When I was studying in England, Fairuz was my daily companion. Back in Lebanon, I stopped listening to her songs. Somehow, she represented a Lebanon I do not identify with anymore…
Lebanon is easy going: good food, good mood, and good nights. Nice sun, a place to have fun. Lebanon is history: temples and fortresses, Prince Bachir and Beiteddin. Let the poem stop; Lebanon is also war, instability, hostility, discrimination… you name it. This is what a local sees; a mixture of good and evil. Busy with the quotidian mess, locals often take the beauty for granted.
Expats on the other hand have a mythical approach to it: Not only is it a nice poem, but also a longed dream, a fairytale of the Phoenicians, a land of evergreen, of friendly people, of “dekkanei” and “mankoushi”; an escape from a 24/24 work day… a place to call home.
This “perfect home” is sometimes alien to locals, who cannot but see Lebanon’s instability. In fact, when they leave it for a short visit, they often compare it to the “more civilized” countries they see, thus magnifying its imperfections further. Funny enough though, whenever this trip is extended beyond vacation length, the idea of “back home” starts to tickle. The lost Lebanese bits are appreciated, a thirty minute walk with ten good mornings suddenly makes sense and much more.
Having been in the shoes of both Lebanese groups, I personally believe that locals could occasionally “expatriate” themselves for a short while to appreciate their home, to long for it, to live a lyrical Fairuz song and not only sing it. And when they’re back, “ya ahl eddar tallu tallu el habayeb, shealani el-nar wessikkar albu dayeb.” (Fairuz)
April 11th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I totally agree with everything you wrote above. All I wanted, when I left Lebanon, was to find a better place to live in, one that was “closer to me”. I have lived away for more than 5 years and very quickly, the better place turned out to be this Lebanon that I had left, and everything I used to criticize turned out to be the things I missed and loved. Good article, I loved it.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Thank you Fouad.
You’re right, when you’re away, every memory of Lebanon is unmistakably preceded by “RizkAllah….”
April 15th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Brilliant article. Thank you Reem for taking our nostalgia to a different level..:)
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
very nice article Farah…I totally agree, when I was outside. I miss a lot the “dekkaneh:fakhani” next my house.. and the action and suspince in lebanon elections and manifestations, not like other countries, boring life , and boring news.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Thank you girls
January 20th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I can totally relate! I lived “away” for over 30 years and I can vouch that Lebanon and especially Beirut will never be out of my system. In fact, I am planning to move back-with my kids! in 6 months, Inchallah!
May 10th, 2010 at 11:57 am
Wow! My friends and I were just talking about the “dabka irony”. A term we coined after realizing that we (expats) are more likely to learn, dance, listen to dabka than our families in Lebanon. True Assi and the likes have revived that with their pop styled song, but in the 90’s Lebanese would be rocking Ace of base or Ricky Martin instead of doing the wa7da wa nos. Thanks for posting this, I now feel part of a bigger community - tasteofbeirut, good luck on the move!