Good news! I got a long voice message from the AUB prof just now. He said things have calmed down a lot. Demonstrators have cleared the streets, which have been reopened. Classes are starting again tomorrow - that will be exactly two weeks since they were suspended. He said his wife and kids went to the mall today - they’ve been cooped up in their small apartment for a long time.
He said now a new Prime Minister needs to be selected. Believe it or not, the man who resigned could very well be picked again! He just needed to resign so that the government can be re-formed. The protesters seem to understand that this process will take a little time, so I’m hoping the students can at least finish the semester before more unrest, if any, occurs.
Thank you for the update. I thought of you yesterday when I saw that PM Hariri had resigned. Hopefully the reforms will be made, corruption decreased and democracy increased. The more inequality can be reduced the more stable the country will be for your son, I believe.
Anyway… thinking of you.
Classes went fine today. But they’ve announced that the semester will be extended through December 23, ack. DS already purchased a plane ticket for departure on December 21. I decided to be a bit of a helicopter mom and write the Dean of Students to see if they would let him finish up on December 20, a Friday. It’s a long journey home, and we would really like him back for Christmas Eve. We’ll see what they say. I know that the important thing, though, is that it looks like he will be able to complete the semester and graduate, whoo hoo. A delay in getting home isn’t the end of the world.
AUB has been closed since yesterday. A protester was killed just south of Beirut, right on the road that DS travels on to get to the refugee camp. He was told it wasn’t safe to drive there today.
AUB is committed to helping the students complete the semester, so that’s good. But it sounds as if the semester may be extended longer. I don’t think DS will be home for Christmas.
My niece’s situation in Chile is even worse. Classes were suspended awhile back and I don’t think they will restart this year. Niece has been assigned a tutor and does some work online.
