Six days in Saudi...

Well I think I have finally had my fill of Saudi and now I am satisfied... It's funny to think of how all these mysterious places are really kinda normal in a way once you have been there. Or maybe my perception of normal is so outta wack now that I wouldn't know normal if it bit me on the ass. I mean I was walking around aimlessly in the old city after having finished a meeting early, and the call to prayer was wailing out of the towers, locals were running off to pray and it all felt rather normal... Everything, as they say, was in its place.

Beyond getting a bit of cabin fever from staying in a hotel for five nights my time here has been productive. Work wise I have moved forward on a number of issues so this is a good thing. Personally wise I ticked a pretty big box on my list of life time achievements. I spent a whole day in the "ladies section" of a bank in Riyadh. Yes they have ladies sections, where men are not allowed to enter. Even the tea boy, who is usually a dark Indian guy, was a lady... and yes they even shipped in an Indian lady to ensure the teas had too much milk and way way too much sugar ;-) So what lay behind the locked doors in the ladies section? Well uncovered ladies of course... And before you start to picture mad romps of naked women at computers, by uncovered I mean you can see their face and hair etc.. Well this was an achievement anyways. And I got to meet, work with and even shake the hand... yes shake the hand of my first Saudi lady... Quite an achievement I have to say. And all in all my theory of people, being people, wherever you go was once again confirmed. I mean she was married with a son studying in Canada. She thinks music shouldn’t be banded, except all those MTV film clips (I can appreciate this point... after all I am sure Pussy Cat Dolls film clips are making do as soft core porn for those 12 year old boys who have not mastered the art of internet porn surfing... unless they live in UAE where all internet sites of ill repute are blocked and hence MTV is as good as it gets....), music to her encourages the worship of God, I couldn’t agree more. She drives when out of the country... but if she wants to travel she needs a signed letter of permission from her husband...

Also learnt that the old "chop chop square", where people get their heads and hands chopped off hasn't been operation for years... According to my Saudi colleague, they only do "this" in Iraq now. And "this" was acted out on the floor of the bank I was visiting with my Saudi friend, in traditional Thub, getting down on his knees and lowering his head in a demonstration of how one has their head chopped off, "Arabic styles"... from the side, cutting across the body....

But it's funny... I am now looking forward to returning to Dubai... I mean it seems normal compared to this place... Here there are no side walks... which I found out the hard way when I decided to walk back to the office from one of the banks.... you jump from shop front to shop front and then... nothing.... you are stuck on the road... dodging cars, not something you would want to do after having seen Saudis drive. Ha! And to see them park.... these guys have no idea really... they literally park across the spaces... three spaces to one car is sufficient. Add to this no live music, no cinema, no drinking, no walking in short pants of shirts.... Mate Dubai is a relative paradise of freedoms... Relativity at its best... I guess that was another thing about London that struck me too... We in the west are so free.... the only sad thing is to see what we do with some of this freedom.... walk from Piccadilly Circus to Soho on a Friday or Saturday night and you will know what I mean... The Saudis want none of that behaviour... and as a result they have taken all freedoms from its people... Which is right? Well I don't know... either way the results can be pretty ugly on both sides of the fence.....

Everyday Life - Turning the corner

Violence, even terror, always exists on the periphery of empire. They are the means by which empire is consolidated, defended, extended. Similarly, empire must respond to attack, or its basis is forfeit. All that is new about September 11 is that it didn't occur on a distant horizon. It was as if Rome had been attacked 2,000 years ago, at the height of its power.

The heartland of empire has a vast and ever-present meaning separable, and inseparable, from those twin towers in Manhattan. Everyday existence, under the sign of the capital and technology that the World Trade Center represented, also cries out.

We live in a culture of increasing emptiness; there is a vacuum at the heart of our empire. Epidemics of illegal drugs succeed one another, while tens of millions, including children as young as two, need antidepressants to get through the day. A great hunger exists for anesthesia in the face of emotional devastation and loss. Everyone knows that something is missing, that meaning and value are steadily being leached out of daily life, along with its very texture.

"The less people really live - or perhaps more correctly, the more they become aware that they haven't really lived - the more abrupt and frightening death becomes for them, and the more it appears as a terrible accident." Theodor Adorno's observation of decades ago seems even more pertinent today. Exploding jetliners and anthrax can terrify; meanwhile a much deeper crisis triggers a far more pervasive and fundamental fear.

The empire is global. There is nowhere to go to escape its corrosive barrenness. Frederic Jameson reminded us that we live in the most standardized society that has ever existed. In Global Soul, the peripatetic Pico Iyer ups the ante, meditating on how the whole world now tends towards a universal sameness. A global unity of alienness, of disorientation and disconnection, destined to resemble a mall or an airport. People now dress alike in every major city in the world. They drink Coca-Cola, and watch many of the same TV shows.

The empire's landscape of unreality and routinization grows steadily more pathological. Damage to nature and violence to the psyche compete in a postmodern culture of denial, punctuated by eruptions of the homicidal at work, at home, at school. We can expect to hear more and more alarm bells that will wake us altogether. Peaceful slumber is unthinkable.

Who doesn't know, on some level, where this empire - this civilization - is taking us? Our liberation movement needs to be qualitatively different from all the failed, limited approaches of the past. Everyday life is waiting - waiting to be truly lived.

The Imperialism of Everyday Life by John Zerzan

So as I approach the two year anniversary of leaving Australia I feel as if a corner has been turned. Farah and I are heading toward a future of our choosing and I feel inspired to embrace my idealism once more. I think it also might have something to do with the fact that the impact of the "guy on the bus" in London is now fading and I feel free to once again speak my mind. I also can't help be feel 100% sure that our world, on it's current course is doomed.

But this is by no means a time for me to be overwhelmed and give up. I think it is all of our duty to turn everything we can in the right direction. And the process of turning it all around should be deliberate, peaceful, considerate and humble. We are all in this game together. The days of rampant winner takes all capitalism are drawing to a close. Okay this may not seem clear to most but mark my words in twenty years the world will be functioning in a completely new and hopeful way and if it is not... Well I will be moving to the Tasmanian wilderness....Buying a gun and setting myself up for Armageddon... I pray this wont happen but I am a realistic idealist so there will be no holding of my breathe. So wouldn't it be wise to start preparing for the new world order.. And no don't head to the bush just yet... We need to embrace this issue and make a difference. If we don't what are our kids going to say about us??? Kids are sacred and so is the future of this planet....

East meets west

The last four days have been spent in that enigma of a city, London. The places always brings a slightly cynical smile to my face as the insane reality of life here becomes apparent to me and I begin to remenice of times gone by. As I walked the winding roads, in the grey, windy, damp afternoon I began to feel a sense of longing for my time here. Of post work gym sessions and salmon dinners with Nick, of green curries and trifles with Farah, peaceful, thought/music filled walks to work in the cool English winter mornings (no music on walks in Dubai as I could get hit by a car/truck/bicycle/Indian Dude), self destructive binge drinking sessions, evenings of two or three cigarettes in cold, dark lonely places, coffees on Portobello road on Saturday Mornings including full English breakfasts.... Well you get the picture that memories were running through my mind over the past few days....

But far be it from me to write a post without trying to make a broad brush stroke generalisation about the world as a whole and the odd, relatively hairless, bi-peds who call it home.... London really is a pretty good city in the big scheme of things. If it was a person I would describe it as a 57 year old man who is about to retire, spent his whole life serving others, most likely single as a result of being widowed and hence a little lonely, a heart of gold, passionate about many good causes but sensing they are powerless to change anything.... and as a result of this a full blown alcoholic.... But this is London on a Saturday night. That is the beauty of this majestic city, layer upon complex layer of human involvement. Such a dense population combined with an extensive history leads to a London that one cannot help but love, even if you have been hurt by them in the past, you know that they are more than worthy of your love and affection... Hey and London will always be the city where my life turned an important corner... I met my future wife here and because of this I am forever in the debt of London :-)

The more I think about London and how, despite its many faults, I love it I cannot help but reflect upon Dubai.... Dubai is a 5 year old in comparison to the maturity of London and being so young it would be unfair to apply the same measuring stick to the depth of character that Dubai has displayed to date. With this in mind you can't help but think of Dubai as a child prodigy, albehim slightly autistic and narcistic. Dubai has out performed to date but, as a 5 year old, lacks a meaningful personality to which we can relate. But with the right parenting he could grow into a great man and be a shining light of Arab civilisation into the 21st Century. The only problem here is that the parents are happy to benefit from this prodigy's natural talents and sell his value like a circus freak attraction on the world stage without providing the love, education and nourishment he so desperately needs. Time will only tell what will become of this young city, but with all its "friends" and relatives just trying to get their piece of the performance and jumping over each other to do so the future is far from a certainty of happiness...

On a separate note: Farah is getting time off in March so she can come to Dubai... YES! So we will finally get to explore a left field location together.... I must get into my Arabic so I can impress here with my skills in the souqs of the East... It will truly be a sweet adventure.

Also: Wedding plans are starting to take shape... Looking like August in the subcontinent somewhere, with vows re-given in Bundanoon on 1st Sept and Toronto 8th September 2007 respectively.

General Mood: Positive. I feel like life is starting to take shape and with all the talk about the environment and the like I believe that a paradigm is about to shift in the west that could come just in time to avert disaster (e.g. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/article2166820.ece). I am fast realising that it is in this movement to holistic business/finance operations that my future lies. Also spoke in Spanish to strangers twice in London today.. Love this great big world of ours..

Back home?

As the secondary voiceovers in airports change from French to Arabic, the skin colours change from white to brown and lines grow longer and the buildings taller I start to feel like I am back home... What a great month away from the aberation of life that my time in Dubai is. I almost felt "normal" again, whatever that is anyway. But I am now back here and am faced with seven months of hard work and head down saving and learning ahead of me.

As I said goodbye to Farah at Toronto airport I almost fell over sick with sadness, I mean leaving the love of my life, again!? Hmmmm I often question why and how we manage to put ourselves through this, but then as I sit in the back of my taxi here in Dubai, with my driver who sees his wife and family once every two years the seven months ceases to be such a burden and I am renewed with hope that I can do this and the reward at the end of it, Farah and the life I want with her, makes it all worthwhile. Added to this the crazy arabic party going on at 1am near my house as I arrive home fills me with a sense of purpose for the first half of 2007.

Much was achieved in my time away and I can hardly recount it all here... Man I am still due for a post on the contrasts of emotions I felt after returning home from the road (2 years out of my home land). It's amazing as in a week I will be in London and another week I will be in Saudi Arabia again... Wow this time is going to fly, I just pray for the courage to do it well, make myself and my loved ones proud... Well here goes... Back into it!

Happy New Years...So much has happened....

Wow! So much has happened in the past three weeks.... Well at least I know where to start...

I am now officially engaged to be married to the most lovely girl in all the word.... The right person, time and place.... I am so happy that I have made this decision without any pressure... out of love rather than expectation and yes.... Farah has agreed so all is well and as for plans for a wedding date and place... well I will keep you all posted... negotiations are underway :-)

As for the return home and how that all felt I don't really know where to start on that topic. I think it would be best to save all my thoughts and put them into a detailed post. The main thing that stood out to me on my return to Oz was the great friends and family I have. You really notice this after being on the road for so long. The road offers you experiences and interesting people but rarely to meaningful deep friendships form (although some very important ones have). I know now how lucky I am to have grown up in a great place with a great family and great group of friends. Also each stage of my life I have been blessed with amazing friends who are still close to me this very day... Thank you all for having the time to catch up with me on my time in Australia.... The trip would not have been special without you all!!!!

Now I am in Toronto after spending a few days in Corner Brook (Newfoundland) for Farah's brothers' wedding. The place was beautiful... so much snow.. and a great new extended family which I am gradually becoming apart of. Life is amazing... there is nothing more I can say than that. I could never have imaged two years ago that I would be where I am with life now.

Happy New Years to all of you... I wish you luck with your resolutions and I hope to grow with all you this year...

I have also added a few photos (I confess to having been lazy with the camera of late...)
http://lucas.intercate.net/gallery/xmasnys2006