Yesterday, Ethan came with me to my English class. It was Friday, and several students were absent, so we just did a little grammar and then played Pictionary with vocabulary words. It was fun, and I think the students really liked meeting Ethan (“Beautiful!” a few of the teenaged girls whispered to me). Because of the UN report, there was very little traffic when we took the bus out to Bourj al-Barajneh, so Ethan didn’t really get to experience my draining commute.

We had lunch downtown, which was practically empty, except for a smattering of older tourists who had almost certainly come off of the cruise ship in the harbor. It was really funny to see white haired ladies wandering around snapping photos on a day when a lot of locals were too nervous to go outside. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, sparkling and sunny, the kind of day where the sun feels wonderful and you need a jacket in the shade.

We spent some time at Torino, where people drank espresso and read copies of the report. We talked to some of the bar staff about the influx of apparently clueless reporters who were coming in asking opinions.

After dark, we stopped by a demonstration/memorial/rally in Martyrs’ Square and beside Hariri’s grave. There were fewer than 500 people there, mostly young men. A minority of them jumped about with flags, chanting for the TV cameras. There was a lot of gratuitous climbing onto the martyrs’ statue.

Political discussions were going on everywhere we went, but all in all, I didn’t learn too much about what might happen next. I guess it is safe to say that Lebanon is still waiting.