Tag Archives: New

McDonald’s New Lebanon Branch – Batroun


The McDonald’s franchise is opening up a new branch in the coastal Lebanese city of Batroun as part of what looks to be an aggressive expansion campaign.

The Batroun branch has been set at an old fashioned Lebanese house, completely renovated for this purpose, right on the main road.

The two-story house/restaurant’s interior is composed of state of the art equipment that contrast with the rustic exterior. I have to say, this is probably the most amazing McDonald’s restaurant in Lebanon, if not everywhere. It combines both tradition with the future.

But the question begs itself: how successful will this branch be in a city known for an overflow of restaurants that offer cheaper burgers and sometimes better food?

Don’t expect many outsiders to come to this branch. After all, other branches are only a ten minute drive away. This McDonald’s is for the people in Batroun, a not very populated city. Will the returns be enough to cover the cost? I doubt. It’s still a nice place to look at though.

Check out the pictures I took of the place while passing by:


The Maronite Church and Lebanon’s New Patriarch

The Maronite Church has spoken and has chosen Beshara Al Raai as the successor to Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, as the patriarch.

I will not enumerate the many qualities this man has. I’m sure the Bishops that chose him have chosen well. I just hope that he is at least half as good as his predecessor, Nasrallah Sfeir, who was as great as greatness could be.

I hope this new patriarch stands by what he believes in and does not waver, even when things get tough, like his predecessor. He will be submitted to great pressure. Many are going to want to see him fail and on a few occasions, he will make mistakes. I hope he perseveres through all the hardships because we, as Maronites and Lebanese, deserve to have “the Good Shepherd” in these dark times. I hope that he continues in the legacy of the Maronite Church, as a rock on which Lebanon was – and will forever be – built.

New in town

I’ve been seeing people blogging and sharing their blogs for a while now, be it on my Twitter account or on my Facebook page. And I finally decided to take the plunge and register for an account because I’m becoming more active on the web social network lately.

What I think this page will turn into is somewhere I can post what movies I watched lately and my opinions on them, my opinion regarding life events in Lebanon or any other place, music I like, etc…

The title of this blog is “A Separate State of Mind”. And this is what I hope this becomes: a space where I can freely share my opinion about what I mentioned earlier.

A friend suggested Carrie-oholic, since my favorite artist is Carrie Underwood. But I will not be posting about Carrie only. So stick around. Odds are you might find something posted that you actually like. I mean, how at odds will my opinion about things be with everyone else?