The World Is Not Flat...

It's connected. Or connecting...

I finished reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman not too long ago. Along the duration of the book, I couldn't help but see how AIESEC is fitting into this flat world that Friedman describes - collaborative across borders giving people from all different parts of the wold access to the same tools and ideas that can truly promote understanding and cooperation. It's shocking now, working in Oman and collaborating people from Dubai all the way to New York.

AIESEC will truly be one of these catalysts of the flattening process that Friedman describes. It will only grow in importance as it grows, inspiring in the world a connecting process unlike any known before.

Rhythmic Anticipation

Here's when everything gets real. Here's when things get turned up a notch. Here's when we go from the drawing board to the playing field - the time is now, we will make it happen.

Anticipating moments of change is sensory art. It is the ability to know when the energy of a situation changes, in preparation for something different. These changes happen whether one is paying attention or not. The gift of anticipation is allowing oneself to adapt enough before the change in order to ease the transition from one phase to the next.

I have reason to believe that change has a rhythm - reasons derived more from a sense of faith than a measured record of fact. Nonetheless, change does happen, and our challenges together and individually are to make sense of those changes for the actions that must take place in it.

The reason I bring all of this up is not simply for the joy of musing on change itself - but because of my own sense that our reality in Oman is approaching a large change of its own. To this point, we have been laying the foundations for something, for a project that was to be at some other time. What is exciting is the fact that this time is now upon us. We are in the beginning phases of working with the people and organizations that will create AIESEC Oman.

And I guarantee that we are not only sensing the change that this brings, we are part of that change.

Expatriating Experiences

Now is the point in my time in Oman where I begin to recognize the difficulties of living abroad. It's been trying at times up till now, but there is inevitably a point in any expatriate experience where there develops in the heart of the traveler a all too present realization that he or she misses... something. In my few experiences living abroad, those things have invariably been my closest of friends and family, and of course my loving girlfriend. Maintaining relationships that were once kept in more real time, are suddenly subject to world delays... for some reason the world keeps chasing itself, and the people on the one side just can never seem to catch up to the others. Our hearts and souls may be on the same schedule, but our bodies and minds just can't seem to adapt at times. At moments it seems so easy - a click of a button to send a quick email, an internet phone call with video no less to share the days passings - yet, nevertheless, there remains a distance that keeps us from connecting.

This distance is all the more acute for romantic relationships, which thrive, no, survive, on that quintessential closeness that defines what they are. Yet, it is possible. There is an art to pursuing relationships across borders - an added commitment to memory, and to possibility. And then there are those moments, when, during a call or a thoughtful email, a glimpse of the person in full presence shines through... and keeps me believing that it is all possible - and that it is the work that makes it beautiful.

Invariably, our personal lives are intertwined with our professional. They both define who we are and what we believe in. And ultimately, they are both borne out of necessity. It is through a keen listening and understanding of what I really need that I am able to pursue a life so purposefully driven.

What is Dubai?

We've been in Dubai now for two days. Our primary purpose of the trip was to renew our visas, and to actually upgrade to a longer term, multiple entry status, as well as to rendez-vous with our third compadre. Those missions were rather quickly attained, and actually we've just been the waiting for the visas to be processed at the Omani Consulate here. In the meantime, we've been able to check out some of the things that are Dubai. I had a mix of expectations before I got here, ranging from a modern metropolis to a businessman's dream to The Club of the Middle East. What I found has been a bit of all and more. It is certain that the city is home to some of the most extravagant developments on this planet, from the palms to the Burj al Arab where Agasi and Sampras played their match on the heli-pad to the now proclaimed tallest building in the world. It is also true that it snows in the desert. Above all, the city is a phenomenon that I don't think anyone yet understands. The ruler himself may have a pretty good idea, but inside all the glitz and glamour there remains a human community that is trying to sort itself out. The local population is small, 10% being Emirati with the rest being expats from all over the world. The identity of what Dubai is seems transient, and may be defined by the next super development to come its way. Gathering places are few, and to truly thrive here you need your own car - this is not a pedestrian metropolis, nor a model for public transport, yet. Life is expensive for those who want to live it large, and that may very well be the norm in another decade. There are multiple skylines, clustered in these super developments that have been planned from beginning to end. And in it all, I search for some sense of identity here. I look for an element of culture that says, "We know what we are to the world, and we are special because of it." Perhaps that identity is in the future claims as the center of the world. For now, Dubai seems to be a developers playground, and the next best thing is always the most daring and innovative. I hope it is sustainable for its own sake, and for the sake of the region as well. And I look forward to many returns to see what kind of a city it is becoming - in order to better understand, "What is Dubai?"

Letters & Love

I have to include this brief part of an email that I sent to my Cousin. He's serving in Iraq at the moment, and I would be ignoring a large part of why I feel so pulled to do what I'm doing here if I left some of these things out. The truth is, he is one of the brave men that truly wants to help the Iraqi people, that wants to reach out and serve the human side of the war - to ensure stability so Iraqis can begin to share in some semblance of a normal life. It's difficult at times though, because I know he does not believe in the original reasons for the war, or even the continuing presence of it - he's there because he has to be, and he is taking his situation to try and serve our Iraqi brothers and sisters as best as possible. My heart goes out to him each and every day:

"I hope my email finds you well and safe, adjusting to the daily life that is your new reality. It's difficult for me to imagine what you must be seeing and feeling on a daily basis, and how parts of you just take over and do it, and then others find themselves screaming that the hell is this! I feel a big weight in my heart sometimes for you, not because I don't believe in who you are and what you're doing, but because of the unfair contexts and situations that have been thrust upon you. Honestly, I wish you were right here with me, fighting for a society, working to show them a new and different way of doing things - and only hoping they have the courage to see the value in it for themselves. I miss you my Friend and Brother."

Entering a Society

My head is spinning after this week... Actually, it is just beginning again here. I got acquainted today with the Saturday workday, something quite normal here but incredibly foreign to me until now. I guess I did get a nice Friday weekend though. Anyway, this last week has been a series of meetings with various people around the community. References from references, all giving us their perspectives on the way things go around Oman. It's been incredibly revealing.

I'm starting to feel like I'm being pulled in to a society. The people with the experience and insight open up the perspectives that have taken them a few years or more to build for themselves. And now different people are starting to ask what we can do for them. It's an interesting feeling that suddenly overcomes me as I begin to realize more and more the implications of what I'm doing on a system that has been developing itself for centuries. I can't help but to give myself pause as I enter this next phase of my journey.

Brief Reflection at the End of a Week

I am about to wrap up yet another week of AIESEC in Oman. Work here has already taken me to a different level from where I began. My perspectives and attitudes about how to work in this global world are changing daily, even as I just sit in our little office. Everything seems more vibrant and relevant to me now. I feel connected to a movement of people that is much larger than even anything AIESEC alone can muster. There are so many people with similar visions and goals for the Arab world, and the world at large, that I cannot help but to feel motivated to continue with my own contribution. It is true, that I feel like I am living a dream. In actuality, I am just following some innate passion, putting my faith and courage in its guidance.

How especially relevant for Ramadan, that I begin to feel this sense of connectivity and purpose. As to my limited knowledge of the purpose of the holy month, this is precisely what it is meant to instill in the Muslim community. I feel like a strange observer now, as I am not able to fully participate, yet I am not entirely removed from it. I am not able to fully participate, because I have yet to integrate in to a community of support that would enable me to undertake the endeavor that is Ramadam with a sense of purpose. Yet I am not fully removed because there is a large community of people that are engaged in this communal month together. I want to celebrate it for them, for their purpose, for their sense of identity and culture - I rejoice for their opportunity to connect one to another in celebration of the life that they enjoy.

The first day of Ramadan approaches Fatur, and I will not fully be aware of when it passes. I need a guide. I will participate one year.

Yay Blog... Soon

So I figured out the reason my blog won't post. Insha'allah, by the time you read this post you will have gotten a quick view of my first attempt while in country (Oman that is). I assure that I will blog more now that I have figured out what was the deal e o . . . So, first month down - a few to go. I can't disclose exactly how much time I've got here because I don't yet know myself.

Life is nice in Oman. Quiet is a good way to put it, but at the same time there is a certain buzz about the people I meet and the places I go. Maybe it is just my burning curiosity and energy to know everything, yet at the same time, I sense it. Something bigger. People here are moving, working - living.

I have a great respect for the Omani attitude of, "We can do it ourselves. We will do it our own way and we don't need anyone to tell us how to do it." I guess it's the familiarity I see there with some of my own attitudes. At the same moment that they declare themselves incredibly autonomous, Omanis have a feverish desire to learn - the young people I've met anyway - about me and the perspectives I bring with. Higher education is doing great things for this country, and will only do more and more in the future.

My hope here is that Oman will recognize the value that AIESEC holds. They can build it. They can connect it. They are living it. And I want to be there while it happens.