Chris lost in Beirut...

A few quick stories that Chris has neglected to share with his fans:

1. After we bought the notorious brain sandwiches, we decided to play it safe the next day and we went to Subway. We had figured out that "brain sandwich" in Arabic is "Sandweech mokh". Chris was wondering whether a Subway in Lebanon would have brain sandwich, so he asked the guy behind the counter, "aindaka mokh?" which literally means, "Do you have a brain?" To which the stunned Subway guy replied, "ummm... of course."

2. Chris is notorious for his skills at bargaining. We went to the Lebanese equivalent of a dollar store, where Chris decided to purchase a little backpack. It was priced at approximately six dollars, but Chris insisted on trying to bargaining it down to five bucks, for which he was rewarded with a long string of Arabic cuss words. He bought it for six.

3. When we visited Baalbeck Chris decided to pick up a souvenier to remind him of the trip. Only after he made his purchase did he see the words "made in China" on the back.

4. While we were in Demascus we walked by some random door that had really loud Arabic music playing inside it. So, naturally, Chris assumes that we are probably missing some kind of culturally significant experience and decided to ring the door bell. Sure enough, a wide-eyed little girl opens the door to see Chris, who merely says "oops, wrong place". Her grandpa sat next to the stereo behind her.

More to come...