This week has been fairly mellow and uneventful for me, which is not a bad thing. I’ve been reading a lot and spending time on the Corniche most days. A friend came over and cooked us dinner, which was quite nice.

Last night, we went to a Spanish restaurant with three friends. Solea turned out to be a nice place and we ate in the lovely garden in back. One of those at the dinner was a journalist who spends most of the year in Iraq, so he had plenty of recent stories. He thinks Iraq might be an okay place to be in 8-10 years. Sigh.

Afterward, most of the group went to Torino for a beer or two.
torino eve

Currently, there is a series of high level meetings taking place to try to resolve many of the political differences that threaten the peace here. Being discussed are the future of Lahoud’s presidency, whether or not Hezbollah can remain armed, and of course issues to do with the Hariri investigation. Most people don’t think that anything is really going to be resolved, but it might at least temporarily calm things a bit. Apparently, the whole downtown area where the meetings are taking place has been forced to close down for security reasons, but I haven’t been over there to look.

Tomorrow morning, Ethan and I and a couple of friends are renting a car and driving to the mountains, probably Faraya and nearby. The aim is to get out of town and play in some snow. Originally, Ethan and I planned to ski, but once we started calculating how much it would cost us (especially since I have never skied in my life and would have to take lessons), we decided not to do it.