Saba Imtiaz: Everyday is a winding road..

Back from a weekend in Damascus, Syria - and wishing I was back, wandering through the Old City, drinking orange juice and chatting away in Arabic with the people I meet. More here..

Labels: photos, travel

2:00 AM: Decide to go to sleep after spending yet another day, functioning on minimal sleep the night before, being glued to my laptop, answering what must have been about 200 emails. Enter room to find pillow has been stolen by roommate who is sleeping and holding on to it for dear life. Decide waking up roommate will only come back to haunt me in another life and go to sleep anyway.

7:30 AM: Wake up and get pillow back from teammate/roommate's bed who wakes up at such a dreadful hour. Feel glad that I can sleep in till 11:30 AM today

9:00 AM: Cell phone rings. Spend 3 minutes registering fact that the phone is ringing and that it is Important External's name flashing on the display. Gingerly move fingers towards phone and by that time the caller has hung up

9:05 AM: Tumble out of bed and manage to walk towards the phone outside. Call Important External. Have somewhat intelligent conversation using fake 'I am awake and working' tone. Confuse currency rates in the process.

9:10 AM: Phone rings again. Think it must be teammate. Use normal 'F**k off, I am half asleep' tone to grumpily say hello. Caller is not teammate. Caller is Important External. ARGH! How did he call me back at home?! I miss having CLI on my home phone

9:12 AM: Drag myself outside where roommate is sitting. Try and tell her about phone call but she fails to respond because she is half shocked, half scared at my appearance and probably cannot recognize me. Tell her to force excitement at my conversation with Important External and then go back to sleep.

11:30 AM: Wake up, get dressed and then greet roommate who can now recognize me

11:45 AM: Descend into despair as have 18 important emails that then proceed to multiply in front of me like rabbits.

It is now 4:40 PM and the emails have stopped. At times like these I wonder if there has been a nuclear holocaust which has erased half of humanity and hence I have no new email. Or whether Gmail has crashed. Or if everyone has decided to go on strike. Oh well -- despite all of this, I really do enjoy the madness. :)

Labels: jordan journal

Rant on how I have seemed to lose my ability to find rhyme and reason in anything that is happening.
Missing outspoken arguments and angsty emails
Wish I could cry at will and not have to defer emotions based on the workday
Go laze on the beach in a sunny city
Forget about all this in a haze of rampant consumerism/retail therapy

Everything that I want to do right now from this list is impossible because its never the right time, the right place, or the right thing.

Peace of mind is an elusive concept right about now.

A beautiful Friday spent in Amman - courtesy Oksana's insane itinerary - from being tempted out of bed with thoughts of breakfast at Hashem - where we ended up hogging a table for hours and serving ourselves, followed by fresh orange juice at the Palestine Juice stand, arguileh & coffee in the lawns next to the Roman Amphitheater, watching an Egyptian Sufi group perform at King Hussein Park* and a random evening session of tea, muffins and crazy/insightful conversation with the team where I'm quite sure a Barney-esque persona took over me. It is definitely not 'my week, my month' - but still ;)

*pictures & video below -- though it definitely seemed more of a combo of live entertainment catered to the family/children audience and more Middle Eastern music than the Sufi kind I am used to, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Labels: jordan journal, photos