Almost back ,,,

In a couple of months it will be almost a year .. Since the last time I typed a post and blogged it .. Why did I stop ? Was I too busy to blog ? well, at first yes , for a while I was overwhelmed with work and life , I couldn’t post anything and I also couldn’t read my favorite blogs . It could be bad time management issue as well .. of course , later on , things got calmer , and I felt guilty for not blogging anymore , and for some reason I felt like I lost my blogging sense ..

So! What have I been up to for the past year? well , had a busy year at work , and a busy summer , spent a cool vacation in Syria , Cairo , Petra & RUM . Autumn was kind of depressing on all levels, socially and work wise, for some reason I was relieved that 2007 came to an end, and looking forward for a new fresh start with 2008. Unfortunately , 2008 did not start as good as I anticipated , mid January , I got my car glass’s broken , and my laptop robbed from my car , while I was buying something from a nearby home Supermarket , the bad thing was , I did not have a backup for my work , but I could manage eventually . So that was the first incident! During February , I got almost mugged by two men while withdrawing money from a main street ATM , if it wasn’t for God’s mercy I would’ve had my money & probably my car stolen from me . Will tell you the full story in another post, apparently, this kind of robbery is a trend lately in Amman with prices inflation, so be aware!

I feel like I missed a lot in blogging world , and I feel out of practice , that’s why I hesitated to write again , and whenever I received another heartwarming comment from my friends among bloggers , I felt the urge to write again , and tonight I just did . My fingers feel rusty and my stream of thoughts is still a bit frozen , but I guess it’s a matter of couple of posts , and hopefully I’ll be back on track .

Thank you all .. I guess I am back!

Staying alive ..

I have finally written a vacation request , finally , after killing my self off in working , hard , staying late at work , missing my gym classes which has grown to be a routine for me in the past three years , passing through ongoing depression and frustration phases , stopping to believe in my abilities every now and then , and then again , recharge my powers to keep on believing in them , suffering an ugly moody state , missing the relaxed serenity of not worrying about anything after leaving work to home , spending weekends rehabilitating from the long tiring work days and surprising business trips , putting up with heavy kidding and “entertaining characters” , add to that , ugly competition . Finally, I’ll be able to take a break from this headache.

I realize that I am stealing those few moments of my work time to type down my thoughts, I have been wanting to do this for sooooo long, every time I pass through this state of repulsive depressed mood, I feel the need to vent it out into words, share it with my screen , for it wont get bored of my complain, which unfortunately affecting me in so many ways and which for some reason I cannot hide any longer .

Its surely not always as bad or frustrating, this style of vivid and speedy life isn’t always bad, it shows you what “precious time” mean, and you at some point get accustomed to it, however , its when you reach that point of taking no longer load , stress , suffering the delayed and pending success proves on your hard work , its then when you can no longer take it . It could be me , but for the past month and half , this cloud has been raining over my head showers of depression , frustration and self loathing .

Why?
It could because I’m always trying to prove myself to everybody around at work that I am capable of handling this , that I am , actually, the first female who is able to put up with all of this ongoing work load , and that eventually , the fruits of my hard work will have to grow big & sweet and all will enjoy a piece of it . And that I never accept defeat. when I started at this particular stream , I knew that pursuing this work will be a hard job , and I knew that it will take time , but I have also given myself a year to evaluate myself and see if I can handle the challenge .

Challenge, it’s the magical word that keeps your engines roar, your head high, and your footsteps steady and confident, that is of course , if you are up to it. And for me , it has been my only motivation , add to that those who has gambled that I wont make it and those who believed that I will make all of it, and every time I hear that I get more determined of going all through to the end , my goal is , cultivating those fruits , and then deciding if I can handle more of this war , or if I would be satisfied in winning a the battle and call it a challenge !

Going home .. blogging from Dubai Airport.

March was a total madness , out of 31 days I spent a little over two weeks traveling between more than 5 cities and three continents.

Went to Cairo , Beirut , Damascus , Dubai , Lahore and Islamabad .
Being on the road is really tiring , despite the fun of seeing things from a different angle , and trying different life styles and atmospheres , getting to know people of different cultures , but still , its very unstable .

We arrived to UAE two days ago , had a meeting in Abu Dhabi , stayed in it for the whole two days . the city is nice , a lot of towers , wide streets , many of you are probably familiar with that city style , yet it misses the coziness I simply love in Amman.
Anyway , for the past two nights , after finishing with our business meetings , we went on walks in the city , and visited two of the pronounced malls , however each time , I reach when its almost the closing time , so I did not get to do any shopping , which is somehow better for my pockets !

Right now I’m in the Dubai’s airport , thinking to check the duty free after finishing this post .
I have not blogged for a while , neither checked any of my favorite blogs , its just that one becomes anti-laptop when you connect the laptop to work all the time. So usually , the free hours you get are spent somewhere away from the work tools .. anyone can get my idea here ?

Anyhow , I guess I’ll finish here and call it a post . gotta run and check the duty free before the take off :).

Blogging from .. Lahore Airport

I wrote this post about two weeks ago , did not have the chance to blog it earlier though .. here you go :).

"I am not kidding , I am actually sitting here at Lahore’s Airport , its 07:44 A.M. Lahore local time . we are flying back to Amman with a stop over in Dubai on Emirates Airlines , we still have slightly over an hour for our flight to take off. We just had some local cappuccinos along with two chunky kitkat bars as our breakfast .
I am thinking how boring my life would’ve been at this moment without technology, having my mp3 playing songs in my ears , while I am typing those words.

So , the question I’ll be faced with once I am back to Amman ( which by the way I miss SO MUCH, an overwhelming feeling of missing has been dominating me all through this trip , as if I am light years away from my family and the surroundings I am familiar with. This was not the case with other trips , but maybe , since I am way far from home , I just cannot seem to come over this feeling.

My trip started about a week ago , flying from Amman , to Dubai , where I spent few hours in it , headed to one mall (City center) , then back to the airport to continue flying to Lahore-Pakistan . I had this anxiety which is a part of my traveling routine every time I go somewhere new , but this time . It was even more , since it was to a totally different type of country . I was full of worries and expectations during my way to there, which took me almost a whole day of traveling.

We arrived at Lahore that day , early morning , around 03:00 a.m. , city was calm , yet not totally a sleep , you could see cars . bikes and motor cycles in the streets. The next days we spent in business meetings , extensive ones , we did not get to make any site seeing. I was only able to see the city from behind the car windows. A city that is heavily populated , streets are dirty and chaotic , polluted heavy weather , many shacks, lots of Reksha cars and trash is everywhere . yet , despite all of that , the city is full of trees – which I think it would died without, with all of this pollution in the air - and they has nice looking houses , also some nicely shaped neighborhoods .

As I said the air is heavy and still , shaded in white , its partly humidity , but most of it goes back to the fact that their main fuel for cars and vehicles is gas and diesel instead petrol. Which trashes the air with this white nasty shadow, along with that killer odder it vents along.

The Pakistani people are nice , modest , and very simple. Every time we went to a meeting , someone would jump and ask “ is this your first time in Pakistan , I’d go ; YES ! then they’d ask , how do you find Pakistan so far ? and I’d go , its .. ummm… well .. interesting ! “ the truth is , I did not like it here, its a bit rough living for me , but , I was surprised with few things over here . one of them is the motor way between Lahore and Islamabad , very modern , nice rests along the way , and green is everywhere.
To conclude , I’d say it was quite an adventure to go there , I still have many quirks that I think I should write about one day . but lets leave that for another time. "

Blogging from .. Beirut !

Country : Lebanon – Beirut.
Blogging from : the Hotel Room .
Time : Almost midnight.

This past two weeks were out of my usual serene calm world I’ve always knew, mostly loud , hectic and so little rest or sleep.

I have arrived from Cairo on Friday, spent Tuesday in Damascus for two business meetings, and right now , I am in Beirut !!!!

I still cannot believe that all of this moving around is real. Me being in three different countries, in less than one week! Actually, if I extended the week into ten days , then they’ll be five countries !

I am suffering sleep deprivation, ongoing stress, God knows how many deadlines have to be met and follow up actions required , however the worst part of all is I barely see my family or my friends , I feel totally disconnected from the life I know . however , along with all of the above , a part of me is enjoying the adventure that comes with being in a different place every now and then .

The flight was quick and smooth; my neighbor was a Lebanese man, offering free information about Lebanon. I was planning to take a short nap during the flight, however, with the ongoing shouts & giggles of the young passengers sitting in front of me, and my friendly and talkative neighbor , my nap plan went down the drain.

I am supposed to wake up early tomorrow, we have one meeting , and then we are catching the afternoon flight back to Amman , which wont give us any chance to tour around . to tell you the truth I kind of hope to miss the afternoon plane and go for the night plane , to look around during the evening, but the idea of rolling my bag in the streets of Beirut is a bit unpleasant . I kind of feel disappointed a bit , thinking that I am in here Beirut , yet unable to see any of its places. But I guess I will have to come back on a vacation sometime.

I am starting to see numbers and pillows flying around the room , a side effect of sleep deprivation and a clear sign that tells me its time to sleep . So , I’ll hit the bed , and I shall be posting updates soon.

On the run..

In less than one month, I had two trips to Cairo, but this time it lasted longer, a whole week spent in the city that knows no sleep nor rest . I guess being alert, workaholic and always ready for more work is a part of the genetic composition of the people of Cairo!

This time , I had to go to Cairo alone , and meet up with a colleague coming on another trip from a different destination. My flight was okay , it takes less than an hour to fly from Amman to Cairo , and between elevating and landing with the snack in between , one can hardly feel the time. One cool thing happened to me this time , was meeting an old friend from university days whom I haven't seen since graduation , it was a lot of fun to catch up with him about life and everybody's news . I am always hit by this refreshing wave whenever I meet someone that I used to know from university days and have not seen for a while ! its always fun to catch up about others news , and know which docks their life boat sailed them to .

This time , I got to see the day life of Cairo , the days were extremely busy , leaving hotel on a very early time , to catch up a meeting or two in the smart village , which by the way one of the cleanest , most mordent places my eyes spotted in Cairo. Other than this , our attempts gone with the wind trying to reach any destination on time , the traffic in Cairo is a killer indeed , and this makes me wonder if any one keeps an appointment over there .

This time I was lucky enough to have a peaceful seal in the great river Nile. The sensation was unbelievable , to set in that boat , at night staring at Cairo lights all around , and enjoying the peaceful gentle movements of the boat , very relaxing , and I would guess romantic as well if the right people were around .

On my last day there , and after our final presentation , we went to pyramids . the site is magnificent , the enormous size of them , makes you wonder how could they build it , in the size of a mountain , rocks shaped equally and piled up in that pyramidal figure . I guess everyone had the same wondering , staring at the top of the biggest pyramid , perplexed with delusion of it moving forward the longer you stared at it . I've been always amazed by the pharos culture, and will always be.

I was finally free to do some shopping, after we got back to the hotel . Fighting the exhaustion and sleeplessness I had out of waking up early and sleeping fairly late , I decided that it was my only chance to check the modern Cairo and pay City Stars mall a visit. So I went there, on my own , was a bit freaked out about moving at night but then all went just fine , and on top of that I managed to buy two pieces that I can't wait to wear :) .

So , my next destination would be .. Syria , Lebanon , Pakistan , all of it .. I guess I’ll keep you updated !

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.

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 .

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!

Shooting star .. self journal

Too many things are taking place lately at my work, lots of work load, and I am still trying to squeeze it all in those 8 hours, without any success, to end up working for 10 and 12 hrs sometimes.

I almost forgot how does it feel to be free of all work obligations, and to be at home , wearing something comfy , a PJ or a training suite , with soft slippers in my feet , wearing my glasses on instead of those annoying contact lenses scrunching my eyeballs warping my hands around my big hot mug of green tea , seeking serenity and warmth . And enjoying that soft track for Corrine Bailey Rae singing in the background :

"Just like a star across my sky,
Just like an angel off the page,
You have appeared to my life,
Feel like I'll never be the same,
Just like a song in my heart,
Just like oil on my hands,
Honour to love you ….."




And no, I am far far far away from falling for any "star". My star is still wondering somewhere in that endless glamorous space. I simply happen to find the song soothing and romantic , and the words seem are easy to murmur ..

This does look like another self journal post, though I just cannot resist it. It's been a long tiring energy consuming week, and the hardest is yet to come...


And Corrine is still singing:

"I wonder why it is,
I don't argue like this,
With anyone but you,
I wonder why it is,
I wont let my guard down,
To anyone but you
We do it all the time,
Blowing out my mind.. "

A warm winter night spent with "Sho Hal-iyyam" ..

My friend called me this evening asking me if I was free to hang out. Its been a while since the two of us went out for a cup of coffee with warm cozy chit chat. And as we were wondering about where to go, she mentioned a concert being held in the Terrasanta schools theater later this evening for a local band called "Sho Hal iyyam" . I paused a bit when she said the name trying to remember where have I heard it before , and then it came back to me that few weeks ago , as I was skimming the newspaper , I saw a half page article talking about this freshly formed band , which consists of six members. I remembered that the review was praising their performance in a newly opened coffee place in Amman down town. So I thought, what the heck, lets go and hear them out!

My friend picked me up, and we were in Alwaibdeh area, where Terrasanta School is, before the concert time with ten minutes. I love the area there, there is this unexplainable passion and coziness in the old parts of Amman like Alwaibdeh , Jabal Amman and some parts of down town . That made me remember a funny remark of someone I know "Those places are sexy somehow"! and despite the fact that I was not able to relate to that , the comment blinks in my mind , every time I pass by them.

The whole event was organized by Arab Group For the protection Of Nature, where the funds raised from tickets will go to implant olive trees in Palestine and Jordan. Around 7:30 the theater was full , and after a couple of speeches from organizers , the band started , and I should say , it was one of the nicest , loveliest little concerts I've ever been to. The band consists of 2 ladies with lovely heavenly voices and 5 talented guys playing different cords based instruments, such as O'oud , guitar and Bouzoq in addition to Daff . They played and sang a collection of heart warming oldies, by Fairouz, Marcel Khalifeh , Shei7' Imam and Ziad Rahbani , such as , "Zouroni kol sana marra" "elba7r beyed7ak leah" "Inni i7'tartoka ya wa6ani" "sho hal iyyam". The theater was really cold, yet their lovely voices with that touchy play of instruments, and down to earth performance and attitude warmed everyone's hearts. And with every song performed, applause went on and on. It's really lovely to hear such a local young band, with beautiful voices and talents like that singing respectful, patriotic and romantic songs. I enjoyed every moment I spent there. And I encourage anyone to hear them out in any upcoming performance for them.

Random thoughts .. Piece of my journal

It has been a while since the last time I posted anything. I can't really think of anything specific to write about, other than the fact that the last couple of weeks passed way too fast and were kind of loaded, I managed to have 4 days away from work though, taking a day off between Christmas holiday and weekend. I was kind of forced into taking that day off , since the HR announced , that any left over vacation since 2005 should be taken , otherwise , they will be gone with the wind the moment 2007 starts ! And since I am the type of person, who does not know how to take random days off – call me crazy, but seriously, I don't feel a vacation is worthy, unless well planned to be spent somewhere else ! – So I still had a couple of days from the year 2005.

I spent a whole four days away from work stress , did not even dare to check my work email , since I did not want anything to disturb this inner peace I was feeling , being totally relaxed , away from stress , numbers , figures , proposals to be prepared , purchase orders to wait for , reports before the end of the year , customers queries to be answered , excuses to be made for out of hand delays and staying late to finish pending issues and going over it with the manager. So I had a nice little vacation , went shopping a bit , watched TV , read a bit , worked out , went in family visits and of course slept as much as I can .

I got back to work yesterday, and I feel that I am kind of being punished for having that day off, because of the amount of work that should be finished now! I was planning to take Thursday off too, now I am not quiet sure if this will work out, I need to be done with so many things. Everybody wants to close this year, wrap things up, calculate budgets for next year and start fresh and clean in 2007 .And you know something; I still find it weird that 7 years have passed since the starter of the new millennium, time passes REALLY fast.

That was random diary type post, its probably boring, but who said diaries should always be interesting to read !

Enjoy the rain.. I think I have to go back to work and I'll plug my headphones , listen to some Arabic oldies , they always work perfectly with rainy weather .. don't you think so ?

A day in Damascus ..

Yesterday's afternoon :
-G.M. : Tealover, we have an appointment tomorrow at Damascus , noon time .with a key customer to conduct a presentation of some of our solutions . You are among the team going, be ready .
-Me (Tealover) : Oh ! what! okay!

So , today , I had to wake up early , had breakfast , dressed up , put my high heals boots on (and that was a mistake , I should've gone in tennis shoes !!!) , and was ready at the premises by 8 sharp ! .. Well almost sharp..

It was three of us , and the plan was to go , conduct the presentation and come right back. Boarders were empty , it was really cold , and the horizon was misty , by the time we arrived to Damascus around noon , the atmosphere around looked grey and dirty . Not sure if it was pollution, weather or the effect of both.

After the presentation, we decided to head towards Hamediyeh , and female readers , can imagine how nice and comfy is it to walk it with 7 cm high heals ! Anyway, we went to a restaurant in one of those aisles that one of the colleagues recommended, it was okay. Then headed back to Hamediyeh , and in our way passed by Bikdash , my colleagues had some , I had none , I don't rally like it , and I can't quiet get what people finds in it ! After that , we moved on in our way , all the way back to our car , and headed for Amman. A stop over by the Syrian duty free was a must. Then we headed back to Amman, was there by 9 p.m.

A funny thing that caught my eye at the Syrian boarders, was this sign that was saying in Passports, Private with the women, and that translated to
استلام الجوازات, خاص بالنساء … I wish I could capture it , but it was a bit risky at the boarders building!

Anyway, its good to be back to the warm home again ..














Syrian Candy box

Souq

Shanglish

Where we had lunch

From the car

Inside Hamedieyh

A tribute to ....... Nablus

Usually, when someone starts talking about where they have descended from, and which village, town or city they originated from, people around them, whether colleagues, friends, or in-laws may mistake it for either disloyalty for where they have been living for the past decades of their lives. , or simply, for a show off display.

However, the thing is, that we as humans tend to belong to a place, a home, something that we feel solidly hugged and immersed within, the question is, could it be more than one place? I believe, yes, it could be.

It’s a known fact that the population of this beautiful country, come from both sides of the river, we have both shared the resources and elevated up with everything that this generous land offered. And there is no doubt and no question to any of that. However, our hearts are divided in between. I have lived almost my whole life here , I've grown up here , had my full education here , have friends allover , know the streets of Amman like the back of my hand . Yet, I have this warm affection for my home town "Nablus".

Why am I bringing this up? Who cares about my home town? Who cares what do I feel for it, or in which way do I long for walking in its streets? For having some khdoud elset "whish is a yummy type of sweets prepared in Nablus, I prefer it even better than Kunafeh!" There is a good chance, no one will care. But that's okay, I simply felt this desire to type down few lines about it, and send it a tribute through them.

What has triggered it then? It could be those family chats about the old times, the way brothers gathered their families, having all cousins growing up under the same roof, knowing each others like siblings do. Those naughty funny stories of uncles and aunties deeds as kids, those richly colored memories with the taste and smell of the places they speak of , those pure little love stories , or even traditional marriage stories " they still had so many funny details within", it could be anything.

The truth is , as I'm typing these lines , I can picture myself , sitting on the garden's stairs on my grandparent house , overlooking the E'bal mountain ""عيبال , then walking down the street , all the way to the old town , smelling that roaster store on the way , entering those rocky aisles of the old city , celebrating my visuals with the ancient look of those stores going back to hundreds of years , hearing the old strong unique accent of my people blabbering . Passing by the spices merchants, and the soap factories, smelling that unique aroma for the Nabulsi soap. Heading towards Khan , buying some halaweh and Zalabiyeh " another Nabulsi sweet" and then going through the old neighborhoods , and all the way to the famous centre with the clock.

I can keep on talking about my childhood and teenage years memories there , and take you into a journey. But I think , this will probably need another post .


And to those whom are away from their hometowns, regardless which hometown they came from, I hope you'll be able to visit it again and celebrate your memories within.

I love you ya Nablus .. ya Jabal Elnar ..

Random non-business thoughts on ICT forum

I had an extremely busy week at work the past few days , and I've been cut out from the world of blogging for a while ,hopefully I'll be back to read my favorite blogs and post more thing now.

Exhibitions are usually boring, nerves burning and tiring by all means! having to stand up most of the time, being nice and talkative to people visiting, networking,on stand by mode for any one inspecting about the business line, to give a full detailed explanation for the really interested visitors, and even when the audience are out of the business scoop and end up to be random individuals looking for neat giveaways to take home and blabber about.

However, the Dead Sea ICT forum is more oriented and well organized to serve the genuinely interested individuals and companies in the information, communication and technology sectors.

I won't be diving into the technicalities and the agenda of sessions and discussions of the forum, nor the latest that has been officially announced or launched within, since I believe many other bloggers ((whom I have seen and recognized there, and to tell you the truth it was fun seeing them in real)) has already shared that with you in a very professional and elaborating form. I would only say that we have participated as partners with Int@j . After participating as delegates for the past years.

So, yesterday, I had to wake up early to take my time dressing up and attending the work before time to head afterwards with colleagues toward the Dead sea , convention palace.

The palace was crowded for sure; you would sense the business aura in the air, everybody pulling up the professional business looks and smiles, looking sleek and shiny. People were mingling, shaking hands, and business chatters all over the place.

I attended part of the conference opening, and then headed back to the booth, where we had a very busy, yet promising attendance.

After lunch, the session period started, and traffic on booths went down to minimum. However, the only session I attended was "Outsourcing Trends in the Region" which had a very interesting group of speakers and discussions .I would sum it up and say : people , outsourcing will be playing a part in the business process in this region in the coming few years !!

By the end of that session , I had no energy left to keep my eyes open , my feet were killing me for wearing the high heals for the whole day and standing up , climbing stairs , and my brains were about to explode after all of those business discussions during the day .

To conclude I would say All in all, it was good event to attend.

And … Its good to be back !

Sho Zareef halZareef !

Another loaded Thursday! I always thought Thursdays are supposed to be the lamest work days, everybody is usually mentally and emotionally prepared for the weekend. So by noon time, you'd find everyone wrapping up their pending work matters in an attempt to adjust into the "weekend mood" rather than the "work-holism mood" .

So today I had dinner plans with my friends, celebrating a birthday of one of them . And since we made it a habit to go out and try a new restaurant out each birthday . this birthday pick was the new Iranian/Persian restaurant "Zareef".

The place is located at Abdoun circle, occupying half a building of two stories "I think ! but who would really care about this piece of info. ! Anyway ..." .We arrived there after 8 . it was still empty by then .We climbed the stares to the 2nd floor where the better scene is . Our table was located next to the big windows overlooking the street and the shops across.

The general atmosphere of the place is cozy , and clean . Iranian music plays in the background , slightly dimmed lights , enhancing the coziness effect , not to darkness degree though ,I don't like places with minimal light , it always gives me the feeling that something creepy is going on , besides , eating would be such a hard task , considering the fact that you can barely see what's on your plate !

The menu had Iranian/Persian names with explanation of the content of each dish. We started with appetizers .Shami , which is very close to Koufta balls , along with some Nan Panir Sabzi , which is Iranian cheese , served with hot yummy bread , and some Kashk Badenjan , which is mainly fried eggplant topped with kashk , fried onions , mint & garlic.

Main dishes that we ordered were all about rice, meat and chicken. Rice is done in three different ways, either with saffron, vegetables or with Zereshk (some kind of sweet and sour dried fruit close to raisins). Persian food seemed a bit dry to us, since we are used to have rice with something to gravy/Vigi base to the side, We needed to moist our dishes so , each one of us ordered special Iranian yogurt to go with the dish. The food was good, the amount of rice was huge though.

I liked the place, the service was more than great and the prices are reasonable. Food wise , its okay , may be it lacks variety . but for rice lovers , I think it will be a perfect pick !

New policies..

One of the things I liked most about my current work is, they never were critical about the time we arrive nor we leave. So if we are like half an hour late, it would be deducted from our lunch break time , which was half an hour anyway , or we can simply stay for another half an hour in the evening and compensate . So you may say, my colleagues and I , have been living in a work paradise when it came to times of arrival and departure..

However, as any company grows from small sized to medium sized enterprise, the number of employees has doubled if not tripled in the last couple of years , and the management sensed the need to organize things better , so new policies were set that we had to follow , and time of arrival and departure was no exception. So, a circular was sent to all employees, that from now on, we should be at premises by 8:00 and we are entitled with 15 minutes to be late, but exceeding that will be considered extremely late, hence, a warning will be sent!

Picture from gettyimages

So having in mind the past couple of years of tolerance and previous policies, the warning part did not really fit. So, on Sunday, I did not really make any special effort in trying to follow the new policy, since we had a lot of those for the past couple of years, and they went down with the drain. The employees in general thought they were immune to changes. So anyway , here I am getting 23 minutes late for work on Sunday , and performing my usual tasks , until I get that email around mid of the day , the email was simply a warning for my late arrival , and cc'd to concerned parts in the company ! Eah !!!!!! when I saw that , I had this hysterical laugh , thinking "Oh my God , they are not kidding !!! that was my first REAL warning ever in anything that I've ever been too, whether school , university or previous job" . I have to say , geeee .. it felt a bit humiliating !


Not wanting to have such a warning AGAIN , I decided that I should start getting up and starting my engines earlier than what I used to for the past years . The problem is , I am not a morning person mainly , I usually feel grumpy in the early mornings , but I guess , I will have to start changing that !


But that is not all.. There will be a completion for this stream of thoughts .. but I guess , I'll keep it for another post !

Eah , who said life is easy !

Again , back with the challenges of work . Being put into course of competition against your will. Having to face indecent opponents at times, having to sail into the sea of career darkness and multi opportunities to prove yourself and capabilities AGAIN, after "thinking" you finished the "proving" phase you've been into the past years, someone snatch you and say "It has just started , the past few years were only the warming up part" to start again and allover showing your bosses AGAIN that you can handle pressure , you can handle changes in work atmosphere and you can pretty much elevate the career steps to reach one day, to the top.


But what if, you were happy where you are, just in that little cozy place you are filling? Those tasks you've mastered which you know that you kind of perfected performing them? And that everybody is pleased with their outcome. Why can't you just hang in there for the rest of your career life? Oh, well, its true, we all value and seek comfort , BUT .. But we all have those little devils of ambition inside us that aspire something bigger, something higher , something supposedly better ,something that tells the opponents and the colleagues that picking you was the best thing they did , something that shows everyone that you earned that promotion , although , you haven't really asked for it .

Now the horrific part is when, you want to show everyone that you can HNADLE IT, but inside you, you are not quiet sure what to do next. You are lost, you know that there is a lot of catch up to do, and you know that your guide is no longer available, you have been tossed into the boat to sail on your own this time , you are not allowed to show your growing fear or your mere reluctant-ness , because your competitors will smell it like sharks , and snap the whole thing out of your hands.

Eah , who said life is easy !

Hot chocolate & Gerard ..

So I've been blabbering about Gerard and its amazing hot chocolate with marshmallows for a while now.. and although I admitted in one of my comments, on Tamara's blog that I've been staying away from delicious food and chocolate for a while , trying to control my eating habits , which by the way have been drastically ruined during the past summer , Ramadan and the two weeks after Eid , yet , today the temptation was stronger than what I can handle !

After a long loaded Thursday , having to stay late at work , eating barely half a sandwich , I came back home , to go out within less than half an hour , to pick up my mother and sister. So in our way back , we were close to Abdoun , and that chocolate lover devil started whispering in my ears " Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows ... Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows … Gerard is less than 5 minutes away .. you can do it ..go .. go .. gooooo" so it took me like half a second to convince mom and sister .Actually it was effortless job, they said okay without having me to convince them into it, and we headed there , promised with the pleasures of chocolate taste in a winter cold night .

I thought it would be okay for me to order hot chocolate this time, since I did not had much food during the day, so I needed the sugar and the calories – you know.. In order to survive- and ordered my sweet hot drink. You can see the picture DOWN.

The place was full as usual, so I held my precious drink with both hands, and sat outside. It was a cold night, yet all my sensations were warming up with every sip I take of this heavenly sweet condensed drink, and my heart was dancing and bouncing to the flavor of every marshmallow piece melting on my tongue ... ahhhh .. SUPER!

And since I believe that such pleasures should be shared, I took few pictures while the lovely staff was preparing our orders. Now my favorite is the chocolate fountain they have, I swear to God that first time I saw it , I had that childish desire to stick a finger under the running chocolate "falls" and tasting it ,and went further in my dreams into filling a cup and drinking it right there . Does this sound normal , or do I sound like choc-psycho ?

Another picture for ice cream cones dipped with chocolate and nuts, I've always wanted to have one of those and fill it with 3 scoops of ice cream, but every time I get that thought, I bury it, knowing that I'll probably end up having to work out 3 days in row to burn it! I wish If I can be less freaked out about this calories- burning thing.. ah.. pity.. I envy people with high metabolism rates !

Last picture for ice cream flavors, whether its summer or winter, an ice cream is never too cold to have !

Enjoy the pictures..

And the bad luck events series goes on ...

This definitely cannot be my week , first my blog gets jinxed and is not viewing anymore , acting in a manner of a ghost blog rather than an ordinary one .. then , a business trip gets delayed after arranging reservations , buying tickets , confirming appointments , simply because the Visa to an Arab country will still take more time to be issued , and we were notified by that one day prior to the travel date .

And then , finally today , I am out on a short leave from work to get a present to a friend of mine , whom recently had a baby. And as I am on my way back to work , a monstrous Mercedes truck hits me and sabotages the far end of the left wing of my car , claiming he did not see me " a question popped into my mind , if he did not see me due to the fact that he is way high above the road in his giant truck , then does it justify mashing the other ordinary short cars driving on the road ?" , so I pulled to the side after hearing a loud noise ,in the back of my car , and took a look on the shocking accident.

I was too stunned and shaken to even say anything , then I started talking calmly , and dialed the traffic police number. Fortunately , and for the first time in my very short and small history with traffic policemen , the officer who answered my call , seemed to be having a pleasant day , he was speaking to me cheerfully , assuring me that the officers responsible for that area will arrive in less than ten minutes . Surprisingly, it took them lesser than that.

Of course, my parents came, and the officer who took record of the whole incident was very kind and cooperative, he took notes, and asked each of us of what has happened, and concluded that –obviously – it was not my fault .

So, somehow it ended well, yet that horrible urge to cry is still wandering in me. I need to vent out some of my personal frustration. It is frustrating to be in an accident, whether mild or huge, still the most important thing that neither me or the old driver of the truck had any injuries , Thank Allah.

Yet , I feel sorry and sad for my Toyota corolla , I kind of have this bond to my car , and what happened to it isn't pleasant by any means , and I wont probably be seeing it again until over a week or so .

El7amdolellah on everything ..