Coffee by Jahnjeer

One of my favorite parts of my day is when Jahnjeer brings me coffee and water in the morning.

Jahnjeer is from Bangladesh, he speaks four languages (including english), is smart as a whip and is such a wonderful human being with a kind heart. When he brings my coffee into my office in the morning, he teaches me something new every day. A greeting or word of the day a custom I don't quite grasp, really helpful.

As the day continues on he knows exactly when my coffee cup is empty and that I have two cups (I prefer Turkish but nescafe does quite nicely) I drink 4-6 cans of Canadian club soda, I love pumpkin seeds and pistachios and a wonderful cup of herbal tea in the afternoon around 1430.

He takes care of me...he reminds me when it is closing time (as the absent minded geek I am I always lose track of time and would most likely forget that the world exists outside of my office). He used to wait until I left for the day, however, he figured out that I really had no sense of time or when the work day was over when I kept going until 2000hrs.

He then realized that I was a "geek" and had absolutely no sense of time and he began to make a habit of coming in to remind me that the work day was over, I should go out and get a bit of sun and run my errands so that I could start the day fresh again tomorrow.

This man who is the "office boy" is a talented, multilingual, genuine gem who upon my arrival back from NYC along with the other special people in my world, will get a present of hugs and possibly other things from the opposite side of the globe...

From Dubai with love to all,

Susan

In my passport case....

In my passport case is the following:

My Passport (obviously)

International Drivers Liscence

Pictures of my family

Various denominations of money (including a 500,000 dollar bill from Zimbabwe given to me from a friend for the kids)

and the most important through all of the moves:

Four cards given to me by my favorite sister in law (hidden in various places in my Chicago Apt at the time so that I would turn a corner or open a drawer and smile). Whenever I doubt myself I pull them out and look at them.

1. Dare to be remarkable

2. Never, never, never ever give up.

3. Yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery TODAY is a gift.

and 4: Live with intention. walk to the edge. listen hard. play with abandon. laugh. choose with no regret. continue to learn. appreciate your friends. do what you love. live as if this is all there is....~Mary anne radmacher.

Thank you Darlene for the constant reminder that I am here for today...and I will live for it...

Much love,

Susan

The Model UN: The UAE

Living in the UAE is absolutely fascinating. Especially from a cultural perspective.

My office for instance: We have representations from all around the world: Syria, UAE, Egyptian, USA, Pakistan, Bangledesh, India, Oman, Sudan, etc.... We all work side by side.

It reminds me of NYC in a way.

I have had no problems with anyone since my arrival. I have been in the middle of the desert, the middle of industrial areas, work camps, regions, and I have always felt warmly welcomed even as the only blonde female (or just female for that matter) for a couple of km.

I think the most fun that I have had was on the Prophet Mohammeds birthday. I saw a group of workers (all different nationalities) playing soccer in the dust (by where the camels live). I stopped got out of my car and in my broken, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu mix asked if I could play with them. Although I wasnt able to "high five" any of them because they were all men, I had a blast, laughed, smiled and got dusty with all of them.

The other fun place I have gone is the Intercontinental in Al Ain. There is always a traditional wedding festivity, a bunch of expats and a broad mix of locals. I go to the horse and jockey (british pub) and sit out on the veranda and get on the internet and watch people. The crowd is fabulous. I quickly made friends with the team from Canada who are there for the next month and have developed quite a fondness of my colorful neighbors to the north! Whenever I am there now, there is always someone who comes to my table...Austrian, Canadian, German etc.

Last night was Bingo night at the H&J as everyone calls it... What a blast! You could win a steak dinner at the hotel for a full card or a drink for a line :-) One of my favorite Canadians "George" is now the "caller" and he is great.

Lots of fun as always, I am still alive and breathing.

Photo of the day

Photo of the day: Why, YES, that is a Momma and Baby Camel in the back of a truck!

IDC ME- Burj Al Arab

Burj Al Arab

The pretty sail boat shaped building in the photos from 360 last time.

I was invited to my first Middle East forum, sponsored by IDC and McAfee Security.

The Burj is absolutely amazing. It was on the 27th floor (the top of the sail, and in the rotunda...) Quite the first conference.

Out of 100 or so CIO/ senior IT attendees there were 5 females and I was positioned in the 3rd row next to 2 of them in full abaya. Kind of like salt and pepper :-)

So I was the the "curiosity" of all. LOL....

During the coffee/breakfast break, I just stood to the side alone and watched in total immersion soaking it all in and quite happy to listen and watch.

Of course I had to raise my hand and ask the question to the panel:

"Everyone talks about cloud computing, what happens when there is no cloud"?

Point and case: In the MENA at the end of December all four undersea cables (which are the internet back bone)and the entire region had no internet access. I have encountered this once before and it took down my entire system, the symantec antivirus is cloud based and could not update and shut my OS completely down. I actually had to go in and boot through DOS and remove symantec from my boot file. Then I was able to boot into windows. I wanted to make sure that they understood the constraints of working in a country without enormous bandwidth. I think my point was well received. This is not America or Europe.

It has been a busy few weeks. A good busy. I am back in Al Ain and going to go for a massage tonight, to work out all the mach momentum brainstorming I have been doing in the last 30 days.

I can and do perform as a "social" person when at the circus (I.E. IDC conferences such as the one yesterday held at the top of the Burj Al Arab or 3 black tie dinners in a week) But 2 days of performing at the circus is socially exhausting for me. It drains my social bank. At that point all I want is to not talk out loud and listen....Does that make sense or am I just a crazy woman in the desert?

Whatever it is, I am happily winding my way through another adventure.But it is all just a journey and a wonderful one at that...I am happy I am alive and breathing another day to experience it all.

Mars and Venus

 

A visit from the frenchman, the greek and the american