Beirut

So we arrived in Beirut yesterday- we flew Omani Airlines from Dubai, and it was probably one of the worst flights I've ever been on- the service was terrible!

Beirut so far has been mixed... the town is beautiful, it's right on the Mediterranean and is surrounded by hills- sort of like LA- and the shopping is great (I am currently in fierce negotiations with a local merchant for a replica Coach purse- it's a bit too much now, but I know I'll be able to wear him down by the end of the trip...) but the recruiting has been what can only be described as a "gong-show" (I never use that word, but here it seem like the only appropriate discription!). In most of the other countries we had a large room for the presentation- usually about 100-200 ppl- and then the candidates would wait there and drink coffee and eat fruit and croissants and other such things, and we'd interview them individually. Well here, the recruiter seemed surprised that we needed room for more than 5 people. Also, another unique thing about Lebanon is that the municipal electricity turns off for 3 hours each afternoon (I KNOW!!), so many companies use generators to bridge the gap... but the generator where we were didn't work very well, so our powerpoint presentation only worked intermittently, same with the A/C- both our team and the candidates were dripping with sweat the entire day. Also, I'm not sure if you've heard of the recent troubles in Lebanon...most of them aren't in Beirut, but there is definitely a feeling of tension in the city- on our way to the interviews we drove past quite a few tanks, and a lot of the candidates will take any job, just to get out of the country. It was a weird day. The agency is taking us out tonight to a cafe into the mountains so hopefully we'll have a better "second impression", but so far the first one has been a little strange...

Here are a couple of pics I snapped from the cab today...

Gotta go, more later,

xoxo C