#abu dhabi

It is currently the month of Ramadan for Muslims, and during this time mosques play the call to prayer a bit louder than usual.  I normally get woken up by it in the morning here in Abu Dhabi, and I don’t mind- it’s a nice reminder to take the time out of the day to say a little “thank you”.  

One thing I’m very thankful for is all of the travel I’ve been able to do in the past few years.  This June, while I was working in Egypt, I took weekend trips to around the Mediterranean and got the chance to see many amazing things.  Something that stands out, both because of their breathtaking beauty, but also because of their ever presence in the region, is mosques.  I’ve seen dozens and dozens in the past few months- but three stood out: The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco.  I’m also including a photo (not mine- though the others are) of the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, which I see all of the time, but never stops amazing me.

After spending two weeks back in the States, about ten days in Indiana, where I grew up, and a few days in New York, where I went to university,  I’ve gotten the pleasure of working from home (in Abu Dhabi) for a week.  All of this “home” time has made me think about the different locations I’ve been lucky enough to call “home”, the lessons I’ve learned while there, and what I think I will learn, or reflect on, in the future.

Indiana: 

Family and old friends are forever: Family members are the most different people I will ever feel the exact same as, and the best of old friends will always be connected to you because they will always care.  We live completely separate lives, often times have very separate views, but our foundations are shared.

Ambiguity: No matter how hard anyone tries, people will always judge one another, whether it is positively or negatively.  But in Indiana my set of cards and how they play out in my life, are almost entirely unknown to everyone.  Most people don’t even know where Abu Dhabi is, what management consultants do, nor would they be able to relate to most aspects of my everyday life (past or present).  This leads both to a disconnect, which can be sad, but also forces them to see me stripped of all those titles and just see me as me- good or bad.   (though yes, I’ll always be a white, male, who grew up well-off, which obviously means a lot)

Indiana = check: Coming into this vacation I thought it would be the last time (at least in long while) that I would spend more than a week in Indiana, and now I’m even more sure that is so. I think the lessons I learned this time around would only repeat themselves- in the future I’ll have grown and maybe need something new to learn from there, but now I feel content- or at least I think there are other things to do.  Separate from this feeling though is my love for my family (who I speak to everyday and will continue to see, though maybe I’ll push more for opportunities to see them other places).  Overall, I get a bit disheartened being there- there is a feeling of little drive and opportunity, and even the people who do have one or both, often steer themselves in directions that I don’t care to learn from (or, as said before, think I could learn more quickly or deeply somewhere else).  

New York:

You need your best friends: Without even expecting it, most of my best friends from boarding school were all in the city at the same time!  This was amazing for me as most of them I hadn’t seen in two or more years.  It’s so weird that now we’ve known each other for nearly 1/3 of our lives, and it is a wonderful point to meet because we are all finishing school and moving on to incredible adventures.  I can tell these friends everything and anything and I appreciate their input in all aspects of my life and work.  It’s great to not be getting to know people, but just to straight up know them.

The best city in the world: New York is honestly just so special, and I love that I know my way around and feel so comfortable in a place like that. It’s also inspiring to see a place with so many different kinds of people getting along, all being successful, and just the pulse of the place, the innovation, the ideas, the motion- there is no place like it and I’m proud to have experienced it and know I will be back often, maybe even to live, but…

I could not live there now:  At this point in my life I could not live in the city.  There are incredible advantages, but the city eats you up.  Especially being a young professional now, I know New York would destroy me.  Speaking of the “cards” above, being in New York is like constantly playing poker.  It’s a strange balance between presenting your cards so people understand you, but being scared to do so because you know they will really just understand you in the terms they want to.  Furthermore, it’s almost disgusting the way people play their cards trying to make others like them- it’s all just not a game I want to play.  But I know I would, If I lived there now, I would sacrifice really developing myself for developing myself in other people’s eyes. 

Abu Dhabi:

Focusing on me / where I want to be: Picking to live in Abu Dhabi was a bit of social suicide (on a scale of the places I considered for post-grad: from New York being the most social, Dubai in the middle, and Abu Dhabi the least).  But I knew that coming in, and I picked it because I wanted time to focus on me.  I like Abu Dhabi because I do have many friends here, so I can be social when I want, but it isn’t a place where I feel like I must constantly be seeing people.  I’m able to do what is best for me and to become who I want to be- every day I read, pray, work out, dance, play the piano, and (maybe more in the future) write.   I’m growing professionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically, and working on the skills I want to have.  I don’t think that anywhere else I could do all of these things so much and also live so comfortably.  Sure it is really hot, but for the same price as a dinky thing in NYC, I have three balconies and two bathrooms for myself, I can have a handy man, maid, or cab ride for cheaper than almost anywhere, and the luxuries both in the Emriates, and the fact that we are so centrally located for travel- make this an ideal location!  I’m so happy here in Abu Dhabi.

Realizing the downfalls and the limits: Though I’m happy here now, I imagine my needs changing and thus moving, both because of the socio-political environment and because of the impact I want to make on the world.

Overall, I’m happy for all of the perspective I have gained from the past few weeks of being in my different homes.  It was great to think through the three of them and know how much I have grown and learned from each and to feel confident that I’ve been where I need to be, am where I need to be, and will continue to be for the future!

My body clock has been extremely messed up lately.  Not from shifting time zones (which does take a minor toll), but seasonally.  For the past couple months I have been convinced that Winter, and more specifically, Christmas, will be coming soon.  Unfortunately this is not the case, and in fact the opposite is happening. Each and every week it is getting hotter- scarily close to the 50 degrees centigrade (122 fahrenheit) point where it will likely remain for all of June, July, and August.  

The main reason for my seasonal confusion is simple, but it is bolstered up by various minor factors.  The big part is that though I’m now in the ‘real’ working world- I’m overly accustomed to the school calendar.  School finished when I graduated in December, whereas the end of the “year” celebrations, the “school’s out for Summer!” parties are, you guessed it, usually reserved for the Summer months.  Further confusing myself- I did, in effect, take a Summer break after graduating!  I spent time in the pleasant Caribbean and then two months in Southern and Eastern Africa- where it was Summer.  So when all of that ended and it was time to get back to being productive, I felt like my Summer break was coming to an end, and thus it must be September (though it was really March)!  Seeing as that this was all two months ago, now (May) would seem to really be November- and therego, my seasonal confusion. 

The minor parts that perpetuate the feeling come and go.  Today was particularly bad however.  For one thing, it was an unusually cool day in Cairo.  Having just arrived yesterday from hot Dubai, I thought to myself. “oh it is getting colder- must be Winter coming.”  And though this was a particularly cool day, this is a weekly happening- weekends in the warm UAE, and then the week in Mediterranean Egypt- always feels like Summer moving to Autumn / Winter.  Then, this evening, while in the office, somebody opened a window and suddenly the smell of roasting fire wood came in.  We weren’t sure what it was from- but even a colleague of mine said, “ah it smells like Christmas” and starting singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. .. Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” of course that meant I had to play that song on my Ipod (the Justin Bieber ft. Usher version, duh).  

So here we were, moving from hot to cold weather, smelling a wonderful wood fire, singing Christmas songs, AND two months separated from a “Summer Break.”  And though quite misleading and possibly disappointing (when the present do not arrive), I’ve decided that it is nice to think Christmas is around the corner.  It gives me a cheerful attitude, makes me appreciate things a bit more, and at times provides a nice retrospective lull to take over.  

Christmas is wonderful.  Christmas time is better.  This year, I’m happy I get a bit more of it than usual.  

I’m in Cairo, Egypt and I’ll be here for the next four days, and next week for four days, then four more the week after that, and so on and so forth for 12 weeks.  With so much time you must be making mental lists of all of the things I can do and see: pyramids, Egyptian Museum, Sphinx, the Library at Alexandria, Luxor, etc.  However, I’ll be lucky if I see two or three of them!  That’s because, I’m here on business.  Business travel in many ways is a black hole of all things touristy.  Sure, you get to go to restaurants, you see the city a bit as you are driven from client site to office to hotel to the airport, but, especially in my industry where 12-16 hour days are common, there isn’t much time to take in the sites.  

Now don’t get me wrong- it would naive to think that experiencing a place is only possible through it’s tourist sites, in fact it would be sad to think that.  When I travel on my own accord I usually like to sit at cafes and watch the city go by, go to look out points and get a bird’s eye view, or walk around a local neighborhood- I like to get the feel for a place.  Learning it’s history in a museum and seeing a place in person that I’ve already seen a thousand times in photos are mainly complementary to that feeling, but similarly beneficial to the time spent somewhere. In business travel you do get some of that- you see the people, feel their attitudes, but you don’t feel ‘among’ them.  You’re there for a reason- for business, not for the location.

It’s a strange and somewhat obscure distinction, but strong in its own way.  I feel odd to be in Cairo and not see the pyramids- it changes the idea of being 'in’ a city. For all intents and purposes, I could be anywhere right now, at any nice hotel, in any posh office.  Sure, the menu changes, the bills have different colors and names, and people look / dress a little different- but I feel like my recent wanderings (in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and now Egypt) have been so separate from the travel I’m used to.

It isn’t the same travel to learn and see new things, it’s more utilitarian than that- there is a purpose, a client to see, it isn’t the atmosphere that needs to be thought through, it is a problem and the recommended answer my team will give. I’m not saying it is bad, just different-  I have nothing to complain about, in fact I love this life- I just took a bath in a huge tub while drinking a glass of wine and watching a huge TV- and I’m not paying for any of it.  

What I am saying, is that the joys I look for in trips like this are altered from the ones I’ve become accustomed to when meandering around the globe.  My definition of 'traveling’ has been expanded, and with it, the means, goals, and insights that accompany it as well.  

In the end, I’m aware and happy that one doesn’t replace the other- on weekends I do have time to see some sites (if I stay here and don’t go home to Abu Dhabi) and I think I’ll see the pyramids this Thursday.  But when Sunday comes, it will be back in the office- back to work- back to experiencing Egypt the business way.

For MONTHS my to-do list has been plagued by a singular word acting as an imperative action verb: “blog”.  I’ve had relatively good reasons for ignoring it: completing my final semester of university, applying for and getting a full-time job, traveling for projects and fun, and then beginning said job and moving literally half way around the world.  However, none of these add up to good excuses, because they are exactly what I should be writing about!  In the end, procrastination and laziness are the true explanations.

Motivations for writing again are because of both personal desire and realizing that others have a desire too!  I like the blog as it helps me go through my thoughts, learn to write better, and give updates to friends and family around the world.  Similarly, even though no new material has been up there has been many new followers and between 800-1,100 visitors each month. 

Regardless of why, I’m here now- at least for today- hopefully for good!  So let’s start with a quick update and then a bit on what to expect coming forward.

Update: I’m currently writing from Saudi Arabia, where I am working on an engagement for the management consulting firm I joined last month.  I live in Abu Dhabi but travel four days a week to wherever the study is (currently Saudi) and spend one day a week at our Middle East headquarters in Dubai.  Though I’ve always been quite mobile- it has never been this constant… and it is just getting started. 

In the months since I’ve written, I spent the Fall back in New York, completing my undergraduate career. I wrote a graduating paper on The Political Economy of Regionalization- using MERCOSUR, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the East African Community, and the Caribbean Community as case examples.  I also defended my major, Culturally Sustainable Development, to a group of interlocutors (including the President of my university), on the topic of “The Expansion of Culture and Development.”  

I also applied, prepared, and interviewed for this job (a much bigger commitment than it sounds), and then once I was offered the position, I made the decision and did an office visit to Dubai.  The Fall also saw, of course, the US and Venezuelan Presidential elections, which I watched very closely, my evacuation from New York (relocating to D.C) because of Hurricane Sandy, and my last pre-Christmas in the City. 

I then spent the holidays with family in Texas and Indiana before heading to the small island of St. Kitts and Nevis to complete Trail of Seed’s third project with Shannon.  Stopovers in Puerto Rico and Miami on the way there and back, respectively, would have also made good posts (and still may).  A quick three days back in the States to pack up my stuff went by with lightning speed, as did a short day in the UAE, before I was off to Southern Africa for my self-described graduation trip with my friend Jil. 

We visited some of my UWC friends as we traveled around South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana before making our way to Mangula, Tanzania- the village where Shannon and I did Trail of Seed’s first project in 2011.  We spent a week there and then headed to Dar es Salaam to meet another one of my UWC friends.  Jil then flew back state-side as I returned back to Mangula for two more weeks of being with a slew of old friends (Ramazan, Dimoso, Jasmine, Mrisho, and others).  I purchased a farm, explored Islam, and tried to fix a few issues that arose with the grants we gave last time.  Overall it was a great trip- though my goal of it being full of reflection was not completely fulfilled.

I then headed back to South Africa, this time to Johannesburg, for training for my current job.  It was an intense but fantastic week where I met many colleagues who became friends, learned the Firm’s tool-kit, and started the path to being an impactful consultant.  Not wanting to leave the continent too fast, I spent two days in Rwanda- visiting some more historical sites and meeting the sister of one of my Rwandan friends to learn more about the development in the beautiful nation.

Upon landing back in Abu Dhabi I started the process of becoming a resident, finding an apartment, and getting adjusted into the Firm.  It ended up taking significantly longer than expected with huge delays on visas, contracts, and more- but now all is well, so I’ll try not to dwell.  Instead, I’m moving forward optimistically and very eager to learn as much as I can from this region, this organization, and myself.

What to expect: I hope to be sharing as much of this learning on the website as I can.  Of course, I have to abide by very extensive and strict (though 100% justified) rules on confidentiality from the company, so those insights unfortunately will be kept completely out.  That said, there will be an enormous amount still to share as I begin my journey as a (sort-of) adult.  However, I want YoungGlobalCitizen.com to be less about me move towards more insightful commentary on issues in the world, trends of globalization and identity, and analysis of development.  These are the things more people come to the site to read, the discussion of how to define ‘global citizen’ for example is the most read post by far.  

We’ll see how it goes!  Stay tuned.

Abu Dhabi, 15.05.2022

HM the King has travelled to Abu Dhabi to express his condolences for the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Emir of Abu Dhabi.

Photo: Casa de Su Majestad el Rey

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Dies at Age 73

Muere el jeque Jalifa, presidente de Emiratos Árabes Unidos