Hello, Beirut

We arrived in Beirut on Sunday afternoon. Nearly a week has passed so I guess it's time to resume blogging. We came here from St. Louis and you can read all about that at the blog I wrote while we were there.

Since our arrival, the kids (Star and Dandelion) have had a very fun time in and around our neighborhood. For Star, this is something of a homecoming. We left just after she turned four. We now live about two blocks from our old apartment. As we've made the rounds through most of our old haunts, she has called out, "I remember this place!" . . . and that's comforting to hear. Listening to her talk in St. Louis, you'd have believed that nothing left an impression but the chocolate croissants.

Dandelion was only two when we left Beirut in 2007. She has no memory of these places, but she's seen them in our home movies of her baby-years. Everywhere we go, Dandelion has asked if this place, this food, this activity was something she liked when she was a baby.

Today, right now even, the girls are midway through their first day of school. I get so nervous about first days and I really hope that this school will be a good, building, comfortable environment for them.