Adventures...Edition 2 - Wadi Rum, Aqaba

So the next day of the trip....starting with waking up at 5:30 am, just to be able to catch the one and only bus to Wadi Rum.

What do you need to know about Wadi Rum? If you have ever heard about Lawrence of Arabia, or have watched the movie the name must be familiar, as Wadi Rum has been his "headquarters" during the Great Arab Revolt (1917). But this is not the most important about it. The pictures can not really give it back how beautiful the view is (it seems like a lot of sand, but what is so nice on sand? :P ). It is again you have to see to understand....Sand, rocks and magnificent mountains.
The hard thing is to believe that people lived and still do live in that area...the usual question is that from where the heck they get water :P

But let's list all the adventures:
Getting there - it was not that huge advanture besides a few things. The bus left from the hotel at 6:20, our hotel is only one stop. I ordered five tickets, the bus driver remembered 4, but never mind, we did manage very easily this part (one more person paying the ticket...so no points of debate). But getting to the bus was funny, as the gate of the hotel was locked, and noone was at the reception. So we search and found someone sleeping in a hidden corner "guarding" the hotel reception, but he did not have the key, only knew where the dude with the key is sleeping - so one round of running as the bus was already there for us. But this was also sorted, we left Wadi Musa (Petra) without any remarkable story.
Then in the middle of the way the bus stopped, everybody waking up on what is going on??? We have been stopped by the police, our driver almost ended up in jail for a week, coz instead of 80 km/h he was speeding with 120 and the bus was also overloaded. How did it end? With a ticket to the bus driver worth 60 JD (around 70 Euros). Dude coming back swearing, and starting to tell us about his 'heroic' fight with the police, that he was already locked, when he managed to negotiate (like the hero being on the corner of death, but escaping with an inch :P ).

But we did arrive to the visitors' center in Wadi Rum. We wanted to get to the village, but they told us that we can go only if we buy a tour for a hillarious price. We did buy a tour, but for half the price :P

So we bought a jeep tour for 3 hours. As we were 5 of us it was not epensive, so we thought, it is all ok.
It was ok....but....our jeep broke down in the middle of the desert. In the middle of nowhere getting stuck with the only working vehicle....fun :P though it was not that bad, as we were at a tent, with a few beduins, consulting over the dead car like in a medical consilium :P And one of them even had a super weak, but operational signal on the mobile, so they managed to call another jeep for us from a top of the one dune the phone was working (I don't want to know what we would do if we break down only a kilometer deeper in the desert :P ).
Our new driver was then indeed amazing! I felt like in a rally in the desert on the top of an open plato jeep!!!! We were racing, loud music (Papi Chulo like 15 times :P) from the driver cabin and racing on the dunes...super awesoooome :D. I guess the guy was not used to young people enjoying the situation, but we really had great fun. Of course we stopped for a bit of climbing or to check out the house of Lawrence (or rather what was left from it) and sometimes also for a beduin tea (yummeee). And our 3 our trip ended up to be a 5 hour one :P
Poor Eyad who came from Aqaba to pick us up needed to wait for us because of our sudden compensation for the dead car :P He was sweet coming and picking us up from Wadi Rum to take us to Aqaba.

So we did go to Aqaba. There is not that much to see in this town, the only port of Jordan to the Red Sea. It is a holiday zone (duty and ta free, so I got winter coat, muhaha), so it is really great as the end of the trip for relaxing. I rather mention some pleasure moments in points, just to give back the feeling:

• Having beer in the sunset of the sea, at the shore of a 5 star hotel where we sneaked in :P
• Having breakfast of hummus and fool for 2,5 JD, at 11 o'clock in T-shirt looking at the sea
• Having a fast swim and sun bathing on the public beach - on the 11th of December
• Feeling like in the zoo, coz we were the only foreigners on the public beach (most foreigners have their hotels with private beaches :P, we are rather adventurous people than rich :P)
• Walking around in the city, searching for the shade of palm trees in short and T-shirt (again, it is still december :P )

I still need to get the pictures from Aqaba are not yet uploaded, those are coming soon, also some additions to Petra pictures to be epected!

The end of the story....getting back to Amman, arriving by 11 pm, closing with another adventure.
What? Oh yeah, after 11 pm in Amman taxis are not using taxi meters. So we got into the cab started to go on the way. Then we realized the meter is not working....awesome, so we asked the dude to switch it on, answer is obviously no. Ok, then how much? 4 Dinars (the normal fair would be 1.8, but of course there is not hope to get that). But we learnt from our 2 days earlier experience and ended up paying 2,5 JD.....which is barely a bit more than the usual fair. We are foreigners, but learning fast :P

I guess you can see from all these stories that it is worth coming to Jordan, seeing a bit of it and enjoying your time (especially that you would have a guide who is already experienced in the Jordanian way of taxi 'management' :P ). These 3 days were amazing...and really needed in the same time. My brain is totally refreshed, I can approach my challenges with a fresh, again solution oriented, approach. My energies are back...though I almost wrote that the old Szaki is back, but that is not true, this country changed me, I like the changes I feel and I already know that I will feel really alien when I go back to Hungary.

It is also the time when I start thinking on the next steps, outside of AIESEC. I give myself till the end of January to see if I can fit into Jordan and line up my options and chances. Then it is time to decide which country will see me in the next 1-2 years as an employee :D But this is a story for later on ;)

Adventures...Edition 1

So, let's get started with the story of travels during Eid al Adha (nice looong holiday :P)
I think I'm gonna make it into more posts, it has been three intense and amazing days, a lot happened, so I try having things in pieces.

The outline of these three days: Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba....Ruins of an ancient, magnificent city, then stunning view of the desert and feeling a kind of sidewind how powerful it could be, and at the end going back to the summer in the middle of december! I guess it shows that things did happen and it was extremely fun!

So startup - planning. As I already mentioned in the previous post promises we had, which did not come through...but Lonely Planet guide is always there to help us :P So we started reading, figuring out how to get there where to sleep, and had a bit of Jordanian kind of 'we will sort it out on the way' approach (like how we get to Wadi Rum, where we sleep in Aqaba, how we get back to Amman from there). We had idea about everything, but we did not fix too many things...just the destinations.

Though we easily managed to book accomodation in Petra, a pretty ok one, for good price, yeah, it was not luxury, but had beds and was clean enough. We also figure out that there is a south bus station from where there are usually minibuses to Petra. So we went there early in the morning, but has been told by lovely tai drivers that there are no buses during Eid. This very soon (but too late to change decision) turned out to be a lie, as the whole way we followed the bus to Petra :P Also we had the fun of fifteen turning out to be fifty, so we gave each other good lectures: english and bargaining....for them english, for me bargaining. (result: already on the way back when we arrived with the bus we managed to significantly decrease our late night tai costs :P). Of course I was really upset at the beginning, not becuase of paying more, coz it was still a totally ok, but the principle and that we have been fooled, simply becuase we were all foreigners. But it was gone very fast, I learned what needed to be learned from it, and then left the topic.

So we arrived to Petra - or rather Wadi Musa, found our hotel, turning out to be pretty ok. Then immediately embarked on the trip to Petra, the Rose City, one of the new seven wonders of the world! And it is indeed wonderful!!!

The city is carved into the stones, the whole area is full with artificial caves, tombs and magnificent cathedrals in the mountain itself. And it is not how most people would imagine, 2 hills and that's it, but it is magnificent! Truly you can see the marks of a full city, you can easily imagine how it could have looked like, and I would have loved to rowk in that city, so protected, so nice....and a city which has played strategic role in the region when it was existing and really alive. And the treasury, the simbol of the city...well nice, but I don't think that is the best part of it, but really to feel and see, that it was a city!
So indeed, Petra is something really worth visiting! And spending really a full day there, it is just simply beautiful! And with a bit of imagination you can really make a lot out of it....imagining how a usual day could have look like a few thousand years ago.
But this was again a trip which has not that much to talk about, Petra is something to see and experience :P

After the long walks and rock climbing we went for dinner, and managed to find a cool restaurant, giving fried chicken in a nice amount, enough even for me :P So the first day of travel was ending really well, we were, I mean 5 of us, ready for the next day (about what I'm gonna write tomorrow....sounds like a movie series, right :P ? )

Commitment

The post about the culture....and probably my biggest shock, I could just start handling. I was also looking for the most appropriate title, and I found that the key of the whole story is commitment. I will soon give the explanation why.

What made me realize that I'm dealing with cultural and not personal problem was a Global Village. Currently in the same building we are 9 foreigners in 2 flats, covering all the continents (except south pole :P
So we organized last Thursday a cultural night. Everybody was preparing for two days, cooking traditional food (paprikáskrumpli rocks :P ), making presentations, downloading videos and some of us even visiting the embassy for some brochures. So we all really put energy into it.
What shocked me is that how 'welcoming' the situation was and now I'm being bitterly sarcastic. I have never seen Global Villages where people made fun of any presentation, saying that there is not much unique in the country (yeah, it was not Hungary that time, what is clearly different than Jordan, but still). But for all presentation, getting people's attention, not to chat and laugh out loud, why you are trying to introduce your country.
Being a patriot was kind of far from me. But here I did realize I do love my country. Here people are proud of being Jordanian....there is no problem with that, rather it is something I do think many Hungarians can learn from them. But being a guest or being a foreigner living in the country it is something very different. These people here are very sensitive to what is happening with them, internally, causes effecting them from the outside....but sensitivity towards how they effect what is in people who are not 'their kind' is a different issue. Yeah, indeed I am the one, we are the ones (all foreigners here) who should be adapting. This is why we are all here, this is what we aim for. But we all do require a minimum level of respect.....and this is something that Jordanians, the locals here need to learn....that even if they are proud, others are also sensitive (even if not as much) to protect their home (whether it is family, country, or just a corner).
This was one of my points (oh, yeah, and again I gave a harsh voice to this opinion, which I will get back, but I don't mind.....I know that I need to learn a lot, but not I am the only one;) ). This was one point, but I would rather say this is the top of the cake...this alone would make me feel bad for an hour that it ould have been gone.

Commitment....the key to my issue. My comitment? Not really... Other's comitment? Closer to reality.... The contrast between these two? That is the real point!
I'm just coming out from a situation which required comitment to the end. Also I'm not really someone who is giving comitment than withdrawing...if it is given, then it is given....and like here, what is normal. It is again something not good or bad....not like the previous point I wrote about (that one I do judge), but this one, is just a conflict of my values and something different. I do think it can be done in a different way and a small change of attitude would lift the middle east to high grounds they don't have know, but I am noone to judge their choice.
But here if you just don't show up for a meeting that is not a problem, if you promise something and don't do it or cancel in the last minute...no problem.

I do think that this value, the lack of commitment is in the very core of the culture, coz it does explain a lot! Like business culture: Why people doublecheck everything? Why you need to have proven results in business, that you deliver what you promised? Why family is the most important? Why everything is happening through people you know and only through them?
I have wrote about relationship orientation, importance of family and networking....yeah, it is all true, but what forces it? What is not allowing such basics to change or even to get weaker? What is in the core?
I think here the right question - is standing as an answer for everything I just pulled up - is: How would you trust anyone in a country where noone takes comitment for anything?

The best examples just from the close future: I have been hearing for like 3 weeks, that we will have a trip organized for the holiday.....and then having nothing when it starts! (So finally we did it ourselves, with some funny and adventurous mistakes - for what we heard back: you should always have a local with you - a statement which makes me laugh now). Or the mistake we made is that we tried agreeing with taxi drivers (who by the way simply lied that there are no buses working during the holiday) to take us to Petra....and saying fifteen JD as a cost per taxi, then when we arrived they still said fifteen, with the extra that in arabic fifteen means 50 (the debate was kind of harsh, but also made me realize that I can be much more daring in bargaining and 'negotiating' than I thought.) - adding to the situation that I know the numbers in arabic, so they could not even say that I had no chance understanding if they would have told their offer in Arabic :P.
These examples are just to very fast prove my theory - this is why people save phone numbers of taxi drivers they like for example. But besides these examples I would be able to pull up million from daily life: from taxi drivers trying to fool you or companies asking you for one million proof of delivery, meetings getting cancelled with no real reasons, etc.
Again I must say, it is not bad....but you have to know your way in this country (as in any other) to survive. And until I did not really figure this point I could not totally make my way here...and it made me angry, made me feel useless, made me feel fooled and betrayed all the time.
But now it is gone. I know why it works like this, and this makes it super easy to understand how it reall works and how I can work my way through. Like it is cool to be a better networker...I indeed improved, but now I see true purpose, a meaning behind it! That is the feeling which makes me feel good after all the crap happening and after all the time feeling down.

I wanted cultural experience - I got it! And so far I was questioning that do I really know so much more about the middle east and Jordan than others, do I really know enough to say I worked in this environment, I know how it works and in a job I can build on it or I can work with the middle east. So far it was a doubt, coz this is undoubtedly one of the most important learnings from an internship or an MC abroad---- it was a doubt, but not any more! I think again an exciting time is coming, when I can really learn to be successfull here! Yalla, time to succeed!

It's been a long time

It's been a long time since I did not write .... nothing happened to write about, then a lot of things happened.

Most things are sorted now. I needed money...I got finally. I needed stability - better now than not knowing what the next week is going to bring - at least our bank account is open. I needed rest - I had and finally not just sleeping, but going around the country, so finally I can say I have seen a bit from Jordan.

It's been a long time....what I have spent in Jordan. On the 1st of December it has been half a year I am in the country, since I am living here. Also the 15th of December will mark the middle of my AIESEC work here (though not the middle of my official term, but I am here for AIESEC from the beginning). Eid, Christmas and winter makes Jordan feel different, different than what I have first seen.

Also there have been some cultural aspects which turned out to be hard to handle, at least for me. There were periods, when I have been just angry, feeling useless and being angry at people, but not really knowing how to handle it.....maybe the problem was that I did not want to handle it, I was just tired of handling things and was stuck with the most critical points to deal with at the moment and had no desire of thinking about anything else. But this is also gone.

A bit of adventure, making you get out from a routine which have drained you, helps not just to relax, but to change perspective on a lot of things. It is not just about what exactly is happening, but also about how 'problems' are approached.

This whole few lines might sound misty and probably raises a lot of questions, like "What the heck you mean?"....will all turn out soon, this is an opening post, there are more to come! The first one about the cultural story, and other(s) about travels I had (finally, yupeeeeee :P) So wait for more, I'm in the process of writing all of them, should all be coming soon (haha, sounds like the new holywood movie :P )

By the way pictures are uploaded (80%) to Picasa, you can check them out (for people not checking the sidebar of my blog, the link is the following: www.google.picasaweb.com/akos.szakaly

Bajban ismerszik meg a barát/család….

Sorry, Hungarian post…not because I want to exclude anybody, just because I’m bored of English, missing my own native language and thoughts are coming to me in Hungarian right now :P – if you are still curious just grab me online once.

Bajban ismerszik meg a barát….járja a jó magyar közmondás. Mindenki bólogat rendesen, persze-persze, hiszen csak az igaz barát áll melletted, ha bajban vagy. Ha bajban vagy, ha épp rossz jegyet kapsz, nem megy a házi feladat, szerelmi bánatod van…..khm, hibaüzenet a képernyőn, hibás definíciós fájl.

Hol is a hiba? Asszem ott, hogy mi is a baj, mi is a barát és ott, hogy miben látod meg, hogy ki is igazán a családod, a barátod.

Nah, akkor tegyük is a programot újra a rendszerbe. Mi is a baj? Hát nem a házi feladat vagy a szerelmi bánat. Najó, nem mondom, hogy ezek nem lehetnek rosszak, de egyik sem az a fajta baj, ami igazán próbára tesz egy kapcsolatot, ami igazán mérlegre teszi az embert. Definíció? Nem általánosítok, ismerem a saját bajom, kinek hasonló, kinek más, leírás egy Blog bejegyzéssel lejjebb.

Ki is a barát? Aki pénzt ad ha nincsen? Mondjuk igen, de valahogy nem ez a lényeg….a (talán túlzott) büszkeségem miatt eddig nem jutottam el (és remélem nem is fogok, és a helyzet sem úgy áll most már, hogy el kéne jutnom idáig). Talán úgy lehet, definiálni, hogy aki őszintén aggódik és figyel rád….és nem csak aggódik, de tesz is.
Tesz azzal, hogy végighallgat, mert mást nem tehet, de akkor ott van neked, tesz azzal, hogy felhív, hogy ne legyél már hülye és kérjél segítséget. Tesz azzal, hogy felajánlja a zsebpénzét. Vagy csak elkap bármikor, mikor online vagy és épp ott talál, vagy e-mailben rugdos és képes ezt úgy tenni, hogy lelket önt beléd. Vagy azzal, hogy nem beszéltetek már X ideje, de hirtelen előbukkan a semmiből és rájössz, hogy végig figyelt, de most tartotta érdemesnek beszélni. Akár azzal is, hogy mikor épp pénze van, akkor kiragad otthonról, hogy ne unatkozz, hogy egy kicsit feldobja a hangulatodat (nem is olyan kicsit) – pedig ő is ugyanazt a szitut éli át, bár lightos változatban (éljenek a team társak, akik itthon vannak :P), vagy mikor látja, hogy mizu van, akkor másnap beállít 3 kiló banánnal.

Az is kiderül ilyenkor, hogy mi is a család. Vérbeli kötelék? Újabb program hiba, szép kék képernyő :P Vérben egy, de azt sem tudja, hogy mi van, hogy hol vagyok…..ha valamit nem teszek a hagyományoknak megfelelően megsértődik. Eddig idegesített ez a szitu, már nem érdekel, mert számít is valójában? Lehetek keserű miatta, de megéri-e? Vagy van egyáltalán miért keseregnem, ha mindaz megtörténik, amit épp csak egy bekezdéssel előbb írtam?

De nem is ez a lényeg. Néhányan azt mondják, hogy botorság volt kimennem, még nagyobb ökörség volt kint maradnom még most is. Biztos???? Nézzük csak meg ezt a majdnem egy oldalt feljebb….hmm, tudnám-e mindezt enélkül? Nem.
És most lehet mondani, hogy ez nagyon szép idealizmus. Igaz, van benne jó adag, és valószínűleg nem írogatnék ilyen dolgokat, ha nem tudnám, hogy a megoldás karnyújtásnyira van. Mert ott van és ezt most nem (csak) az optimizmusom mondja. Mert már csak egy utolsó lépés kell (és végre nem kormányzati szerv, hanem egy bank :P – nem is értem, hogy ezek után miért a vállalati szektorban akarok dolgozni, hehe. És egy aláírás….ami a sajátunk – nem az enyém, hanem az elnökömé, de még akkor is kicsit nagyobb a kontroll a szitu felett J). A következő bejegyzésem arról kell hogy szóljon, inshallah (a pozitív, a „biztos hogy megtörténik” verzió, de a „nem iszom előre a medve bőrére” kategória…..avagy annál kicsit jobban megnyúzott a szitu semmint, hogy bármit biztosra vegyek, ami nincs a kezemben).

Szóval történnek a dolgok, mert történniük kell. Bár kicsit félek, hogy elfáradtam (ugyan hamarosan itt vagy egy hét szünet :P)….mert azt azért érzem, hogy ez mind annál több volt, minthogy csak átlépjen az ember felette. Mit tanultam? Egy jó adagot leírtam az előbb….a teljes értékelés majd ha tényleg vége J

És ez a bejegyzés azoknak szól elsősorban, akiket megemlítettem benne. Név nélkül, mert ők úgyis tudják, hogy róluk szól….meg arról, amit nekik köszönhetek, és köszönök is….hogy ők a családom (anyu, hugi és apu), a barátaim!

Talán filozofikus lettem most…és talán közhelyes. Ha igen, hát legyen, nem hiszem, hogy ezt nem publikusan kéne megosztani, nem hiszem, hogy el kéne rejtenem, hogy vannak olyan emberek, akik fontosak nekem, hogy vannak emberek, akiknek én vagyok fontos. Jó érzést ezt tudni, jó érzés ezt leírni és jó érzés az is, hogy most már mások is tudni fogják!

Risk, culture…..endurance?

Prepare, a (very) long post J

Looking back on the last few weeks, especially this one I must say that there are two things testing me: handling risk and pressure, and handling the issues with being in a cross cultural role…..besides the usual question what is always popping up: Can I endure? Can I manage?

The answer for the question is, I still believe, yes. Even though, especially this week, I thought already a few times about the what if…and being honest 1,5 days of being unable to do my job properly (I guess people who worked with me know that it is a critical indicator, as I do my obligations even if I die carrying them out).

Also the obvious question was popping up: is there a limit….for I will I thought yes. For a while I thought that next week I’m packing and going home (sorry for shocking anybody, time to face). But I’m not going….and I still did not see the limit. It is being a critical period, my decision to stay is probably the highest risk I have ever taken in my life, and now we are not talking about job, or can I adopt…the risk is if I can make a living, maslow 1, if I can survive.

The very honest situation is that altogether I guess I got maximum 1,5 months of salary in the course of 5 months. Might be scary to hear….or someone might not agree that I’m writing it so publicly. Our bank account is not accessible, due to an audit which required to re-book a whole year, and due to a very slow procedure with governmental entities. I almost reached breaking point….almost J

My other funny story is the culture. Naturally I understand much more about the Jordanian culture, I can adapt much more, but my decision when I told that a cross cultural leadership role is different than just working somewhere else was right. I’m kind of facing a next round of cultural shocks. This is added up by the situation described above.

What is the problem? I think my way of handling my stress, so that I was mismanaging things with people. I could not see results on the critical area of the bank account, so I wanted results in all other areas….pushed hard, fought hard. Ending up my usual defense methodology: best defense is to charge. Adding up to be seen sometimes talking from the top, judging fast, being harsh, gaining power and control over things. Yeah, my usual way of handling stress and risk…which I thought I already learnt to eliminate (and I did…..just have never faced risk on this level J). All this attitude is exploding like a bomb and fires back in a culture, what is (overly –even for my level of affection) sensitive, totally built on personal relationships…and my competitive, very result oriented approach is kind of new (‘kind of’ is meaning I’m rather someone from the moon with this here :P). But this approach I don’t want to change, channel it or communicate it in a different way for sure, but next to my persistence these two features were making me manage things, making me excel in situations.

I was always saying there are ways to manage. Again we figured out ways to manage the situation. Even if we feel that the ministry procedure ends very soon, we have our plan for the what if not, to sort it out. I’m still not saying the situation is easier. But it is manageable and once it gets solved.

Besides this I’m very proud of what we are achieving, just to give you a snapshot in a few points of what the DA MC is about to do:

• We are in the doorstep of signing the biggest partnership in the history of AIESEC Jordan (the value is half of an annual operating budget
• In negotiation for another bigger scale annual partnership (fourth of the annual budget)
• We as MC are about to raise 10+ internships
• LC Amman running induction with 40 EP applicants, LC Irbid with 1 week of promotion collecting 20+ applications
• Brand audit with 150 surveys already collected
• An event coming up under the patronage of Her Majesty The Queen
• Competition running with AIESEC Vietnam to claim the title of the strongest expansion in the global network

I guess these things are speaking. Even in our life or death situation with the MC we are rolling. And we keep on rolling. And we all keep on moving…..and everything will be sorted. And probably we will become tougher then we would have ever thought :P

Weather report

So there is there are a lot of proverbs around what is impossible, what is not. The next proof for me about the point that impossible is only a barrier of mindset came the end of last week.

I still remember the summer in Jordan...35-40 degrees in Celsius, and everyone becoming pretty enthusiastic when we had a single cloud (this white nothing type of cloud) on the sky.
Based on this I was not surprised that people were super happy about seeing rain. Rain what I barely noticed or recognized as rain. And I was not surprised that this is rain here, though not really showing high passion in joining the guys here to be happy about 'rain'.

But obviously I was mistaken, winter and the 'wet' season is coming. A few days ago we had rain....real one, which would scare a bit anyone and make people think, that they are lucky not to be outside. I was lucky enough, just got the beginning of it outside, so I could watch the 'drama' from the flat (I would not say warm flat, as there is not heating....or there is, but would cost me an annual salary to use it :P ). I also shot a few videos, which I piled up into one short clip, to make you see from my window, that I'm not joking :P



Also the temprature is changing pretty rapidly. Again based on the summer you could never think that it can turn cold...but it does, already during the nights the temprature sometimes lower than 10 degrees. I know at home they would say, that yeah, that is normal...but we had a summer when sometimes at night we had 28-29 Celsius! From that experience you would not expect it to happen.
And it is not complaining, there is not point in that....just wanted to give you a snapshot of the interesting weather conditions of Jordan :D

Finally! The breeze of competition...yalla!

Jordan is told to be a not really competitive country....and it is true (yeah, with my super competitive approach I was kind of struggling). But finally we have found challenge worth risking it! And hoping that whole AIESEC Jordan will join up!

Yeah, we are competing for the title of being THE STRONGEST EXPANSION in the whole GLOBAL AIESEC Network!!!! Muhahaha, something really worth running for! (well, you kind of already won if from 20-25 expansion countries you are far in the top 2 :P - but being the ONE, second to none....kind of appealing prize for me at least). And to see how much we take the challenge, here comes our message to Vietnam!!!

You think you are tigers, but you have seen us yet!!!

Tic - Tac

Tic-Tac....time is passing by without any notice. And also a long time passed since my last post.

A few important points were kind of missing from the flow of information from my side. For example my usual monthly notice...as it is already 4 months since I'm here in Jordan, tic-tac...

And also the last week was a crazy one. I was chatting with my sister and not being able to tell a lot, but then I just sat down and slowly memories came to my mind, reminding me that I do, did and will miss opportunities to tell my stories, so better to write down until I remember :P

So one thing, hard not to remember is that I moved from my old flat...from the cave as I called it. From a dark, at the end of the world flat with instable internet I moved to a flat what is full with light, a bit more noisy though, but with own internet, normal water and right next to university, meaning a looot of life, we always have someone over here, making it more like a center of life, with the privacy of an own room....so all in all I pretty much like it :)

The other kind of happening is that we had a radio interview, live on last Saturday, for a whole hour! The first radio streaming of AIESEC Jordan, yaaay. And also this was the result of an other appearance what we had in a major newspaper, that's how we were 'found'. And it is just the beginning, soon will be followed by a TV interview, also live :S That makes me though a bit worried, I'm used to interviews by now, but not really to life TV broadcasting for an hour, well, then this is time for it :)

So time is moving....this weekend we go for hiking with the team to Dana reserve. It is a natural reserve (nemzeti park :P)...meaning some sort of nice desert :) At least we are moving out a bit of Amman, which I was missing in the last few month. And I'm just hoping that soon all of our pretty problematic issues will get solved.

With work it seems we are moving quite ok....finally things look like moving out from a halt, the country is coming back online after Ramadan and Eid (I need to point out that it took 1,5 weeks...not mentioning the one month of Ramadan plus almost a week of Eid). But at least now it is moving, it is a good feeling. Also I'm working on the official blog of AIESEC Jordan (you can find it here: http://jordanaiesec.blogspot.com) I had a nice practice before on this blog :P But still it proved to be a challenge for half a day :)

Also an interesting piece of news is that the Hungarian President is visiting Jordan for a few days to "discuss bilateral ties between the two countries". Still it is something related to home, was nice to read, though I'm pretty much curious how this whole bilateral thingie will materialize. Anyways a few weeks ago I realized on a pack of mirelite vegetables that it was imported from Hungary...just a funny moment, I truly enjoyed. Here you can read about it (not the mirelite vegetables :P)
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=11315


So these are the few things, just going on, time is ticking away, since the last post....someone might remind me of things I'm missing out :P

Eid Mubarak....or the end of Ramadan

The feeling of accomplishment, kind of pride and relief....the mixture of feelings in me about the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

I did it, I did fast till the very end, without breaking it for even a single time. From having it very hard, through the feelings of enjoying and getting it as usually, till the last very boring days (when everybody was just waiting for the end of the month) I did it. And I don't regret I took this choice.

I had the opportunity to see people here differently and to live something with them what is very much only them and very much not understood in the western world. Also I think I had the opportunity to better understand the Christian Easter and the meaning of resurrection. (Do you know how does it feel to have a normal breakfast in normal breakfast time after a month of not seeing food at daylight??? - This is resurrection :P) And also that if I could manage to do everything I wanted during this months, then what I'm really capable of doing on a normal month? And when I feel that even the first half normal nightsleep (and only 6 hours) how much energy it gave, you kinda get the feeling of "being back online".

Pretty hard to compile the experience of Ramadan into a few lines, so I just want to highlight one point concerning this month: we do not understand it! Before coming here I also studied about Islam, kind of had an idea of what Ramadan means...officially. And also had the impression of having the Arab world dead and that is it.

It is true they are dead, not many things are working....and I'm not saying it should be like that, but how the hell does Europe judge it so harshly when most people does not even know when it is? (I also did not know before). This is some sort of eye opening thing of how many topics we have no idea about, but we judge it in a very determined way.

Now I kind of also understand why it hurts muslims that much the Dannish cartoons about prophet Mohammed. Why you make fun of something what the society does not understand, or rather has no real information about besides the media (khmm, European media).

This idea can be generalized to many things, not just Islam. Many Europeans say that we are so open minded, but isn't it some sort of cover for the feeling of being more than others? Honestly, I don't know. Don't want to judge other countries, don't know how much they really know about the "mysterious" parts of the world, but it kind of made me understand why people are angry about a few things what the 'enlightened' part of the world is doing.....kind of being enlightened and that is why being sometimes narrow minded.

Don't want to go into politics and such, makes no sense. It is the time to enjoy Eid and the holidays :) Even if it is a very family oriented holiday (meaning that on the first day evening everyone is visiting family, so I'm left at home - time to sleep, hehe). But generally things are nice and I love the opportunity to rest a bit and just enjoy being in the country.

September - the bit boring side of Ramadan

Written on the 19th of September

It's been a while since I wrote...my internet totally died at home and besides this I was somehow always forgeting that I can always write offline and then when I can go online I just need two minutes...but things are changing and in the weekend a slowed down lifestyle kind of help you realise these small things.

After the bit sidetracked introduction let's see what was happening during this week. Well, not much :P this is the first thing coming to my mind, but looking a bit deeper into memories I do find some interesting points. But this is also a pretty funny sign of getting used to things (also to Ramadan way of living). In itself it is something interesting to feel, just simply getting along in your normal life (what is now considered as normal).

One thing definitely worth to mention is Suhoor. It is the breakfast (meaning somewhere between 2-4:30 am :P) right before sunrise (the last point to eat and drink during the night).

Particularly 2 of these Suhoors (yeah, a usually story of waking up at 4 am, brainless to put something in your mouth). We went with a few guys to have Suhoor at Hashem. Hashem is a restaurant (actually 2, one of them in the downtown, and the new one closer to my place). Around a week ago we were just hanging our after Iftar (Dinner) and came the idea to have Suhoor together in Hashem, the downtown one. What you need to know about Hashem, that visiting (especially the one in downtown) is a cultural shock in itself. It is a very traditional restaurant, as far as I know the first restaurant in Amman....and it does look old and ruined :) It is taking a small street in downtown, Health inspectors from Europe would for sure totally freak out from having a look on it, but in reality the food is clean and is made in a clean way. And the food is just simply awesome. Not a big variety, as you can only get falafel with hummus or fool...and that is it :P But it does have the best taste in the city a special and cool one. But seeing around 100 people totally flooding even the street, full with table, engaged into conversation and totally alive in this very early hour. And it is just an atmosphere you can not really describe. You just simply need to feel it. And also it is different to be part of it when you are also fasting. It is just that feeling that you are not a tourist, you are as much the same as you can be (yeah, my skin and origin still will not and should not change). It is a remarkable experience. Something will be burned into my memories.

Besides this work is also going on...moving pretty ok, now that I have a bit of time not to be a simple accountant, but actually lead something. And this feeling is energizing me, coz I do feel I give direction and make things move, which is good. I don't really want to go into more details, not because it is not interesting, or not because I want to hide something, just simply it is a lot to tell and I don't think that daily work will be something to be remembered. I love doing my job, will stay like this (inshallah), but it should stay as my job :) (well another true sign of what next steps to be taken after this term).

For the next time I will try and figure out some interesting story, but that is also true that during Ramadan not many things are happening....it is becoming after a while boring, truly, might not be something nice to say, but it does become. I think people just get tired of fasting, it is draining you every day, make the whole month going veeery slow...and you just get stuck in the routine and wait the end of it, not because it is bad, but it is slow. And this is it, things will change, though I don't mind these things, it is 10 last days remaining, and it is not a counting back (well, honestly in a way it is). It is a good, or would say a great experience to have...just after a while boring.

But I'm pretty much looking forward to Eid, I'm just curious how things will change, because if I can manage everything while fasting how energized I will be with being back to the normal routine, so I just want the new things to come, I'm actually looking for changes, for the adventure :)

Oh, and I'm also going to Germany, to Karlsruhe to chair a conference, which I consider as a great honor to be invited as a chair for any kind of conference! it is something totally excited and also my team is very excited because of this, they want me to go as a Jordanian chair, not as a Hungarian, so they are already planning out my preparation, and I'm also building these kind of plans on what to do over there. So looking forward to it (though I don't know more details, than that I will be going in the end of October, beginning of november :P so will see what is going to happen :))

This is mostly all popping up to my mind. It became a bit random post, but whatsoever, if you fought through to this point then it means you found something in it (or just your simple peristance that by the end there must be something brought you till here :P )

Hey....this article gives a piece of insight into Ramadan:

Here you find the full article:

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=10702

And some paragraphs from it:

"AMMAN - While millions gather with their families at sunset for iftar this Ramadan, many citizens are left with few options when it comes time to break the daylong fast.

Their answer comes in the form of iftar tents, spread across the Kingdom, providing free meals for the underprivileged and the scores of taxi drivers, sanitation workers, grocers and even business professionals who are forced to work in the evening hours.

Some tents are hosted by members of the Royal family, such as Her Majesty Queen Rania’s Hal Hilalak tent for underprivileged children, while others are sponsored by municipalities and even embassies.

Others come under private sector corporate responsibility programmes, as major banks, telecommunication companies and even electronic stores erect tents and open their doors to the have-nots and passersby."

"Mohammad, a 27-year-old worker at the Sheikh Hazaa tent, said he doesn’t mind volunteering and sacrificing time with his family to feed the less fortunate.

“It feels nice to give back and help. This time last year, I was one of them,” he said, gesturing to the dozens of citizen lining up for a warm meal."

"With the long-awaited call to prayer, conversation comes to halt, as attention is drawn to plates of dates, cups of water, and bowels of rice, yoghurt and meat, leaving little time for words.

After a few minutes of eating, the tents come back to life, jokes and laughter echo through the tents and people move on to their dessert."

Ramadan streamline

Yeah, and the next set of things regarding this whole fuss around Ramadan. The thing is that there is a lot to tell about this month. It is very complex, intense and definitely not easy to understand. That's why I'm gald I decided to experience it, way different approach, way different journey.

I promised to write about how people behave or change. Unfortunately I can not tell it is all bright, but summing up everything it is still mostly a positive change. The confusion around what is positive what is normal, what is not is probably coming from my understanding on what Ramadan means.

I was talking to people before and during this week so that I can understand a bit what is this month intending to tell us. Most of them told it is a month (besides the religious points) to feel close to poor people, who are starving mostly. For me it is then a challenge to maintain a kind of normal life while fasting. Though I don't always see this approach. The country slows down, people use Ramadan as an excuse of not doing their job (while I probably had one of my most productive week - I have the choice to totally focus on my work or focus on my stomach....work is easier :P ). And for a while I was thinking that the problem is with me, coz I thought that poor people starve, but still doing what needs to be done, so why should we act differently if we want to feel close to them. It turned out that it is not only me who thinks like this, a few people who I talked to thinks the same and I also found a very intersting article about it, here is the link to it:
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=10515

The question is am I feeling close to the poor. Honestly I don't know, but this month teaches me to highly value the basics what I have...like the bottom of the Maslow pyramid, to value to have water to drink. And also there is this commonly used saying noone really takes into consideration: you are not rich because of money, but because of the people around you. And it is pretty weird, but this statement is very true. Why? the explanation is simple. When I was just writing down that I don't know if I feel close to the poor the thought came to my mind that I actually don't feel poor (well, I'm still not having much of money, despite the fact that since the last conference people started to call me Vice President of Money :P). And the next thought also came naturally (without any push), saying that I'm not poor (or rather not lost) coz I have a lot of people around who can help with a single SMS, or phone call...or just dropping me home after Eftar. And I think this is the very positive side of how people change during Ramadan.

Ramadan Kareem, meaning Generous Ramadan. In my first post about Ramadan I said that I don't really understand why Ramadan is Generous. But now I do. It is not the month, but the people because I just simply experienced that level of generousity I have never seen in my life, coz it is not just coming from one person, but when you feel it every corner, in every person. Just counting that I did not have Eftar so far alone, I always had more people around, being invited and I also feel the sense to invite people (and I actually did invite my team for Saturday) not for the sake of giving back, just the why not type of reasoning.
People open up and become closer to each other. You all share the pain and seeing that small sparkle in their eyes when they realize that I'm fasting with them changes a lot....you somehow become one of them, or they try to make you become one of them and integrate you in as many things as possible. It is a very powerful feeling and I don't really have the words to describe it, it is something which makes my experience uniqe, because this is something you truly can not get from books.

And Ramadan is also a pretty good month for reflection. It is only one week passed and I feel this mood all over the place. It is just easier to think and reflect, but I don't understand why. I don't really have to understand it, just use it wisely, it might be something not coming back, coz you are in this mood now together with many people, resulting in awesome discussions. Like today we had with a few friends (Wesam, Eyad, Sasha and for a part Abeer)...a very good and I believe deep dicussion about a lot of topics, which was just simply good to be part of and exchange views on them.

I truly wish everyone to experience Ramadan once, in an Arab country, to feel the whole spirit. My next post will be about Eftar and some specially Ramadan habits and I will keep writing about things, coz I believe I have a unique chance to spread the word even to that few people who are reading my posts, to at least attempt to pass something from a thing I did not understand and not many people understands who has not been part of it.

With full confidence:

Ramadan Kareem!

A foreigners stories during Ramadan, edition 2

So again Ramadan Kareem to everyone (meaning generous Ramadan....so I have no idea why they are using it, but why not :P) even to our cosmopolitan Karuna :P
(yeah, I'm reading comments and I appreciate each one of them!!! So keep on commenting).

This week turned out to be passing muuuuch slower than usual weeks did in the past three months. But in terms of things to consider it's been a busy week. Fasting for the first day was actually horrible, I was only not whining in order not to loose face (as only foreigners complain and I also approached Ramadan as a way of integration). Eftar was actually a relief on the first day (Eftar or Ftur is the dinner during Ramadan...dinner or THE meal - and the time to drink water and everything your find, hehe, again).

So I honestly started to think on what to change. Quiting was not an option (anyone who knows me also knows why it was not an option....simply I'm too proud sometimes to give it up, or you can also call it stubborn :P). So I rather tried to remember some practices from my era of active sports (that around 12 years of Kung-Fu) on how to handle high physical pressure, drop of blood sugar, lack of liquid. Well, old practices are not bad practices, so they are still working. And also the principle: if your physical stress times change, change your routine - has helped me. So after the first day of battle I became more conscious of how to handle the situation and it is working, the last two days are totally ok...I'm not meaning awesome, but definitely giving me the chance to enjoy, not just survive Ramadan. I don't know how much time now I have to write the blog post, so for sure now I give you a snapshot of my daily routine what I developed...and if not now then in the next posts I will tell how is the experience and how people change during Ramadan (because they do change a looot!). So this is how a day looks like (focusing on keeping work productivity, work life balance, and healthy food and drinking :P ):

1. Waking up at 9:30 - not eating, but having a shower, which helps to wake up and handle the situation and start working at 10 am
2. Finish work at 4 pm - meanwhile I have normally meetings and as any normal working day
3. Have a sleep from 4-6 pm - you are just simply getting tired, not necesseraly feeling bad...you just feel your brain slowing down
4. Eftar/Ftur - 7 pm - eat, as you did not eat the whole day (because you did not :P )
5. Work again from 9-11 or 12 pm - just to keep up the 8/9 hours working day (or if I skip it for a hang out or something)
6. Eat a breakfast type fo meal at midnight
7. Sleep from midnight till 4 am
8. 4 AM waking up to eat and drink, before sunrise....this is rather the usual dinner size meal, with around 1 liter of water pushed down my throat
9. Sleep from 5-9:30

So as you see my principles were not to give up life as it would be normal, just with different routine. And definitely keep drinking at least 2 liters or more a day (night) and also to eat 3 normal meals daily (nightly :P). With this it became truly manageable...and I'm actaully now complaining less than locals, and not because of hiding it :P

And how is it, not just the routine building, but how people change, how an Eftar look like? Let's leave topics for the next post (and ensure that I keep my audience waiting for the next post, hahhahaaaa).