For the Home Front

One of my nieces from Holland is in town this week, so here are some pictures for the home front.  We took her skiing, if only to show her the cliche that while her uncle went diving, her aunt took her skiing, all in the same day.

Sietske in Beirut, Maaike from Holland, and 3 half Dutchies (not all mine :)

There’s not that many Dutch in Lebanon, but the contingent of ‘half-Dutchies’ is slowly (We’re not very prolific breeders) but surely growing. Half breeds tend to pick up the best genes of each side, resulting in a wonderful concoction. At least, that is what I observe.

Holland is quite a multi-cultural society anyway these days; we’re becoming a little bit like Lebanon in that aspect, where just about every family has some connection to a more exotic place such as Baghdad, Amman, Cairo, Tunis or Jerusalem. In the old days, it was quite unusual for a Dutch family to have a foreigner as a mom or a dad. I remember this family in our neighborhood that had a German mom. And that was as foreign as our entire village got. The European borders were quite ‘love-resistant’ in those days.

Maaike, Walid & Adrian

The Arabic borders, in that aspect, were not really seen as barriers. The use of one single language (classical Arabic) and religion probably helped in that aspect. Religion is still a bit of barrier in these regions, though.

And so yesterday we were on the slopes with quite a large body of ‘half-Dutchies’. There was even your quintessential ‘Dutch’ family; Mom from Tunis, Dad from Baskinta, and 3 kids that only speak Dutch, and are currently learning Arabic.

Feraya on Saturday Morning

Now that I’ve got some ideas as to why veiled ladies won’t ski, and I am wondering what all these mixed relationships will do to the politics of this country on the long run. Will confessionalism in Lebanon eventually be abandoned as more and more people are no longer ‘pure’ Lebanese, or pure ‘Arab’? I hope so.