The Team

Just could not stand not posting this picture :)

This is my team at work...at Umniah. Part of the Marketing department, the Core Products division.

We are (or yet rather Tala and Ahmad) behind all the voice based products as owners, whether they are pre or post-paid.

Definitely an interesting job, giving an excellent exposure on all aspects of marketing...so it is being fun and a nice challenge. Hopefully soon I can post more on what I'm doing exactly!

From left to right: Tala Hamarneh, Ahmed Alasker and guess who (the alien on the right).

Our manager though is not on the picture, so the total team is 4 people.

Anyways, just wanted to give a small snapshot from work :)

A week to negotiate :P

So, I’m writing this post at work, from one of my friends notebook, as my PC over here denies to work for more than 5 minutes in a row (having fun always having it shut down :P)

But anyways, I was not intending to give a full report on my advancements in technology (though I’m learning a good amount working in product development, thus seeing how complicated IT can be :P). My sister asked me to sometimes turn not that very philosophical but to also tell what is happening to me.
While usually not much, I mean nothing unusual, Jordan is not any more the exotic destination, but rather some sort of a second home…so I also live somehow as it would be home. Sometime I go out, sometimes I stay home…nothing like what it feels very special to share.

Until last week! Because obviously there are always surprises and last week a few things what are typically Jordanian just piled up on me. Well, nothing to really worry about, all is sorted and going pretty well, not easy, but cool J
So, what exactly is the line of activities to do – the first round is to be outside of work. Here you go with the list: Residency application pack, Ministry of Interior (Belugyminiszterium), Flat negotiations and deals, Flight ticket for January.

Let’s go step by step. Pack for residency. Usually it is easy, I have been through the process itself, but now of course it is different, as I need to renew it…so no one really have an idea on how to do it, what do you need, etc. So it starts if I need an HIV test…I did it, and then turned out that I do not need it, or I do not need it at least for the ministry part of the procedure. Then the recommendation from AIESEC, for which I needed certain things to be written, in certain format, which for sure turned out only after waiting 4 hours in the Ministry to be sent back home in less than 2 minutes :P

Oh, yes, the ministry itself, lovely place. You only need to wait like 4 hours to get along in the queue, but then it is usually fast to be sent back home to bring a new piece of paper, or change something on another one…always to be told one-by-one, for sure not all points given in one pack :P. So in total I spent 6 hours in the Ministry of Interior. What helped? Well, that is the other typical Jordanian thing. As obviously I do not speak Arabic it is indeed a challenge to communicate with ministry representatives who do not speak a single word in English, despite the fact they deal with foreigners every day for many years of their service. What to do then? The following lessons to be taken care of:
· Do not panic – they don’t really appreciate if they see you nervous….allthough why would you be calm after waiting 3-4 hours, and not understanding a word over what is happening to you :P
· Smile – this truly does open doors!
· Speak 2 sentences in Arabic. Just saying hi and asking how they are in Arabic is totally breaking the ice! They become super helpful, seriously!
· Again don’t panic – coz they will ask or tell you stuff, maybe tell you that you should pay one more visit – just stay smiling, they might end up actually helping you out (this did happen to me by copying my Hungarian national ID – what they do need for the process, though I have certain doubts if they will understand a single word in Hungarian :P)
· And say thank you as many times as something gets along, even it is small Generally pamper them and be nice – so they feel their importance and power – they are like the secretary, who things she is the decision maker…she is not, but she is the gate to the actual situation, if it is blocked, you can complain whatever J
So, cool, one down, now comes the waiting, and on the 2nd of November inshallah I’m going to get an answer – if I get it, then it becomes faster and easier….inshallah of course :D

Then let’s get to the flat situation. Nothing really fancy again, I just wanted to negotiate the rent :P And I did get a discount, not big, but I got J Why is that an achievement from someone who have spent years in partnership negotiations??? Have you ever tried negotiating anything, when it comes down to money!, with basic English and in many cases just relying on body language??? Definite experience! Good advice here – have paper and pens with you, drawing and trying to find out what is on the paper is the best exercise ever, stretches your brains a lot J Back to the stone age almost…but it is a true fun (besides the stress that if it does not work you might get kicked out the next day :P). This one as well is sorted

Flight ticket – good European approach: book online! Aha, as it would be that easy! I book my flight on Royal Jordanian, just to discover when going to pick my ticket up that my flight (no, not the booking!!!) disappeared. Not cancelled, or anything, but simply no sign of it any more in the system, though I booked the day before :P.
Telling me, that there are no flights for the dates what were kind of carved into stone, with other stuff to fix, well, that was not my favorite situation…and honestly I freaked out when they told there are flights only on other dates and for more money (the money is the smallest issue here). So what happened? Again the Jordanian approach – start calling J And forget online crap :P And I did find Egypt Air, on the right dates, for the price what also RJ offered for the new dates…sweet…so I booked on the phone, carefully noting down the dude’s name, who took my booking and then went myself to pick the ticket up, triple checking everything before I actually paid. And yessssss, I have my ticket J Getting back to Hungary for 2 weeks on the 1st of January (prepare for the New Year’s Eve after party!!! I need to recharge my party levels :P)

So, then what really happened? Nothing unusual over here. Just a normal week with a bit of extra stress and finally also solutions to long time pending issues. Which feels pretty good! Totally easing up (though not solving) my mental state I have been writing about in my last post.

Enough of talking, this have become a novel kind of post again :P But now at least writing about actual happenings and not about philosophy :P Comments are welcome!

The missing piece

Have you ever tried to completet a puzzle (with at least a few hundred pieces) and encounter the situation that it somehow doesn't fall into place?And then in most cases discover that most probably a piece is missing, but there are so many you just do not know which one it is?
Well, I kind of have this feeling :)

Because if I list down what is in my life, you just can not find the gap on this list. I have my place, more or less stable :P, work is great, I kind of also have free time :) and I do spend it (even if I go out a bit less, so that I can go home in January), I have my friends here...etc.The first reaction, coming naturally, is that I'm just missing home and family, which I do...but this is not it.I'm not entirely sure if I would have had the same situation if I would have stayed in Hungary, but I think the answer is yes. Coz thinking through the difference of my life here and how it would be in Hungary, well, not that very significantly different.

My usual approach would be that it must be some detail, what I did not take good care about....but it does not feel like.
And now another discovery, just looking back at this very post...full of "feel" and assumptions, haha, seems like I'm slowly learning to listen to my instinct (or I might just have too much time to think, lol).

Anyways, I didn't mean to go overly philosphical. Just when people ask me how am I doing (and now I'm not talking about the daily random nicesties) I'm stuck on how to respond. Because I'm good and doing really fine - and that is true...but not full heartedly...and it is not bad, I do not mean to express I feel bad...just missing that one piece, which I have no idea what it is :D I will scream when I found the piece :)

End of "deep" post, again I managed to reinvent the wheel and shake the world with my wisdom over myself :P

That one month again

Recently I was reading back a few of my previous bogposts...finding some interesting titles :)

One of them said: One month notice...well, here I go again. It has been one month since I'm back to Jordan, so here are a few comparisons and reflections.

Last year around the same time I felt much less at ease with my life and my lifestyle than this time. And no, it is not about the fact that I obviously know my way around much better than I did a y

ear ago (around Ramadan I was already more or less on track), I would look for the reasons somewhere else.

Place number 1 being myself and the effect on my personality of the last year and the recent decisions I have made. Decisions of coming back, decision on leaving AIESEC (and its reasons behind).

Story number 2 - my status. Hmm, this might not be clear, but being on a leadership role vs. being a "random" intern (if I'm an intern, at my company I'm handled totally as junior officer - which I'm truly grateful for!).

Even things around me are totally different or what I do with my days.

Good example is the holiday (though am starting to get a bit bored of it....busy life is suited for me much better :P) - and again the point is hidden in the tiny details.

How much do you see me online? When last year everyone was used to see me there, most of

the time working, but even in my free time being stuck on my laptop, watching movies, being online, chatting or anything else. In comparison this year I barely opened my laptop - and I do feel great about it, even if I keep watching movies, though now on TV :P, because it somehow makes me feel that I have a life.

Or the other point of enjoying every minute of cooking or cleaning around the new place I moved to (hopefully settled for a long time in here) - the point is not the cleaning, but that I care about what is around me, I care about the details and I enjoy caring, enjoy the small fragments of life, a phone call, a random gathering, sudden discovery of a good film on TV or a good random chat with anyone I like (and if I'm online).

I know it sounds a bit cheesy, or like "ok, what is this bullshit again....how can you enjoy cleaning

for 3 days???". But despite that sometimes I think this, in general I feel really good about this new ability of being happy about the small things. Makes me balanced, keeps me going and gets me recharged. And this is awesome....coz I know that my usual sense of responsibility or persistence can keep me going - but it is like getting into a new challenge while charging batteries :)

Challenge? Well, not in its usual sense for me as I'm not (yet) collapsing under workload or I'm not learning a totally new field and handling high risk and stress projects....but I do learn a lot. About myself - now that I have time to think and digest (the last few years at least :)) - about marketing and the telecommunication industry, as my job is truly turning out to be an awesome opportunity.

Through my current job I also do learn to appreciate a lot of things which I thought again to be natural. Like that I can keep sensing the market and in the same time handle numbers and statistics; the ability to learn and understand fast (I definitely delivered a decent surprise to my boss on this matter), the sense of clear but diplomatic communication. Natural, right? For anyone still, or right after AIESEC they all seem like usual traits for 'survival', but well, not in the

corporate world where these small things turn out to be real assets and surprises. (I had my first month evaluation with my direct manager - I was surprised how surprised he was :P He needed convincing that I do not have telecommunications background :P)

About place number 1, the decisions and the reason behind them - this is the part what is hard to formulate into a post...or I guess even in a discussion it would be hard to do. One thing I feel now, that I have made the right choices (though fully only time will judge them) and this does make me feel at ease ;)..and I hope later on I can share more than this.

Besides the philosophic stories I did upload a few more pictures from the company Iftar we had. Iftar is meaning 'breakfast' in arabic, but is usually heard like this during Ramadan when it constitutes the first meal - around 7 pm :P. Here usually companies do organize a gathering for their employees in the form of an Iftar during Ramadan, lovely networking and good fun (though I did not win anything on the draw, hehe). It is good to see around 500 people together, being able to connect to people also informally (I was truly waiting for this opportunity) and enjoying a dinner (khmm, breakfast) together :)

Also another Iftar, the last one during the Holy Month, when I cooked together with a few friends. We spend a whole evening together, from shopping to eating, through cooking....and the necessary shisha (or how it is called here: argeeleh). And the good point is that they live like 200 meters from my place :D looking forward to more fun with the Tunisian gang (unfortunately no pictures yet).

Also my kung-fu trainings have started with the boys, and did have my first arabic class (damn, I need to do the homework :P)...and I really enjoy both the trainings and feeling that I do give in conscious effort into my arabic, really looking forward to some improvements :)

And I guess I could point out many small fun stories...stories of normal hangouts, of daily and lively snapshots. But point being here - even now I'm not someone who has nothing happening with him (and I can put this up on the list of small things taking me forward).

P.s.: Do keep kicking me for more regular updates! With less laptop usage comes less attention on this matter, please do not let me become lazy with my blog and personal updates!!!

Strange....or the opposite

So...I have been for long time delayed with a normal update...so here it comes, already with a controversial title, which actually holds the most important part of the story.

So usually when you go to a foreign country, you should feel very strange...basically for a longer time. But you need to feel alien and have the confusion of not understanding a single thing happening around you.
Well, this is the part which did not exactly happen to me, it was rather re-integration again, seeing things familiar, getting used to some details again.

And honestly speaking, this was one part of feeling strange, I felt the situation strange, coz I did not feel like a total alien. This is most probably just a stupid game of expectations, that when I go back to Hungary you expect to feel home pretty fast, and whatever other country you are in, you do have different expectations.

This is not to say i did not have a down period...actually the first 2 weeks. Getting away from my family, mum, sister and dad...and also leaving friends I feel connected to, was truly not easy. Rather on the opposite, it was way much harder than last time....I mean the first time I left. And then I'm also using now this paragraph to express, that I'm still missing all of them, and I really love them.....and this does not change, rather becomes stronger, with me leaving them again.

So I did have a down period....also that it is Ramadan now, so truly sloooooooooooow. To much freetime at the beginning.

And now comes the part which makes me realize that I'm not a stranger at all here. I still have a lot of 'idle' periods, which is totally normal at this part of the year, with Ramadan.....but things are just filling up :)
I could basically arrange everything what I would need to set up a normal life here. Yeah, am still ahead of moving once more, but then that flat will stay my home at least till the end of next June :P
I also have a bank account...finally :P, Have insurrance, a normal contract, a place to stay.
Also it seems I figured how I'm gonna learn arabic...and have my gym done too :P I will be teaching kung-fu to the brothers of a friend...in return I get my own training in arabic. Lovely, yeah? Looking forward to the first training - tomorrow, yalla :)
Also I do catch up with friends here......and I have time to cook, to just enjoy having a life, it is absolutely re-filling!

So as you can see things are lining up fast, and this is excellent....and why you might get a short response or slow with updates...two reasons :P I either write from work, where I can not really take my time to express that I do feel good :) Or that my mind is just again so full that things come and go....but full with different stuff, of arranging a decent life over here, fun, ya??
(this post also took some time to come alive, I have thoughts of it million times, but when I got the time to sit to the laptop....they were all hiding very well, up to now :D :D)

These cool things are stil weird though...finding my place and other being able to find the right "bracket" for me. Am I an intern, an ex-MC or just a random friend?
But this is also findings its own track now :)

And work, hmmm, excellleeeeent :) After 3 weeks of working my first product idea is already running for multiple approvals...and seems like I could figure something what has never been on this market before :P Hope its gonna work :) How the company finds me? Good question, end of next week I have a first month evaluation with my direct manager (who I must say is an outstanding boss, happy to have a very cool line manager :)), so am gonna get the details of how they feel, and that I also can tell how I feel :P
And it is really great to have work....I mean that it is a constant and important part of my life, but that it is not my entire life. Do not misinterpret me, I would never regret my last years, they made me who I am, but I did and still need this new way of life. And that this lifestyle is charging me up, getting my old energy and drive back, is totally endorsing the decisions now I have made. I must say that although I do miss still many things from my current life, I'm HAPPY and Balanced.....good :P

The weird picture was made on my welcome party over here, at a very nice, but super far place....this party was also part of that feeling I already wrote about with the confusion of "brackets". But it is fine, it is all getting sorted :)

We have also been out to downtown with interns, was just awesome having 8 people from 8 different countries, haha :) People looked a bit weird on this big group of totally mixed foreigners, but I guess this is something I'm getting used to again pretty fast.

Ok, I guess I more or less put down what I wanted....and I will try hard writing more regular updates and posts ;)

There and back again

So, this is to re-confirm that I'm indeed going back to Jordan, on an internship, hopefully rather on a career....well that one we will see.

But this post came alive, beacuse it is not all that simple! No, no point thinking that I changed my mind, or that I'm not happy with this opportunity....but I few things did hit me, a few things are just running around.

I feel .... excitement ... which everyone thinks is natural.... and fear....which most people can not get why.

If we look deeper into this whole situation, then you discover, such as I did, that it is ain't about just going back or hanging around. It is ain't about who do you miss who do you not miss. And last but not least, this fear is ain't about the choice I made.

Then what it is about? It is about that I made a choice!
Not which option I picked....I am totally sure the same fear would squeeze my stomach if I would stay in Hungary.
It is simply I guess that kind of a change of life I have been talking about in previous posts. And that it is all easy to say, that "yeah, I need to make the next step" - the obvious message what everyone can get, but to take the risk and do make a step. This is what this whole mix of feelings is about. I make the next step...and only time will be able to full judge if I did it right or wrong.

With this fear in my heart it is hard to take the critics and it is hard to say to any one that you are true, or you are false.

But getting back to me being natural, all this what I wrote is right, there is a fear of risk in my throat, but I have always been someone lead by conscious decisions. This is meaning that despite the feeling of I can not be sure of my choice, I made it and I'm committed to it.....and I'm sure of it.

--------

And with all this comes a different line of thought.

I had an intersting conversation with my sister...well, the topic is kind of AIESECy, but could give more if you read between the lines.

This was about whether our interns have talent or not, are they really outstanding individuals or not. Well, quality is always a question, but I think we miss the point.

Whatever great that person is, who decides to go to a basically unkown country, to an almost unknown company for a job described in 5 lines is undoubtedly an outstanding person.

Looking around of people at my age there is one very clear thing distinguishing such people (whether they are AIESEC members or anything else). And this is that they play at their own risk!

Easy to say, to make a choice, easy to say that people will help. Not easy at all. It seems like, because these people make this choice and stand firm to make it happen. Seems they have no doubts, no fears and are affraid of nothing, not even from the unknown.
Some of them more, some of them are less concerned on this matter, but they are the ones who either have less fear, or the ones who do not let themselves to be guided by their fears.
And what is this, if not a remarkable talent of any person possesing this?

The last point for me on the matter is that it is all inside of I guess most people.....but there are only a few who has the guts to use this, and that even if it looks like something small, we all need to start valueing small things in life, as they are the spice of anyones life.

-------

Ok, pretty phylosophical post, never mind :) It was just good to write it all down, so that I don't forget these things....who knows when the thrill of making such a choice will ever come back :D

The End...or a new start

This video is to kind of sum up my one year in Jordan. Nevertheless this blog is not yet done, I do belive after being home for 10 days, that re-integration is an equally fun part of an international experience, and I also think that it could be of a nice mirror to Hungary.

What comes after? We will see then ;) Enjoy the movie!