In Beirut everything is done with flare – even birthdays. While I was volunteering there I was showered with attention from the Lebanese and their ‘guest culture’.

However, nothing prepared me for the attention I received on my birthday. My host family threw me a party and invited family and friends; people who I had just briefly met in the short time I had been staying in Lebanon via GeoVisions. Not only did they provide fireworks, but each of them gave me presents. It was as if I had known them all for 12 years, not 12 days.

You can follow more of Sherry’s adventures in the Middle East through her Volunteer Chronicles.