Todd: Now, Rina, you said that you family is from Lebanon. (Mm-hm) Have you been to Lebanon.?

 

Rina: I've gone three times. We usually go about three months at a time, and last summer was the first time I was embracing my culture. I spent a lot of my younger years pushing it away because, you know, I was different. I grew up in a small town. I wanted to be like everyone else, and then last summer, I went wanting to embrace my culture and I just fell in love with it. Yeah.

 

Todd: So talk a little about Lebanon. What's Lebanon. like?

 

Rina: Um, it's definitely an amazing country. There's a lot of history. It's right on the coast of the Mediterranean. It's all mountains, so it's scary as hell. You kiss the ground when you get out of the vehicle and you pray to god when you get in and, an interesting tid bit: in one of the season's, I believe it's in April or May, you can go swimming in the Mediterranean. in the morning and go skiing in the mountains in the afternoon.

 

Todd: That is cool.

 

Rina: In the same day.

 

Todd: Wow! Yeah, cause when people think of the Middle East, they think of hot.

 

Rina: Everybody thinks that it's like flat desserts, camels, and it's that stereotype of the Middle East and it's nothing like that, it's more, I culture is closer to the Greek or Turkish culture than it is to the standard Middle Eastern culture.

 

Todd: Right.

 

Rina: Right. Very modern.

 

Todd: OK, well, actually, talk a little about Beirut. I hear that Beirut's just an amazing city.

 

Rina: Oh, it is. Well, right now, they're reconstructing everything because of the civil war and by the year 2025, it should be completely redone except there are some places that they're unable to do because of the historical facts. They're digging up underneath the city and finding Roman bath houses (Whoa) and there is, there's so much history there. It's one of the oldest cities in the world, so.

 

Todd: It sounds like a great place.

 

Rina: It's amazing. It's amazing and the night life there is unreal.