It seems like last week was quite typical of my recent time here: a week of drudgery book-ended by weekends of total fun. Last weekend, my birthday weekend, was terrific. In addition to winning top prize at the embassy party, we went to my new favorite restaurant followed by a nightcap or two at my sort of new favorite bar. At the former–Scallywags–the owner asked us to stay longer, offering us another bottle of wine on the house. At the latter–Torino–they opened champagne when we arrived (though quite possibly not for me). It’s nice to be loved…or at least liked…or humored.
So the week was a grind (especially, predictably, Tuesday), but last weekend we finally made a deposit on some rings. After several weeks of popping in and out of nearly every storefront jeweler we passed by, we decided to stop screwing around and get serious. Amy had been eyeing a place nearby called Nsouli. It was in a building on Hamra on the 4th floor and presumably fancy. On the sidewalks of Rue Hamra there are star-shaped plaques in the sidewalk much like the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They commemorate businesses on the street of a certain reputation, prestige, or (as I suspect is most often the case) longevity. Nsouli jewelers had such a distinction. In fact, we actually walked up and down the street for several minutes unable to find the exact location until we happened upon their “star” in the sidewalk.
The establishment itself was intimidating to the point of being comical. Up on the fourth floor we were buzzed in through a steel door so heavy that I am embarrassed to say I had a little trouble opening it.. We stepped into a 5’x5′ vestibule and had to close the door behind us before another identical door opened into what looked like the lobby of a nice hotel. As I said, we had previously priced rings at storefront jewelers and since plain bands are basically priced by weight, I was expecting to be laughed out of the establishment upon expressing interest in a mere couple hundred dollars worth of jewelry. On the contrary, they were very deferential. We were introduced to Ahmad, a Syrian living in Dubai but currently “temporarily” in Beirut to work. He insisted we have coffee and showed us a wide array of rings. After much deliberation, we found one for Amy and arranged to have a similar, wider one made in my size. Ahmad was so polite, in fact, he almost seemed like he didn’t want us to leave a deposit. To be fair, this is an aspect of Lebanese business we’re somewhat familiar with…”We need you to do this thing and it’s totally standard procedure, but if you’re not familiar with the procedure I’m not going to embarrass myself my requiring you to do it.” He also gave us his number in Dubai, should we ever happen to passing through town. We should be picking up the rings on Saturday.