Middle East + Political Crisis = Skiing Paradise

Who cares if the country is in the midst of a political crisis? On Tuesday, were those hundreds of darkly clad young men blocking the streets of Beirut with walkie-talkies members of Hezbollah? Probably. Were they staging a "dry-run" for an upcoming coup? Some people think so. Did Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar just pull out of negotiations in frustrated attempt to ease tensions? Yep.

So it seemed like the perfect weekend to go skiing!

Wade in line for the lift up to the top the "Bunny Hill". It was a fun day for Wade -- he was as good, if not better, than all those 8 year-olds.

As Megan said, skiing is like riding a bike. Despite the fact that Megan has skied once in fourteen years, she impressed the Lebanese (and her husband) with her grace and agility on the slopes.

Wade has never skied before in his life, but the Middle East seemed like as good of a place to start as any. The situation was made much less painful because Wade's friend and colleague, Ted, just so happens to be an ex-ski instructor.

Ted, Sabine, and Megan doing warm-up exercises before putting on the skis. Ted was in his element, pulling out the same routine that he used to have for 8 year-old beginner skiers.

On a cold, overcast Saturday, we drove up to Faraya with Ted and Sabine, Ted's friend. Ted has a Vermont, flannel-wearing, mountain-man kind of skiing vibe.

Ted and Sabine. Sabine, despite the fact that she grew up just an hour's drive from Faraya, is not an experienced skier and rivaled Wade in her struggle to master the art of going down a snowy mountain with two sticks on her feet.

It took Wade about 30 seconds to fall down.

In case you are curious, Megan filmed Wade's first time skiing down a gentle slope. It's about 8 seconds, and no, he did not wipe out -- that came later. But Wade should not be too proud of himself -- he was skiing on the toddler hill.

There are several remarkable things about skiing in Lebanon. First, you're just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Beirut and 26 kilometers (16 miles) from the warm Mediterranean. Second, did we mention that you are in the Middle East?!

After about four hours of skiing, the snow started to come down, hard. It was a good ol' fashioned Lebanese blizzard, so bad that we didn't feel comfortable driving our small rental car down the icy mountain roads.

We ended our Saturday by renting a cheap "Chalet" in Faraya. It was Megan's perfect day - she demonstrated her athletic prowess on the ski slopes then got to curl up with a book next a fire.