USA 2017 - Adham's Blog

Adham & Trump 7: Found Luggage!

I arrived to the hotel to find Alex the receptionist with a big friendly smile. Alex was obviously gay. As soon as he found out about me losing my luggage, he offered me everything I will need for the night. Toothbrush, shaving creams, etc… In the western world, being very friendly and welcoming towards other men seems to be exclusive for gays.

I planned to go shopping today for gifts. Plans cancelled since I won’t be able to get things in my carry on and since I had all my scarfs in the lost luggage. I satisfied myself with staying in the hotel watching a movie, writing and going to bed early. In the morning, Frontier airline sent me an email that the luggage has arrived. I called them and we arranged that they send it to Atlanta where I will have my layover. It worked! The friendly black fat woman in the checkin desk even gave me priority boarding and extra comfortable seats! Leg room so big that I needed to experiment on which position I will need to have to be able to touch the seat in front of me. I know I was not gifted with an exceptional height, but I would still be average in many countries. In this trip, I have developed a new affinity for fat black women. They are mostly friendly. At least towards me. Fat black men, on the other hand, do not share them this attitude. Think black men do 😀 I don’t know.. I have a bit of positive racism towards black people. I find them friendly in general.

I have to confess that I was not that sad when I lost my luggage. Only filled with socks, underwear and old cloths, there was nothing really valuable. It is easier to be chill when you don’t lose much.

This trip, I have managed to go through the whole week without using US dollars. I mean I didn’t use cash. I have only used my credit card. This seems to work very well in the states. You can use your card to pay a couple of dollars without getting strange look from the vendor.

Now I am in Atlanta. One hour before my flight to Stuttgart. Luggage shipped (hopefully it will arrive) and I am bidding my trip farewell. I have some resolutions for the post-journey era and I am looking forward to see all my friends again and to continue my research. I enjoyed this trip as if it is the last time in the USA (you never know). Just had a very nice steak at the airport that I wanted to go kiss Moniqwa, the waitress. A medium cooked rib eye steak is a synonym of “Happiness”, “Desire” and a whole lot of life quality vocabulary.

So, this is the end of the journey, thank you for following and reading this trip and being part of my story for a week 🙂 I wouldn’t probably write if nobody reads!

Hasta Luego!
Adham

Adham & Trump 6: Lost Luggage!

An old photo in an airport. But fits here more!

I checked it in, I had no doubt.
I thought my bag, would be safe and sound.

I slept my flight, I had no care…
To land and find, they don’t know where!

They lost my luggage. She said it clear.
She was so calm. I held my tear.

She said: “Sorry sir, I am sad to share:
These things happen. They’re not really rare!”

I did not foresee. This was not in sight!
I walked in there loaded, I walked out light!

My ugly pyjama, I wish you were here!
My suit, my socks, my red underwear!

Oh man, this shit..
They should make it right..
I’ve nothing to wear!
I am nudist tonight..

If one thing I learned, my biggest highlight:
Check-in no bag, hold your things tight!

Adham & Trump 5: The Conference!

Alhamdulillah. I feel lucky.

Yesterday and today was the conference in Sheraton Phoenix. A small meeting of American Clinical MEG Society. Once I entered the hall, it was obvious that I am the youngest! I felt a bit worried about my talk the next day and what if they all know more than I do! Since I didn’t actually prepare my talk yet, I used the first day to observe the amount of knowledge around so that I can adapt my talk. Probably this is one reason I always prepare my talk in the very last minute.

After the talks in the first day, I walked around a bit and went to the public library to think a bit about my talk. The library is an impressive modern building with a lot of students and homeless people inside! The US in general is full of homeless people. People who lost everything because of medical bills or losing their jobs.

This place is also full of hispanics. It is often that they speak to me in Spanish or simply nod in the street. Not really sure if this is simple kindness or if they think that I am one of their own! My host gave me a copy of his house key which would win the first prize for the best key I have ever seen! It has the style of “day of the dead” or “Dia de los Muertos” which is a traditional day in Mexico where they celebrate their lost loved ones. You remember the last James Bond movie?

It was a tough evening. I tried to stay awake and prepare my talk but my jetlag was stronger. I slept around 11 and woke up around 5 am since I had no other chance. I had to get this done! For some reason, I like to put a lot of animations in my powerpoint. Some people consider this unprofessional or not scientific enough. I think it is cool and I am visual anyway. I think it is better to have a cool talk with less info but with something that people can remember than having a presentation full of knowledge that people forget soon.

My talk seemed to be a success. In the break, many scientists came to meet me and offer me their business cards (who still uses these?) I immediately sent them emails to give my contacts. Ok! next conference I will prepare a business card as well. It will look like this:

The talks went by and I felt relieved. Don’t have to prepare anything anymore. I just need to enjoy the dinner at the restaurant:

Was good food! Better than the food was the company on the dinner, 3 Japanese and one Indian. Professor Nakasato from Japan, a neurosurgeon, an energetic being and a joke-generating machine! He invited me to attend the biennial meeting of the International Society for the Advancement of Clinical Magnetoencephalography. I am considering to attend after the amount of knowledge and contacts I gathered here in Phoenix.

Tonight is my last night in Phoenix. I didn’t have time to see around but I also was not verrry interested this time. Every now and then you see strange things like “Weapons not allowed” on the library door for example! You don’t see this everywhere! That means that otherwise, weapons are allowed and are ok. Also, while walking, I saw a house, presumably a lawyer’s office (better call Saul), with the sign:

“Divorce $200, Bankruptcy $200”

It is a very different place.

Adham & Trump 4: Because bees don’t use Marijuana

I woke up extra early. So it is still a jet lag. I was planning to go to Navy Pier and watch the sunrise since it is in the east. But it was raining heavily the whole morning. I love sunrise, it has many positive meanings, the beginning of the day, the light after the darkness and the arrival of the sun. Sunset, on the other hand, has the contrary. It is darkness, the end of the light and farewell. Optically, they probably look the similar. I don’t know. But women find sunset romantic.

My day was not full today. Till my flight, nothing special happened. I was working on organising my thoughts for the talk. So I still didn’t start preparing my talk which is on Thursday! It is my habit of being a last minute deliverer. Probably the highlight of the day was my conversation with Ron. A regular looking guy who sat beside me on the plane. On the other hand sat a beautiful chick I would have rather had a conversation with her. But Ron was getting all the attention telling me about how he believes that ,arijuana solves everything. He prescribes it to everyone of his friends and “it helps” he says! marijuana is legal in many states here for medicinal use and in some states for recreational use. He often mentions Colorado in a very thick accent “Coloraaadow”.

He makes cookies, bakes, and makes all kind of marijuana things! I found it funny when he told me that he is interested in marijuana honey 😀 where the bees are using the Marijuana flowers for the pollens and then you have cannahoney.. tadaaaaa… He quoted a french guy:

The bees that produce the cannahoney are not affected by cannabinoids because they do not have an endocannabinoid system,

Not that I believe anything! But I found the story funny. I must admit that he had another idea that I found it genuinely interesting. To treat his own allergy, he has a theory to eat honey produced from the local community. Local bees fly around and use the pollens locally. Therefore, if he eats a spoon of honey everyday, he is introducing into his body a little bit of allergen which on the long run makes “desensitization” which is decreasing the body reaction to that substance. Again, regardless if the idea is scientifically valid or not. I find it a funny clever theory.

I landed in Phoenix and met another speaker on the train. I know him from Germany since he is one of the leading scientists in the field. He recognised my face from some conferences but didn’t remember who I was. We had some nice conversation and some how discussed what each of us will present since I will present directly after him. Not that we repeat each other!

I stay today in an Airbnb with Adrian. Just now finished a very long conversation with him about politics in the USA and the middle east. He is working in SolarCity which a solar energy company that was founded by Elon Musk’s cousines and recently acquired by Tesla (June 2016). I came to know interesting facts about the conflicts between solar energy companies and local governments and lobbies of regular power companies (utility companies). Topics I haven’t touched before.

I go to bed now to start my mini-conference tomorrow. Good night habibis!

Adham & Trump 3: The bean, success and meeting Joan

It is Monday! I woke up in my hotel room in the 26th floor and saw that the sun is shining. This is not what I expected for Chicago. My program today will have a lot of walkin. But first, let’s have breakfast.

The breakfast in the hotel costed $20 dollars. An open-buffet. This is not much more than what I paid yesterday @ Kanela $18. But my human nature deals differently with an open-buffet. Since I was there around 8:00 am, I had time to eat slowly and fill my stomach with $20 worth of food. I think I exaggerated. I had 3 breakfasts which I don’t even do at home if I have a full fridge. Juan, the waiter kept pouring me Orange juice till I was radiating Vitamin C. I guess I had a liter or so! It took me a bit more than an hour and the Wall Street Journal newspaper. I picked up recently a new interest in newspapers specially in places where I travel.

After breakfast I was so full that I could barely walk! I started walking slowly in the city towards the Navy Pier, one of the top attractions in Chicago:

Only a couple of tourists were there. A lot of fishermen though. They simply sat there with a hole in the ice that covered the lake. I noticed some fish that seemed frozen on the surface! I asked one of them if the fish froze because of the low temperature and he told me that people just didn’t throw these fish back into the hole!

I walked more around the city to the Millennium Park where there was a funny open stage and the famous “Bean”:

I was not walking with any aim. I didn’t have neither a map nor a phone and I just walked randomly and found myself in front of the Chicago public library. I have a certain affinity to visit public libraries and see how they look like inside so I entered to find a violin concert that is open for public. Although most of the people were old and half of them were sleeping in their seats, I was entertained by thinking about such opportunities in big cities. I soon left the hall (I have to admit I was bored very soon) and went back to the hotel.

Walking in the city of Chicago, one can’t help but thinking about living here. Having a job in one of the huge and modern Northwestern hospitals in downtown chicago, having an apartment in a skyscraper, and probably overworking and ending up sad and lonely. LOL. Success can mean accomplishing your goals. Then you make other goals, you succeed etc. However, I look up to people who have manaegd to obtain and retain a sense of self-love, content and satisfaction regardless of their measurable achievements or materialistic posesssions.

It is a topic I discussed later in the day with my friend Joan. Another friend of mine in Catalonia that lives here since 5 years or so. We had a long walk after I picked him up from his work in the Hospital and discussed his experience in living in the state and filled each other in about what happened in our lives since we last met more than 7 years ago! Joan is a man of awareness and spirituality in my mind. I remember when I met him just coming back from India and staying there 6 months instead of his original 1 month plan. This story was somehow always in my memory when I considered travel flexibility.

Later this evening I met Imma again. She suggested that we have a drink and dinner in a nearby Jazz Club. We spent there a couple of hours exchanging more stories and ideas with a live Jazz band playing on the stage. The place had some poeple but was not full which made it a cozy place for nice conversations. Meeting Joan and Imma was the highlight of my Chicago time. There is nothing in the world like connecting with smart and good hearted people that you like. I felt fortunate.

Imma and me, I am trying to look sexy as Davide taught me how to do it. But you can see that I don’t have my glasses and I don’t see shit

Adham & Trump 2: Egypt lost and I met Imma

Chicago is nice! One of the cities I could imagine living in. San Francisco, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona and London are my list of favorite cities. Rome is the closest city to my heart but I don’t know if I can live there.

Big cities offer an overwhelming amount of options. Want to eat out? You can go to different places and eat different dishes everyday till you die and still won’t cover all of Chicago for example. Chicago has more than 7000 restaurants. Would take you 20 years to try everyday a new restaurant. One must grow a certain inner peace with “missing out” and accepting that in this life, you don’t get everything. Probably this makes us different. The number of choices produce a huge number of possible combinations. This makes each of us has a unique story of different combinations.

I started by going out for breakfast in a really nice place. Kanela breakfast club. Accompanied by my current read “Zero to One” which is recommended to me by my friend Ahmed Hisham. The book is written by Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel and is directed to Startup founders, entrepreneurs if I spelled it correctly 😀

Today I stopped at one paragraph that described something I recognized in myself.

The highlight of my day was meeting Imma. A Catalan friend of mine we met in Istanbul in 2009. She also visited me in Cairo a year later and since then we are in touch. Imma and I agreed to watch the African Cup final together in Cairo Kebab! Egypt lost to Cameron but I won the company of Imma and catching up 7 years of life changes and personal developments. The two persons that met 7 years ago are very different ☺. I enjoy these encounters. They remind you of who you were through eyes of life witnesses and make you feel lucky to have a significant connection with good friends that does not shake with the years.

We planed to watch the superbowl together that afternoon. I lost my way at the beginning and then felt like going back to my accommodation. After resting a bit, I went to the cinema around the block to watch a nice movie “Lion”. Although I slept 10 min at the beginning (I guess I am still jet lagged. Jetlagged. Jellagd. :P), I found it very touching.

Tomorrow I have no plans. Probably some art museums and long walks. I really like this city!

Adham & Trump 1: The beginning, Maria’s tasks and what I learned about bitch tits

Trying to finish my muffin before boarding. Photos don’t have to be beautiful

Hello world!

One more trip and once more I will write about my trip. This time is to the USA. Since Trump started his time a few weeks ago, my trip is this time special. This is the 5th time I visit the USA. My last 4 trips were during Obama’s time. This time is surrounded with uncertainties since Trump issued an order a few days ago to prevent citizens from 7 middle east countries from entering the states. Although Egypt is not on the list, things change quickly. Overnight, a Washington DC judge blocked Trumps immigration ban. I am not really worried though. I would like to get in the country but if they don’t let me in, adios!

This trip is really special for me. My first time to be an invited speaker in a conference. Namely the American Clinical Magnetoencephalography Society in Phoenix, Arizona. I fly first to Chicago for 3 days to visit it for the first time and meet a dear old friend 🙂

This flight has also something new. I recently made an interesting new friend, Maria. She is a thoughtful and creative person. Maria gave me some tasks for my flight to ease boredom and make it an “interesting” game. Actually one of the tasks is that I don’t use the word “interesting”! The list has some “thinking tasks” Things to think about in my trip. But it also has one funny requirement. I quote Maria in German (translation below):

5. Rede mit deiner/m Sitznachbarn/in im Flugzeug und finde heraus, wo er/sie herkommt, wohin er/sie fliegt und mache mindestens einen GUTEN Witz, sodass die Person lachen muss.
Bei genau diesem einen Gespräch darfst du nicht „interesting” sagen.

“Speak with your next seat neighbour in the airplane and get to know where he/she comes from. Where is he/she flying to and make at least one good joke that makes that person laugh. In this very conversation, don’t use the word “interesting”.

I usually say “interesting” a lot in conversations. This annoys many people. Because it does not tell you really anything and does not enrich the conversation. In my defense, it is my way of making a mental milestone of things that I really stopped to think about and found an interesting mental remark.

I am excited about this trip, about going back to travel writing again and about my talk. Let me know if you want something from the states 🙂

Joaquin. He was my neighbor in the flight. He comes from El Salvador which is one of my favorite words! I pronounce it El-sal-vadorrrr which is probably wrong :D. From the first look he seemed “interesting”. The conversations later proved this indeed. An assistant professor in university of Hohenheim (which I heard as Hurenheim for some stretch of our conversation! If you know what I mean!). He is researching nutrition of tropical animals. He seemed to be passionate about what he is doing and actually stated this when I asked him about his passion. I used the opportunity to verify all the information Morad tells me about nutrition and its relationship to training and building muscles (most of them appeared to be correct according to Joaquin) so thank you Morad and thank you Joaquin.

I showered him with questions and he gave me an abundance of knowledge. There is a special beauty in meeting people with expertise.

We started by discussing protein metabolism and that after training, your body needs both energy (metabolism is still high) and protein. Protein to build the muscles and energy for various processes in the body. So if you only consume protein, some of it will be used for energy and not for building muscles. This should be really soon after training when your body is “repairing the damage”.

I asked about protein supplements like whey and so. He told me that indeed we mostly don’t consume enough protein per day (1.5–2 gm/kg/day) a chicken breast will have around 40 gm of protein while someone like me might need 150 gm per day. العلم نور!

Somehow the conversation went to soya and I asked if it increases estrogen. He said that soya has a molecule that is similar to estrogen antagonist which pushes the body to release more estrogen to keep the balance. He said that this estrogen itself stimulates testosterone release and that some athletes use this trick to avoid direct administration of testosterone which is prohibited in competitions because it is a performance enhancing drug. He then shocked me by saying that this gives men “bitch tits” LOL! I cracked laughing thinking he was joking but then discovered that it was actually a term! Because the men breast that develops looks like the the breasts of female dogs after lactating. Pointy! 😀

Joaguin made me laugh more than I made him laugh and I said “interesting” only twice 🙂

It was a good flight. Almost 10 hours and my audio system was shot but I managed to watch one movie from Uganda with subtitle (it was in English anyway!). It was based on the true story of a slum girl that learns chess. “The queen of Katwe”. In Atlanta I had a verrry looooooooooooong line for the customs but had the pleasure to chat with two Germans waiting in the line. One of them works in Amazon music and the other was just old. The immigration check was smooth caught my connection 15 min before the take off to Chicago.