lebanon

150 Years of Education

~ karenkaram ~ Leave a comment

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Beirut’s cultural importance is embodied in its five major universities, which attract students from all over the Arab world and beyond. Lebanon is home to the oldest private university in the Near East region, which is located on the most beautiful coastal area at the tip of the city of Beirut. The campus covers 65 acres of gardens, 19th century buildings and wooded areas. It has a rich collection of flowers, shrubs and trees, an archeological museum, and a private beach for students and staff, making it the most beautiful campus in the region.

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The Treasure behind a Stitch

~ karenkaram ~ 1 Comment

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Soul searching for one’s identity and heritage comes in different ways. Clothing expresses aspects of identity in all societies. In Palestine before the middle of the twentieth century, women in each local region created garments with distinctive types of embroidery and decoration that immediately established the wearer’s origin. To those who knew the regional variations in style, patterns, and colors of embroidery, a quick look at a dress was enough to determine the wearer’s region and even village.

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For the Love of Bread

~ karenkaram ~ 2 Comments

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The relationship between humans and wheat, bread’s key ingredient, goes back thousands of years to hunter-gatherer times. Wheat is known to have grown on several continents in ancient times, though it thrived mostly in an area known as the Fertile Crescent, a region that includes parts of modern day Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine.

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The Fertile Land

~ karenkaram ~ 1 Comment

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The fresh flowers blooming in the spring sway with the grass to the rhythm of the wind. All of this happens so fast, so quickly, no one notices. Here in the valley, lost in their labors, people work this fertile land, alike so open and welcoming, they are. The many vineyards of this valley are like a necklace that adorns her. The sun sits above her at daytime as the stars open up at nighttime. The motionless hills that surround her are like hips altered with age.

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You Light up the Room

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Greetings in the Arabic language are one of its treasures. The beautiful heartfelt words that one greets another human being in Arabic casts a certain air of fondness and kindliness that is not present in any other language. There is a saying, “you never have a second chance to make a very good first impression.” I believe that to be true when it comes to greetings; that moment when you catch someone’s eyes and you both smile, your body language and the way you greet one another, will set the mood and reveal your feelings about that person.

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The Cliché

~ karenkaram ~ 2 Comments

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Nothing in this world compares to the feeling
 of gliding through a rocky mountain gliding under the skis, silently and feeling like you’re, for once, at peace. White snow covers the land with the coolness of winter’s kiss. The warmth of the sun never leaves
 this country as the cold settles in. Winter swims, hikes, and skiing with the scent of chill 
ting the air. 
The breeze circles, lost,
 caught in winter’s snare.
 Its bitter currents whispered 
through a miasma of cold waves.

 A world encased in this winters kiss
  swims in the sun’s dying rays. I, on the other hand, sit on the beach and enjoy this motley of fading blues 
entombed in the silence of space.

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