The Lebanese Family.

A lot of families moved to Beirut after the war.
So you often hear about people going to their parent's village during vacations.

My dad is from Jbeil, and we have a nice, 100-year-old house my grandfather built there.
I used to spend my summers there with the family. I used to love it there. So peaceful, so cozy.
We used to go out in the garden, get a few of fruits & vegetables then come back and prepare dinner.
We would play baseball all day or go watch everyone play soccer in front of the church.
When my brother would go hunting, I would wait for him and we would clean the birds together. And by clean I mean remove their feathers and guts and try to establish what they ate by cutting open their stomach.
We also had an old Nintendo 64. So when it was too hot outside we used to sit and play Mario Kart for hours.
Well, that was when I was a kid.

Now, I just hate it there.
Not because there is no TV, no DVD player, no internet and no power 6 hours per day.
It's just that I can't imagine spending a whole summer alone with my family, far from the civilization and everything. 
I also realized today that I can't recognize anyone there!
See, I haven't been there for a while.

The old woman that would harass you every time you pass by her house is now long gone.
The happy couples your parents used to hang out with are now grandparents.
The young men your brother used to go hunting with are now getting married.
The kids that would play soccer in front of the church are now studying in the city or out of Lebanon.
All those kids you used to play hide and seek with have now a whole bottle of gel emptied on their head and are chewing a gum bigger that their head like their life depended on it.

And you're standing there wondering were the people you once knew are.
And they are standing there, wondering who that stranger, that intruder is.

Then of course your dad comes closer and starts talking to you.
And it hits them! You're the architect's son.
In small villages in Lebanon, you are unknown to the inhabitants until you get a job.
Until then, you are known as your father's son.

That's what I don't like. This whole living-in-the-60s thing.
Seriously, I feel like this whole country is stuck in this vicious circle and is never going to get out of it.