Three Gripes and a Hurrah
8 Oct 2022 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wayfaringwordhackGripe 1) The Obnoxious Natour - we had another "incident" with the natour. J got stuck in the lift a few days after we arrived back in Lebanon. (You would think we wouldn't use it. The kids don't; they are smarter than we adults, but living on the fifth floor makes it so tempting.) After frantically trying to get him out myself and asking a neighbor for help, I knocked on the natour's (dark) door, hoping he was home and I could make him understand. Well, it turns out he was home but sleeping and did not take well to me needing his help. With a disgusted look, he proceeded to unblock the lift, giving me a further dirty look and shooing me away when I tried to get closer to see exactly what he was doing. Not caring that he couldn't understand me, I told him I did not appreciate his attitude. He understood my countenance and tone if not my words and smirked a bit. I was on the phone with J the whole time, so when he got out, he asked the guy if he had a problem with me. The natour made out like it was the lift that was the problem. However, ever since then, he leaves our garbage in front of our door for at least 2 days before collecting. Since we eat fish everynight, this is not good. But our landlord is coming by today to collect rent, and I am going to have 4 bags stinky garbage to show and HE can talk to the natour.
It will be just my luck if the natour breaks habit and picks up the stuff early. (He angrily told our neighbor that he works 7pm-7am and we shouldn't disturb him any other time. Well, Mister We-Pay-You-for-Nothing, you were ON DUTY when we arrived at 5 a.m. and needed help with the elevator and our bags.
Gripe 2: Noisy Neighbors - Night before last, I had to go upstairs at 11:40 p.m. to ask our neighbors to please keep down the noise. They have two boys (between 2 and 4, I think) whom they let stay up until all hours, and it was a free-for-all right above our beds. They nicely took care of it. But last night, before I went to bed (around 9 because I was so wiped out from the previous bad night), they were making noise that sounded, I kid you not, like fighter jets flying overhead. Knowing it was too early to complain, I went to bed anyhow, praying it would soon cease. It did. However, they woke me from sleep at 1:40 a.m. with more shouting, squealing, banging...and I was wearing earplugs. I wasn't the only one in the family to be awakened by them. Even the kids and J complained this morning, and they all sleep like stones. :-/
Gripe 3 - What is this Hot Water you speak of? - We, yet again, do not have hot water...and have not had since Tuesday. There is something wrong with the pump, and if we try to use hot water, it comes out as such a faint trickle that it seeps down the shower tiles, and we can't even wet ourselves. So, we are back to showering with a bucket (We let the water trickle for about 30 minutes into a bucket and then scoop and pour it over ourselves) or, for those with a membership, using the pool facilities to get clean... The landlord, as I mentioned, is coming by today with a plumber, so one can hope that this latest annoyance is almost at an end.
HURRAH! - The temperatures and humidity have improved, making a fan at night almost obsolete, and meaning that there are less people using A/Cs, etc. As a result, for the second day in a row, we have a nice view of Beirut and the sea. Two photos for comparison:
The photos were taken at different times of the day, but you can still see the difference in pollution levels.
It will be just my luck if the natour breaks habit and picks up the stuff early. (He angrily told our neighbor that he works 7pm-7am and we shouldn't disturb him any other time. Well, Mister We-Pay-You-for-Nothing, you were ON DUTY when we arrived at 5 a.m. and needed help with the elevator and our bags.
Gripe 2: Noisy Neighbors - Night before last, I had to go upstairs at 11:40 p.m. to ask our neighbors to please keep down the noise. They have two boys (between 2 and 4, I think) whom they let stay up until all hours, and it was a free-for-all right above our beds. They nicely took care of it. But last night, before I went to bed (around 9 because I was so wiped out from the previous bad night), they were making noise that sounded, I kid you not, like fighter jets flying overhead. Knowing it was too early to complain, I went to bed anyhow, praying it would soon cease. It did. However, they woke me from sleep at 1:40 a.m. with more shouting, squealing, banging...and I was wearing earplugs. I wasn't the only one in the family to be awakened by them. Even the kids and J complained this morning, and they all sleep like stones. :-/
Gripe 3 - What is this Hot Water you speak of? - We, yet again, do not have hot water...and have not had since Tuesday. There is something wrong with the pump, and if we try to use hot water, it comes out as such a faint trickle that it seeps down the shower tiles, and we can't even wet ourselves. So, we are back to showering with a bucket (We let the water trickle for about 30 minutes into a bucket and then scoop and pour it over ourselves) or, for those with a membership, using the pool facilities to get clean... The landlord, as I mentioned, is coming by today with a plumber, so one can hope that this latest annoyance is almost at an end.
HURRAH! - The temperatures and humidity have improved, making a fan at night almost obsolete, and meaning that there are less people using A/Cs, etc. As a result, for the second day in a row, we have a nice view of Beirut and the sea. Two photos for comparison:
The photos were taken at different times of the day, but you can still see the difference in pollution levels.
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 11:53 am (UTC)The natour sounds like a character in a book, someone who makes an interesting mild antagonist if you’re reading but who’s no fun to actually have to deal with.
Do you have a sense of whether letting kids stay up late typical or unusual?
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 02:06 pm (UTC)And that was quite a ramble. ;) I had your question in my mind while answering and wanting to cover all sorts of bases.
And yes, I would rather read about our natour than live with him. He is, according to our landlord, getting fired. Everyone in the building is complaining about the bad job he is doing. :(
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 12:32 pm (UTC)And the noisy kids. One of the reasons I entreated you to let me start reading yr DW was that I am quite curious about Lebanon where it seems to me, through the highly filtered info that's available to me, the center is not holding. So, I dunno. My first thought upon reading about the noisy kids was that their parents had just given up. Succumbed to anomie or whatever.
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 02:03 pm (UTC)LOL. This is exactly how it feels.
The second part of your response actually takes more thought, and in the case of these neighbors, I cannot hazard a guess. They moved in about a week before we left for France, during which time, I never once saw them. The only time I caught a glimpse of them was the bleary-eyed view when I went up at almost midnight and asked them to be quiet.
The next thing I am going to point out is going to sound a bit odd, perhaps, but I will ramble to try to give you a bit of insight into what my fairly-introverted self has gleaned by observation because I don't question people much. Bear with me and please don't think I am judging people, just trying to feel out cultural differences. I barely glimpsed two women sitting in the living room. Both were vieled and one was partially hiding herself behind a pillar. So, I assume they are Muslim, but this is a heavily-predominate Christian village (I have never fully blogged about how segregated neighborhoods are here. It is not that the two religions don't mingle or go into one another's "sectors," but for living, it does seem to be pretty much the case that each group wants to live "among their own." For the most part, the Muslim members of this community are the natours, etc. most of whom are Syrian refugees).
I say all of that in preface of this: I have had a lot more contact with Christain Lebanese than Muslim, and from the Christain families I know, their kids are a bit older, as in school age. So they likely have to go to bed a bit earlier. We aren't in the same buildings as those families, so I can't say for sure. But our downstairs neighbor, who is 6, got to stay up until 10:30-11 this summer. I feel he is in bed earlier during the school year. His mom also works early. I don't know if the family-above's hours are normal for Lebanon, or even if they are Lebanese. :-/ One of the downsides of not speaking the language.
On the whole, I think that--at least where education and futures are concerned--I would call most Lebanese pretty controlling. Most really seem to decide for their children what areas of study the children are allowed to pursue. Many parents then encourage their children to pursue higher studies abroad. This has been the case for many, many years. The older generation is resigned in many ways, and sadly, some even seem to have a sort of weird pride in being so downtrodded/screwed-over by the government/rich. In the more well-off families, many have live-in maids, and the children are waited on hand and foot, as are the parents, and so there is definitely a level of spoiled behavior going on, which can also result in the "I don't feel like going to bed and so I WON'T!" And then the poor maid is the one who bears the brunt of the disobedience and the frustration of the parents.
That was very rambly and might not have addressed what you were asking. I was only interrupted by my own kids about 10 times while typing it. :P
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 03:01 pm (UTC)Au contraire! This is exactly the type of stuff I hoped to read.
Because Lebanon to me really is one of those if-it-could-happen-there-it-can-happen-anywhere types of places. Like in the early 70s, Beirut was the Pearl of the Mediterranean, a fabulous playground for movie stars and international spies. And now, Beirut is a Third World city. And 50 years really isn't so long a period of time.
Those kinds of changes really fascinate me. They become a symbol of how Yeats was really right About the center not holding.
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 04:12 pm (UTC)I had been thinking that once kids are school age, then the fact of needing to get up for school puts a natural limit on how late they can stay up--sounds like that was the case for your downstairs neighbor's son once school was back in session.
no subject
Date: 8 Oct 2022 06:26 pm (UTC)But ugh... I absolutely get your frustration. Things not working, people not doing their jobs properly, etc. I hate that. Drives me bonkers even here in Denmark, which is one of the best places to live for such stuff.