Archive for April, 2008

Aqel Beltaji: this and that


  I attended a workshop, where Aqel Biltaji was the key speaker. He took us on a delightful trip that started from the female and male vocal classifications in opera singing and ended with the hot topic: the plan to sell the area of the King Hussein Medical Center, along with the areas around it. ( He has a great deep voice, by the way)
 

Beside the fact that he is extremely charming, his almost three- hour lecture/workshop was informative, amusing and enlightening.  He showered us with stories, anecdotes and jokes from his life.  However he did not allow the original thread out of his mind. Public Speaking. An area, he has proved over the years that he excels at.
 Biltaji is a former minister of tourism and is currently a senator. He is also a floating ambassador. This means, wherever he is, he has the responsibility  and the authority to represent Jordan. He carries himself so lightly, with such a positive attitude, that I almost forgot the amount of responsibilities he must have in his daily life.
 

“In your lives, look around you, see the beauty in the little things. Go to work, enjoy what you do…. Build an exchange between yourself and your surroundings….”
 He spoke generally about the Hussein Medical City. His defence was that when the hospital location was chosen, it was meant to be a quiet area, suitable for a hospital. Today that area has become one of the busiest areas in Amman, a detail that can’t be ignored, since a patient would die, while his ambulance is stuck in traffic between the eighth circle and the madinah. 
 

He reminded us that people had similar reactions, when Abdali was sold. He then defended the project in hindsight, as a project that would revive the Aabdali area, would create employment and modernize life there.  Would also get rid of the suffocating traffic that was created by the old Mukhabarat and army quarters.  His theory about the subject, was that today, Jordan is seen as a possible place for IT and banking back office services.  That area is the perfect location for such project.  He agreed however with some of the objections, that people deserve to have more transparency, and that we (culturally) believe that anything that is hidden, implies that something is wrong. Suprisingly, the next day I was watching the news from afar and heard an official talking about the rumours,  and promising full transparency when it comes to selling that area (could not see who he was, as I was too far away from the TV.)
 Biltaji, mentioned his wife on several occasions, he spoke very highly of her achievements. Dr. Nuwar Fareez is a famous doctor in Jordan.  And since all the attendees were women, they were interested in his marriage. He answered some questions his life and the dynamics of their relationship. He explained that they both worked towards very ambitious careers, and that because of her work, she had to go abroad three times, each time for a whole year, and for his work, he also had to leave for 8 months.  However, they both knew they had to support each other; that it takes two to tango. “ when you get married, your breath becomes one, as my mother used to say.  And even though we have a hectic lifestyle, neither one of us became successful on the other’s account, we worked in sync.”
 

Biltaji attributed most of our trouble as a nation to the fact that we lack loyalty to this land, that we lack a sense of belonging. We don’t feel like citizens, he explained that this country would give a lot, if someone is willing to give back.
 “I was born in Gaza, grew up between Khalil and Ramallah. I never dreamt of what I have achieved today.  From being a homeless refugee in 48 to being welcomed in most households in Jordan.  This country has given me a lot.”

I really enjoyed listening to him.

Catch me if you can, Linda and Hibbz’ cat

I just watched Mona Lisa smile… I was there when they were shooting the movie. I was in Boston, at Wellesley College… I happened to be taking a stroll at the college when they were shooting… Surprisingly, I never had the curiosity to watch it…  
Anyway to Linda and Hibbz.  Linda has nothing to do with Hibbz’ cat… as a matter of fact Linda and Hibbz don’t even know that the other one exists.  They are two women from two different worlds that might never cross. The connection between them only exists in my brain and it is in the phrase catch me if you can, which in my life was applied only in two cases…. watching the movie with Linda in one world, and finding Hibbz cat in another!
Linda
The first time I saw the movie catch me if you can, was when it first came out in the movie theatres… 2002, 2003… I don’t remember exactly… I was living in Germany at the time.  The only theatre that played English language movies was in Koeln… and since Linda and I had wanted to watch a movie in English for a while, I decided to invite her to spend the night at my apartment in Koeln. She lived in another city.
In Europe, you don’t need to carry cash with you, if you have your train ticket, some credit card and your home keys, you can always get by.  Linda and I got to the theatre and realized that neither one of us had enough money to pay. It was one of those rundown theatres that still did not believe in credit cards.  As a matter of fact, between the two of us we found nine Euros… we only needed one euro to be able to watch the movie…. we sat there conferring for a while to decide on our next step.  
This story has several endings, depends on who is listening….. One possible ending was that we ended up charming the student who was sitting there, bored to his skull, and convinced him to let us in for free. A second possible ending was that we begged the Euro; actually we ended up with 12 Euros (in addition to our nine).  I won’t say what happened, either way; we watched the movie and had a real nice evening, since we went out for a drink afterwards.
Hibbz ‘ cat
Hibbz and I went to the humane centre for the animal welfare (Which truly and honestly impressed me… it is a great place).  Hibbz cat CK needed some grooming.  We decided to leave him overnight and come back the next day to take him home. What we failed to tell workers was that CK can open doors!
Next day, we decided to call before we left, to make sure the cat was ready.  But whenever we called they said that everyone is busy with an emergency.  Hibbz said jokingly that she was afraid that the emergency was her cat.   And as a mother, her instinct did not fail… CK opened the door and escaped.  They have been trying to find him ever since.  CK was spotted several times, once playing with the dogs, once chatting with the monkey, and once socializing with the donkeys… but he was illusive, as if playing catch me if you can with the hospital staff!
 Poor Hibbz was distraught! She decided that she was going to look for him and will not leave till she found him, we rushed to the hospital,  and the moment CK heard her voice he came out of his hiding place.  He was hiding under the hay in the horses’ stables, which is a weird place, since he could have hidden with the other cats…but no… CK would not accept less than horses…
He stayed glued to Hibbz, and when she wanted to leave he scratched her as if telling her you are not going without me… so we ended up taking him home, still un-groomed!
Animal anecdotes
I was touched with CK’s  devotion to Hibbz,  and have been toying with the idea of adopting an animal myself… the only problem is that I am only fond of animals from a safe distance… I just don’t understand them…. I don’t believe in domesticating a naturally wild creatures, because I think creatures with souls can’t change their nature….
Four animal facts/stories about a creature being unable to deny its nature: (these stories are provided by a friend.  Obviously, I won’t adopt any of these animals… I still found the stories amusing)
1-      The monkey and the buzzard in Nat King Cole’s “Staighten Up and Fly Right.” Diana Krall has one also.
2-       The story of The Frog and the Scorpion in the film, The Crying Game.
3-       Both the female Praying Mantis and Black Widow kill their male shortly after copulation.  In fact, the Praying Mantis can eat all or part of him starting before the act is complete… it has been documented by entomologists that if the female bites the head of the male off before ejaculation, she frees him from his social inhibitions (which are stored in the brain), resulting in a more complete release of genetic material into her reproductive system.
4-       The Indian baby and the Cobra snake:  There is this family in India who own a Cobra snake… it is considered holly for their sect and so they just leave it be… this  snake befriended the baby.  The family would leave the baby with the snake, boasting to everyone how the holly snake was protecting their child. However, when the baby turned seven, the snake wrapped herself around him and ate him!
God, I can’t stop laughing whenever I remember this ghastly story! As we say shar al baliat ma yud7ik!