One thing I had regularly heard about the Lebanese people is that they are incredibly hospitable, and I must say it is true … 90% of the time (I’ll get into the other 10% in another post). Everyone has been so kind and helpful to me. Quebrado and his family have bent over backwards to make me feel at home. On Wednesday, both of his parents took a day off of work to take me to see some of the famous sites of Lebanon. We drove up through the mountains which host a thriving skiing community for much of the year, then into the Bekka Valley until we came to the city of Baalbek which is famous for its complex of ancient Roman Ruins. From there onto Aanjar – a peaceful Armenian town on the Eastern border of Lebanon. In Aanjar, Mr. and Mrs. Kouyoumdjian treated me to one of the largest meals I think I’ll ever see. The food just never stopped coming. And damn, it was good.
But the hospitality is not only shown by people who know me – I’ve been treated so kindly by complete strangers as well. This morning the guy in the coffee shop gave me the internet service for free. Thursday night I ventured out alone into downtown Beirut. Within 2 minutes of arriving in the city, I was stopped by a security guard. Oh boy, I thought…what have I done? But all he wanted to know was where I was from and if I liked Lebanon so far. Wow! He was very happy to meet an American and he excitedly told me about his brother who lived in Boston (apparently there must be a large Lebanese population in Boston b/c I’ve heard that same story from 3 or 4 different people). After waving good-bye to the security guard, I stepped into a small shop selling bath products just to take a look around. The man running the store quickly followed me inside and asked if he could tell me about the products. I told him no thank you and that I was only looking (plus everything was labeled in English and I already have a pretty good understanding of what Shower Gel and Body Lotion do). But he insisted and then spent the next 15 minutes describing every product in the store. Oh geeze! How was I going to get out of there without buying something I really didn’t want or need. But after he wrapped up his presentation of every last product he had in the store, he gave me a nice brochure and a booklet of coupons and told me to enjoy the rest of my evening. Not once did he ask me to buy anything or make me feel pressured that I had to spend any money. There’s no way that I would have gotten out of a store in almost any other country in the world after a sales pitch like that. But this guy was just being friendly and probably wanted to practice his English a bit. That was refreshing.
Global kindness rocks! Pass it on.
Universal kindness rocks. Pass it on.