Cheaper than Faisal Bros’ restaurants was the Shama’a restaurant, known now as “Uncle Sam”, at the corner of the Jean D’arc Street near Bliss.

And I see no harm in listing the prices of the food from that era, which will certainly ring a bell with other peers of my age:

Rice and Stew dish: 5 Piasters

Kebbeh dish: 7 Piasters

Stake and Veggies dish: 10 Piasters

Loaf of bread: 2 Piasters

Date-filled pastry: 2.5 Piasters

Cupcake (for the rich): 3 Piasters

Poor students could have lunch or dinner for 10 or fewer piasters, especially if addicted to bread and stew.

But how would I pay for the second semester? Teacher Bou Najm used to say “when one plunges into a bottomless abyss, God stretches his gracious hand to pull him out.” It wasn’t long before I learned from the head of the Arabic Language Institute that a number of missionaries at the Beirut center wanted to learn Arabic. “Do you have the time to teach them? We will pay you 1 Lebanese Lira for every hour,” he said to me.

It was a generous offer! We agreed that I would teach from 8:45 until 10:00 in the morning. I used to hurry after my morning class at the University to the School of Theology in Zqaq el-Blat.

Many a time, when the tram was late, I used to walk, or rather run to catch my class on time.

On my way back from the School of Theology, I used to literally run as fast as my feet could carry me to arrive for 10:00 am. Luckily, teachers used to forgive our appearance 5 minutes late of the start of the class. Struggle! Torment! Running! But one Lebanese Lira was a jackpot! I could survive on it for days if I resigned to eating at Faisal Bros’ second restaurant.