How do you live outside Lebanon?

[DL]

I live in Holland (even though I have been all over the place - literally ) - And I can say that the following would be my thoughts:

1. I respect the society values without changing mine in a blind way
2. I follow the laws and find it great that everyone is UNDER the law, even our Queen
3. I lead a normal life with friends from all over the world while keeping my Lebanese identity alive
4. I pay S**t load of taxes
5. I miss my family and friends I made while growing up in Lebanon
6. I miss Lebanese food that is why I cook myself
7. I work too much
8. Still need to find myself a nice Lebanese lady who is willing to be "my Lebanon" in Amsterdam
9. Lebanon is always in my heart and thoughts no matter where I go!!

[lebanese_a]

Originally Posted by Dutch Lebanese

I live in Holland (even though I have been all over the place - literally ) - And I can say that the following would be my thoughts:

1. I respect the society values without changing mine in a blind way
2. I follow the laws and find it great that everyone is UNDER the law, even our Queen
3. I lead a normal life with friends from all over the world while keeping my Lebanese identity alive
4. I pay S**t load of taxes
5. I miss my family and friends I made while growing up in Lebanon
6. I miss Lebanese food that is why I cook myself
7. I work too much
8. Still need to find myself a nice Lebanese lady who is willing to be "my Lebanon" in Amsterdam
9. Lebanon is always in my heart and thoughts no matter where I go!!

Thats kind of easy knowing (if my info are correct) Marijuana is legal!

[josein]

wow, what a question for me, i left lebanon when i was 15 years old, now i am 33 years old, i never went back, lebanon for me was till some 3 years ago as a ghost, when i lived in southamerica, life was easy, people are friendly, they accept you as u are , so it was so easy to to be one of them, i lived their life , i got to the point to move alone and share my life with girl friend, but in my heart i always had 3 things,Fairuz , Kebbe , tabulee, yes i know; u said beside music and food , but let me tell u, those little details , are the tie that u dont see, u dont feel and one day all the sudden u discover urself, in venezuela i knew soo many old lebanese who have lived all their life outside , dreaming the day they would be back, in their heart they know it will never happen, but they still dream about it, when i left venezuela years ago i used to say i am venezuelan, i used to talk to my father in spanish , but here in new york is diferent , is so big but at the same time so lonely, as much as it is integrated is divided, you have to be a part of the something u cant be alone, i got to meet my old friends from lebanon, cousines. i still feel myself diferent and sometime i have to hide it, cuz our society doesnt accept u if you are not 100% like them. can i criticize the lider of our sect??? can i disagree with something about our religion?? and so on.but a little by little i became attached to lebanon, i dont know how or why . i cant say that i am 100% lebanese. neither i conduct my life as a lebanese or my friend are only lebanese, and still see Fairuz as my only arabic singer, well i guess her voice kept my lebanon in my heart , now i am afraid to go back, to find that the lebanon i loved is only in my imagination, or maybe to find out that i am not lebanese , venezuelan or american. well u never can be on thing when u are mix of a lot of things, or maybe i am just afraid to discover that i am lebanese and i always have being a lebanese, and i was wrong all the time, well atleast i know i want to visit and i would love to marry a lebanese woman......

[dodzi]

I've been living in Belgium for almost 4 years, and it's kind of great... I have to admit that it was hard at first, because when you live so long in a country that you loved (without taking into consideration the things you hate ), it is hard to leave it, and specially to make new friends and have a new lifestile...

I'm not gonna say that I changed my way of life, because even in Lebanon I didn't really live like a real lebanese, however it is true that some things did change... On the other hand, isn't lebanese life style relative?

I met some lebanese people here once, but then never again... Not that it was bad, but I didn't concord with their way of life, that was misplaced contextualy... What I'm trying to say is that some people will try to re-live Lebanon in their host country, and others will try to adapt... I adapted, I like Belgium, but it is true that I miss Lebanon. However, when you adapt, at the end, you see that life is a bit the same everywhere, all you have to do is share memories with your new friends (lebanese sometimes don't adapt and don't like it, because they keep living with Lebanese people, share thus the same experiences, and don't bother to find any attachment to their host country)...

What Lebanese expatriate are you???

Regards...

PS:

Originally Posted by lebanese_a

Thats kind of easy knowing (if my info are correct) Marijuana is legal!

YEAH BABY!!!

[DL]

Originally Posted by lebanese_a

Thats kind of easy knowing (if my info are correct) Marijuana is legal!

Yes it is legal.... Do you think Lebanon should legalize it also so that people will be all the time high and then respect the law?

[Diabolo_7]

70-80 hour weeks, thats the summary of my life outside lebanon

[bimba]

the way i see it, id say it depend on the age u left Lebanon at. the younger u r the more u will get involved in the ne culture, and u will become away of ur native culture.
plus here the laws go little easy on people who immigrate to the states at an elder age, for example it will be ok for them to take the tests fo citizenship in their native language.

[sammy]

i was born in sydney lived in lebanon in -82-85 came back to sydney when i was 5 so i dont know anything differant than being an aussie

[WiseCookie]

I left Lebanon a year ago. I hate it here.period. I don't belong in the society of sex,drugs and alcohol.

[Orangina]

Originally Posted by WiseCookie

I left Lebanon a year ago. I hate it here.period. I don't belong in the society of sex,drugs and alcohol.

, wait one more year and you'll change your mind!

i left lebanon 5 years ago, like everyone said at the beginning it was little hard, i missed everything and everybody in lebanon but with time i got used to the french way of living and i can say that i really like it!

I have learned lot of things here, have seen many new interesting things...traveled a lot and all this made me kinda of grew up!

Well to summarize my life style in france:

During the week i work from 9 am till 7 or 8 pm (sometimes)..Do sport, dancing etc...

During the week end, go out with friends to cinema, downtown or whatever, go to supermarket to get my "course" and of course get rest!

Cheers