10 Things You’ll Know If You Come From A Small Village

At times, coming from a small village in Lebanon can feel like you’re from an entirely different country. Can you relate to the below? 1. You hate when people ask where you’re from. “Men wen ente?” “Men l taybeh” “Ente? eh ktir taybeh” “shu…” 2. You often have to repeat the name of your village at least three times. “Ha-llou-ssi-yeh” “Lahousiyeh?” 3. People don’t ask for your name. Rather they’ll ask bint/ibn meen? Which marks the beginning of a long conversation about your lineage. 4. Explaining that you don’t know everyone in the village even if it is small. “bta3rfe hada men bet obeid?” “tab beit ismail?” “beit Mansour? Moukalled? Mostafa?” 5. People try to figure out your religion based on the village you’re from. “Mtayleb eh? Shul aktariyeh honeek?” 6. People assuming that coming from a village means having an accent. “Ah btehke lebnene mnih!!” “…?” “Eno mish metel l day3a” 7. You have two personalities There’s village you, and Beirut you – who would be utterly shocked at the things village you says. 8. You’re stuck having to explain that your village doesn’t have a Starbucks but you can still have WiFi access. 9. You’ve become somewhat of a geography instructor. “Sob l shmel, mahal ma byetla2a l naher wel baher.” 10. Strangers raise red flags A stranger walking around town is often met with “mday3een shi?