Relocation San Diego: Outlook relaxed.

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

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?

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!!!

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

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

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!