They are not even here for more than 10 hours...

... and this is how my portuguese friends are enjoying Dubai 5 min ago.

Faces were not focused in order to mantain identities undisclosed

Currently... (I)

Reading: "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Brison. What an amazing book! Remember all those questions that make you feel really dumb because you dont have a clue? " what is the theory of relativity all about?" " what is the relationship between a proton and a electron" "how old is the Earth" and so on.. Well, all the answers are there (it even explains why the Brits say aluminium and the American aluminum) and the best part is that not only it explains Science as in "science for dummies" but it also gives you hot gossip about the life of all these scientist and explorers. How cool is that? :)

Listening: "Hips dont lie" by Shakira feat. Wycleaf. Just cant stop listening to this song! Its SO SO addictive.. I would dance all day long to its rhythm. Shakira Shakira.

Studying: "Spoken Gulf Arabic". Although I skipped all the lessons I paid for in November, I am now on Lesson 8, "home made". I am trying to study everyday for an hour.. and the place for it is my rooftop, by the pool, as I wait for the sun to set, so the motivation to go up is always there. :) Hopefully it will be a little bit more often than my visits to the gym.

Preparing: My trip to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon!!! Just cant wait! More details coming up soon.

Reading blogs & the virtues of religious holidays

Estou ha meia hora a ler blogs e a rir me que nem uma perdida e a tentar fazer cara de seria ao mesmo tempo, nao fosse hoje Sabado, o primeiro dia da semana e estar enfiada no escritorio com os meus coleguinhas.
Chato mesmo e estar toda a gente de fim de semana e eu aqui. (sim, porque no Dubai ha empresas, como a minha, com o fds a Quinta e Sexta e outras com fds a Sexta e Sabado)
Acho que vou sair mais cedo hoje que e para nao me sentir tao culpada pelo facto de estar a ler blogs em vez de trabalhar.
Nao e por nada, mas e que depois de quase 2 meses a trabalhar aos fds e sair do escritorio as 8 da noite, hoje nao me apetece fazer nada.

Para mais, amanha nao trabalho, porque e Pascoa! (Apesar de estar num pais muculmano e amanha ser um dia de trabalho como outro qualquer parece que aqui na minha querida empresa podemos tirar um dia de ferias por motivos religiosos). Eu ate que nao era para tirar o dia porque me apetecia imenso trabalhar, mas depois apercebi me que so o meu colega do pricing e que vem trabalhar e foi a gota de agua. Posso aguentar muita coisa, mas passar a hora de almoco a falar de incrementos e taxas gasoleo irrita me um bocado, especialmente no dia de Pascoa.
E vai dai, cometi a loucura de pedir o dia ao meu chefinho. Nao sei se ele aceitou o pedido pq entretanto foi de ferias e nao me disse nada. Mas la esta, quem cala consente.

E sendo assim, ca estou eu, em vesperas de gastar o meu dia anual de ferias por motivos religiosos. Com sorte o chefinho ate nem se apercebe que eu nao vim trabalhar (pq tb esta de ferias) e sempre posso tirar o dia religioso novamente, tipo no 15 de Agosto.. Ai, a minha cabeca e tao maquiavelica.

Nota aqui da je: Este post esta em portugues, nao va haver colegas e futuros empregadores que visitem este blog e se apercebam se que de vez em quando tiro 5 minutos (ha quem diga mais, mas eu desminto na hora) para ler blogs. Porque a verdade e que, de vez em quando, tambem tiro 5 min para ler os reports da McKinsey, checkar a CNN, analisar sites interessantes sobre marketing e afins.

Prince of Persia

I am watching Seymour Hersh author of the article on the New Yorker about Bush's intention to bomb Iran) live on CNN and I cant help myself from blogging about an eventual war.

It is interesting to see how living in the Middle East completely changes your mindset and your way of understanding this western/arab world duality.

When the Iraq war started I was one of the millions who was veemently against it. A vague idea of a "war over oil" was clearly in my head and nothing I could hear from the US/UK side actually justified something else. However, and being very honest, I still thought about Iraq as a black space with green flash laser lights (bombs) falling over (just like you saw it on CNN throughout Gulf War I) killing all the bad guys. It was like a "small" place full with Saddam Hussein and other bad guys and maybe a little bit of bombing wasnt a bad idea.

However, today I look at Iraq the same same way I look at Iran. A country just like mine, with good and bad people, with an heritage, with history, with REAL people and not only green laser lights on the night skies.

I think about Iran being bombed and I imagine my friends being killed, their family being exterminated by a misplaced bombing and innocents being tortured.

See, I dont like Iran's president. It made me sick to listen to his speech about Israel anihilition and I dont like the fact that many people in this region dont even admit that Israel and Israeli people exist. But you should never judge a nation by its leader. History has proved us wrong.

See, now when I think about Iran I think about its people kindness and smile, I think about its beautiful architechture and mosaics, I think about Prince of Persia and all those tales that once took place in the country now called Iran.

See, now I have heard both sides of the Palestinian/Israelian conflict and I know they are both right and wrong. Right in the sense that both sides have something to "complaint about" but wrong in a sense that it has now become a vicious cycle and everything that happens in one side is now justified by something else that happened on the other side and it just goes on an on. (Obviously, I dont pretend to explain years of conflict and despair in a simple sentence.. )

So many things that were my "truth" while in Portugal are now so misplaced that they can almost be called lies.

But, in the end, all I want to say is that once you start blaming and punishing a country for its leader then you almost start justifying the bombings in Madrid, in NY, in London... The only difference is that when "we" bomb a city in the Middle East "we" dont call them terrorist attacks but a war for freedom.

Live from the World Summit on Innovation & Entrepeneurship

Last day of the Summit and so many thoughts cross my mind.
Curious how as an AIESEC alumni you end up making comparisons with AIESEC conferences all the time.

The event is happening in this 5 star resort in Muscat, right on the beach and it unites world learders and international speakers around Innovation & Entrepeneurship.

Many questions have been arised and many discussions have been held but I am still not able to make a final evaluation of the summit.

It has definitely been an enriching experience but (there is always a but) something is clearly missing.

I guess I will have to let it finish and calmly gather all my thoughts into a nice/long post once I am back in Dubai (after our 6 hours road trip back home)

Note: Muscat is just beautiful!!