Sunday, we were invited for lunch to Manu’s “adopted family” Farida, George, and their daughters Joyce and Jessica. They live in a two story, 120 year old enormous house very close to Manu – which they just sold to a developer since it would have cost too much to renovate - . I ate lots of tasty dishes cooked by Farida: cutlets in a carrot sauce with puree, chicken in a white sauce with rice, mixed salad with lemon juice and olive oil dressing, and dessert with fresh fruit and flatbread with tahini spread (made of sesame seeds and honey! Mmmmmm!)
After lunch, we were dropped off with Manu at Manara (lighthouse) district and took a walk on the boardwalk in the Chamia district. Since it was Sunday, it was packed with people walking, smoking water pipes, riding bicycles, performing stunts on rollerblades, and enjoying the breeze from the sea. During our walk I also noticed Beirut is a lot more globalized than any other place I have been to yet – outside of the USA - . All makes and ages of cars can be found here, from the newest BMWs, Ferraris, and Porsches to the oldest Mercedes, Renaults, Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets and everything in between. Then, the restaurant chains: Burger King, McDonald’s, Hardees’s, Domino’s Pizza, Hard Rock Café, and Starbuck’s Coffee, to name a few. The only difference is that everyone here speaks at least three languages: Arabic, French and English…We then walked to Downtown Beirut, a part of the city that was completely destroyed during the civil war – some say on purpose – and rebuilt in an arabesque Ottoman and French colonial style. It kind of felt like Disneyland and there were also a few interesting product placements, like the Rolex clock tower at the center of the main square, and the Generali Insurance lion statue on one of the buildings…

Today, I spent mostly in bed, curing my cold, which seems to have become a sort of light flu. The first thing I noticed in the morning was the amount of continuous honking on the streets. During the day, observing the street from the balcony, I realized that this is due to the following things, resulting from the misconception that although the Lebanese really think they are the best drivers in the world - and will get really upset if you say otherwise - they simply don’t know how to drive:
1. They speed all the time without a reason, as if their life depended on getting to their destination as fast as possible, and beep at anyone who is driving slower in front of them¬;
2. They suddenly stop in the middle of the road, get out of the car and leave their car double parked, if they can, since everyone behind them starts honking until they give up on this idea, and speed away;
3. They try crazy maneuvers such as backing into the opposite lane from a side road, blocking both lanes of traffic, until the honking discourages them;
4. They ignore one-way signs, and then honk at each other when encountering oncoming traffic, until someone gives up.
All these situations result in continuous honking and beeping, additionally, the always-present taxis honk at passing pedestrians to advertise that they are free and can be hailed they have the idea that if they are in one of the ubiquitous traffic jams, honking will magically dispel the cars in front of them, and result in an open road. At night we were invited for dinner and I had my first traditional Lebanese meal –prepared by an Italian, Manu’s roommate Corinna - at the house of Jamal, a young professor, and the son of a Greek Orthodox politician of the Lebanese Communist Party. Wearing my Che T-shirt - suggested by Manu to please Jamal - we were picked up near our place with, Johan a French kid living here and his girlfriend Reema. We had a nice time, sitting in Jamal’s “arab room” on cushions, drinking Lebanese wine and chatting about various aspects of Lebanon and Capitalism.

I arrived in Beirut last night at 1AM, during a thunderstorm. Although I couldn’t hear the thunder inside the plane, I could definitely see the lightning and feel the shaking and bouncing of the plane quite well, and the large waves hitting the shoreline of the Beirut coast. As we finally landed on the runway, the plane was blown left and right a few times while decelerating, and eventually stopped. The landing wasn’t the scariest one I’ve experienced, but it was definitely in the top 5! After landing, I proceeded to passport control, where after a short wait while first one border guard, and then another scrutinized my passport for any Israeli stamps, let me in to get my bag, which amazingly arrived in one piece and unopened, and then out to the arrivals hall.
After meeting and greeting Manu, and a friend, George, we were quickly whisked away in a taxi, going at least 120km/h in the city towards downtown Beirut. Here George got off to go partying, and Manu and me were taken home to Fourn el Shebbak, where she lives.

So, I have come half-way, and currently sitting in the transit area of Kemal Atatürk International Airport, typing up a blog entry on Kinga’s borrowed laptop after finally finding an outlet and somewhere to sit next to it. My flight from Budapest was nice; it’s been a very long time since I’ve received a hot meal on such a short flight! I was a little late getting to the airport by public transport; fortunately Türk Hava Yollari was late as well, so there were no problems.
This is my first time at Istanbul’s airport, the last time I came by cruise ship, so I didn’t have a chance o see it, and I must say that I am quite impressed. I expected a crowded, small, unorganized, smoky, dirty and loud airport, and I got exactly the opposite. It is large and clean, has a lot of space, quiet –except for the occasional announcements – , adequate seating, no smoking – not even smoking rooms, as far as I can tell- and many stores and cafes. It also looks a lot safer; there are two security checks, one when entering the zone for ticketed passengers, and another one when entering the gate area, both with metal detectors and x-ray machines!

Alright, enough about the airport, let me tell you what I’m doing here. I am currently on my way to Beirut, Lebanon. “And why?” you might ask. “Why would you want to leave your cozy place in Budapest and instead of going to a sunny island in Italy, go to the Middle East, to a country full of terrorists, car bombs, and Israeli rockets?” Well, it’s all because of Amnesty International . Let me explain…
It all stared out sometime in 2004, my love, Manu, wanted to do something productive while she was in Hungary trying to find a job, so she started volunteering for Amnesty International, taking the train from Székesfehérvár to Budapest a few times a week to help at their Hungarian office. One thing led to another, she ended up the Director of the Board, and decided that she liked Human Rights so much that she wanted to get a Masters Degree in the subject. After spending six months in a classroom in Pisa, she had to decide where she will spend the six months of her internship. She did have other choices, but it is clear why she chose Beirut, when her other choices were Darfur and Somalia. And after almost being done with her time there, for my birthday on Friday the 13th of this month –some of you might remember ;) – she bought me a round-trip ticket to come visit her and go traveling together in Lebanon.
I have two and a half more hours until the next flight, so I will eat the last of my sandwiches with Medve sajt and Szalámi, it will be some time before I eat these delicacies again, but from what I hear from friends, I won’t be disappointed in Lebanese food…

Organizational Hierarchy