One foot in Europe, the other in Asia

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

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

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...

I met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed :).

Getting Settled

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

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

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