Sunday, February 25, 2007

Dull philosophical thoughts

How often do you say to yourself , when eating a delicious sweet in a pastries shop or a café , that if you owned this place you would never pass a day without having a piece of that delicious sweet you order almost every time you go into that café . Your tongue never gets tired of having the sugary taste sending pleasures of yummy signals to your brains making you feel all high and content? and then , here comes a time when you are there feeling like trying something different for a change , and suddenly , that pastries shop is out of all kinds but your sweet , but the problem is , you don't really feel like having it this time , yet you have it , simply because there is nothing else , it may still taste as good . But it also may taste less than usual , simply because you are out of options , and this is your only choice.


Same thing applies to life, whether it’s a person, a hobby or a job, whom or which you dearly care for and cherish, once you get over dosed with any of those, you probably will feel the need for some space, an open window where you can see another view , exhale some fresh air, and acknowledge the presence of other things in life other that what you have been destined to see for a good amount of time. Okay, I admit that I might have got carried away with trying to find resemblance between a piece of yummy pastry and other vital life issues, and I know that many wont probably agree with me putting people, hobbies and work all at the same rank, but maybe, if you looked at it from different angle and wear a different shoe – similar to mine - then maybe, you could see some rightness with my point of view ,( or it could be that I should find a better pair of shoes ! )

Do we hold affection for the people and devotion for the things we always cared for forever? Or do we pass through times where we loose that affection and devotion and feel surprisingly chocked with its magnitude? I mean, sometimes, caring for something or someone deeply and continually, can blind us from other things around us, especially if that thing or one is totally consuming, where you point all your efforts towards building, maintaining and keeping it. And it all evolves around it , where you have no choice to look for other "it(
s)" around . But aren’t you entitled for a break? Where you can recover your breath, and forget all about forcing your whole-self to one thing? or does this analogy sound vague and a bit selfish ? I cannot quite decide.

I don't know, this could be a late night hallucination, a dull philosophical random thoughts, or a side effect of excessive and long work hours , that I might feel like crossing once I sober of this weird phase I am going through. But it does feel good to spill few thoughts out, I have not done it for a while, and now I can feel all good and comfy for letting out those cranky thoughts out of my head.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Thoughts on Cairo Trip ..

"First , a little note , I would like to thank you all for dropping by my blog , and asking about me , I am fine , and I miss all of you , and I miss reading and communicating with you and commenting on those thoughts you leave on your blog sites . My “lame” excuse is work, and I think this will last for a while. But hopefully, I will manage to escape the load every now and then ( like today) and post something and check some blogs . Also , I would like to post a special thanks to the caller (Rasha ) for her kind idea of meeting while I am in Cairo , which unfortunately did not work out , due to the short time , however , I hope it will work out in the coming trips , inshallah :). "
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“Its way after midnight , and I am sitting on my bed in my hotel room , I can hardly keep my eyes open , or my lips from drawing that content smile on my face . Today was our final full day here in Cairo, tomorrow, we will be heading back to Amman, and despite the fact that those past three days and half were
extremely loaded with work , yet , I had a tiny chance to check out some parts of Cairo , mostly being in the car moving from one place to another , but I had a chance to go and set at Alfishwaie coffee place . One idea was running in my mind the whole time that I should come back here, for a vacation. I simply envy the people of Egypt on their transparent funny lovable spirit. You simply cannot feel anything for them except love them, and feel like coming back, despite the huge traffic problem they have, but that is a minor reason that wont stop me from going there again, since everything there makes me feel like coming back.
I can hardly keep my eyes open, I should get some sleep and I’ll write more later
That was one of those random diary style paragraphs that I typed during my stay in Cairo. It’s been almost a week now since I got back. Still, I carry the memory of that short trip with me. We headed to Cairo Airport last Saturday, that’s about ten days ago, and the overall feeling I had back then was being anxious and worrying about several business meetings I planned and wished that will go just fine , having some management personnel with me , made me stress over the visit , because I wanted things to go perfect . However, the minute we landed, and headed to our hotel , things started to feel good .


The three days we spent where full in exhibition (Cairo ICT) activities from early morning till around 8 p.m. at night , but it gave me a slight idea of a country I’ve never been to before , yet always dreamed of visiting ever since I was a little kid , since I grew up reading for a lot of Egyptian authors, in so many parts of literature , like Najib Mahfouz, Yousef Alsebaei, Ihssan Abdalqouddous , the series of Rajol almosta7eel , Malaf almostaqbal and ma wara2 altabee3a , add to that “alghaz, which where very popular when I was a kind and teenager “, so it was always a dream to pass by and be around places like Helioplois , Maadi , Down town Cairo , Khan alkhalili , Alqobba square (Midan 7adae’q Alqobba) , the river Nile, pyramids ( I only saw them from a distance , but I will come back for all the Pharaoh ruins again ) as well as the Smart city (very neat !!!) And many other places.. Everything was so lovely in a dreamy way. I did not get to shop though, only passed for a fast food pickup , by a big mall called city stars , but there was no time at all for shopping .

I met wonderful people during this trip, the partners who has hosted us, there is always something nice in meeting someone you always knew through the phone for business, and then meeting him/her for real . You have already broke some of the ice , having dealt before , but the actual meeting always add to the relation and strengthen it in a good way .
The Egyptians are definitely a warm nation, loving and always open for guests. and I also came to knew they have a big thing for the Levant people “ahel Belad elsham” .. lol:). Its funny when dialects between us cross, and we start trying to explain what do we meant by this or that. But also, I have learned that Egyptians are workaholics! most of whom I met , worked day and night , and saw their families during weekends only . Or this might be restricted to the sector that I am in , which has to do with telecommunication and IT .

All in all , I am planning to visit it again inshallah , if things went fine with business , then there is a good chance to have another short business trip , but I have already set my mind to come again for vacation , tour around , and enjoy the lovely spirit of that ancient country .



Friday, February 02, 2007

Going to Cairo ..

I have finished packing my suitcase a while ago. I tried to limit myself with cloths I am taking, but winter cloths are heavy! and I am trying to imagine how am I going to handle my suitcase , my purse , the laptop and the brochures bag . Use your fertile imagination to picture a tiny person buried under all of those bags and struggling her way to the checkout point!

So, why Cairo ? It's definitely not for leisure (I wish if it was though), it’s a business trip, and the schedule so far seems loaded. I will spare you the headache I am living lately, and wont blabber about the goals and the preparations for this visit, however part of it will be exhibiting our products in Cairo ICT. I still hope that we'll have sometime to tour around and see some of Cairo's features; it would be such a pity to reach it and not visit its famous places.

I just wish if I don't worry this much when traveling is involved in any plan. I think I have some sort of a pre-traveling phobia. My mother traveled today to visit her hometown , tomorrow's morning it will be me , and around noon time my brother will also take off to another destination . I know this is normal in many houses around this glob, but it feels a bit new to our house, to have three members out of country, leaving the other three handling their business on their own.

I am scheduled to be back by Wednesday, and as weather news says, snow is expected in Amman that day. I have this tiny evil wish that it would snow after I arrive, so that I won't have to go to work the very next day, because we have another business trip scheduled to Damascus, and I feel exhausted already by the mere reminder of it!