on yesterday’s post! You made my day… As for the style, well I felt like experimenting a bit as I had been advised many times by people (who will recognize themselves :P) I wish I had more time to do so more often… In all cases, I had to go to this wedding, and got to observe the attendees, and that was my report about it! Lebanese weddings are special! Not to mention the zaffeh creativity (hawaiian zaffeh, mexican zaffeh…) the who-spends-more-on-their-wedding competition, etc. I hope I’ll have time to get in more details into this issue soon. Until then, have a lovely day 🙂

  • Just like that…

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    2-feeling-now

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    3-just-like-that

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4-angel

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5-hug

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    6-hug-angel

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    7-love

     

     

    ‘Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours leur donner des explications.’

    – Le Petit Prince, Antoine De St-Exupéry

    I know this is an unusual post, but I just felt like adding something a little bit more personal than usual. This is dedicated to my little angel Nour, who always gives sense to my life when everything seems blurred or dark. Nour, I adore you. Nour checks the blog every morning when she wakes up, and I’m sure she will recognize herself in this post. We are the ones who should be called ‘with special needs’. We need special people like her around us to show us what life really is about.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UOMCYWpNbI]

  • Moron Island

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    4-eureka-lebanon

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    5-lebanon-map
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    6-greater-lebanon

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    7-beautiful-lebanon
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    8-shock

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    9-ripping-paper
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    10-no-to-cedar-island

    I was reading TimeOut magazine’s September issue, and I saw an article about the Cedar Island project. I had forgotten about it, when billboards reminded me of it again. In the article, the people intending to build the island were clear about how they don’t care about the environmental hazards that this project would cause. Even if Dubai built palm-shaped islands, we don’t have to do the same! We don’t NEED to do the same. Lebanon’s beauty is natural, and the issues we have are not a lack of touristic landmarks. I hope that this project will be resisted and will not take place. Otherwise I would believe it to be a major disfigurement to Lebanon. And that was the thought for today. Have a great day! 🙂




  • Book finally available online!

    And here”s the moment I”ve been waiting to announce you for a while now:

    The book is finally available online on adabwafan.com for people living outside Lebanon to be able to get it!! 

    maya-zankoul-online

  • Bloggers meeting in French Albalad

    Lebanese bloggers’ meeting mentioned in French Albalad. Thank you Darine for the link! Click on the image to view it in full size.

    Lebanese-Bloggers

  • Vacation finale

    1-back-to-work

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    2-alarm

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    3-turn-off-alarm

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    4-think-positive

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    5-sore-throat

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    6-come-back

    I woke up sick today, for the first day back to work after 4 beautiful days of vacation! Very motivating… My throat is killing me 🙁 I took the classical mix of honey and lemon and tea, in the hope of getting rid of the pain A.S.A.P. Please let me know if you have other express-solutions. As for yesterday’s alien rumour, it turns out that what (very intelligent) people mistook for aliens were actually chinese lanterns launched at my colleague’s brother’s wedding (what a small world!). Someone got it right in the comments 😉 Have a beautiful day 🙂

  • Book available on Antoine Online!

    You can now buy the books online directly from Librairie Antoine online: . [Thank you Dara for notifying me about this!]

    Maya-Zankoul_Antoine-Online

  • Alien invasion

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    2-national-tv

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    3-evil-plan

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4-evil-laugh

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5-head-removal

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    6-stop-with-the-alien

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    7-no-aliens-in-leb

     

     

    I’m sure most of you heard the ‘latest news’ of UFO’s and aliens flying over Lebanon. They made a huge deal about them and featured them on national television, creating a fuss among the lebanese, who initially love making fusses about anything and everything. The result is endless facebook statuses and tweets crying about the alien attack, which, to start with, was probably a fire balloon or an optical illusion. Can we please get back to our senses and keep our eyes on more important issues?

  • Becoming twaddicted

    1=me-on-twitter

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    2-never

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    3-i-love-facebook

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4-twitter-sign-up

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5-twitter-useless

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    6-nights-later

     

     

     

     

     

    7-twitter-injection

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    8-next-morning

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    9-twitter-addicted

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    11-twitter-is-fun

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    12-twitter-activity-chart

     

     

     

    Yes, my darlings, it’s been a few days that I’m addicted to twitter. When I wake up I check twitter, before I sleep, I check twitter. While working, I check twitter. Why is it so addictive? After all the resistance and the anti-twitter campaign, I have become a victim. Snif, snif. Well, I hope I’ll get over the addiction very soon!

    I’d like to wish a Eid Mubarak to all concerned… And to enjoy this day off, I’d like to dedicate you this beautiful song that I love,  from jazz pianist Philippe el Hage’s latest album ‘Sunday Afternoon’. I just can’t get enough of it! The sax & piano combination is…… Well, I’ll let you be the judge 🙂 Hope you’ll enjoy it and hope you have a beauuuuutiful day! 🙂

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1i7oOsR6Ws]