I’ve been in Paris for almost 8 months now, and even though I ended up adapting to the life here and to the local population, my heart has been aching for my country. I am not one of those people who leave their country to find a life elsewhere and come back only on holidays, I will never be that person. Ever. I belong to Lebanon and I love every inch of it, even the inches that I don’t know. I love its oddities, I love its lack of political stability, I love its diversified population, its struggles, its food, its landscapes, its noise, its cultural diversity… I love everything about it, I even love the things that I hate about it. Odd.
Truth be told, no matter how well I adapt to Paris, I will never be “at home” here, I will always feel like a tourist who doesn’t belong here. That’s why I know that no matter how, I’m coming back.
But the way the local media here, as well as all international media, presents Lebanon and the political situation, makes it so hard for me to explain why I love this country so much. This is where the “It’s All In Lebanon”, an ad campaign by the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, comes into play by capturing the essence of my country so amazingly well. It’s a 44 seconds ad and it’s all totally true, even the Rio part. People who know nothing about my country except the Israeli-Syrian conflicts, will be speechless when they watch it, I bet. One thing though that I find missing is that it focuses on the country and the landscapes, but fails to show the friendly population and the ancient heritage. Nevertheless, it’s the best ad that has ever been made about Lebanon, and I will now memorize the YouTube link address as well as download the ad to my phone, so that whenever someone asks me about my country, I know what to answer.
I present to you, my country, Lebanon:
Tags: Lebanon, Ministry of Tourism, Tv Ad
I didn’t know you had your own website!!
Congraaats.
Hah, hey Kiro, yes it just soft-launched a few weeks ago. I’m still not really promoting it, until I finally get to grips to writing frequently on it.
Lebanon ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
greetz from canada
I used to feel the same way. I was physically abroad but mentally never left Lebanon. But being from the South forced me not to come back for 5 years at first. Then out of despair I launched my Web Site about Lebanon to improve its image. Now, it’s been 10 years since the last time I’ve been there. When I look back at Lebanon I see a country on the verge of a civil war. It’s a pity that the Lebanese won’t learn how to co-exist and but religion aside.