Letter 73

Hi Dad!

How are you? I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you but I promise you haven't left my thoughts. I have loads to tell you. I just came back from Budapest! The school organized a 3 day trip with my whole grade. It was amazing really.

So general overview, the trip was very nice. The city was beautiful. But the people weren’t so welcoming. They were sort of angry. The food was not bad. Every meal was a soup, a dish and a desert. The Hotel was really nice. And the group, including the teachers, was extremely good company. I had the opportunity to see a different side of the people in my school.

Okay so Day 1:

I left the house at 12 AM on Friday arrived at school at  a quarter to one. Joined my class in the Pullman and went to the airport. The flight was okay most of us slept for an hour the rest we talked. We arrived at 6 in the morning in Budapest.

We went strait to a restaurant and had a traditional Hungarian breakfast. Then we went to a market. It wasn’t that great, half of it was closed because of the early hour.

After that we directly started the tourism. We saw the Buda Castle which was extraordinary. The details in the sculptures  are incredible. Then we saw the Parliament which was a beautiful building. We visited 2 cathedrals. Everything was really amazing. After that we had lunch at a classy restaurant next door to the ex-president so everyone kept shushing us every time we spoke to each other. But whatever it didn’t stop us from having fun.

Then we were so tired we went to the hotel. Unpacked, rested and got ready. I had a single room all to myself which was ideal. At night was had dinner at a restaurant, the owner was actually pretty cool. We then tried going into pubs but they were either fully reserved, boring or for over 18 only. So we ended up at a pub called Juicy Cactus (or something like that). The Music was cheesy and it was mostly empty. But still we danced and had fun.

Then it was back to the hotel at that point no one could open their eyes. We all went to bed at around 3 in the morning.

Day 2:

We woke up at 8:30, had breakfast at the hotel then off to another full day. Personally it was my favorite day. I had loads of fun. So after breakfast we went to the Szechenyi Bath in Pest. It’s a natural  thermal pool.  Pap, the water is at 37 degrees. It took some time for me to get used to it and be able to go in. We all swam and took many pictures. After the bath we visited the Heroes Square. We took a lot of pictures. Then we had lunch.

After that we went to a sort of ranch an hour from Budapest. They apparently had 120 horses, 20 ponies and white cows with those extremely long horns. We tasted a salty cake with a shot of apricot alcohol. We all choked, it was so strong. Then we took a ride around the area in a carriage pulled by horses. We were divided in 3 carriages. It was going slow so we decided to silently get down and walk behind it. We all went down and the hoe decided to run so we were all chasing the carriage and we were laughing so hard. Then, the owners and the caretakers prepared a show.  A tradition in the Hungarian history. It’s a sort of a competition. It was really nice and impressive. For example, there was a guy that rode 5 horses without any saddle, he was standing on 2 horses and was going really fast. I don’t know how to explain but I’ll post some pictures. And I’ll see if I can post a video for you. Then they showed how the trained the horses to sit like a dog and lay them down on the ground and lie on top of them. It was impressive.

Then we had dinner, there was a live band. It was okay. Then we returned to the hotel. It was a long ride so everyone fell asleep in the bus. At the hotel we rested, got ready, had dinner and went out to the same pub we went to the day before. It was crowded and some people drank a bit too much. But it didn’t ruin the night. We ate at McDonald’s then went back to the hotel and slept.

Day 3, yesterday:

We woke up at 7:30. Yes it was the hardest thing we did during this whole trip. We packed our bags, and had breakfast. Then left to see a small castle, with a killer view of Budapest. Then we had lunch and then went to a mall. Yeah, a mall, because everyone wanted to go shopping even though we had exactly all the same stored here. But whatever it wasn’t all a waste. There was a show in the middle of the mall. A complete dance performance with a big group. It was very nice. Then we had dinner. After to waste time we went to visit the liberation monument on top of a hill. We had a few laughs and then we went to the airport and back to Beirut.

So there you go, that was my whole trip. Three full days of walking, laughing, taking 4 GB worth of pictures and collecting blisters. But it was what I needed. A change in the routine. And I socialized with a lot of people.

And I wish you were here because I miss you so much.

I love you dad.

Your Sasouma

Letter 72

Hi Dad!

How are you? I’ve been better. Now it’s sinking in. The friends whom I thought were really there for actually were just figurines, illusions. I think what hurts me the most, is the fact that I still hoped, right to the end that they cared about me enough to make an effort to patch things up again.

I sort of makes me doubt friendship. At least I know and from a long time ago that it doesn’t last. And I learned that you shouldn't trust or give too much to a person. That way you don’t get hurt. Out of all the friends I had a fallout with, I think this time was the most painful. But it’s for the best. At least I witnessed the complete face of the people that I called my best friends. So that's amazing closure. I can swallow the whole thing much better knowing who they really were.

Anyway, I love you pap.

I miss you so much.

Symzette

Xx

PS: I dyed streaks pink, like I did in summer 2 years ago but it's more discreet seeing that my school does not approve. But so far they didn’t tell me anything… yet.

Letter 71

Hi Dad! how are you? I’m at school now, we were supposed to present our project but the teachers bailed… Ironic right? So now we’re hanging out. I have a history test the next period.. I’m starting to stress a bit… The teacher has it in or me for some reason… She hates me and I think today at lunch I made it worse.
So I was talking to my friend about our report card (btw my grades are pretty good) and I was telling her how all my grades were above the average except in History and my excuse was ïnno c’est Mme Kik!”And guess who was right next to me? Yup you got it.
But seriously the next time she uses me to let out all of her frustrations, I’m going to talk to her because, I really can’t take anymore of her crap. So I’m going to stand up for myself… Yes I’m quite the revolutionary…
Anyways, I love you so much!
Many many kisses
xxx

letter 70

Hi Dad!
How are you? I miss you so much! Pap my friends threw me a surprise party yesterday night! it was amazing! I had now idea!
So that night I was supposed to go to have dinner with Fleur at ABC at 8. So Lynno said that she would drop me and have a drink with her friends while waiting for me. So before going to Ashrafiyeh, we stop to a dekken to get chips. Then we continue down to Mkalles. At that point,  mum calls to tell Lynno that fleur “cancelled” her dinner. So we drive back up to Broumana and on the way we stopped by the DVD shop. Then Lynno said she wanted kebbeh la2teen to we drove (for the second time) to Gout Frais. But Gout Frais was closed then Lynno wanted Falefel but then out of the blue she bailed and we drove back home. We arrived and I was trying to cheer up lynno by saying that we were going to watch movies all night right? So I look at the salon and see on the table 3 candles and a bowl of nuts. My first thought was,”ok… mum wants to kanken while watching the movies”and I turn in the salon and “SURPRISE!”I see around 25 people standing near the dining table at the end of the salon.
It was great! And I had fun until everyone left at around past two.
It was really amazing I had tons of fun.
I wish you were there…
Many kisses
I love to the point that the whole universe does not compare to it’s vastness.
Xxx

Letter 69

Hi Dad!

How are you? I miss you so much.
I sometimes don’t understand the people around me. How can someone so close to you one day and be so bitter the next? And since when does friendship have an expiry date or an on/off button?
It’s just illogical to turn to someone close to you and say, “I’m bored” and ignore you the next few months and treat you like s**t (at least I censored… :P). But I did try to see what the problem was and I really offered to apologize to anything I had done, whatever it was. Because I’m not perfect, no one is. But what is it that I did to deserve this kind of treatment? At least let they have the decency to reply or give me a valid reason. But after all this time of waiting, I don’t think I would apologize to anything anymore really... Where they even my friend to begin with? To end our friendship so abruptly for no particular reason is so strange…
Anyway, I hope you’re okay…
I love you always
Many trillion kisses
xoxo

Letter 68

Hi Dad!

How are you? I’m not bad. So as usual, Lebanon’s without a government. I’m the worst person who could possibly try to explain it to you. I have really no clue what exactly is going on except that we’re possibly on the brim of having another war. That’s that for Lebanon’s political situation.

On to more interesting events: Nicole came yesterday for lunch with Teta and Zoya (Nicole’s new kitten). They came and we ate raclette!!!!! After 7 years of asking mum we finally found the machine and we are with Parma ham and meat. It was nice.

Rasha’s coming supposedly after tomorrow for an exhibition. It depends on the situation. So I’m pretty excited about that.

Gia is still AWOL. I’m really worried about her. And I miss her terribly.

I love you dad

I miss you so much

Many many kisses.

Syma

Letter 67

Hi Dad!
How are you? I miss you so much. I hope you're doing fine. It's 2011 and already I feel somewhat guilty. Papi I miss her so much you cannot believe how much I miss her pap. I feel so bad to have left her like I did. And for what? I'm sure she thinks I abandoned her and I don't care about her but I want her back. And I can't accept the fact that she's gone. I miss her so much. Why did I have to get so attached? It's not fair that I have to part with her like that. I could have done something other than abandon her. Now she's not here anymore. My baby isn't here anymore. No offense or anything but I really don't want her to be with you right now. I love you and all but I still need to make amends to the sucky kittenhood she had. But how could she survive outside? For 11 yrs we've fed her and gave her a warm home. But now she's left to fend for herself in the cold against things she's terrified of (mostly because of me) I really would do anything to just know at least what happened. Why isn't she down there like the last two times? Mrs. Houdini is now REALLY gone. Dad if she's out there could you keep an eye on her for me? Please? It hurts dad, so much. Why do I have to go through this again? What did I ever do to anyone?
I still miss you extremely pap
And I still love you comme ca
Your Syma that wishes you were here too...