You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2007.
Yesterday night we had a Christmas dinner at Ayadina for the first group of 50 elderly. They danced and sang and our kids also sang Christmas carols for them, and of course Santa Claus passed by and offered them a small gift. My friends came and helped us with serving and logistics and all went well.
Tonight we welcome the second group…
After the sad day of mourning – I took pictures of the funeral since it was next to my work, but I have to download them with bluetooth, no time yet - we had a Bazaar at Maya Najjar’s residence at AUB and today an outing for 20 kids, organized by the Rotary and animated by “Les Scouts du Liban”. Our kids did enjoy the day of playing in a remote village in the mountains. Thank God it didn’t rain, coz yesterday it was pouring, and our kids received beautiful gifts…
Is it too much asked to live quiet for a while? Isn’t it enough that we do not have a president yet, do we again have to live in fear? The explosion of this morning killed Lebanese army brigadier general Francois El Hajj in a roadside bomb that rocked an area outside Beirut, a security source told AFP.
“General Hajj was killed in the explosion,” the security source said on condition of anonymity.
His death comes as Lebanon’s feuding politicians are deadlocked over attempts to elect army chief General Michel Sleiman to replace incumbent president Emile Lahoud who ended his term on November 23. This according to the Daily Star…
Next week we have the Adha feast, the week after Christmas… people are already so depressed, fuel and primary goods have known an immense increase….
We try to be optimistic and adopt positive thinking, but admit it…we are tired 
Really it was a big success, last Friday and Saturday we had 2 Christmas benefit concerts at AUB, many people attended the event despite the bad weather.
This year also our Ayadina kids participated. They wore very nice gowns and enjoyed being part of it. We were lucky to be able to take another 50 kids into the Assembly Hall so they could attend their friends’s performances. But the whole repertoire was a bit too high for them so they got fed up and tired…:(
Vol. 3, Issue 11 – November, 2007
Republic of the world
Major news agencies and world media giants were too busy in November to cover the current Lebanese presidential debate; Lebanese living abroad were so worried about their republic and the future of their homeland.
Europeans, Arabs and Americans have been deeply involved in the current turmoil, their ministers of foreign affairs have visited Lebanon more than five times in 72 days, Mr. Bush and Mr. Sarkuzy and other head of states were in direct contacts with our political leaders, Why all this interference in such a small non oil-productive country in the middle East?
Why Lebanon is so important? Lebanese living abroad and non-Lebanese who believe in the future of this country have the answer.
It looks like this country is very important for regional and international communities; that’s why all the real estate records indicate promising activities by Lebanese expatriates who purchased record numbers of properties in 2007, although non-Lebanese property ownership have recorded a new high figures, the Lebanese investors have been the major influential group, due to the expected trend of higher prices in the future due to the availability of properties and the higher prices of Euro., Saudi investors have exceeded expectations by far as a total of 1.4 million square meters alone, equivalent to double the area of all non-Lebanese property registration. (Fig 1)
In the next few years a 200 m2 decent apartment in Beirut North-Eastern suburbs will be worth $300,000, while it could be purchased now at $180,000 to $200,000. Prices are still relatively lower than the regional countries and Gulf States.
There are certain regions in Lebanon that are experiencing major real estate activities namely Maten, (Fig 2) Due to its location North – East of Beirut and the current ongoing infrastructure projects in Dora, Nahr el mott, Jal el dib and Antelias. (Fig 2)
All real estate figures indicate that Lebanon is still capturing the High interest of investors, despite the current political stagnation. With all world Media coverage and massive international direct involvement dedicated for the resolution of the presidential crisis, there is no reason that Lebanese should not be proud of such a country the true Republic of the World.
Abdallah Hayek
Civil Engineer
Hayek Group
Beirut – Lebanon
Today is Sint Niklaas, in our Northen countries it is not Santa Claus or Papa Noël who brings us the Christmas gifts but Sint Niklaas the Holy man who lived and used to help poor children in delivering them goods, he used to ocme on a boat from Spain and had his black man with him…as children we used to be frightened to death from this black man who could put us in a bag…Now we’re grown-up and like to BE Sint niklaas for children…:)
Unsecurity and uncertainty this and un…that, are really becoming the symbols of this country. Every Friday, I mean last Friday and this now and the one before, people are plunged in an ocean of not knowing and foreseeing and fear. I know Belgium has been without a government since June after the elections but in here being 2 weeks without a president and with such social data, the country is on the edge of loosing its dignity…It’s just different here. The malls are full of potential buyers but not many buy, people just come there as a way of relaxing with their kids and whole families…Fuel, milk everything has gone up but salaries are yet the same…
Nevertheless, work keeps going and we started planning for Christmas. this year Adha comes on Dec 20 and so we will have a party for all our kids on Dec 20.
The elderly make themselves beautiful as you can see, we plan to have a Christmas dinner for them on 17 and 18 Dec.
Our kids are very busy with rehearsing, because we have 2 Christmas concerts on both Friday and Saturday 7 and 8 Dec. The dance classes are given very enthusiastic and so our children enjoy. We have 125 children and that’s the limit we can take. The center is full and the study we offer the children is pretty busy. The last picture is the one of the children in their new sown gown.
Recent Comments