Back in Holland, were it is a lot quieter on the streets. No honking, people passing without looking, or whatever you can find on the streets of Beirut. Here in the Netherlands it is a lot more quieter on the streets and still we complain about the traffic. Complaining about things is super Dutch by the way, so when you are here feel free to complain. We can complain about everything, not only the traffic, the weather but even about our neighbor's cat.. In some countries of Europe we are known as "the complainers". About Dutch people other European countries will say: House parties!!, Hasj!! Drugs!!, but we are also complainers especially about the weather.
Anyway back to the streets of Beirut. There was so much to see, a small Tabaco shop at the corner, a mosque next to a church, many Barbars (loved the chicken kabab), and a lot of traffic and constructions. In the Netherlands we have also a lot of constructions, in front of my house for example. They brake a street open, nobody knows why, and then the construction workers change some cabels leave it for 2 or 3 weeks and than come back and throw everything down again. Why they do this nobody knows, nobody wants to ask, but everybody is annoyed with it. In Amsterdam we have these kinds of problems for many years. Some of the old houses sag because of the construction work on this big project that is called the North / South line. It is a underground metro line from Amsterdam North to Amsterdam South, so that you do not have to take the ferry anymore. The whole projects is failed, and the Dutch only complain about it. You will see it as soon as you arrive at central station of Amsterdam.
Anyway, in Beirut I had the idea that all the construction work that I saw was really useful. For example what they did with the Down Town, they rebuilt it in the old style. Amazing right!! It doesn't seem that old yet because all the walls are still to new, but the idea is super and they did a really good job.. To be honest I don't speak Arabic so I don't know if the Lebanese people complained as much about it as the Dutch should have done about all the constructions in the city, but I found all the rebuilt buildings really nice. Old buildings are replaces for new once, and it seemed to go pretty fast. I even had the feeling that the construction workers in Beirut maybe even liked their job. In the Netherlands they only take the job so that they can whistle to all the young ladies that pass by. Amazing reason right to take a job! You can, without any consequences, whistle at every lady that passes by your construction.. Because believe me; don't ever think that a Dutch girl will walk back to the construction worker and will ask for his number. We maybe say hello or have a nice day, but most of the time we just ignore them...
