One of the best days in a long time...

I just had a really great day, which ended with loads of smiles when it could have ended very differently...and I am just very thankful...

Where I usually find my strength...

Not many people would find me particularly religious. They would see me as more of a person who obsesses about doing the right thing whether that's due to religious beliefs or due to values or due to my upbringing doesnt really matter. I actually see it as I am religious more in the sense that the way my values were built, from my parents, follow the core religious teachings...or at least I am assuming so. Recently I discovered that actually a big part of what keeps me optimistic and keeps me trying my best not to feel totally hopeless is through God somehow. I just totally believe that whatever happens in life was meant to be and since God is the reason it is meant to be then whatever life brings is good even if that goodness is not evident right away. That is what keeps me going...knowing that even the worst thing in the world was meant to happen and since it was meant to happen it is the right direction to go because it will eventually lead to something good. I basically believe that God knows what he's doing! And that all I am asked to do is trust Him...trust that He knows what's good for me in the long run, trust that the bad is just a shadow that hides the good that I will later see...all I have to do is trust him...

Hassooni's High School Graduation

Last Friday was officially the last time my family would have any ties to El Alsson School...it was the high school graduation of my youngest brother Hassan. It was surreal being there for the last time.My two brothers and I grew up in that school and till now have friends from back then. Going to the graduation and seeing so many of my old teachers and the school owners was just so strange after all this time! Alot of them still remember me and gave me a nice big hug. It was moving remembering the old times when I used to be really active at school with sports, the student union, and with my classes. Alot of teachers I considered as friends! They awarded one of my old teachers and I had such a long history with that guy...long nights at my house with my classmates taking A/S Literature, plus the old history and English classes. I cheered my heart out for him! So back to my brother, he gave a speech which was really sweet to see...and he was one of the tallest people there, I was in awe of how much he had grown! He was talking with confidence that I had never seen, I was very proud. Especially that he got awarded the "best student" award which I too had won when I was in school. Plus he got the Gilby Shield as well! I couldnt have been prouder! The funny part was when the owner of the school did his speech...he was his usual charming and funny self then he ended the speech with his typical "this is not goodbye but au revoir". Right before he said it, I told my mum he would say it so we were cracking up when it actually happened! He's been saying it for literally 10 years! It was just a nice evening that brought back alot of memories and reminded me of the school I had missed so much. It was a great day all in all coz we spent the day together as a family, laughing about the old school stories and how now all the kids of the house had grown up. We all just wished our dad could have been there with us. Congrats Son Son! Love you!

AIESEC Dances are on YouTube!

Chris Gassman brought something to my attention that brought a huge smile on my face...the AIESEC Dances are all over YouTube! Its sooo cool! I brought my brothers and mum to look at the dances! Haha that didnt help them get more convinced about why I was in AIESEC but they did find it interesting that I could dance along with these weird kids from AIESEC Korea...how do you ALL know the same moves to the dances??!!
Check them out:
Dragostea Din Tei, O-Zone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TBaYW151cI
Ojos Asi, Shakira
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pArtC1X-Kg0
Freed from Desire, Gala
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkk5v6rl_4M
Pump it, Black Eyed Peas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8F-u5Vu05M
Hips don't lie, Shakira
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-U-hNRzfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IftiSseP5GE
Sex Bomb, Tom Jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBeFglLHMiE

This one has Abdo when he was in Malta. It was the dance we had just seen in IC and we loved it coz it was hilarious! Go ABDO!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WgC5cs-xlA

There are alot more as well...maybe I should post some of the already recorded dances from our own conferences up there!

Being Parents...its such a bittersweet experience

I just realized how hard it is to be a parent! I mean now that I am old enough to think for myself, to do things by myself, etc I feel like we need our parents alot less at this age and actually sometimes prefer they stay out of our lives! When I thought about that...and after spending a weekend with my dad discussing his hardships, I realized oh my God! Parents are always just doomed from the start. They give everything up for their kids: money, time, careers, fun times, friends, etc and what do they get? Kids who depend on them for everything at first then all of a sudden want to be independent and on their own. Then what? The parents are left behind just like that! My dad has always been family oriented...his idea of a break or holiday is to stay with us. And now he has to work in a desert away from us and cannot leave because he has to put my brothers through college...and by the time he can come back to us we would all be working, wanting our own lives, maybe married, maybe abroad. So he'll come back dying for that family time and may not find it. And my mum, oh m god, studied for 7 years to be a doctor and then had to give that up to bring us up, and now that we are all grown up she feels she has no purpose anymore coz all her focus for 20 years was just us! Now what? Its such a sad cycle of life that I did not really realize till recently and it made me so want to work on keeping my parents close...I mean they earned that much at least! Being a parent is a very fulfilling experience and brings purpose to your life but it can end so sadly...making u feel lost after that purpose is gone, making you crave your children's attention after they grow up, making you sometimes feel you gave your all and may not get it back...Being a parent is the most selfless thing anyone can ever do...

Whatever happened to free speech?

I saw in the news that a conference was being held in Iran to discuss the Holocaust, and oh boy did it cause alot of uproar! People were so mad that people were questionning history and discussing that specific incident in history. I was so shocked! I mean I used to love history in school and part of the reason I did was the fact that history is so fascinating in how its all pure interpretation. I mean many people can explain the same event in totally different ways...motives differ, opinions differ, events are portrayed differently. So essentially history is ALWAYS up for discussion and can always be challenged. That's what makes history history! So why not have people discuss the holocaust? What's wrong with that? How can people say "don't discuss this because you have no right to"?! Its ridiculous! So everyone was fighting for free speech when the Danish cartoons were published but now with the holocaust everyone is being asked to shut up? There were people at the conference being interviewed and they were told by their peers NOT to publish anything from the conference that had anything to do with how many people were killed in the holocaust and with whether the holocaust actually happened or not...so people were actually told to keep their mouths shut! What happened to the free speech you were just fighting for?! It's history...its meant to be interpreted, discussed, and challenged!

The birthday of 2 special girls!

Last week, it was the bday of 2 very special girlfriends of mine, Maggie and Martha. Maggie's surprise bday came first, we were all on a boat waiting for her to show up, and when she did, she was very happy to see us. She was proud that we managed to fool her! We took a nice boat ride in the freezing cold, but managed to keep each other warm and we had the funniest conversations! John had his usual hilarious moments, so did Abdo!It was a very nice and Maggie deserved it. Maggie, I cannot believe I have known you for all these years and only now we managed to become close! You have been so supportive of me, and incredibly protective. I always feel you looking out for me and you dont know how much I appreciate it. You notice things about me that very few people notice. I am so happy that IPM has managed to make us close after all these years of knowing each other. Here's to more outings with Abdo cracking up lil sob7! Here's to more nice drives and chats together after our meetings or outings. And here's to a rocking IPM for sure! Happy birthday ya Maggie! The next bday was Martha's and it was decided that we'd for once dress up and go somewhere a more fancy than the normal cafe outings we do everyday. So Maggie and I met up and drove to Martha's place to take her to her fancy Chinese restaurant outing. There we spent a very nice girly moment where we opened presents and sat with her mum for a while, of course against Billy's wishes! Then Dany managed to come and surprise Martha under her house too which was great! Dany is just the best, had missed him and his humour! So we drive to Maadi to Fusion at that point and the time we spent in the car was such a highlight of the evening, we had a little gossiping, nice chat, managed to missed the short cut to maadi so cracked up! Then in Fusion we found the gang waiting for her, and we had a nice evening altogether with some great sushi. Martha, we have been close for years...before I even got into AIESEC, and I am so grateful for that for the history we share. I will always remember the courses we took together, the projects we worked on together, the times we would sing when noone wanted to listen, the times we'd stay up gossiping while others wanted to sleep, the hip hop classes, the AWESOME camping trip! I remember how we gradually realized how much we had in common so you became one of the few people who could REALLY make me feel ok when I wasnt ok. And we could talk about anything and come to the same final conclusion! I cherish our late night chats, our dancing together, our nice stay home nights, just everything about our friendship is very special to me! Here's to more outings, trips, and fun times together :) Always smile babe. Happy bday, love you.

Weird Habits of Plane Passengers

There are some things that plane passengers do that I find extremely weird and on this trip to Saudi I noticed them even more and boy were they annoying! Firstly, why do passengers INSIST on taking off their seat belts ONCE we land and running off to get their hand luggage from the overhead compartments? I mean, dont they realize that the luggage wont run away, the plane wont close till we are all out, and even if you are the first person off the plane you will wait the longest for your large luggage to get onto the belt! I mean why does the captain have to keep saying "Stay in your seats!"...why the rush! Secondly, and this is actually the most important, the captain says it 50 billion times...dont switch on your mobile phones till we come to a complete stop because it messes up with the functionality of the plane...yet still...once we touch down, all the phones start making start up noises. Come on guys! A fellow passenger said it in the best way. We are not presidents here! How arrogant can you be! You just MUST call ppl to tell them you arrived the second you land? You cant wait till you get off the plane to tell them that? There was a time where we didnt have phones, and we just got out of the plane, took our luggage, went out and surprise surprise our ride and families were already there! Coz guess what, they can SEE on a dashboard when your plane arrived so you really dont need to call ppl to tell them that! Thirdly, people who insist on NOT buckling their seat belts till the stewardess tells them to, do you really enjoy being told off? One guy actually told the lady today "what will these belts do anyway if we crash?"...I dont think I need to comment on that one! Fourthly, people who go to their seats, put their luggage in the compartment above their seats then go running off to another seat totally...it was so funny watching this guy today put his luggage, go to the front of the plane, then watch him keep getting asked to move to another seat till he got all the way back to his actual seat! STUPIDO! Not only was that a waste of everyone's time, he was also told off by many people! Why do people insist on just not going by the rules?! Even if by going with the rules will just make their lives so much easier!

IPM Community has been launched!

IPM is on the move! Our community has finally launched with the first delegate mailing and with the teamsters application. It was great to open the community this morning and to find it functioning! What was even more cool was seeing the delegate mailing looking so awesome! I wrote the content but Hadia did a great job with the layout! I was happy to see things moving today...it was a highlight in what otherwise would have been a bleak day.