School Lunches

School lunches are a huge topic in public health. What are we feeding our children? Are they getting balanced meals? Fruits and vegetables should be included, there should be a filling main dish with the proper quantities. Are there soda's available at the school? OH MY GOD THERE ARE ?? *Huge discussion ensues about how terribly horribly despicable this is*. 

Comparison of the French school meals and the American school meals is incessant. We feed them this, but they feed them that, and so on and so forth and that's why their children are obese!

There's always a scandal breaking about the food the schools serve. They've been given rotten food items, they've been using pink sludge, they've been serving pork, pizza is a vegetable... and Jamie Oliver goes crazy (rightfully) discussing the food served at schools! 

And then my friends and teachers from different countries across the globe look to me and ask: What are school lunches like in Lebanon? And all I can think of is that on my second break I used to buy a man2oushi... 

We did have a lunch cafeteria at my school, but it was optional... you had to pay for your individual meals, you weren't subscribed to a lunch program as is the case in many other countries. Most students brought their own lunches with them from home. 
This whole debate over healthy food for children in schools never seemed like an issue to me in Lebanon. In fact, based on my upbringing and on that of the Lebanese I know, feeding children balanced diets never seemed to be such a complicated issue, be it at school or at home.

But what did I know then?
Further research is needed into current student lunch situations in Lebanon. Will form an educated opinion after I've done that. 
Opinions and information welcome.

Stay Away From Evil And Sing To It

I happened to be in the company of 3 very awesome people lately. They were discussing issues we are facing in this country of ours, and thoughts on what to do to make a change. 

Their conversation was so impassioned that I was moved. The issues they brought to the table enraged me! The thoughts to counter them, to make a point, to stir change for betterment, encouraged me!

But when I left them I realized something that isn't really that much of a stretch to realize :p . I realized that most of us live in a different reality. When someone brings these topics up with us, we involve ourselves in the conversation entirely. We seem very opinionated and express strong emotions towards the subjects at hand. We even go so far as to get angry! 

But then we put on our hats and coats (ummm yeah it's summer but we shall ignore that, coz hats and coats sounds cool), and we walk out, and everything we were just acting out about becomes something that happened to someone else, and life goes on. 

This couple was taking a walk down the street of beautiful city. As they walked they noticed a man push another down, grab his wallet and run. The victim yelled and shouted and asked for help. The couple glanced uneasily at him, then at each other, and they agreed to stay out of it. "b3od 3an el shar w ghaneelo". They need not get involved in something that did not affect them. 

An hour later, at dinner with friends, they told the story of the mugging and made comments about how people have become! How it is not safe on our streets any longer! But they ate their dinner and had a wonderful time with their friends, and that is all that became of that event to them: a story to tell. 

And sadly, with most of us, that is all that becomes of anything.

Internet Outage and the Mystery Team

Last night we had an internet outage. Major ISP's were down for quite a while for whatever reason, and that left me wondering: who did they call?
I imagine the scene, a mystery man or woman coming home after a long day at work. Coming home to a family perhaps. Settling down on the sofa, starting to get comfortable, when the phone rings. Not any phone, THE phone. It hasn't rung in a long time.
He or she picks up, "yes", "aha", "I understand", and the phone goes silent.
Looks are exchanged, and the weight of responsibility sets in. The urgency of the situation leaves no time for explanations or discussions.
He or she stands up, steps into the shoes lying beside the sofa, and heads towards the door.
"The internet needs me...", our unknown protagonist states, opening the door and stepping out, shutting it softly, and heading to face the unknown problems that await.
He or she heads to a rendezvous point, meeting up with the rest of the team, and they exchange knowing looks, the gravity of the situation clear in the tight expressions on their faces. Once they have assembled, they head together to ground zero in silence.
There is a lot of work for them to do.
They have to save the internet.

They do their job in the shadows, their names unknown and their efforts not declared. And so I would like to say to them: Thank you. Thank you mystery men and mystery women who saved the internet.

Prisons

Subjects rise and fade here in Lebanon. A hundred a day, a thousand. But they all rise and fade. And when they rise, they rise. They become the talk of the town. Everyone has an opinion and everyone passes judgement on the opinions of others and everyone thinks the matter to be significant. 

And after all the excitement, the subject fades. Just as it rises into such intense focus, it fades into near oblivion. What was the talk of the hour just last hour, is no longer a pressing matter. The rise of something more important shadows all that was before. 

And so the cycle continues. 

I remember not so long ago, there was an uprising in a Lebanese prison. I was one of the many first aiders dispatched to the prison and got the chance to assist several wounded inmates. More interestingly, I got the chance to listen to one inmate who had suffered a blow to the knee, as he explained how the prison politics worked on the inside and what it was like living in a jail. 

A quick search on the prison status in Lebanon in Google (you don't even have to dig that deep), will spit out results of articles related to torture in our prisions, overcrowding, mal-treatment, mal-nutrition, mis-this and mal-that... And at the time of the uprising I mentioned earlier, the media were having a field day with these facts and statistics. 

Now that the subject has been swept under the rug, I wonder what has changed in the status of Lebanese prisons. 

Le 9gag

I'm staring at my computer screen, and honestly I have no will to work. 
But no will to work is directly related to will to blog as it seems. 


I want to share a gift with you, one that I only fell upon months ago...what I did before then is ...I don't want to go back to that time even in memory. 


http://www.9gag.com


I am an addict. I am obsessed. I know all the memes, all the jokes. This website has saved me from boredom that would have definitely lead to suicide at the workplace. 
And it is catching on. My friend tells me that at a project management course he is attending, all the students (all also professionals with 3+ years in management), along with their professors are 9gaggers. Even a sagesse school teacher is a 9gagger and has a post on the site!


And I just love the 9gag online community. People from all over the world sharing content that shows that in many cases, borders are just on maps (and whenever you need a visa, but still...)
I got that feeling the first time I was on 9gag, and it was accented by a post about hairdressers. "Le scumbag hairdresser", ask him to cut 2 cm off your hair, cuts 10!! Posted by someone from Brazil... And I was like "yessss!!!! I know!!!!". And that just keeps happening with different posts.


Cheers to all 9gaggers out there!

Am I Growing Up?

I don't know ladies and gentlemen, but I think ... I think that I am growing up!!
I have never felt this way before, and honestly it both scares and scares me!
Yes both!!
No, it's not that a birthday is nearing (April 27, mark the date on your calendars folks), and it's not that we've started a new year  or anything like that.
It's actually about something I did today, because I felt like I should. Moreover, I felt like I wanted to...
I tried to convince myself that it was just the geek in me wanting to play around with Thunderbird. But honestly, it's not...who am I kidding?
Enough with the fuss already, and just spit out what it is that I did? Alright! Alright!
Truth be told, I have for the very first time in my life, subscribed to a news feed...

What is the secret?

So what does it mean?
I love to write, that's something I know for sure...
But when it comes to blogging, I can never think of anything to write.
I just stare at the space I'm supposed to fill with my words for hours on end (ok not really, i just open the page for a minute and the surf away... but the result is the same !!)

So what's the secret?