Beirut - "Paris of the Middle East" - II

This time I want to write about the people of Beirut and the lifestyle there. I'll actually mention about some specific type of people in Beirut but they have an noticable effect on the rest of the people.

First of all, as everybody has told me before, here in Beirut almost everybody speaks English and/or French. That's why they say it's not the best place for learning and practicing Arabic. Plus they have a strong dialect which is quite different than the Standard Arabic. So far it's ok, but here comes the strange thing. Here, people talk by mixing all these 3 languages: Arabic,French and English. And they dont just borrow some   words from the latter two, they actually form complete sentences in english and french. So when you hear people speaking, you can hear one full sentence in english, one in arabic and another in french. This is really odd.

The first alphabet: Phoenician

When you ask a Lebanese, -How do you say "happy birthday"? , the answer would be -"Happy birthday". Or you can extend this to Hi, Merci, Sorry and etc.

Or even more you can see little kids speaking english with their parents all the time. Because in the schools the first language they learn is not arabic. They choose english or french as the main language and arabic comes later as a second language. I find this totally nonsense and can only explain with this "Wannabe" culture here. Imagine on one hand some French people that dont want to speak english allthough they can; as they are too proud to be French and on the hand some people in Lebanon who dont want to speak arabic because they are too ashamed to be Arab. (Well they actually claim to be not Arab, but come on..)

As a result, people get really surprised here when you say you are studying arabic. Because arabic is not cool. If you want to have a higher status in society you have to speak French with a French accent.


The other thing to have a higher social status is to look good in this country. And there's a very strong pressure on everybody to look better. For this reason, 1/3 of Lebanese girls have had at least one plastic surgery in Beirut. All the noses look like the same and you can see girls smoking shisha with giant lips!! Have a look at famous Lebanese singers and see how all of them look like each other!!

You can see girls going to the university with high-heeled shoes, night dresses and expensive bags. A Lebanese woman on the plane was complaining to me that she had to put her Macbook to her Prada bag and she was also telling that Europeans find her overdressed but that was actually casual for her!

Another exaggerated thing is the cars. Everybody in Beirut drives jeeps or really fancy cars. Your car defines your status. If a man has a new BMW,Mercedes or Nissan Jeep, he has a better chance on finding a girl that looks like above.
You cannot see those middle class cars that for instance I always see in Turkey. I hardly saw a Focus, Golf, Palio, Corolla or anything like that. So what does middle class drive? They also have jeeps but the ones that elites sell after they use a few years. And what about the poor? They also drive Mercedeses but from the 80s!

And there is no other.. Everybody has a car here cause you cannot really survive without a car and the Lebanese never ever walk! You cannot see people walking on the streets. They go to a restaurant and leave their car keys to a Valet.. Dont tell me every restaurant cannot have Valet parking, because even McDonalds has it!!!


So just like everybody I also wondered: Where does this money come from?? Are they really rich?
The answer is no!! They are not patrol millioners. Lebanon doesnt have oil!.. Hence?
The thing is, they only look rich or in other words live like rich. They dont think about the future, they never save money and consume all the money to luxury. They take loans from the banks again and again. This is a place where there is a specific loan for plastic surgery!

And the bad thing is, the life is not cheap in Lebanon.. Eating in a good restaurant would cost quite high especially compared to Middle East or the salaries they earn. Average salary for a university graduate is about 800 dollars and the cost just to rent a room in Beirut costs like 350-400 dollars!

An electric pole

And beyond this luxury, the life standards are not really good. The government doesnt supply electric all day. Everyday they cut at least 4 hours. So you have to buy electric from private companies also, plus the non-ending electric cuts during all day. Gsm companies are really expensive, they cancel your number if you dont charge for only 2 weeks!! And Lebanon has the slowest internet I've seen.. You have to wait half an hour to watch a video on youtube..

The people who have better conditions somehow afford these expenses. And it's very common that working families have a nanny from Philipines or Sri Lanka. You can see them around on sundays everywhere which is their only free day (if they are lucky). They work for 200 dollars a month and do all the housework. They are hoping to save some money and return back after 3 years, the duration that their visa allows.


Moreover, I guess everybody has a house up in the mountains or the house of their parents. There is a terrible traffic every weekend by the people who leave the hot, humid weather of Beirut and run away to the cool, fresh mountains.

There is also certain image of Beirut from the rest of the Arabs that I want to mention. When you say you went to Beirut, all Middle East reacts as if you have been to Las Vegas. Because that's how Beirut is seen by their eyes but it's not really like that. Oil millioners of the Gulf region come to this city just to spend their money on prostitution, nightlife and stuff.
This is why Lebanese people dont like them. They are basicly rich and stupid.

Along with all these interesting things about the people of Lebanon, they are really friendly and welcoming. They do their best to ensure you enjoy your stay in Lebanon and they really care about what you think about their country.

About the critic I made about the culture, actually I can criticise like this, many other cultures including Turkey. Indeed, it's very very similar to Turkey.
These acts are no different than us trying to show everybody that we are not Arabs(the only difference is we are actually not ;)) via changing the alphabet and dressing style, via banning everything from the old, forcing people to "look like" western.. Or Chinese who becomes happy when you say he/she doesnt look Chinese.. Or an Indian or African who tries to become "White" via using some creams and stuff... Or a Japanese who just wants to find a "Western" partner.. Or a South American who gives her child an American name...

The truth is West has not become "West" just because they are white or dont have slanty eyes or have those names. In fact, West wasn't always "West" and probably will not be so forever.

I'm just deeply ashamed of most of the people outside "the West"