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 .. 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.

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 .

Morning race ... RUN !!!!!!

You open your eyes slowly, letting the sunshine penetrate into you. You're feeling extra comfy this morning. And while you are still enjoying the warmth while tucked in under those warm sheets, stretching your arm to the table next to your bed, grabbing your mobile to check on time, and then as if a bee has just stung you, you jump out of your bed, you are LATE!!!!!!!!!

So, you have over slept, snoozed your mobile's alarm several times , and when you finally decided to wake up , its just late , you have about 20 minutes to get dressed , have breakfast , and then 5 minutes to fly to work . You discover that you can, go to toilet, iron and slip into your cloths, do your hair, grab your breakfast, and brush your teeth in 20 minutes. And then you run to the garage storming out with your car.

Great !!! traffic today is working against you , everybody seems to be taking a pleasant "drive" this morning , doing some sight-seeing in their way to work , and not going over 30km/hr. and you are trying to by pass them , but it is a bit hard . Your first traffic light, and the line of cars is WAY too long , and you start thinking that they should find a solution for this annoying daily jam on that traffic , and you start day dreaming that your car will convert to a grindizer , and start jumping between cars or flying in the sky to reach work , and you smile with frustration at the thought.

You have less than 5 minutes left! So traffic light is green, Thanks God!! and you think that your way will be open above that bridge , and you'll sprint between cars , to be stopped by big trucks this time , where the hell did they came from !!!! Aren't those huge vehicles supposed to stay parked until evening time! So, you are slowed down again , day dreaming again , about having a huge car with rubber side contours to push other cars from your way , just like that car game you used to play in the entertainment park when you were a kid. Back to reality and start trying to maneuver your way to by pass those monstrous vehicles , and racing with time .

And you finally there, one minute late, its an achievement!!! To be at work after 25 minutes from your wake up time and still manage not to look as if you jumped out of bed to your desk .

Time to relax, have your morning Nescafe, and making another promise to yourself, you will never wake up late .. again !

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 ..

A Glimpse from past ....

Yesterday, I was looking forward for a lazy evening spending it at home , after being out for two iftars in row for the past two evenings and general lack of sleep , I felt energy consumed , and had nothing in mind other than relaxing . My mother though , had me an invitation to join her in one of the "ladies gatherings" for the old neighborhood , she brought up the matter in the sense of "its up to you " , but you could sense the " I'd like you to come" hidden between the words . The occasion of gathering was celebrating the birth of a child for a girl whom used to be one of my play mates as a kid ! I hesitated at first , then I thought , what the heck , it wont be hectic there , and its going to be a good chance to check on my old neighborhood and see my fully grownup play mate whom I haven't seen for probably over 10-12 years ! so , despite the fact that the whole gathering thing sounded to me of the "ladies thingy" or as we say in Arabic "Nasaweeni" , I decided to go !


We have moved out from that neighborhood about 13 years ago, I've passed by it several times , its not very much away from our residence now, but I haven't peeked on the street we used to live in for a while.
yesterday, when I drove up the street , everything felt smaller , the street itself, the buildings , and there was no more space land where we used to hang out as a little crowd – My brother , I and the whole neighborhood kids- instead , there was this huge residency building filling that small piece of land . the street was way too calm , no spirit ! I remember how we used to spend summer nights all gathered close to our house fence, chattering until we were almost dragged inside the houses by our mothers.


So, I parked the car, and went inside our old neighbor house accompanied by my mother . The visit was not bad at all, actually it was kind of fun, sitting with my old play mate and her sister was somehow refreshing. though I had some of those pause funny moments , where I was sitting , grinning and remembering how me and my play mate used to fool around with the rest of the kids about 14 years ago , she used to be a Tom boy , and I used to be a Tom boy wannabe :) , she oversized me , that’s why I always thought I was more delicate than she is and it took me an effort to prove that I can be a Tom boy too! she used to say "I'd never get married , marriage sucks !" and she is the one who got married first and now she's with a little sweet girl by her hand s!

Oh boy , we were happy children .

Answering a Tag "Childhood memories"

I've been tagged by Qwaider few days ago to list my five favorite things that I miss mostly about my childhood , I have to say , I am still living it in many aspects , and it was not until recently , like two years ago , that I gave up on buying my Favorite comic magazine Mickey (Egyptian edition) , I still don't mind flipping the pages and having few innocent laughs though , if it ever dropped by my hands ! So, having your childish moments is a part of adulthood, one shouldn't forget how to be a child .





Here are my five favorite things that I miss mostly about my childhood, mentioned with no specific order :

1. Summer trips to home town Nablus ; almost every summer in the early years of my life , my mother used to take us , my brother and I -we used to be two back then ,- in a 2 weeks upto one month trip to Nablus , we used to split our nights between the two grandparents houses , we used to get special treat back then , spoiled up by our aunts and uncles , and we used to have the fun of our life playing all the time with our cousins , in the garden of the house , visiting the old town with my aunt and dropping by the soap factory with my mother .

2. My brother and I creative games ; we used to create our own games , we would see an action movie , then copy it out the next day , creeping between the chairs and sofa's with fake guns in our hands , chasing bad guys , and being chased with our mother to cool the game down ! we used to turn his room into tents and play voyagers & nomads . And we used to put spongy cubes up to the ceiling in my room and climb all the way up , to jump into a ground full of pillows and soft mattress ! I still wonder how we did not break a leg or a neck !

3.My old neighborhood, especially at Eid mornings ; after receiving the "Eidieh" , my brother and I used to go to the nearby supermarket , buy the fake guns , and join the gang in the bang bang !until we get drived away by our parents to go into thefamily visits routine of the Eid .

4.Spending Wednesdays evenings reading adventure books "known as Al3'az"; we used to have Thursday and Friday off back then as a weekend . so after coming back from school and having lunch , my mother used to drive me to the bookshop, where I'd buy a couple of adventure books along with Agatha Christy's adventure books , I used to be addicted to her style !

5.The ultimate belief that my parents are superhumans and that they have the answer for every little and big question that may occur to my mind.