Connected but Alone!!!

Sometimes I really wonder what we’re going to do if we don’t have the high technology which is available nowadays!!!

You browse the internet passing through a lot of contradicting news and unbelievable incidents which you find it difficult to understand sometimes. You look around, read the news, check the social networks and at the end of the day, you feel yourself depressed and frustrated because of what you read which you don’t really know whether its correct or not. Your curiosity of tracing the truth, drives you to spend extra hours, digging into the internet to find out the roots of what you’ve been reading. Everyone now is having an easy access to the internet and he/she can post and advertise to their ideas or products in whichever way they like, it’s like a supermarket where you can sell and buy whatever you want to sell and buy with no limits.

I still remember the old days, where people had very limited options of sharing information and communication, people were very much happier and healthier. When I was 14 years before the internet was born in my city, I used to have Pen-friends, write letters to friends abroad and receive back responses after weeks  and weeks. The day I receive a new letter from a friend abroad, was a very happy day for me, spending the whole day reading the letter again and again, then start of writing the response, sent it and wait for another one to come. The post office guys were always wondering how this little guy is exchanging letters with people from all over the world in his age.

I look at these old letters I have from time to time just to remember those lovely days and its associated feelings. Those feeling have been vanished nowadays, there is no feelings anymore, it is replaced by the smileys and emotions in the social networks. In a few seconds you can contact anybody anywhere in the world. Connected all day to all the social network and however of keeping in touch with almost everyone you know; you feel alone because the well connectivity does not allow us to meet and share life and experience it, it does not allow faces to meet and hands to shake, it just provide you with a live picture and that’s it!!!

Even people who are living together at the same house, they used to exchange messages if they are living in a different rooms rather than walking and talking face to face. People spend more time seating in front of their computers than with their families talking and sharing real life experience. Distance is getting wider between the family members instead of getting closer and that is the root cause of a lot of problems happening in our families. We are all well connected but introvert and alone!!!

My words doesn’t mean that we should go back to the lovely old days!!! Absolutely not, My concern is that we have to utilize the high technology in a way not to affect on our social life, in a way that would keep us close to people we care about, in a way to enhance our life and make it worth living; and not in a way that would keep us connected but alone.

I would really love to disconnect myself from such life for some time, that would be a great experience with a great impact on mind and soul. Update and restart that’s all I need!!!

Haste Makes Waste!!!

Everybody is shouting, yelling, screaming, running all over the place, the site offices are very hectic and stressful nowadays. It’s really crazy what’s going on here. It’s difficult to understand what kind of Projects Management is this. I hope all this hassle will come to an end soon (Always had this wish in mind but never come true!!!)

After work yesterday, I met Despoina, my Greek friend in Bahrain, it’s always nice meeting and talking to her, we were talking about our expat’s life and how each one suffers of different kind of problems in the work place. This is the life!!! I totally understand that, the only thing that really bothers me is those people who don’t care and they think that they are the best and whatever they say is a command for the subordinates. I hate to feel myself like a chess piece, to be moved wherever the king wants; but unfortunately I have got no choice at the moment so I have to live it somehow for some time.

The good news of today is that, I had the appointment for the visa application, I went to the French Embassy and submitted my papers. It went very well, I would say it even exceeded my expectations; people were smiley, friendly and lovely and hopefully will be getting my visa to Spain in a few days. Looking forward to it, as I believe this is the only thing that will take me out of this hectic life I’m living right now.

Was reading on the Forum about racism in Egypt and felt very disappointed about the so many problems that Egypt goes through which are not only political and economical problems but social problems as well. The whole country is going downhill and we don’t have any ideas about when everything will be settled. Yes, it’s a matter of time, and haste makes waste but who has got patience to wait!!!

All kinds of discriminations are now available in Egypt, Muslims vs. Christians, White vs. Black, Poor vs Rich, Salafi vs. Ikhwan, Ikhwan vs. Liberal and educated vs. non-educated. It’s a real mess, and however of my extreme optimism that the future will be better, the view looks cloudy. So many political parties initiated over the past year, so many people fighting for chairs, a lot of debates taking place here and there and at the same time the country is falling down; education system is falling down, medical services system is falling down even the security system is falling down opening a large door for robberies and murders to take place.

People must change themselves, they must CHANGE!!! Mentalities must change; people must understand that to be Good, a change has to happen from the inside to the outside, and as was said by Ghandi long ago “Be the Change that you want to see in the World” therefore we have got to start with ourselves first. We have to believe that!!!

Happy Thursday :-)

Well ... Its Thursday, the day I look for when the week starts. It simply means that tomorrow is Friday, and finally I'm going to have a day off after 12 hours/day, 6 days/week of working time.

Today, I have called the French Embassy in Bahrain to schedule an appointment for visa application, I would love to visit Spain during December, and the new year's eve in Madrid or Barcelona would be memorable.

Since Spain does not have an Embassy in Bahrain, Unfortunately I would have to approach the French Embassy to apply for visa, my impression about the French Embassy is not that good so far, as I have been trying to schedule an appointment for over three weeks, and whenever I call, they tell me that its still too early for me to apply since the travelling date is mid December; but finally today I managed to schedule the appointment.

The appointment has been scheduled on November 06, by then I should have gathered all the required documents, its really frustrating when you see the amount of paper work required for the visa application which require a full dedicated time and money to collect it; but the story does not end here, I still have got to please the person who will interview me, and leave him with a great impression so that he may approve my application and process the visa rather than trying to find a way to send me back asking for more documents or rejecting my application for any reasons. To be more positive, will do my part and see how it goes; I still have to book the hotels and do a final checks to make sure that everything is under control.

I'm also looking at the option of home-stay rather than hotel/hostel accommodation, this option will give me the opportunity to enjoy the family vibes and talk with the local people, which is totally a new experience for me as I have not experience these feelings before in my previous travels. One more plus is that I will try to practice my Spanish. It would be a pity to spend three weeks in Spain without communicating in Spanish.

Was chatting with Elena yesterday on Skype  and she told me that her brother and his girlfriend are planning to get married before Christmas, so if everything goes well with the visa and travel arrangements I may be able to add Greece to the trip plan and pop up just to say congratulations to the pride couple. Might see Elena and might not, this will depends on whether she would get the job she was offered in Qatar or not. She is still waiting confirmation from her future Employer and such things takes ages in Middle East.

Its time to get back to work and see what the rest of the day will bring me.

Here I am :)

Thought several time before taking such step and start having my own blog. I really didn't know what to write and from where to start but I guess will find my way as I'm heading forward.

I'm not very well in expressing myself, or to be honest I don't like to express myself and share my problems with others. I think its the Taurus part of me, that's why sharing my thoughts in the blog might help in relieving  the load off my brain and feel more relaxed.

Life is very hectic nowadays around me, instability at work make my days horrible, however the project is coming to an end but the people managing the project have not got any clue of what the word "Management" means and everyone out-here has completely lost sense of directions. Many bosses running after the same things, getting exhausted at the end of the day without moving a single step forward. This is causing a lot of stress in the workplace. 

Its strange that in Construction industry, dictators are all over the place. Every manager believes only in himself, he won't listen to anybody else but he. He is the only one that has got the knowledge and experience and all the rest of the team has to follow only what he sees right. When its time to blame some one, of course its not the Manager with his brilliant ideas its the team's mistakes as they didn't adhere to what was said by the Boss.

I spend almost 12 hours at work everyday however I don't see any meaning of doing so, just to please the boss and make him happy. Well ... forget it, its not going to get any better unless I change my entire career and do something different. keep working in construction will kill me someday.

Will see how it goes!!!

Caged Bird!!!

Not in a good mode today, especially during working hours. When at work, time goes by very slowly and the atmosphere is quite frustrating. My scope of work in the project almost completed and I have nothing more to do. When I explained to the management that I’m running out of work, they started dumping silly job onto my desk just for the sake of making me busy which really sucks.

I really started to hate what I’m doing as I can’t find myself; and when I can’t find myself, I feel like dizzy, depressed and frustrated; but again this is only happens during working hours; after working hours or on Friday (my day off), its completely different and I try to have a good time.

I work for a Cypriot company and most of the managers are either Cypriots or Greeks, yesterday the GM has invited all of the Greeks and Cypriots for dinner ignoring the rest of the senior stuff, such things happens often, and I don’t really pay much attention to it. Nevertheless, It is really annoying, because some of the other guys knew about the dinner and got upset because they were not invited and they felt that such acts from the company is a kind of dis-respectfulness to their efforts in the project. You imagine how such small invitation to a dinner might be a great motivator to the team!!! but our management lack this sense and they are only good in writing circulars asking for extending working hours and for working over Fridays just to catch up delays due to poor management practices.

The bad thing about Construction Industry is that regardless of your qualifications or what certificates you posses; connections/references play a major role in finding a new job or even maintaining your current job; it’s a kind of a family/party business, to maintain your job, you just have to belong to a certain party and do like what others do. All of these things are totally against my nature, I don’t know how to do that. I don't like parties and I don't like to belong here or there, I just like to be myself and that's it. I wish they evaluate me based on technical knowledge rather than pure personal prospective. I'm not at the work place to be liked or disliked, I'm there to work and evaluation should be carried out based on performance and efficiency which is rarely the case (at least based on my experience over the past 10 years) 

I work very efficiently when I find myself in what I’m doing and when I have authority over what I’m looking after; but when I work for one-man-show organization, I stuck because I have very limited authority and I can’t move anywhere before asking for directions. It’s exactly like a bird in a cage, can only fly within the cage however he wants to break the cage, feel free and fly over the sky with no borders or barriers. 

Unfortunately, when the bird is set to be free, he can’t fly like other birds he can’t even compete with them because he is not used to be free. I’m afraid that I will be like that bird someday soon and be not able to fly like other birds.