The Workers are Going Home

The project is finished - still exhausted but so proud of my team for how they did. The presentation was great, the Q&A perfect and the team got a solid 2nd place finish overall. Way to go, guys!



Sadly, things are already quickly wrapping up; Kartik left for India this afternoon, Kiran leaves for England on Wednesday. I head over to my new place on Friday and phase 2 of the Egyptian experience begin on Sunday at Silverkey. Things are changing fast, as they have done all year.

Finale

Today is the last day of the project - the closing ceremonies and business plan presentations of the Egyptian YES Project. How will Shaicom Tea shape up? Wish us luck...

Salvation

As I’m sure anyone can attest, often it’s the little things in life that can make all the difference. While I’ve really enjoyed the apartment that the other YES trainees and I have been living in these past two months, little things have started to creep in; fortunately for each we’ve always found a way around it. Bathroom door doesn’t lock? House Rule: if it’s closed, it’s occupied. Main AC busted? Open the windows. Light goes out? Use the others. Unfortunately our main sink in the kitchen has proved more elusive.

At first it just leaked a bit; a bowl under the pipes, emptied as needed allowed us to continue with out lives. Then it leaked A LOT, and we shifted dish-washing temporarily to the bathroom while a plumber was summoned. Problem fixed, there was much rejoicing and a resumption of our usual cooking habits. Until… the clog.

Hand-plungering didn’t work. Yelling at it didn’t work. Liquid Plumbr didn’t work (oh American products, why do you embarrass me in front of my friends?). The suspicious and indubitably lethal little bags of white crystals, procured from some midnight salesman by an Arabic speaking friend? Didn’t work. All seemed lost until a random stop at a random homeware store secured our salvation. Behold:

The PlugFucker 9000.

It may look like a Swedish novelty device sold at certain stores around Times Square, but this device has delivered me from a diet consisting mainly of peanut-butter sandwiches and apples. The physics of plug-fucking are detailed and intricate in English, let alone in Arabic, so fortunately a simple series of pictures explained to us, PSA-like, our instructions.

Oh shits! Your sink is clogged!

Draw up some of that stank-water...

...and Fuck That Plug™

Why the fuck did you buy that toxic Liquid Plumbr shit? Ass.

And so, our pipes and eating habits were liberated once again, all for the cost of a slice of cheese pizza in Penn Station. It may not seem like a big deal but as was said before; sometimes it’s the little things that count the most.

7 Days

7 days ago, I was crushed. I was sitting in a room full of people drinking, dancing, having a a good time, wishing that the ground would open up and take me to a quiet little cave somewhere I could be alone for a while. I couldn't understand why, or how, or anything; just that life, at that particular point and junction, sucked.

It's exactly one week later. I still can't understand a lot of what has happened in the last 7 days, and maybe I won't for a while. All I know is that sometimes things happen for no (good) reason, and that's the way of the world; that when you need them, the people closest to you will always, always be there for you; and that sometimes all you can do as you travel down life's highway is stick your thumb out and see what passes your way.

I got a job offer yesterday; 6 months in Cairo, continuing my education about the Middle East and the breadth of experiences therein. You may have heard of the company.

*Happy Dance*

Denied

I'm not going to Oman.

Stunned. Half of me is still looking at the decision with a stupid look on my face; the other is trying to see what happens next and is petrified of what he might find.

Every day is a step towards the future; just wish I knew what that future was.

Filler

Pre-important news, some stuff:

I really like this photo.

Best dialogue from Talledega Nights:
Ricky: Dear Tiny, Infant, Jesus...
Carley: Um, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him baby. It's a bit odd
and off-puttin' to pray to a baby.
Ricky: Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I'm sayin' grace. When you say grace, you can say it to Grownup Jesus or Teenage Jesus or Bearded Jesus or whoever you want.
Carley: You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good so that God will let us win tomorrow
Ricky: Dear Tiny Jesus, in your golden fleece diapers with your tiny, little fat bald up fists
Chip: HE WAS A MAN! He had a beard!
Ricky: Look, I like the baby version the best, you hear me? I win the races and I get the money
Carley: Ricky, finish the damn grace.
Cal: I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt, because it says like, “I wanna be formal, but I’m here to party too.” You know cause I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party.
Walker: I like to picture Jesus as a ninja, fightin’ off evil samurai.
Cal: I like to think of Jesus with like giant eagles wings and singin’ lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an Angel Band, and I’m in the front row, and I’m hammered drunk…
Carley: Hey Cal, why don’t you just shut up
Cal: Yes ma’am
Ricky: Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent...

Movies that I brought with me on my travels:
- Anchorman
- Old School
- 40 Year Old Virgin
- Zoolander (do you notice a pattern here?)
- Sin City
- Shaun of the Dead
- Eddie Izzard: Dressed to Kill

I still haven't seen 300, and it's tearing me up inside.


...That's all I can think of for now...