The Olive Bowl

I have always loved exploring new places and meeting new people. Growing up in a multicultural environment fostered my deep curiosity about different ways of life. In my early twenties, I wholeheartedly embraced the “YOLO” (You Only Live Once) mindset, which fueled my desire to experience the world firsthand.  Fortunately, family connections also gave me the perfect opportunity to spread my wings and discover my roots. While I was in Germany, I realized I was just a stone’s throw from Switzerland, so on a whim, I decided to cross the border and visit some of our extended Swiss relatives. I hitched a high-speed ride on the autobahn straight to Zurich, spending the night on a bench near the station. The next day, I set out to find 'Aunty Agnes'—a relative my mother was named after, though the exact relation was fuzzy. Armed with her address, I showed up unannounced on her doorstep on the western shores of Lake Zurich. She warmly welcomed me in, and we spent a couple of hours over...

The first time I went to Hanover during my summer break for a  three-month work experience, everything went fairly smoothly. However, on my arrival, there was apparently an explosion in Hanover that was reported in the international news. When Dad heard it, he wryly said to the family, “Oh, Brian has arrived!” Through Mr Wasserman again, Dad had arranged for me to work as a machine minder at Westinghouse Bremsen und Apparatebau GmbH (Westinghouse Brakes and Apparatus Manufacturing Ltd.). Peter and Elke Licht were the leading pastoral couple at the Evangelishes Jugend Sentrum in Badenstretterstrasse and they kindly welcomed me and gave me a room in the centre and directed me to the factory where I was to work. It was within walking distance and I soon settled into a routine. Each day I would walk to the large complex and was given my work station on the automated lathe. My job was to basically insert pre-cast metal car parts into a lathe which fine-tuned the mechanical adjustments ...

I returned from Germany ready for my Junior and Senior years at the American University of Beirut. We lived within walking distance of the university and the twenty-minute walk was full of interest as I made my way towards the Mediterranean Ocean via Hamra Street, down Rue Jeanne D’Arc and finally across Bliss St through the university arches. Occasionally on the way home I would pop in to greet Lucien Accad at his watch shop, or meet friends at their student residents. I can’t remember exactly when, but at one point I bought a Vespa scooter which made transport easier. I even went up to Shemlan with Graham on it on occasion, before he went to the UK for his studies. The bike was old and I didn’t like the bike rattling. At one point I took the bike apart, painted it and began putting it back together. All went well except that I had a few leftover parts and according to Graham, ‘sadly my lovely and beautiful Vespa never rode again.’ I gave it to a friend, Christian Sa’ade, who was will...

I carried my suitcases with a sense of expectation and openness to a new experience as I flew to Munich to begin my journey to south Germany near Lake Constance (Bodensee). I caught a couple of trains to Tettnang, thankful that I understood enough German to talk to people on the way and work out the right connections and finally caught a bus to Pfingstweid. At the old age facility, I was met by Frau Deierling at the door of their living quarters and welcomed in to meet the housefather, Herr Günther Deierling who would show me the ropes. My room was above the kitchen area and the 105 residents were in their own sections, some on their own, others in smaller clusters. Around half of the dozen or so staff were also residents, others came in daily from the nearby village. I first met the other staff at the evening meal, abend brot . I was confused to discover that in spite of two years of German lessons, I could hardly understand a thing in the Schwäbisch dialect. One lady pushed a bowl to...