Married in Beirut

Eons have passed since my last post, and a lot has changed--although, considering that "change" has been a standard feature of approximately the last 5 years, perhaps not much has changed? Anyway, I got married in August and am now stationed in Beirut with my husband, who is doing his fieldwork here. We live in a small flat in the center of town, a minute's walking distance to the Mediterranean. There is even a partial view of it from our balcony! So far, so good. By comparison to NY, SF, LA, Pondicherry, Madras, Beijing, Quanzhou, and Chicago (phew!) I've found that Beirut is the easiest city to make friends in. The sunny climate, I'm hoping, will continue to nurture my brilliant (ha ha) dissertation prose, inspiring me to end student life forever, and to find a goshdarn job. Yes, in terms of life stages, my stint as an impoverished student no longer carries the same exotic glow that it once did. This year is about finishing my dissertation, wrapping up the odds and ends of the last few years of research, the very things that this blog tracks the discovery of. So of course I had to check in again. Wish me luck!