In Dubai Airport

So.. am in Dubai airport.. coming from Abidjan (IC) and waiting for my flight to Amman..


I remember Akos, the vise president of external relations in AIESEC jordan, told me once, around the end of his term in Jordan, that "heading for the future" or H4TF is not only about moving from working in AIESEC environment to the real business world.. and moving from the "learn field" to a more serious atmosphere.. but it's also the process in which you learn your lessons.. you go over the events of that experience.. what happened.. why do you think it happened.. how did you respond.. did this response work.. was there a better way to handle it.. along with all the relationships.. friends and enemies.. emotions.. and memories..
you go over that.. and learn your lessons.. learn about yourself.. about people.. learn about life.. reconsider your values.. and come up with a new perspective..
and this is what I'll be doing


One thing is irritating me though.. it's the amount of happiness am feeling to be on the way home.. and what irritates me in particular.. is the fact that am not rushing home to do something.. or go somewhere.. or to meet someone.. of course there will be a lot of eating, sleeping and gatherings in the up coming week, but I dont think that this is it.. and I wonder.. is it because there was something wrong with my internship? was it bad? was it me who didnt enjoy it.. do I love Amman and its people more than I think.. or is this normal?


I know that one of the main reasons for my happiness right now is that I have just had the burger I wanted for 8 weeks.. when I was here on my way to Abidjan.. I went to get a burger.. and that's where i realized that I lost all my money except for 10 $.. and though I have only 10$ now.. but this time it's not a surprise..


Anyway, my plane is boarding.. talk to you soon :)

Heading home

So.. here I'm.. wrapping up my internship in the IC.. my flight leaves in a week.. heading to Amman..

I remember my first week here.. when i went to my NGO where i am supposed to work.. it's a nice place.. close to my accommodation.. and that's where I had my first and worst shock..
instead of working on peer education.. which will give me the experience of creating and conducting an educational environment..
and instead of working in high schools and universities.. which would give me the experience of handling adults in a caring way that I need..
and instead of working in an English speaking environment..
I was sent to work as a secretary, entering data collected by field agents, in addition to the often translation of French documents to English..
and to make things better..
the NGO has requested the intern to be a female.. since 90% of the workers here are women and they'll be working with moms with AIDS.. instead they got a boy..
they also requested the intern to be French speaking.. obviously to communicate with ppl.. instead they got a very basic french speaking intern.. though I got the absolute confirmation that language will not be a problem..
What a great start!!

At that point, I called Fly Emarits to check the cost of plane tickets to north Africa and I contacted a french friend who lives in South Africa. I was exploring my options to know whether I should put up with this.. or do I have other alternatives.. the cost was really high.. and the 1400$ I paid for the ticket were too much to just walk out on.. so.. I decided to stay and see.. I can leave at any time as long as I have my passport.. so I decided to stay for a while.. at least lets explore the country.. I mean it's Africa.. there has to be something to see around here..

AIESEC promotes their internships to be a combination of professional+cultural experience.. well.. this is it for the professional part.. on the contrary.. the cultural part was good enough to compensate the first part.. and to make me stay for 7 more weeks..

Since I did not know when exactly am leaving.. and the max was 8 weeks.. i started travelling in the country and I decided to open to culture completely..
I eat what they eat.. no questions asked..
I ride what they ride.. no complaining..
I watch what they watch.. even though I dont understand a single word, except bonjour and merci..
of course this lead to an early cultural shock.. I didnt really understand what's going on.. am doing things i shouldnt be doing.. and so by the end of the 2nd week.. I decided that this ride is over.. now it's time to try to mix customs..
discuss values and reasons..
and by 4th week.. the differences were rising.. and from that date on.. I started applying my rules whenever possible.. and gently refuse and gradually learn to smoothly say NO..

Around the end of the 5th week.. and 3 weeks before returning home.. I started to miss home.. when I look at pictures of Wadi Rum.. I dont see an empty valley.. under the burning sun.. where only stupido would go.. it became beautiful to me.. am trying to point out what exactly i like now about it.. I cant.. anyway.. I wonder if I will feel the same when i get there?! or am I feeling so coz am in CI?! I'll tell you when i go there :)

so.. i started the mental preparation for my return.. and for 2 days.. I did a mistake.. I started telling myself: "............I'll do that when i get to Amman".. I dont have to wash my clothes; coz i'll do that when i go to amman, I dont have to eat well; coz i'll do that when i go to amman, etc.. and I immediately realized that if i keep doing that.. the 3 weeks will feel like 3 years.. and the only thing on my mind will be "when will I leave!!".. careful not to do that!!

Now, I have a week to go.. I'm finishing my job officially on Friday and having a few days to enjoy.. am thinking of what to do here and what souvenirs should I get?! I am open to suggestions :D

Life is cynical.. you gotta admit it..

The story of Katia.. my GF.. took a very interesting turn, two days ago, in the farewell party of Radhagal, an Indian intern here in CI, who was the one suggested the idea of my imaginary GF to relief the continuous pressure of ppl trying to hock me up with someone..

She was talking passionately about going on another internship! in the same country! in a similar job profile! after a brief trip to India! i knew something is fishy.. other than what we were eating..

Yes! she's in love.. with a young handsome Ivorian man.. and as I was teasing her for a bit about how much she hated guys over here.. I was feeling happy for her.. coz the only thing I believe about love.. is that it is blind.. and if the other person makes sense to you.. then it's ur brain that chose.. not ur heart.. you should be feeling an overwhelming ambiguous happiness rather than the happiness of achieving something, of finding the one.. coz that's what ur brain happiness feels like..

As we talked about it more.. I felt a little stupid.. and somewhat missing out.. by not allowing myself to care for anything or anyone here.. am leaving in 2 weeks anyway so why to bother.. what a logic!!

A week ago, I went to one of my colleague’s house for dinner, she lives with her husband in a small house, a studio, with simple furniture, quiet neighborhood, and it reminded me that marriage doesnt have to be the end of a hard and very long journey of emotional and sexual abstinence.. a song now plays in the back of my head "heart of gold"..

Best of luck Radhagal.. am on the lookout now..

My first 4 weeks of internship in IC

So.. here I go.. writing my first blog.. lovely Chen talked me into it.. she's persuasive :)








It's funny that my VP finance Nidal Khoury is trying to sell me his new novel for 8$ this morning, the funny thing is that he tried to convince me by telling me that the revenue will go to AIESEC!! apparently he doesnt know what happened with me here in the Ivory Coast! and how much I love AIESEC now!


Here I'm, in the 4th week of my internship here in IC:

• the jungles are amazing.. when I went to the real jungle.. I couldnt handle staying there for long.. it's really scary.. in the middle of it.. you can barely see anything.. trees are so high and branchy that in the middle of the day.. only little sun light passes through..
• you can wear anything to any occasion, you can wear sandals and shorts to a business meeting..
• the beach.. oh my god.. greenery.. ocean.. dancing.. volleyball.. food.. I didnt wanna go home..
• villages.. the street festival.. dancing with the whole crowd in the street for hours.. music coming from everywhere.. ppl are crazy.. girls are sexy..
• the sun shines only for 2-4 hours of the day, the rest is cloudy, and the sunblock tubes I brought with me are not required..

of course, as anything in life, there's a down side to it like food is so spicy that whenever I eat local food i cry.. and like you jump into a bus to take you to work and you find yourself somewhere else coz the chauffeur changed his route today.. and sometimes it's a good thing but you dont feel comfortable like girls hitting on you all the time.. it starts nice.. being the center of attention.. but gets ugly when I dont show interest.. thanks to the advice of a previous intern here.. I have a girlfriend now.. we love each other so much.. am faithful to her.. that's why I cant fool around.. we talk online frequently.. she's waiting for me in Amman.. and most importantly.. she's imaginary.. that's the only way out..


A very big THANKS goes to my buddy, Alian Djahi, he's my roommate, @ buddy, tour guide, French teacher and my wingman in the bars..


So.. you got me Nidal.. you got me good.. am enjoying my internship.. and I love AIESEC.. still.. am not buying your novel..