From Abu Dhabi directly to your heart

One foot in Europe, the other in Asia

2007-08-25T23:33:00.000+03:00

Ladies and gentleman, I have made it to the fourth and final country I promised I would visit when I moved to the gulf, Turkey.

So far, I am impressed with Turkey. It is an amazing mix of East and West, modern and ancient, lively and quiet.

As you can see from this photo, my bed and breakfast is in a prime location. Each morning for the next week or so I will go up to the rooftop and look out over Asia (from European side), the famous Blue Mosque, or the Aya Sofia.

See you all real soon with more photos and plenty of stories.

From the heart directly to you all

2007-08-17T12:51:00.000+03:00

To all my folks wherever they may be. This update is per a request from my brother Jacob who is enjoying his life in Korea. To my sister Laurel who just moved to Chicago. To my mother who has recently given up her 50+ years in Michigan to try and resettle with me in the UAE. To my college roomate Marty who recently relocated to Australia and is living life the best way he can. To my good friend Ali who has been with his mother for a month and a half in Germany. Finally, to me who will be travelling for around 3 weeks starting at the end of next week (and I still don't know where).

May we all be close to those who are important when we visit home, closer when we visit far away places, and closest with those who are so fortunate enough to join us in whatever adventure we are living.

To those who we are leaving behind, or haven't been able to get back in touch with over the many years, forgive us. It always seems like those who were meant to stay close find a way to make it work out, even after a considerable gap.

Most importantly of all, let us all understand that distance can make the heart fonder but only if we are understanding enough to change places with one another from time to time and verify what they are going through.

Thank you mom for coming to see my life for yourself, and for being so understanding and considerable to your nomad son.

Family Visits in the mind of an expat

2007-07-22T09:53:00.000+03:00

A few weeks ago my father and grandmother visited me in the UAE. It was the first time in my 3 + years living abroad that a family member came to a country where I was living.

As an expat you spend the majority of your time away from the majority of your family. You occaisionally go home for the 1-2 week visit, but the life you choose brings you further away from whom you were raised with.

It is an odd phenomenon, which I have discussed with a few people in this country.

I remarked a very close and strong couple from the US. I told the wife that I believe they have a very close relationship which to me looked stronger than most I was used to back home (other small town families). She remarked that after having lived in Saudi, the UAE, and various other locations for many years, you tend to be close to those you let in.

Now back to me....I have been living basically away from my family since I was 17 years old. When I was younger I wanted nothing more than to leave my family behind and be fully independant.

The odd thing is that today my mother is in Frankfurt on a layover to the UAE to come and live in my studio with me for an indefinite period of time, and, get this, it was all my idea. Life can be funny.

The first meeting...

2007-03-07T21:57:00.000+03:00

I met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed :).

Getting Settled

2007-02-20T21:51:00.000+03:00

The irony

While I am travelling and so many exciting things happen, I can't seem to find the time to blog and share it with the rest of you. Just as soon as I settle down, I find more time but less exciting things to blog about.

My life in Abu Dhabi is very intense. Work is demanding, and wonderful. I get a rush out of doing what I am doing, even if I am only just getting my feet wet. I feel what we are doing is important and we don't have any real bottlenecks that we can't solve with a few good brainstorming sessions. Nothing like with AIESEC where everyday was a challenge just to keep rolling.

No, my challenges are now how to make our projects (specifically the volunteer project) a complete and huge success on as many levels as possible given the vast resources we intend to use to achieve this.

Personally, I just found a place to stay, paid the realtor his blood money (robbery!) and am getting ready to move in. It is very difficult to even look the part when you don't have a natural place to call your own but are working full time.

I just got back from a refreshing trip to Cairo where I attended a Symposium care of AIESEC to deal with many issues which will overlap with my work at the foundation. The symposium itself was quite simplistic in that it had no real tangible outcome or reason other than voicing ideas and opinions. This was quite disheartening since we had so many great people present.

However the symposium did make me realize what we will be doing at the Emirates Foundation, on similar topics and at similar symposiums, will be entirely measured by our output and how we implement it. This is very nice to know.

Looking forward to posting all about recent times, upcoming ones, and occasionally the present. Cheers.

Return to Bahrain

2007-01-29T12:34:00.000+03:00

So I have some big news for everyone. In my job hunt I got an offer at the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi!

It is to myself and many a dream job; the perfect mix of country and people development, high level reach and authority, and a great team with very high ambition. It is also a rather new initiative with loads of potential yet to reach.

So, with the announcement of my new (inshallah) position I booked the first free days I had to go back to Bahrain and catch up with all of the AIESECers there.

Everyone here is doing wonderful and I am so glad to see all the people I helped impact in starting AIESEC here. Shout outs to Terbo, Claude, John, Lyna, Sahar, Shereen, Momo, Ahmed Aseeri, Ahmed Awali, Mahmood, Sarah (Social), Ausha Maynoona and Aysha Crystal.

If I forgot anyone I met up with the first day I visited, please forgive me!

Lastly, this is exactly one year from the time when I first arrived to Bahrain and had some life changing experiences. For one thing Bahrain is amazingly unique in the Gulf and world. And...of course...Bahrain is the place to be for Muharram once again. If anyone needs some info, check my old post from last year.

http://henseldogg.nomadlife.org/2006_02_01_henseldogg_archive.html

Time to enjoy and leave the office (we have a suitable one now, nice work MC06-07). Cheers.

Back in Dubai

2007-01-12T15:55:00.000+03:00

Hello everyone. After a bout with slow and backlogged internet in Oman, I am officially back in Dubai. This time I have an indefinite time schedule and finished with AIESEC.

As you can imagine, I have loads of stories to share from traveling around the region, moving back to Dubai without much prepared, daily sights and sounds, and a job hunt which has been quite interesting to say the least.

From Tunisia directly to your heart was my first blog back in 2003, followed by my first nomadlife blog suitably entitled "From Dubai directly to your heart," after which I could have easily put Tunisia again in there, followed by "Bahrain" and then "The US" and finally "Oman," had I been so quick to update.

So a new chapter starts once again. Khalas, no more AIESEC, no more worries about what I will say and how it will reflect upon our organization. A slight escalation in freedom of speach. I can't wait...

For now I have something for those of you who don't know much about Dubai's projects and how it potentially will look in 5-20 years.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6179432634249787416&q=dubai&hl=en

Cheers,
E

The people you meet in new places

2006-11-29T23:49:00.000+03:00

I swear, if I could take a picture of every person I meet in a day and profile them on a blog it would be remarkable.

For those who don't know me, I tend to attract oddest, most interesting people in any group. For those that do know me, you can attest to the fact that somehow people feel free to open up to me and express any mix of strange emotions and thoughts.

I could go into tons of examples like this Palestinian stalker I picked up with my roommate Andrea while living in Al Menzah 6 in Tunis, or the Indian guy I met in Dubai at the Australian Counsel General's house with Jen who forced us into loads of drinks and an eventual Indian "strip club."

But my spark for writing this entry came from a more normal guy I just met while making my daily Pakistani Chapati (bread) run in my neighborhood here.

He is some guy who apparently has Omani citizenship but doesn't speak Arabic well. He studied in Canada and works for IBM but he apparently can't let go of his decade old Diesel shirt with Curry stains all over the front. He has an opinion on everything you bring up, but doesn't belong in any situation.

Here is my "recap" of the afternoon just when he came in :).

I was talking to my Pakistani friends at the shop, as is the usual. I go in ask for 2 pieces of bread, he makes me 3 and I have to force some money down his throat. The bring me tea and we try to talk in Arabic for 10-15 minutes before I leave.

Only this time these two guys came in that I hadn't ever seen before. One was Omani and he asked me some questions in Arabic, to which I replied, "Eric, from America." Then the other guy turned to me and said, "Which state" in perfect American English. I told him Michigan and he went into his spell about how he studied in Minnesota and knows the US well.

Then I went back to talking to my friends for a bit about Bahrain and different Gulf countries (when your Arabic is still basic you have to work on words you know and learn from the situation, thus countries, food, and general greetings are sometimes the extent of my conversations). He heard my rant about Bahrain and the price differences between Dubai, Bahrain and Oman for telecommunications or something and he said, "You had better not go to Bahrain, there is violence there you know."

I replied, "Sure, there is a little more violence there than here, but it really isn't bad."

He interrupted, "Fine, but you had better not tell them you are American or they will hurt you."

To which I said, "No, actually I have been in the middle of many gatherings with many people in Bahrain and have told each and every one of them I was American. I never once had a problem."

Not to be proven wrong he said, "Well you had better not try that in Afghanistan, they will kill you there."

I conceded, "Yes, you are right but that is an entirely different situation in Afghanistan. They don't have any sort of strong government to..."

He interrupted again, "Yah, they would kill you in Iraq of Afghanistan. You know what Bush is doing...."

You get the point. He was someone that no matter what everyone was speaking about, no matter what anyone else was doing, he wanted to come in and demand attention, to prove his intellect, and to voice his opinions at an opportune time.

Some other important traits of his were his lack of positivity, his hatred for Oman (despite apparently having a great job and a great side business), his lack of care for life, and his desire to move to Canada apparently. I guess the world sees Canada as one of the few 1st world countries that is still pure of environment, spirit, and government.

Anyway, my point is that as an American especially when I travel or move around I often meet people that fit precisely into this generalization. They are fed up and bored with their life, want to push some buttons and test any American they find, and don't care about any social manners or have any respect for a social situation.

As an example, the Pakistani baker after awhile said sometime in Urdu to the man. His reaction was to mimic the poor guy and translate it into English, "He says 'Why don't you talk about something I can be a part of too.'"

The new guy laughed and continued to give me his number and say if I ever need any connections at a bank, or in Gold or anything to call him. I took his number but wouldn't want anything to do with such a person if I could help it. I have learned that lesson before (see the Palestinian guy in Tunis if you must....scary stalker).

My reaction most probably spoke worlds to him. After he interrupted me once I let him continue and tried to add on to where his conversation was taking me. After he interrupted me rudely twice, I fell silent and decided to not amuse him any further. He fell into an endless ramble and decided to offer me professional services as a way of ending the conversation on a high note, thus being the good guy, and calling it a night.

In the past I would have picked a new bakery to get my bread, but I really like the guys there. This time around I think I'll just converse with them in Arabic instead and he can either join our conversations or leave :).

The Drake

2006-11-22T22:49:00.000+03:00

Yes, I am in Oman and yes I just got back from a great trip to Dubai that finally made me feel like a shopping tourist amazed by the new stuff and yes I must visit Bahrain ASAP (Ala and others, it was my intention to come to Oman and fly to Bahrain the same day to surprise everyone, so don't spread the word I am in the region and others will get their surprise), but first and foremost I was watching Seinfeld the other day and something caught my attention. So now my long overdue shout out to a dear friend chilling back in the States.

"George: I don’t like Drake
Jerry: You don’t like the Drake?
George: Hate the Drake.
Elaine: I love the drake
Jerry: How could you not like the drake?

George: Who’s the Drake?
Elaine: Who’s the Drake?
Jerry: The Drake is good!
…
Elaine: Hi, hey have you gotten a present yet for the Drake?
Kramer: No No, Not yet
Jerry: Do you like the Drake?
Kramer: I love the Drake, I’m looking forward to meeting the Drake-et"

And yes, once there is a "Drake-et" I have to meet her. Until then, keep sampling soil till you find the fertile....well I won't go there.

Eric

Who's that white boy?

2006-11-12T20:28:00.000+03:00

Oman, unlike many other countries I have lived (primarily in the Middle East), is perhaps the best country at playing “Name the country of origin of that white boy.” I of course know from first hand as I am “that white Boy.”

The odd thing is that in Oman there are far fewer white people than say the UAE or Bahrain, and in most areas I frequent in Oman (when compared with the touristic areas in Tunisia), they have more white people than Tunis. So why do they come up to me when wearing 100% European and Middle Eastern clothes and doing very Arab things and say, “Ameriki?”

I am used to be called French or British or even Syrian, Persian or Bosnian (Thanks to the beard of course and my limited knowledge of Arabic), but never since being in Europe have so many people gotten me pegged correctly on their first try.

I know this seems mundane, but I base a lot of how I fit in on the fact that people cannot accurately place me ☺. So now for my take on it…

Since they don’t interact with very many white people on a daily basis, and the ones they do aren’t 90% from any one country, they probably have no idea what to assume at first glance. They are then going on what they know best, and that is the US from media, music, and movies.

So, khalas, it isn’t me, its them ☺.

My Oman(real)ization

2006-11-07T10:59:00.000+03:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now in Oman. My position here is to do continuing research and logistical setup for a pending AIESEC expansion. The main reason I took this opportunity is because it gives us the chance to go over all of our past mistakes and what we have learned and to do it better this time.

While I have been to Oman before and had quite the cultural experience, I am learning a lot more about the country this time around.

With the promise of much cultural understanding to come, I will leave you with a quick generalization and question to ponder.

Generalization: Omanis are of the nicest people in the Gulf, quite possibly in the world.

Question: If the above is true, why is it that in Muscat the drivers are so rude? It is of note that I have driven in both the UAE and Bahrain and wasn't shocked by the same thing there).

Yalla.

The hard road for Michigan

2006-10-27T15:23:00.000+03:00

This is from Yahoo...

"In August, Hawaii posted the lowest unemployment rate (2.8 %), followed by South Dakota, Utah, and Virginia (3.2% each), then Florida, Nebraska, Idaho, and Wyoming (3.3% each). Michigan and Mississippi suffered the highest unemployment rates, at 7.1% each. (The unemployment rate is defined as the "percentage of employable people actively seeking work, out of the total number of employable people.")

Employment opportunities by state might also be judged by job postings per capita. By this measure, California boasts three of the top five cities, led by San Jose in the top spot. "

...So why did I just come from the best state, and two of the best cities in the country and continue my job hunt in Michigan, which is tied for dead last in unemployment rate with a state that had its most metropolitan city destroyed by Katrina recently? Three reasons...

1. Family and friends
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Google has a new office here. Wish me luck!

My Waiting for Godot

2006-10-14T08:39:00.000+03:00

"Vladimir: Well, shall we go?
Estragon: Yes, let's go.

They do not move."

One of my favorite plays I have ever read (which isn't saying much) is an enlightening piece about a pair of men who do nothing with their lives but wait for an unknown, never-gonna-come, Godot. The play depicts some rather bizarre life circumstances, including references to routine beatings, sleeping in ditches, and a slight reference to autoerotic asphyxiation, if one is so inclined to interpret it as such. All the while they wait and banter on and on about nothing while Godot never comes.

I am waiting for my own Godot right now. Perhaps we all are, but I am especially attuned to the fine art of waiting for an event to happen which may or may not come soon enough. I won't enlighten you as to what my Godot is, for that would ruin this quaint reference to Samuel Beckett's symphonic "play about nothing" by giving you something in my reference for which he did not. I will, however, give you a rundown of my day's work...

Today, Friday the 13th.
I wake up for breakfast before the sun rises, eat, check my email (Godot is a no show), check the sports scores, check Google news, go to the bathroom and sleep once again.

I wake again much later and take my brother's roommate to the airport so she can go visit San Francisco, the area I was just in prior to San Diego. I take some time off to reflect and be spiritual, only I miss the appropriate venue by just 5 minutes. I then sit in my car for a good 5 minutes debating what to do next and where to go. I decide I want to go shop for some electronics.

An hour later I am driving home with a new webcam and miss my exit. My navigation system starts beeping for a U-turn. I hate taking the same route twice when a better (but longer) one may present itself. I trust my instincts and get stuck in a long traffic jam up near the Marine's base. Luckily there is a Friday afternoon air show by some Tomcats or F-16s or whatever and I occupy myself trying to snap a shot on my Razr. Without leaving the car and my line, I can't get a nice one.

I arrive home a few hours later than anticipated, and get quickly online. No Godot, but a good conversation ensues with a close friend and the outcome of a baseball game greatly benefited my likes and my people (Michiganders).

I get bored, so I watch a few episodes of Scrubs, my new "in" sitcom (read old post). I then start to cook a nice large meal for 3, which I eat alone (with my good Friend Zack Braff).

I then get a call to join my brother and some friends for dinner. Great timing, but I join them anyway (might as well have dessert with them). They are eating at a pizza place where no dessert is served. Our conversation encompasses the creation of a new phrase (homo-erratic), Disneyworld, cryogenic freezing, North Korea, horror films, and Brad Pitt's butt (see homo-erratic). I leave for home to have my dessert.

I arrive realizing we are out of milk, so my early breakfast will be slightly less than I had hoped for, unless I go out shopping. My brother gives me a list of things he wants but has no time to buy and I research online which market is open after 9pm. Only one in the area.

I go out, I buy $20 worth of food for over $40, can't refill our water bottles, and am stunned at how such a market can even exist. The people here really want to live the high life, rather than save some money and actually be worth something.

I come home and write in my blog, and still no Godot.

Go Tigers!!!

2006-10-14T03:10:00.000+03:00

I love this, Tigers are up 3-0 in the ALCS with 2 more go to at home, and then two more to go in Oakland, if needed (won't be).

As much as I love our victory, couldn't ESPN have picked a more glorious picture of The Gambler (Kenny Rogers, Detroit's Ace pitcher). It looks like....u can fill in the blank if you want.

Pistons/Tigers similarities

2006-10-10T08:02:00.000+03:00

Hey, anyone ever notice how the Detroit Pistons were not given a chance in 2004 and yet they still took it to the legendary "Best team ever" LA Lakers and won the championship?

Notice how the 2006 Detroit Tigers weren't given a chance against the "best lineup ever" NY Yankees and we took it to them hard?

Ever notice how after both of these big wins we A). didn't get hardly any media attention because Shaq/Kobe and Joe Torre/A-rod were taking it all because their teams were supposedly "imploding" and B). We all of a sudden had millions of believers in our teams and C) Had even more haters of our teams styles?

I guess we are always the underdogs who disrupt something build so well that it can't possibly play together and win when it counts. Let's go Detroit. Sports is all we have left.

Back to the tube

2006-10-09T13:08:00.000+03:00

So, after many years of using older tv shows to keep me attached to my US identity and fight off culture shock, I have moved on beyond the Friends era. My new old TV show of choice is the recently (since I have been gone) released DVDs of Seinfeld, the best sitcom of all time.

In addition I find Scrubs (still on TV, but from my college years as well) to be the best show on TV and I am starting to like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This is probably due to my early years interest in Saturday Night Live and Studio 60 is basically an over-dramatized version of how they put SNL together (even if the show is about a competitor to SNL and often quotes them on success).

My Name is Earl is another show that has caught my attention recently. Not great, but for 3-4 episodes it is kind of addictive (then it gets old and silly).

I think my point here is that my life when I was away from America did consist of minimal TV watching, but I read books, went out for coffee with friends, and generally kept very busy. I only used TV shows (usually downloads or on DVD) to go to sleep, and watched the same ones over and over. Now that I am back in the US and not super busy, I spend a lot more time researching movies, tv shows, etc., and less time socializing and reading.

The odd thing is, I don't even have a TV nor do I live in a house with one.

Hail to the victors valient!

2006-10-08T22:05:00.001+03:00

Just woke up on Sunday and I can't get it out of my head. The state of Michigan just had a great saturday, with the University of Michigan easily handling Michigan State (the one black mark for the state's large sports interests, but someone had to go down in a heads-up matchup) to move up to number 4 in the national rankings and for the Detoit Tigers, who won their best of 5 ALDS matchup against the historic Yankees and their $198 million team payroll.

The Tigers were the team I grew up collecting, memorizing, and in absolute awe when we took the nearly 5 hour trip down south to go watch Lou Whitaker (my favorite), Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson, and Sparky's gang do their thing. The only thing was in those days Oakland and at times the Yankees were dominant, so the Tigers didn't often do as well as we are this year. Here's hoping that they win out and take back the championship (I am hesitant to call it by its real name, "World's Series" since this blog is read internationally and it does make Americans look stupid to call the winners of a national (w/ Canada) sport the world's best).

Intense Presentation on Palestine

2006-10-06T08:21:00.000+03:00

So last night I went to San Diego State University where the Muslim Student's Association brought in a guest lecturer on Palestine. Unfortunately the person slated to come, a professor at Berkley got stuck in traffic and was unable to attend. So instead they found their third choice, a Palestinian who had some interesting insights onto the history of the situation in the middle east.

His main angle and source of information were a few key books, but primarily his own life experience and stories from his relatives and neighbors. While his stories and points were mostly valid, it lacked strength in argumentation. For example, if I told you that I saw a cop beating up a black man on the street, you could infer that the police were racist and brutal. However, unless I backed up that statement with facts on the situation, irrefutable ones that everyone can agree on, or at least understand, I probably wouldn't get you to believe that this cop was in the wrong.

Despite his best efforts (whatever a last minute call to present could be) his perspective was widely disapproved by the audience. During the questions and comments (mostly comments), his personal background was slightly attacked and chaos errupted. One lady spoke about her Jewish family who bought land pre-World War 2 in Palestine and has lived ever since. They might not agree with everything that has happened until now, and definitely hate the violence their own nation (or any nation) uses, but she sees that their people now have land.

nother lady demanded we all give money to support Palestine. Unfortunately today you really can't give direct funds to Palestine because it is lead by a democratically elected governement which has been deemed by the west as a terrorist cell. This means give them money and you'll probably have a kindly gentleman from the CIA or Homeland Security on your doorstep within a few days.

A final lady spoke up and said, "Look, forget religion and your personal involvement in the situation. This is a violation of human rights and women and children are dying and the big governments have pulled out funds to make a point. We need the entire world to react to this regardless if you are a Jew or Muslim or Christian or of no faith, for this has to do with everyone as human beings."

I would have to say that she gave perhaps the best comment I have ever heard regarding the crisis in the Middle East, especially since everyone always tends to get so personal about it no matter what their involvement.

So I say, don't give money, don't talk on something you don't know factually. Work to challenge people to understand the direness of the situation and help in any way they can by giving these people a chance to live a normal life. Do the same in any humanitarian crisis in the world for that matter. Don't just sit back while millions of people are killed without a chance of survival while we debate politics endlessly and try to mix our heritage or personal religious affiliation into it. We are all humans and those who are reading this comment right now are fortunate enough to not only have food, shelter, and safety, but also technology. Help the less fortunate.

Relocation San Diego: Outlook relaxed.

2006-09-30T21:25:00.000+03:00

I just made the quick move from San Jose California back down to San Diego to stay with my brother Jacob. It is a great chance to see that while I did accomplish a lot in my short stay in San Jose, and did have the chance to make and see some great friends, it really wasn't "me" and that moving along was perfectly timed.

I am also now free of the incredible burden of ducking my landlord of one month to avoid baseless, trivial argumentation over such lectures as "Eric, why are you chopping onions on the table, it makes no sense, you have to chop onions on the kitchen counter," and "Eric, I don't cook anything but water in that pan," after which awkwardly stared at me waiting for me to remove the melting butter from the $2 Walmart special cookware.

Relief comes in many forms, another one will be in living near a college campus, visiting a new University of Michigan Alumni group for the game(s), and being back to the chill beach environment of San Diego.

Stay Classy San Diego.

Ramadan Kareem

2006-09-25T10:04:00.000+03:00

Ramadan is to me:

A time to purify the soul

A time to be thankful for what you have by giving it up for a short period of time

A time to reflect on the rest of the year and enjoy your personal spirituality

Some good quality one-on-one time

A chance to congregate in large numbers for massive amounts of food (after sunset) and see everyone you miss dearly (inshallah)

A chance to be closer to a higher being via deep reflection and sacrifice

A chance to stop eating and drinking(during the day), smoking and swearing, thinking bad, doing bad, to be as good for 30 days

A chance to be as perfect as possible in our daily lives (to set the bar high for the rest of the year)

A chance to take time out to focus and realign our lives

The time to live a simple life, as the poor would so we may always remeber those who suffer daily for something we take for granted

The time to be kind to others at all opportunities

-Just some of the reasons to fast and/or participate in Ramadan in whatever way you are able, regardless of your faith or creed...

*Image created by and used from Mekaeel at http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/3829828/

Everything will fall into place...but when?

2006-09-14T08:44:00.000+03:00

Today is yet another day in the adventures of an ambitious job seeker. Only it had its twist and might have sparked something of value.

So far I have been dealt with lead after lead after lead and am just trying to follow up and conduct a proper job hunt. After awhile, with no call backs/interview might I add, it can get a little overwhelming and intense. Naturally, I sunk into a bit of a mini funk over the weekend, and it continued until Monday.

Then I was invited to a two day Wednesday-Thursday AIESEC information session to speak as an AIESEC Alum on my diverse experiences. Let me tell you, just being involved in something of substance after being away for awhile, seeing the eyes of and talking to the potential future leaders of this organization is a huge upper. It is exactly what I needed actually to keep me going and keep me refreshed (more importantly).

It also made me realize how much I miss this crazy organization. Seeing all the pictures and sayings in the powerpoint brings back crazy memories of what AIESEC has done for me. I want to be involved still!

Maybe a traineeship is inline? Anyone want a previous MCP as a match? :).

AIESEC Bahrain is official!!!

2006-09-03T08:58:00.000+03:00

This is it everyone, what we set out to do over a year ago; AIESEC Bahrain is official as of this year's international congress (IC 2006).

Jennifer Harwood and Paul Fawell with the help of Suzanne Moyer all from AIESEC US wrote a grant to the US Department of State, MEPI office to try and gain financial support to expand AIESEC to more countries in the Middle East. After receiving the grant, Jennifer remained on as the Expansion Coordinator for the entire project.

I unofficially joined in the research phase last spring and when it came time to hire in the staff for the new countries, I was of the first to apply. I was accepted as the first president of AIESEC Bahrain.

Simona Tulbure from AIESCEC Romania, Madalina Botoroaga from AIESEC Romania, Tamer Zikry from AIESEC Egypt, Martha Sami from AIESEC Egypt, and I set up to start AIESEC in Bahrain, while a similar crew went to Qatar.

Along the way Tamer, Martha, and Simona decided to go another way, and Marianne Cronin from AIESEC US joined our team. Madalina, Marianne, and I became the founding Membership Committee (MC) team of AIESEC Bahrain, recruiting 24 of the best Bahraini university students to be the founding local members.

Marianne left to the UK in June, while I had to leave my post in July. Claude Clodomir from AIESEC US and John Westgarth from AIESEC Australia amply filled our shoes and have taken over from where we left off. Recently Carolyn Harris from AIESEC UK and Lyna Saad from AIESEC US have joined the team to help out with recruitment and member activity. Madalina has stayed on board the entire time, through thick and thin and has been an essential part of our success.

This is a stellar testament of how people from all backgrounds, nationalities, and ambitions can come together and achieve something great beyond words in a short period of time. We have been through some amazingly difficult challenges, testing the bounds of our patience while providing encouragement to continue. We have all grown immensely by rising up the challenge and persevering. Chapeau AIESEC Bahrain, thank you AIESEC.

Mountain View, free Google wifi city-wide

2006-09-02T05:36:00.000+03:00

Today I took an afternoon trip to Mountainview, California. I needed to take care of some business, and I don't currently have internet at my new place in San Jose (and I wanted to talk advantage of the unlimited bus and rail pass I have in the area as well as the rediculous half-off-all-food happy hour special at an Irish restaurant on the "strip").

Mountainview is a very small, modern, chick, high-tech, hangout. It is also home to the Google-plex, Google's world-wide headquarters.

A side reason I relocated to this part of the world was to advance my odds at getting in at Google.

At this point in time I would like the average reader to either advance with caution, or turn their head the other way and progress down the page to the Google image in order to not be sickened by reading a grown man begging.

Google, if you are reading this is for you (I know you have everything on the internet in your files, so note this). For years now I have completely taken whole-hearted advantage of you without paying a dime. I have never even offered to bid on a single ad-word from you, pay for your corporate office data-storage system, or for that matter really purchased much of anything from your "sponsored links". Now I invite you to return the favor. Take advantage of everything I have to offer by incorporating me into one of your plethora of international offices. Anyone who has ever met me, including a few of your employees who are pulling for my cause, will attest that I will excel in whatever I put my mind to. Don't miss this opportunity, because within a matter of one month I will be with another company, committed to performing them a service. You can either reach me on this blog, or else at HireEricHensel@gmail.com. Thanks, you won't regret it.

Ok, so back to my entry. The cool thing about Mountainview is that it is like the prototype city for all advancements the future may hold. This is of course because Google and other large scale change the world companies are headquartered here. For starters, they have implemented free wireless internet in every square inch of the city. The locals here are in high demand of hardware that takes the Google wifi signal and turns it into a wired internet connection in their homes and offices to reroute for routine useage.

In addition, when you arrive here you notice how clean and posh it is. More importantly, you see that the restaurants are from all different worldly cuisines, namely Indian, Thai, Chinese, etc. They are also suprisingly affordable and offer some great deals. Of course you will have to deal with the annoying Scientology office which is oddly misplaced in the midst of all the exciting restaurants on the "strip". Lastly, you will notice they have free bike storage in the city and on the light rail transport service. Who would have thought saving the environment and fighting American obesity could be so easy?

It took me nearly half a dozen trips to Mountainview to enjoy all of its wonders. Once I visit the Google Campus for either a job interview (if I am of the fortunate) or at least as an invitee of my friends I am sure I will be a believer of their culture.

Who knows if this all continues the unavoidly challenging and ever-present question of "What is American Culture?" may eventually be answered thanks to the creation of warming corporate American culture!

Ciao for now...
Eric

Beautiful San Jose, California

2006-09-02T01:24:00.000+03:00

I just settled in San Jose, California after a little over one week in Sunnyvale CA (a small city in Silicon Valley). I am subleasing a small room from an international masters student as San Jose State University in a residential area on the east side of town.

So why did I chose San Jose? Here's my story.

I planned for a cross-country road trip lasting from the moment I arrived from Bahrain starting in New York for about 2 weeks, ending in San Diego. At which point, A friend of mine told me he just moved near San Francisco and started work (Sunnyvale) and would love to have a familiar face around. I, having never seen San Francisco and wanting to see an old friend from years back, agreed to come and stay for around two weeks. I booked a cheap southwest ticket, and I arranged for a ride with a personal acquaintance two weeks later from San Francisco to Alpena, MI (my hometown).

Just before I got to San Diego I got a call, my ride from San Francisco to Alpena was cancelled, and my friend in Sunnyvale's girl friend had changed her plans and decided to come and stay with him. She arrived the same day that I did.

Since a primary reason I came to the Bay area was to try and find a job, I figured my only two options left were to buy an expensive ticket back to Michigan, or rent a place to stay and try to make it work until I found a job. I chose the latter, more challenging, and by far more interesting option.

So here I am in San Jose California, surrounded by technology firm's global HQs, just over an hour train ride to lovely San Francisco, and a cheap ticket away from Washington, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Las Vegas, and San Diego, and not far off from Hawaii!

Two items left, job and Arabic classes.

Anyone want a great new asset in their company? Call me.

Berlitz, Here I come!

US tour recap, what a beautiful country we live in!

2006-08-30T10:27:00.002+03:00

Hey all, had some technical problems with my blog lately, but now alas I am back in the habit.

So the cross country tour took me from New York, through New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Ohio to Michigan. We stayed for a week or so in Michigan, saw my family and some friends, went to Mackinac, Canoeing, barbeques, etc. as is the norm in the warm Michigan summers.
We also saw a Detroit Tiger's game, the team I have been loyal to my entire life. It was a blessing to see them actually on top of the league, and to see the new Comerica Park with more than 500 people in it!

Then we switched cars and headed out west with my brother. As was told below, we went through Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, and settled again in Colorado for an overnight near Boulder (now famous for the whole Jean-Benet Ramsey, as well as the University of Colorado and beautiful landscape).

The following night we took the best part of our trip (unanimous), camping in Rocky Mountain National Park!

In addition to camping we went hiking, saw an incredible waterfall, secluded lake, and some nice mountains. After killing ourselves with miles and miles of uphill hiking, we retired to our campsight for a nice bonfire, smores, and friendly talk with our cubscout neighbors from Texas.

After that we headed out west for an incredible 14 hour drive from the park, through an old Salon/Mining town called Central City, through the mountains, along the colorado river, had lunch in Vail, and across the endless stretch of mountaineous desert (with no service stations) of Utah, and settled for two nights in Las Vegas.

In Vegas, well I guess it is supposed to stay in Vegas and I am not supposed to talk about it. We basically just chilled and saw the sights, a show, and had some good food! Man, been there three times and I still can't get enough of the Bellagio fountain show. I also heard this time around that Vegas is the number 1 tourist destination in the world, can anyone prove/disprove this?

Finally we hit the road for our final road trip, a small 8 hour trip to San Diego, back to beautiful, normal summer weather. Hana spent 1 day there and flew out back to Dubai. My brother moved there to start his masters. And I flew off to visit a friend and job hunt in San Francisco/Silicon Valley.

And that my friend is one hell of a trip. Two weeks, 2500 miles, two cars, two great friends/family members, and stops whenever we felt like seeing something. I'd do it again in a heartbeat...maybe I should consider being a trucker :).