The Nomads

The Nomads

The Nomads. Who are they? Well, long story short it is the name of the amateur (Or to be politically correct let’s call it “Recreational”) football team I have assembled with friends and friends of friends to join a local league. I had the pleasure of choosing this name for it since I am the so-called “team captain”. I’ve only been given that captain title due to the fact that to the organizers I am the contact person whenever anything happens or when there are any updates to be shared. Thankfully none of my teammates have misbehaved so far.

Deciding on the name did not take me long, I think it was a matter of seconds, but it was a name/description of me that I have had in the back of my mind for some time now, for almost a year to be precise. As some of you might know my family moved out of town (Moved to Amman from Dubai) last summer, when they were in the middle of that emotional process I asked my mother what ‘Home’ was to me and my sisters. I’ll come back to what her answer was in a bit.

My actual home, where we were born and brought up is the UAE. Our parents and most of our uncles were born and where we are originally from is a village in the West Bank called Burqa, which is A quiet village in the hills on the outskirts of Nablus province in Palestine. It is right next to Jenin in case you are wondering. I’ve only been to Palestine once in the early 1990’s as a kid, and I don’t remember much of it really. Myself, my parents and my sisters are officially Jordanian citizens, and we have been going to Amman once a year or more for the past 13 or so years and I’ve become quite familiar with it since I’ve had the pleasure of going back more often than they did (Averaged 2 visits a year since 2007).

Alright so I am officially Jordanian, born and raised I the UAE and with strong family and emotional ties to Palestine. Going back to my question, she believes that home is where one was brought up, studied and had most of his or her memories in, which is the UAE in my case (And my sisters). With my family being in Amman that makes me feel that our house there is the ‘most homely’, where it is probably the most comfortable and welcoming place to me in the world. What I would like to be my home one day is Palestine, preferably Nablus or Jerusalem. Far-fetched if you look at the current state of affairs in the West Bank and Palestine in general, but a couple of years ago nobody could have foreseen the uprisings that took the Arab leaders by surprise and already managed to overthrow a couple of people.

Staying away from political issues, I feel that I am a self-proclaimed nomad. Living on my own in the city that I was brought up and spent my whole life in, feeling ‘home’ in the country of my citizenship and wishing for a comeback to a country where my parents and grandparents were born. One day I hope I will be able to look back after living in each ‘homeland’ and call all 3 of them legit homes. Somehow

A nomad

Dark thought (Somewhat realistic)

Not sure if this should count as a dark gloomy thought or a sign of maturing and moving forward. Never was the best in judgment really, so I will just follow my hunch as time goes by…

I was thinking about how my life has been going thus far, and thinking about my interactions with people and my so-called friendships with people (Can’t really include relationships because there haven’t really been any despite my delusion). From all those, the one thing that is common across the board in many of them is the fact that none lasted for long. A lot of normal people (Yes, I tend to consider myself as an eccentric outcast) would have someone or some people that they can confidently refer to as their ‘best friend(s) since childhood/elementary school/university/military service/first job or whatever. I used to wonder why I never had anyone that I could refer to as that, and I eventually got to the blatant conclusion that it’s due to my moodiness, and because of my ever-changing and perhaps evolving personality that I keep on moving on from certain phases of my life to the next rather quickly, without fully living or experiencing the previous periods. Another thing is that I might tire from people when things get rather customary and predictable. I don’t know really, familiarity breeds contempt perhaps? Maybe I am the one who naturally drives people away with time.

OK, let me get to the point, the above has made me reach a conclusion that it is not very likely that I will get to have lifelong ‘best friends’ or even get married. Not that the world is missing out on anything really, just another lunatic whom decided to spare you for his endless crap & nonsense

Long live reclusiveness

In times of uncertainty

... you better be grateful for whatever little you might have...

Thankfully I am still alive, with a job (Shall I make a booking for you, sir/ma'am?)... As we say, hamdella 3a kul shi (Thank Godness for everything)... One should be grateful especially with the whole 'global' economical crisis showing no signs of waning, and with all the major 'players' in the market falling like pieces of domino... Kind of ironic given that a few years ago the Western world (AKA. The safe, smart, progressive and developed nations of the world) was rolling on the floor laughing at a certain information minister and his vain attempts to assure the masses that everything is alright... Now the roles are reversed in a more traumatic way so to speak, OK there are no people losing their lives, but people losing their future... Companies once labeled as "very safe and secure" are now filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy...

What's even more ironic? I can't recall the last time I saw the following words in a news headline:
Iraq, Iran, Terror and terrorism, Middle East crisis, peace and peace talks, US Troops, Afghan militants... These have been replaced by words along the lines of Collapse, bailout, rescue plan, economical crisis, sub-prime crisis, credit crunch and economical instability... What a difference, eh?

To be fair though, no economy is immune to this, and the market here has been struggling a 'bit' more than it does usually (Who are they kidding?)... But anyway, enough blabbing about stuff I have little actual knowledge about, I'm quite thankful for arabianbusiness.com's updates and the little discussions I hold with my lovely mother every evening over dinner over the 'shituation'...

Rambling on...

Not intended towards an individual, more like a general rant- I appreciate your treatment (Or lack of), makes one feel how small, unimportant and useless they are...
- I love the fact that I am not the only one in this fucking boat.. Makes it all seem worthwhile, this sense of unity is serene *tongue firmly in cheek*
- I admire how you believe your own lies BUT... I do NOT admire the manner in which you forget your own lies... At least be considerate to my effing blatant gullibility and follow through the BS

-The more you ask me, the more I might seem upset, but eventually it makes me even more self-absorbed

bla bla bla

For the ones who give (Or eat) a carrot, this was typed a couple of days ago while collecting questionnaires… Didn’t have the time after that to post it, yesterday was extremely hectic, and today is hectic as well, catching my breath before yet another job interview…

Movers booked for the 2nd of June, not bad, glad that we’re not taking much of the old furniture along with us, only the relatively new electronics as far as I know (No, my 2 or 3 year old PC is not old, I insist on taking it, it can be really reliable when the laptop disappoints).

Collecting more surveys at the moment, tedious process, can’t wait till this questionnaire collection process is all but over in a few days (Hopefully), should be done with this by next week, the whole thesis is due in a month’s time, yippee. I thought I was behind when compared to others, seems I’m more or less at a similar stage as most, apart from the geniuses who are better than time management than me I guess. I can’t believe I barely did anything in April, would’ve saved me a lot of time (And thinking) I reckon, but hey, working hard (Or in this particular case, trying) never killed anyone… I don’t mind the free dinners along the way while collecting surveys, although I’ve been characteristically hesitant to abuse the privilege.

Job hunting too, interviews, presentations, recommendations, suggestions, career advices and so on, that’s what has also been going on in the past few days (Since last Thursday to be precise), got several more to come, the one I am looking forward to the most though at the moment is one that is for a enviable spot on a career development program by one of the industry trend setters here in Dubai (And soon globally), it is aiming to recruit some Arabic speaking people in the region… I hope I am not jinxing my already not so glorious chances by talking (Well, typing) about it, but I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to come around again. Missed out the last time since I wasn’t really inspired to participate or even bothered to try my luck against some of the finest talents that applied from all over the world, as I kind of realised that I would be punching way above my weight, and I was not quite convinced yet back then about the whole program (Nor was I keen on working in the industry) , but now that one of my classmates has deservedly been picked, and hearing first hand about his experience thus far, it’s quite tempting… I can go on for hours about the pay in the industry, but to be fair, of my limited knowledge and experience, it is this industry that I have the slightest clue about, easy money made in other jobs goes as fast as it comes perhaps (I emphasize on ‘job’ rather than career)… Got to think of some so-called nonexistent “qualities and exceptional attributes” that might get me picked ahead of the Jassims Mansoors of this world. Jolly.

Life is quite ironic… What makes such paradoxes easier to take is that what goes around comes around eventually, quoting Aaron Lewis of Staind “Everything must come full circle”…