Lebanon

Population: 4.259 million

Capital: Beirut

Language: Arabic phrases: Hi (Salaam) Good evening ( Masaa el kheer)

Currency: Lebanese pound

Climate: Lebanon's climate is Mediterranean.  Long, hot, dry summers and short, cool, rainy winters.

Religion: Lebanon is the most religiously diverse society in the Middle East.  There are 17 recognized religious sects.  Christianity and Islam are the two most popular religions.  54% are Muslim and 41% Christian.

Sports: There are actually a lot of popular sports in Lebanon, because of the weather both winter and summer sports are popular in the country. Autosports, jogging, bodybuilding rugby are all popular, but soccer is the most popular sport.  the Federation Libanaise de Football team has never made it to a world cup or won a trophy, but the team did make it through the first round of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup.

Famous people: Keanu Reeves was born in Lebanon, but he is not Lebanese.  Sam Kalidi and actor known for Iron Man is Lebanese.  Those were the only two names I recognized for famous people.  There were more, but they were in films I had never heard of or were names that I did not know.

Flag:

Facts:
* Lebanon has 42 universities
* 70% of students attend private schools
* Cedar is the national tree
* Byblos is the oldest continuously living city in the world
* It is the only Arab country that does not have a desert

Culture:  Lebanon is by far the most liberal country in the Arab world.  The media has more freedom to speak, there have the most practiced religions, women have equal rights and the people are not held to quite as strict a standard as most other Arab nations.  Lebanon follows both the Georgian and Julian calendars, some people celebrate Christmas on December 25th, others on January 6th depending on their religion.  Both Christian and Muslim holidays are celebrated.  Eating is a social event, no one hardly eats alone.  Pita bread, rice, red meat, beans and humus are staples of their diets.

Activity

Lebanon has always been a country of interest to me.  My great-grandfather came to Ecuador from Lebanon and brought our last name, Shauri, with him.  I have looked into the origins of my last name and found out it might be Swahili, but it definitely has Arabic routes.  It is a goal of mine to research my genealogy and find out more about my ancestors and where they come from.

Our activity for Lebanon was to go to Cedars of Lebanon which is a restaurant in down town Salt Lake.  Megan and I have been to this restaurant a couple of times before, once alone and another time with a group of friends from Megan's work.   That particular experience was really fun because we had a room all to ourselves and we danced to the music and just had a great time.

This time we took our kids, we wanted them to not only taste the food, but also experience the atmosphere. I ordered soup with my meal that the kids really loved, I am not sure what type of soup it was, some kind of creamy soup.  We also had a lamb shish kabob.  Lamb is a favorite of Megan's and I think she has gotten it every time we have gone.  It is really good and the kids even ate a couple of bites.