Tag Archives: Lebanon

Miss Lebanon Yara Khoury-Mikhael at Miss Universe 2011

As I sat with my friend Elia contemplating the beauty of having lots to do and not doing any of it, she showed me this great video of our beauty queen Yara Khoury-Mikhael, proudly and enthusiastically representing our awesome country at the Miss Universe pageant.

I understand she’s just nineteen. But come on, she should have grown out of this stupidity and into another level of maturity by age fifteen.

But hey, at least now we have a thing in common between tigers and women. What is it? Yup, posture. After all, women are better than men because they can drive and talk on the phone and do their nails at the same time. They also get into accidents. But who cares right?

Just a word though… everyone who was paid off to vote her as Miss Lebanon needs to be sued. It’s not like last year’s representative was even better. At least this one can string a grammatically coherent English sentence, albeit being totally devoid of plausible meaning. Any girl on the street would give a better answer to the alien question. A simple yes or no answer would have been more honorable.

Yara Khoury-Mikhael, you are shallower that the children’s pool in swimming resorts and I am ashamed to say you represent my country, even if it’s just a useless beauty pageant.

And if you’re absolutely mesmerized by her, here’s the lesson she’s trying to give: posture is evolutionary important, along with non-existent multitasking, as the main difference between men and women, who happen to share some of that posture-ness with awesome tigers who like to go on the wild side – if you know what I mean.

 

For my opinion on her “Congo” comment, click here.

Respecting Religions in Lebanon: The Flip-Flop Issue

I’ve only been back to Lebanon about a week and the drama with the country’s religious diversity is back. This time, however, it has taken the form of a flip-flop.

This flip-flop in question had not one, not two, but even more than three Crosses on it. The attention to the issue was first brought by LFTV, the internet television of the Lebanese Forces, and soon enough the people of the concerned areas got the store selling these shoes, managed by Ali Fakih, to close.

I wouldn’t be writing this post if it hadn’t been for this article by Now Lebanon, brought to my attention via a retweet by someone who thought the reaction of the Christians was ridiculous.

Let’s get a few things straight.

1) Why was the store, managed by Mr. Fakih, selling such flip flops in the first place? Has it become fashionable to sell shoes where you step on a religious symbol all the time?

2) How is the Christian reaction to this in any way ridiculous? Did they vandalize the place? No. Did they beat the hell out of the manager? No. What did they do? They protested and got the shop to close. When will the shop re-open again? Monday.

3) It is sad, sometimes, that people who feel the need to talk about anything have a widespread platform like Now Lebanon to talk about it. How is it, miss Nassar, that forcing the man to close shop for a few days insulting? I’m not the most religious of people but I don’t want to see people stepping on Crosses as they walk. In my humble opinion, Mr. Fakih not caring enough to go through the merchandise that he sells is insulting. I’m pretty sure that if his store had received shipments of the same flip-flops, except with the Crescent on them, he wouldn’t have sold them.

4) To suggest that the same reaction wouldn’t have taken place against a Christian man is a deeply disturbing – and sectarian – idea on Now Lebanon’s part. Saying that the whole protest was fueled by people who only protested because the man selling the flip-flops is a Shiite Muslim is not only unfounded, but it’s also entirely in the realms of speculation. In fact, there’s little to back that point up. People, when offended, will act out – regardless of who’s offending them.

5) The article also suggests that us Lebanese have nothing to do but take offense to clothing items. I wonder, when did a clothing item make headline news? Not recently, right? Well, this is the first time that I hear of something “fashionable” cause up a stir. And if you think about it, it’s not really a huge stir. Christians of the area are now standing in front of the store, chanting.

6) Before Now Lebanon, in the form of Angie Nassar, apologize from Ali Fakih for this “sick charade,” how about they look at this “idiotic spectacle” from the perspective of someone who doesn’t want to write just for the sake of writing something controversial and actually notice that the response of the Christians of the area has been nothing short of civilized. They’re not “akin to dictators gunning down innocent men, women and children.” How this comparison was even conceived, I have no idea.

Every group in the world is allowed to express themselves when they feel offended and threatened. The fact that one of Lebanon’s major religious groups was offended by a clothing item and did something non-violent about it does not warrant people to call said people ridiculous, to write articles saying that closing down the man’s store for a few days is an insult and to ask for an apology from a tasteless individual who, probably, knew exactly what he was selling.

I wonder, however, and I do not mean to come off as sectarian, if anyone remembers the clashes that took place when LBC’s Charbel Khalil had someone impersonate Hassan Nasrallah on his show Basmet Watan. Shiites from Dahye swept into Beirut’s Christian areas and caused a riot. Is Hassan Nasrallah more important than the symbol that represents Christians? Was he even offended on LBC show? Nope. What was the cause of the riot? LBC isn’t allowed to portray someone of Nasrallah’s grandeur like that.

Do you also remember when some Danish newspaper published pictures of the prophet Mohammad and the Tabaris 802 Building in Achrafieh, home of the Danish Embassy, was vandalized? How are those pictures any different from having a Cross on the bottom of a shoe? If anything, I find the Cross even more offensive.

How is a civilized reaction from Christians of the area, that only led to the closing of a store, an “idiotic spectacle”? How is this spectacle driven by “willful ignorance, unreasonable attitudes and discrimination?”

Are people unreasonable when they ask for their symbols and convictions to be respected? Is it discriminatory if someone stands up for their rights? And in this case, I’m pretty sure willful ignorance does not apply – it would have applied had they known and decided not to do something about it, making it another example of Christians resigning to the status quo of the country.

And what better way to end this than with the same way Now Lebanon’s original article did: pro tip, fools: taking offense isn’t always a choice. Also, stop being so clueless. It’s offensive to your readers.

A little confession miss Nassar, this event barely registered on my relevance radar – until I read your article. Good job.

The Spanish Experience – Toledo

We, Lebanese, pride ourselves that we can speak three languages fluently. Well, you know you’re in Spain when your bus makes a pit stop and the first thing a salesperson there tells you is, in Spanish, that she doesn’t speak neither English, nor French, nor Arabic. Only Spanish.

And that was our welcome notice to Spain. Welcome to the land where you will barely manage to communicate.

Also, if you thought Lebanon’s summer was hot, wait till your every being is stricken with thirty-five degree heat, no humidity and no wind to cool it down. Then you’ll know what hot is. And I know that’s nothing compared to what some people in the Gulf get, but it’s still something. After all, the European weather misconception is: it’s always at least colder than Lebanon.

We stayed in the Southern part of Toledo, in a school in a new neighborhood. The realization that I had five days in Toledo where I had to sleep on the ground, take a shower in the parking lot with cold water using a bathing suit in front of twenty other French people took some time to sink in. Moreover, going into a school with three hundred other French guys and trying to fit in a tiny classroom or gym with them isn’t the most welcoming idea in the world. Therefore, five other Lebanese guys and I took our stuff and basically made outside our bedroom.

Toledo was the first out of two steps in our World Youth Day journey. It was a preparatory forum, one that I had my own experience at. You see, there was a fixed daily schedule of events that went on for our five day stay. So we, Spanish-less Lebanese,  since we didn’t understand 95% of what was going on, simply ditched most of what was going on and went globe-trotting around the city. Most of the Lebanese group stuck together. I, on the other hand, set out to meet people. I didn’t want to remain with a group I could meet whenever I wanted in Lebanon. I wanted to meet people whom I would only get the chance to meet in those few days I had in Toledo.

The second day I was there I bought an Orange phone line. No, do not look at me like that. I didn’t change political affiliations (if anything, Spain fortified them) but that line was so cheap! A 3.5 euro per week subscription to unlimited 3G internet as well as fifty free texts, with very cheap minutes. For my overpriced Lebanese line, it was heaven.

But I digress.

The beauty of Toledo is something that has evaded me while being in Toledo. You see, the constant worry of sleeping and showering and the heat was a constant shadow on my days. Also, the fact that I didn’t get along with a decent portion of the Lebanese group I was with left me searching for company elsewhere.

It was then that I met an awesome group of Egyptians, most of whom were of Lebanese origins. After all, it’s hard not to get excited when an Egyptian tells you they’re Maronite and that their mom is from the North and their dad is from Jezzine. What was the most awesome thing about these Egyptians, apart from the fact that they were a great company? They simply loved Lebanon. Even those of them who didn’t have any drop of Lebanese blood in them.

I still remember when a purely Egyptian Raef told me: “You, Lebanese people, don’t know how lucky you are to be living in Lebanon. You have the prettiest country, nature, cities, girls, cars, etc…”

I had told you before that my Europe trip increased my pride in my country. This is another one of those moments. Raef had visited Lebanon three weeks before his World Youth Day trip and even in Spain, Lebanon still mesmerized him. So to every self-hating Lebanese reading this, just suck it!

The events in Toledo were taking place in a huge tent that could hold up to 5000 people of different nationalities. People from Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Puerto Rico, France, Belgium, Egypt, Iraq and even other groups of Lebanese were there. Part of the events was a country festival where a group from a certain country would get a fifteen minute presentation to tell everyone why their country is special.

Our Lebanese presentation consisted of yours truly explaining the Lebanese flag, name, talking about Lebanese saints and our country in English to over 3000 people in attendance. And the best thing of all? It wasn’t even nerve-wracking! Imagine five minutes later getting the whole hall to dance the Lebanese traditional dance, the Dabke, with you and you get a feeling of how awesome the Lebanese presentation was.

It was so good, in fact, that a guy from Belgium asked to take a picture with me soon after. The following day, a French guy named Martin ditched his group to sit with the “lively Lebanese who are the heart of Toledo.”

But it wasn’t all presentations and prayers. We also got to visit the ancient city of Toledo and see Cathedrals that are so breath-taking they’ve been turned into museums. I actually have a hard time imagining Mass taking place in them. It’s just so distracting to sit in them and focus on a priest praying.

I was also fortunate to meet two people in the school we stayed at in Toledo: Paul, a Russian boy who changed to Catholicism, and Sufian, a Moroccan who converted to Christianity. Sufian came over one night and said he needed to talk. Twenty minutes later, the other Lebanese around asked me to leave since they wanted to sleep. So Sufian and I went to a separate location where people wouldn’t be “bothered” by the discussion. Then Paul joined us. And what had started as my attempt to sleep early turned into me not wanting to sleep, at 3 am.

Remember how I said Spain fortified my political affiliation? Well, politics followed me all the way to Spain. While visiting the old part of Toledo, we stumbled on a Syrian group who was staying in the city as well. They were Syrian Christians from Aleppo, also in Spain to participate in World Youth Day.

One of the Syrian guys asked me where I was from in Lebanon and I answered. He then proceeded to ask me how the situation was in my country, to which I answered: “that question is more valid to Syria, don’t you think?”

He replied. “Oh there’s nothing going on. It’s all media exaggeration.”

I laughed and said: “Yeah, because the guy I saw get beheaded on YouTube is ‘media exaggeration’… anyway, let me tell you one thing: Bashar is going down!”

And then he started shouting and flashing his Bashar Assad pin at me. Moments later, I stumbled on another Syrian with yet another pin. Call me unlucky but it looks like I was in their corner of the Square. This time, however, I had two Lebanese of my group with me. So naturally, the “Syria topic” starts again and this time I blurt out the fact that most Lebanese Christians are actually against the regime in Syria because the regime has done grave things for us. Who replies? Yup, you guessed it… the two girls in my group, who happen to be of a differing political affiliation, shout at me saying: “don’t include me! I’m with the regime, long live Bashar Assad!”

I’m not the most self-restraining of people so I’d like to think some act of divine intervention took place to shut me up over there.

But if there was anything I learned from Toledo it’s that:

1) Spain is very hot!

2) Sane Egyptians, who are not all “YAY! EGYPT! REVOLUTION! OMG”, can be quite fun to be around.

3) French people are great!

4) Sometimes, the best remedy for a stranger in need would be a comforting conversation.

5) Syrian Christians, as well as some Aounists, are cringe-inducing. This realization will only get worse in Madrid.

Here are some pictures from Toledo.

Pictures from France – Lyon

Long overdue, but I just got back home and can now upload some of the many, many beautiful pictures I have of the gorgeous France.

Let’s start off with pictures with the first part of my French experience: Lyon.




The French Experience – Lourdes

We left St. Etienne and the family that welcomed us for three nights on the morning of August 10th.

We had a ten hour route to Lourdes, the infamous pilgramage sight that many Lebanese have/want to visit/ed. And with delays bound to happen, and with the French law dictating thirty minutes of rest for every two hours of driving, we got to Lourdes twelve hours later.

It was 7:30 pm and time for dinner, as set by the French. We didn´t even have time to take pictures as we ran to the huge grass field we were seated in for some fish and rice.

Soon after, we had about thirty minutes to visit before mass. Naturally, I visited the infamous cave where St. Bernadette dug to reveal a small stream of holy water. Then, with two Lebanese girls, I ran to the statue of Mary that was set as gathering point only to find no one there.

Then, we were joined by ten other Lebanese who couldn´t find the remainder of the group. And it was time for a Marial Procession around the grounds. Imagine ten thousand people of a multitude of nationalities chanting Ave Maria together, to a backdrop of an epic-looking church, and you get the sense of what Lourdes is.

Not only is it a Holy place but it´s a location where I, as non-devout Christian, and despite the looming idea of having to sleep on the floor with two hundred other French guys, in a gym, and not being able to shower, was able to find some peace.

The idea of sitting there, looking at nothing except the statue of Virgin Mary and her smiling at you – there´s just something comforting about that.

Then a French woman came up to us after seeing the flag we were holding. She told us how she visits Lebanon often and how she is mesmerized by the culture of the country. In fact, and I quote, she said the following: “I have no roots in the orient, but I love your country, Lebanon, as much as I love my country, France.”

Needless to say, I felt proud. And this sense of pride about my country – despite all our problems – will only grow as my trip moves forwards.

But back to Lourdes… even at 11 pm in the evening, the queue line to visit the Grotto was about a hundred meter long. So we had to wait for the other Lebanese who actually attended mass (yes, we got reprimanded for getting lost although it wasn´t really our fault) to visit.

And while at Lourdes, I lit a candle as a prayer for many people who asked. My cousin asked me to pray for her success in Lebanon´s second round of official exams. Micheline Hazou asked me on twitter to pray for her too and my aunt had a private wish she wanted to pass on. I did all of those in one candle. And you know what, I think my prayer was answered, at least somewhat. My cousin passed.

I guess we have to wait to see if the remaining part of my attempt at a prayer worked. But I´d like to believe it did…

And so we had a long walk back to the gym. You see, Lourdes was closed soon after 12 pm for rehearsals for a play that was shown on August 15th. After all, Spain and Toledo awaited us in a few hours…