Moving On!!!

Have been away of the blog for quite some time and I think that after writing this one will disappear again for quite some other time. Preparing myself for the move to Oman, I have already packed my stuff and shipped it to Oman yesterday. The only thing remaining is to ship myself :D and this is going to happen next Friday.

After more than six years in Qatar and more than a year in Bahrain; its time now to explore another Arabian Gulf State ... I hear a lot about how beautiful, genuine and fascinating Oman is, and now I have the chance to see and discover Oman by myself.

Having lived in other gulf countries over the past eight years, will help me a lot to quickly and smoothly settle in Oman. The main difference this time is that I have got to arrange a lot of things by myself however these were already pre-arranged for me by the previous employers in the previous countries. I'm talking about finding a decent accommodation, rent or buy a car and such kind of facilities. I don't really mind doing that on my own, as I have done my researches already and I know from where to start and quite confident that all will go better than expected . Finger Crossed!!!

What would be really important and critical for me is the immigration procedures, the soonest I can get my residence permit done, the soonest I can organize myself and arrange all of the other stuff accordingly, as I won't be able to rent an apartment for example without having a valid residence permit. Usually immigration procedures do not take time, however in this part of the world it depends mainly on how effective the PRO (Public Relation Officer) of the company is, if he is an active guy, it won't take time; but if he is not, it might take ages :D ... Will see how it goes !!!

Lately I feel very happy as I was meeting and greeting a lot of my friends before making the move, and for the first time in my life I feel really touched with their warm feelings and sweet words. I felt loved between them however most of them I only know for quite short time. It has been long time since I felt loved, its a great feeling when you feel that you left a mark on people's hearts that will make you remembered, that is what remains in life!!!

The lesson learned after the time I spent in Bahrain was that good deeds always remain, enjoying people's company, listening to them, sharing happy moment with them, stand by their side if they need a friend or a helping hand, share and care etc. etc. all those are keys to people's hearts and if person's care for sure he/she will find who's willing to share.

What made my days even happier, an internal instinctive feeling, which is growing day after day, its a feeling that person's cannot pretend it, it has to be lived. Its an internal feeling that grows spontaneously and unintentionally when two people are meant to be together and when they meet, an innate sense of pleasure, joy and happiness begins; even if they didn't talk. Nowadays I'm living in that feeling and sometimes it takes me away of any stress or tension I encounter during the day, it even draw a spontaneous smile on my face every now and then and make the people around me wonder sometimes for what reason I'm smiling!!! I really wish to everyone to come across such feelings someday!!! as it would have a great impact on their lives and their prospective in life as well as it will make their lives much happier.

A few days ago I was a few seconds away from death!!! No wonder why!!! here is the scenario, a nice lady driving through a red signal, talking on her mobile at the same time I'm crossing my green signal. If I was a bit slower while crossing the signal, for sure she would have crashed my car and I would have passed away and instead of moving to Oman to start a new life, I was going to be sent to Egypt in a small lovely tomb to be buried. This is life, very short and can go away in just a few seconds, therefore we have got to live it and enjoy it till the last moment. We don't have to waste our lives in such a depressing, frustrating and sad status, we have got to find a way to enjoy it, and if we cannot find a way; then will have to make a new one. 

"Joy is not in things, it is in us" Richard Wagner

Sacrifice in Life!!!

In general, I enjoy a lot talking with people having different backgrounds, different cultures and different way of thinking. I like to listen to their thoughts, their experiences in life and their approach in handling their problems and their daily life activities. I would say that listening to people is helping me widen my vision and get to read people's minds in a better and understandable way.

Today morning, I was talking with a work colleague who is over 50 years old, I always enjoy his talks and I enjoy listening to his stories which carries in its lines a lot of life lessons learned.

One of the hot topics of discussions that we were discussing, was "How to find your life partner?!" Well, before proceeding further; the reason I called it a "Hot Topic" is because I hear it a lot around nowadays, specially when people know that I'm still single, they start giving me advises and sharing their views on how happy family can be built, and what can be taken into consideration before making family.

Since sharing means caring, I really appreciate their advises and enjoy listening and learning from their experiences regardless of whether its applicable in my case or not. It means a lot to me when you see people who really care about sharing their own thoughts and experience for the sake of expressing themselves and giving guidance based on their live life experience.

Anyway, the discussion as was started on the above mentioned topic, has ended with a great lesson on how important to sacrifice in life and how precious to sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of making other people's life happy. 

A similar example of sacrifice in life was for a friend I met yesterday, whom I haven't met for quite long time; a single mother who has dedicated her life for her kids and her mother; closing the doors in front of anyone trying to approach her and be in her life; this makes her over-stressed sometimes but deep inside you can touch how good person she is with a great sacrifices.

To me, life is not only about expectations, but also about sacrifices. We must give up one thing for another, and somethings are worth giving up for. 

I still remember when my father has left us and I had to take over and look after the family since my mother was not working. My father didn't believe in sacrifices and he preferred to runaway minding his own business rather than looking after a small family like ours which he felt it was overburdening him. However of the consequences of his acts and what could have happened to the family; the family survived and have learned a great lesson of what does the word Sacrifice mean, through sacrificing for each others until we have reached to where we stand right now.

"It's not what we take up, but what we give up that makes us rich" Henry Ward Beecher.

Sacrifice must happen in our lives, sometimes we must sacrifice personal happiness for career success and sometimes we must sacrifice career success for personal happiness. Love might happen once, and we have got to decide whether we want to enjoy the experience or we want to miss it. 

To sacrifice is to love, we must get motivated to sacrifice in all ways if we look for a better tomorrow and we  will see how our sacrifices will make us stronger and happier.

"Only life lived for others is worth living" Albert Einstein

Que Será, Será!!!

Every now and then I turn to music to make me feel better, in the past few days the song of "Que Será, Será!!!" was always in my ears. Very often we have worries and concerns about what's going to happen in the future; are we going to be happy, Or if we will ever find somebody to plan our life with, Or if we will be successful at work etc. etc. We always look for reassurance that tomorrow will be better, but it’s not always easy to pull all these worries and concerns to rest.

We all know that more often things do not turn out the way we want them to be, as we all do not have such kind of crystal ball that enable us to see into the future to know what will happen. All we have got to do is to listen to our hearts and realize that our dreams are not just ours but part of the soul of the universe.

The story of Santiago as stated in Paulo Coelho's bestselling novel (The Alchemist), this Andalusian Shepherd boy who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids is a great example of the power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts. Hearts can be treacherous, and the best way to avoid the foolishness of our hearts is to listen to them intently. 

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” and “And, when you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

The guy who writes these words (which is me) is an Engineer by profession, who always belong to the practical and most realistic party and who used to always focus on how to get over any problem, how to solve it and not to focus on the problem as its something that cannot be handled; as I was taught; people can be divided into two categories: Problem Focused and Problem-Solving Focused, I belong to the second category, this approach has helped me a lot in my career and in my daily life activities but didn't work well when it came to personal feelings and relationships as it made it looks like an emotion-free relationship.

In my opinion, emotions what keep any relationship alive and this is one of the main reasons that, on the personal side, I prefer to listen to the heart, and follow the directions of its signs. We just have to strive to become better and everything around us might become better too. 

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

One more reason that drives me to listen to my heart is my willingness to feel loved; when person feels loved, he can do anything in life and he doesn't have to understand what is happening to him, because everything is happening within him and his heart is full of joy. If I listen to my fears, my worries and concerns, will not be able to listen and talk to my heart; in this case I'm opening the door to my fears to drive me to nowhere however I prefer always to know where I'm heading to. 

"Wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

We cannot see the future and change what is going to happen to us, whatever will be, will be!!! We will never be able to escape from our hearts, so it's better to listen to what it has to say. I'm only interested in the present, in what's happening to me now; this what will make me happy. If person always concentrate in the present, he will be happy, because life is the moment we are living now.

Listening to the heart, lowering the level of expectations, being contented with less and wishing for more became a way of life for me. These words make me even happier than I used to be. Everything in life happens for a reason, and whatever the reason is, its part of the journey of life. I hope I can be able to keep thinking in the same way for the rest of my life, I hope to be able to help someone, to draw a smile on a face of someone, to give more and expect less, to love and feel loved and the most important for me is to be remembered.

I'm not used to live in dreams, but if I wish to dream; I would dream of spreading my wings and fly and the destination will be, somewhere over the rainbow way up high (It’s one of the favorite songs and wishes for any dreamer) 

“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

Friends in our life!!!

I don’t know why today I have the desire to write about the role of friends in our life, may be because I have been rewarded by meeting great ones recently or may be due to work commitment I have to move to a new country and will leave some great friends shortly.

The first challenge when moving to a new place is making friends. Fighting loneliness and the difficulty of making new ones help us realize how important are friends in our life and how to appreciate the good friends that we have, who fills our life with happiness and joy.

A friend brings out the best in us and often knows us more intimately than any other in our lives. With friends, we are free to be ourselves without judgment. 

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”—Anais Nin

Sometimes the problems we face in life is a very good tool to "Screen" our friends to know which ones are true and which ones are not. Surprisingly you may come up out of these problems with new friends who leave a real mark on your life. 

That's why I keep saying that making friends have nothing to do with who are those friends; but how you find them by your side, up for help when you need them and listening to you when you would like to express yourself; that’s what real friends are there for.

But true good friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget; making them nowadays is not an easy task and always require a lot of time if one is selective and looking for real friends regardless of age, look, money, social status ... etc. Many people will walk in and out of our life, but only true friends leave a real mark in our hearts. 

I do believe that we should take our time in making new friends as  friendships are like flowers, they grow with time and can stem into something very beautiful; and If we don't take care of them they will wilt away.

And in order to take any friendship further, we need to be up for help when required, we have to be all ears when our friends want to talk and we have to be the one our friends turn to when their spirits need a lift. It’s a treasured gift, especially when it's unconditional. Regardless of life stage, success or failure, when someone has your best interest at heart, is loyal to you and always maintains integrity with you. That’s a treasured friendship.  

A message to all of my friends who might come across these words someday; you all have filled up my life with great moments that will be remembered always, I was blessed to have you all in my life and you really mean the world to me.

Happy Days :)

Here I’m, writing my first words in 2013; it has been long time since my last written words, and if I remember correctly; my last words were related to disconnecting myself from the hectic and stressful life at work and to be somewhere different with a completely different feelings.

In this regard I would say that my wish came true and managed to take the annual leave from work; to be honest it was the right time for holiday as the project where I was involved in has come to an end and I have had enough of the small little silly stuff that my boss keeps throwing it over my head for the sake of making me busy.

On December 07, 2012 my holiday has started with early morning flight to Cairo where my cousin has made himself available to pick me up at the airport and drive me to Ismailia where my lovely mother and sister were waiting for my arrival.

I had a great week doing nothing other than eating and chatting with the family, had a great time; specially with my cousin who spends most of his time with me however he lives in Cairo. We had a lot of fun, he has a great sense of humor and we never stop laughing and makeing fun of anything.

A week later was the time for my long awaited trip to Spain; I was looking forward to it eagerly and have started the trip by visiting Madrid since it was the point of landing. 

Madrid is a very beautiful city but the lifestyle and the people are quite similar to those in any capital city, people may not seem very friendly and you may need more time to feel the place and be part of it. 

While preparing the trip itinerary, I have considered visiting Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona; of course while in Spain the program had to be modified in a way I didn’t even expect it which was the best part of the trip and as the saying says “Always expect the unexpected!!!” I have opened a door for the unexpected to happen and the result was great experience and meeting fantastic people.

After spending a few days in Madrid; in which the language turned up to be my first barrier, I was thinking about where to go next, and the travel guide have played a major role in this regard and made me thinking about a quick visit to one of Portugal beautiful cities “Lisboa” or Lisbon as they call it in English.  I have stayed in Lisbon for a day and night, but nevertheless I have managed to go all over the city and explore some of the most famous spots. People were super friendly and helpful and the smile doesn't depart their lovely faces.

Visiting Merida was not on my travel plan, but since it was on my way back to Spain from Portugal and after consulting the travel guide; I came to know that Merida has the most and the best Roman ruins in all over Spain, therefore I decided to stay in Merida for two nights and it was worth staying in fact. Lovely, clean city and in addition to the Roman ruins; Merida have got a fantastic, decorated roads and colorful buildings which attract the eyes from the first sight.

Moving on in my trip, heading to Seville; what a peaceful place!!! You really feel the warmth of the place in Seville. Some cities have beauty, while others have soul. Seville falls into the second category. I had a great time there and met some of the very nice people who really made my days wonderful.  

Finally arrived to my last destination “Barcelona”; actually I was able to visit other cities as well before heading to Barcelona, but I decided to go to Barcelona and spend there the rest of my time in Spain. The first two days, were just a kind of walking tours to explore the gems of Barcelona; meanwhile I have decided to attend one of the social meet ups parties in Barcelona for the sake of talking to some friends in English, as I was about to forget how to talk; here comes a new start to my trip!!! 

Meeting a very nice girl from Barcelona!!! we met in the party, we talked, enjoyed the party and then agreed to meet the following day for a walk around to see some of the sightseeing places in Barcelona. She is a very nice person to be wit, a great companion!!! Since I broke up with my girlfriend; I didn't come across anyone who makes me happier other than her. She is very attractive, has a fantastic smile; when she is smiling, I really feel different and she fills my days with happiness and joy.  She is always in my thoughts since I came back from Spain.

I wish we were living in the same city, this was going to change my life entirely, but nevertheless we talk often and this helps sometimes to bridge the far distance that keep us apart.

I still remember her super hug given to me during our last meeting before leaving Barcelona, super hug has followed a great evening on the first day of 2013, a day to remember and a good start of a year, I really hope it carries the best for me. I have been rewarded by meeting her!!!