Travel Archives - Page 5 of 6

Habibindia 07: The days after The Day, the Transgender and Taj Mahal

Surrender your hands to hers…
She will embrace them with grace..
She will take you to new places..
and teach you new ways..
Cheers to her hands..
and to her..

Day Wedding+1: The sickness

Today I wanted to rest. Having immersed myself in the wedding days and interacting with the group, my body started to loose its strength and integrity. The group is planning to visit Amritsar where the Golden Temple is and follow that by visiting the Indian Pakistani borders where a special ceremony takes place everyday. I knew I would miss these events but I also knew that going there would be an extra load for my strengths.
I spent the day reading, writing and sleeping. My companion book is “The House of God” which is a diary of a medical intern during his internship year. Full of irony and beautifully written, this book attracted me since the first page. I found myself writing down quotes from every page. I borrowed it from Morad, my brother, after he told me many times: “You should read this book” and he is right.
I almost recovered, had I not had lunch in a restaurant beside the hotel. In addition to my sore throat (resulting from a mixture of shouting and screaming during the wedding dances and the dust in the air), I acquired also some stomachache which grew stronger with time. Well, I don’t really think it was stomachache. My theory is that it is intestinal pain and it could be probably due to intolerance of some of the spices or the ingredients used in my meal. The pain was completely gone in the next day with no traces. Hmm, maybe some psychological caution of eating traditional or local food.
Meanwhile, my friends in Amritsar had a great time at the temple and the Paki border 🙂 Here are some of their photos:

In the evening, Diljit and Alvi picked me up to go and meet the group in a cultural complex in Jalandhar. The complex, Haveli is a mini-village that shows the history and culture of Punjab using real-sized statues and constructed rooms. Here are some images from google image if you are too lazy to google it yourself:

There was also a band performing some traditional dance on an elevated stage. Under the stage there was a sign stating that dancing is forbidden for visitors and that it is only for the band. This tells you how much Punjabis like to dance 😀

We had then a very traditional dinner inside where various dishes were served in metal plates and brass jars. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really eat much due to the instability of my inner organs!

I felt a bit worse.. going back to the hotel, I found myself with my clothes undercover and shivering! I was sick! My mind was getting alternating between lucid and hazy at times. This brought me the attention my other group members who rushed to provide me with several medicines and wishes of getting better soon. This helped me.. This also touched me since I felt their real and genuine care and love. We are nobodies without the people we love.
I slept and slept deep. This was enough to make me fresh in the next morning.. I felt liberated from my stomach/intestine/whatever it is problem and only having the throat problem.. Today, we go to Delhi!

Day Wedding+2: Transgender experience

We checked out, had a small breakfast and split into two groups. Daniel, Lena, Justus, Heike and Filip will drive back to Delhi while Christina, Merve and I will fly later in the day. Sibylle flies back tomorrow. The 2nd group + Sibylle went to Diljit’s house for a bye-bye time before heading to the airport. There we found a lot of beggars at the front door playing music and waiting for alms from the new wedded couple.
Particularly interesting is a tradition that transgender/hermaphrodites come to the newly married couples and ask for a big sum of money! This was a bit of an experience for us. He/She walked around the house yard in an exaggerated feminine steps and coarse manly facial features that were smoothed by some makeup work. She danced to the music of the accompanying group and every now and then sat on Diljit’s lab and gave a kiss on his cheek. I was discussing with Merve in the background how much she would accept to kiss her/him and we were discussing various prices for various levels of kiss qualities. Merve was not willing to kiss her/him a real kiss for any price. Later during the dance, the transgender came to me and asked me to dance with her/him. To my surprise, I didn’t feel very strange. She/he is just a person after all. This whole tradition is to compensate them for the social rejection and negligence which they consistently receive everyday. At some point, he/she asked me to kiss him/her on the cheek! Oh.. I didn’t see that coming.. I remembered immediately my conversation with Merve and asked kiss-seeker for 1000 rupees.. (S)he/ didn’t seem to mind, so I raised the price to 10,000 rupees (around 150 euros). (S)he also seemed ok with it. So I said to myself, “fuck it, let’s do it”. As soon as I leaned towards her/him, (S)he backed off and seemed to shy out.. I was not sure if (S)he was even afraid! ohh my..

The rest of the day was driving to the airport, flying to Delhi and then renting a car to drive to Agra where we spent the night. However insignificant this sounds, in India, you are constantly surprised. Here and there you find things like a man on a bicycle with a monkey behind him. An elephant walking down the street.
We needed to rest a bit, tomorrow will be our visit to Taj Mahal, a guide will accompany us for the morning and in the afternoon we will go back to Delhi.

Day Wedding+3: Taj Mahal

Our driver picked us up from the hotel. Merve and Christina looked a bit fresher than I did. We drove together through agra where cows on the streets were in a similar count to cars. We picked up Mohammed Wassim, our guide. He was nice, wise and confident and accompanied us during the morning.

At Taj Mahal, Mohammed and we skipped all the lines directly to the ticket window. Sometimes, he waved local indians to empty the way as if they were flies. Which seemed verrry wrong. We had conflicting feelings; this was good for us since it will cut all the unnecessary waiting times but on the other hand it was just wrong. Disrespectful. The locals, however, didn’t seem the tiniest annoyed by this. They took it very normally and casually and made some space. This is not very novel here. You can often see people treated really badly and they seem to accept it or to expect it.

Taj Mahal is a beauty. It is my 2nd visit and I still enjoy looking at it. Being a Muslim heritage piece dedicated for love, it had some romantic connections. Mohammed explained a lot about the history, the construction and other details about the palace which I won’t write here since I wrote most of them in my last trip (you can read here). Mohammed sounded very authoritative some times: “Stand here”. “Leave the water here”. He was also very specific about where to stand and wait for him and sometimes he asked us to move a meter or so. I found this somehow entertaining.

We had our trip around the place where Mohammed took many photos of us. Some of them are very touristy:

We had some chats with Mohamed about his life and his family. He comes from Kashmir and wants to get married to a beautiful woman called Zaira. We then had lunch, did some shopping and then hit the road to our hotel in Delhi to spend our last night.

It was almost the end of our group travel. Merve, Christina, and I! We had a bye-bye dinner together in one of the malls where above-average class indians were hanging out to some DJ music. It was a pleasure to travel with these beautiful ladies. It was enriching, simple and easy going. I would like to express my happiness and honour to get to know them and establish a long-lasting friendship among the three of us.

Everything comes to an end.. but ends mark new beginnings.. and the end of this trip is the beginning to another chapter of my travel solo. Tomorrow I fly to Nepal after the girls fly back to Germany. Tomorrow I will be praying for new adventures, life-lessons and some time of reflection..

Habibindia 05: Prince and dance!

Like the sea, blue, deep and full of secrets.. I yearn to dive and to collect the pearls..
Her eyes..

They call him Mister India, and he calls himself Prince. A strong muscular 20 years old that looks like 30. With a well shaped mustasch and well kempt beard. He invited all of us to his house for breakfast. His father is Diljit’s father’s cousin and he has a sister and a brother. In their house, we enjoyed a tasty local breakfast that filled our stomachs for some time. Prince pops up from his peers. With his fitness-model body and broad enjoying smile while dancing, with his sense of fashion and his Royal Enfield. His plan is to go to Canada and study fitness nutrition to go back and help his community. He just wants to make his parents proud, he said.

After the breakfast we walked a short distance to Diljit’s house where a big pink tent was constructed. Inside the tent, a place was designated to the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh’s holy book. And a small religious band that plays the accordion and percussion on the sounds of prayers. As we sat there, not understanding much, the locals hummed with the prayers. I later came to know that they didn’t understand much either. But probably the prayers made them feel good. After the ceremony, a priest gave a long speech to the attendants. I was lucky to have prince sitting besides me and translating the content. I must admit that before that, my knowledge about the religion was limited to what Diljit told us over his delicious dinner evenings. Listening to the priest, I saw the similarities to other religions. Prince was explaining that all the roads lead to God, no matter what is the path. After the speech, Christoph and I were invited to give small talks to the attendants about Diljit for the wedding occasion.

After this ceremony, Prince invited me to take a tour on his motorbike, Royal Enfield, aka, Bullet 🙂 In the first minute of him riding in the streets of Dasuya, I started making my prayers and promises to God in the very possible case I meet Him soon!
Prince showed me his collage, his gym and we went to fill the tank. There was also McDonalds and Subway.
We rode in the superb of Dasuya. We changed turns and stopped here and there for a photo-shooting session. Prince is good looking and photogenic. We rode up some hills with enchanting views. Places I would have never visited as a tourist. I felt lucky, I felt thankful. Prince kept repeating “Don’t say thank you brotha”.. In a couple of hours, I felt we developed a deeper friendship. We discussed life and its beauty, dreams and love. It is impressive how a 20 years old in some parts of the world can be much wiser than a 40 years old in other parts.

We rode back to the market where the rest of the group was. Since we didn’t know where they were, Prince asked random people: “Have you seen foreigners?” going around the market with the motorbike, we managed to find our friends in a shoes-shop. They bought scarfs, traditional punjabi clothes and shoes.

A night full of music, dancing and food. In the pink tent, a small stage was constructed and all the locals gave to dancing. Later, everybody accompanied Diljit and Alvi in a parade around the town. He carried some item on his head and went around town to get the blessings of different houses. A small band accompanied the parade with drumming that forces you to shake it shake it.. I wore a traditional punjabi suit gifted to me by my new friend Prince. He gave me a black one and wore a white one which made me think of Ying and Yang somehow.
The parade was back to the pink tent, where more and more dancing was taking places.. man, these people can dance forever.. and they have every right to! Punjabi music is a new favorite for me. You can’t be depressed with Punjabi music! You can’t be sad! A song that was somehow the theme of this trip is Na Ja. Which I grew addicted to and loop it throughout the day.. The guys taught me its nice dance which looks like a flying pigeon.

It was one full day for me.. full of friendship, dance and good mood.. Merve does not want to go back.. She wants to immigrate to Punjab and enjoy the friendliness, the music and the food. Well, this was not it! Next day is the Wedding day.. and it was full!

Habibindia 04: Hello Punjab, the Henna Night

Hello Punjab! compared to other parts of India that I saw, the highways and streets are clean. We arrived to the hotel and decided to rest a couple of hours before we go to Diljit’s house. Today there will be the Henna night. We were joined in the hotel by the rest of Team Tübingen namely, Boss, Sibylle, Justus and Heike, Daniel and Lena, and Filip. We are now 10 people and with two cars we started driving to where Alvi, the bride, and her family were staying.

The henna night is where mainly the bride and the ladies of the families have beautiful floral drawing on their arms and legs by expert henna artists. An abundance of music, food and good laughter makes it a lively event before the wedding. We gave in to the rhythms and joined our new local friends in dancing our asses till midnight. Here and there was a break for him or her. I love Punjabi people. They have good food, good music and a certain chilliness about them that makes you feel that all what you aim at in life can probably not bring you the same happiness they have, just by being Punjabis! Some cultures are just happy. In their eyes, you see dreams, of going to where you live and living in similar conditions. But do they see in our eyes that we have indeed more comfort, but less dreams? We live better but probably live less! I had to love them, envy them and copy their dance style.

While the ladies in our group had the most beautiful of henna drawings and decorations around their hands, the men decided to get tattoo-styled drawings. Justus, Daniel and I have convinced the artists to give us some designs. I was somehow unlucky and got an ugly drawing that seemed a bit like fishbone or a chewed piece of gum. I have to say this made me a bit sour 😀 imagining that this piece of …ehem.. will stay on my arm for sometime, made me at unease. Alvi and Ashley, here sister, convinced me to ask the 2nd artist to fix the situation and improvise a solution. In my opinion, he did a great job by drawing a badass Dragon that had a slightly long ears (donkey-dragon). It was much better than the previous thing that I had on my arm.

We were dead tired.. most not having slept enough which we discovered to be the theme of the trip: A lot of dancing and partying, lack of sleep, and .. waiting 🙂

Daniel + Tribal + (fire? tree? fishbone?)

Habibindia 03: From Istanbul to Delhi with Love

Istanbul, we love you.. It was the last day and we had only one plan, to meet my old friends Fatma Zehra and Ali. We packed our luggages, checked out and went under the rain to visit the lovely couple in their apartment. Ali met us in Üsküdar and we went together to the the apartment. It was cozy and had a very peaceful energy. Meeting them both was a very emotional moment for me. Fatma Zehra was my classmate in the Master program in Italy and Ali, her husband, was with her in the city. We often met there for cooking, hanging out, and playing football (where I also broke my cruciate ligament). Some people stay always very close to your heart no matter how often you meet. They were definitely these people. We dove into various conversations about life and spirituality and I was happy to see that Christina and Merve got along with the new friends. The Brunch table was full of various sorts of delicacies and I remembered the joke often shared by Diljit about marrying Jessica vs. marrying Fatima (in this case literally)!

A few hours of lovely peaceful time. Including a short visit to a nice mosque in the neighbourhood and then a visit to a kind of Ottoman cafe where they try to revive ottoman traditions in drinks and pastries. They then bid us farewell and we aimed to the hotel and then to the airport.

Turkish airlines flew us from Istanbul to Delhi then we took another flight to Amritsar. We slept or tried to sleep most of the flights. At the customs and transfer, everything was smooth and without problems. Indians are verrrry friendly. They always greet you heartily and smile at you widely.
In the airport, we met Gourpreet, our driver who obviously does not speak English. He knows a few words like “Sad” to describe a sad song pointing at his heart with the thumb.. well.. I guess that was it.. I don’t remember any other words he said in English. Sometimes we were not sure if is checking Christina and Merve in the inside mirror. So we had a secret deal to pretend that they are both my wives so that he does not hit on any of them. You know, I am Muslim, so it is ok ok..
In two hours we arrived to the hotel where we are to stay for the next few days.. Here will start our Indian Chapter (well, it already started since I write these words behind schedule.. and it is much fun so far.. and less sleep!).

Habibindia 02: In love with Istanbul

Good morning Istanbul, I woke up to the noise of the two ladies discussing things that didn’t seem important to me. A quick breakfast as defined by Merve in a small restaurant lasts a bit more than one hour. It was a collection of cheese, meat, eggs, vegetables and so on. They called it “Very very breakfast” in Turkish on the menu.
We started our day trip to discover and rediscover Istanbul. The weather is a bit cold and cloudy but still pleasant in a way. We started by Hagia Sophia which I didn’t visit in the previous two trips to Istanbul. Merve was not happy that we were not impressed by Hagia Sophia. She said that we were not intellectual enough to appreciate the beauty of the cultural mixture between a church and mosque. For me, it was a church that has Islamic writings. But it was yet another church.

Allah + Jesus + Mohammed in the same place

My mother’s family has its roots in Turkey. Therefore, we have a certain Turkuphilia in the famiglia. A few years ago we met in Istanbul for a week or so and we loved it. My mother’s favourite spot was the blue mosque, also called Sultan Ahmet Mosque. For this trip, mom asked me to kisse every mosque for her.
We arrived to the blue mosque and I had my washing for the prayer in the space around the mosque. Christina and Merve went inside to visit the mosque and later I followed in. It is a special place where certain emotions stir inside of me. Can’t really describe them. When I think of Istanbul, there would be my spot.
I won’t go into details describing the architecture or the beauty inside the mosque. You should go visit! google can give you a good idea on how the place looks like. But no technology yet will convey the feeling inside the mosque. Despite the noisy tourists at the back of the mosque, the front of the mosque is a different world. The silence, the humming of the dispersed worshippers, the feeling that everyone around you is probably trying to connect out of this world.

We sat there for a while and then went out to visit the Basilica Cistern where the last scene of the movie Inferno took place. There, Christina had a photo-shooting session in an Ottoman costume that matched her beautiful blue eyes.

Turkey is a holy place for food. Merve decided that we will eat at Sultanahmet köfte, where she took us and already ordered for us the dishes in the quantities that she estimated without even consulting us! She has some sweet dictatorship about her that I often found very cute. She ordered two portions for me and one and a half portions for each of them. The köfte was a melody. Its tender, juicy and rich taste triggered a wow from Christina and me while Merve was romanticising on how she does not want to leave Turkey. We love you Diljit, but this Köfte!

A short walk later lead us to the grand bazaar, which was nice and full of nice goods that we are mainly not interested in 😀 We were joined by Ezgi, Merve’s cousin for a short time and bought a few souvenirs.

A small dessert and then Galata tower. We climbed the tower to see a higher view of Istanbul. It was already dark and the lights shone over the mosques in the horizon in different directions. The call to the prayer started while we were up which is often special for me. Christina has a lot of questions and a vast curiosity. Merve said “you spent enough time” and pressed us to leave.. it was cold..
We took a taxi and went to a nice cafe to rest from the day.. Sitting there, smoking shisha and reflecting on the day. As Christina says, “it feels like we had breakfast 3 days ago”. It was a full day that was perfectly organized by Merve. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to travel with the two ladies. I am always skeptic about traveling in groups, but this company was for me very entertaining and enriching.

We spent a few hours in the cafe, then had some “Wet burger” in a small street restaurant. We were tired and it was not long before we go back to the accommodation.

Merve: I want to tell you something.
Me: Tell me.
Merve: no, ask me to tell you.
Me: Why would I ask you to tell me? Just tell me if you want.
Merve: I want you to insist that I tell you.
Me: It is hard for me to understand. This is Merve.. either she wants to tell me or not. If she wants to tell me, she will tell me. If she does not want to tell me, she won’t!
Merve: no.. no.. this is Merve (represents herself with a small cosmetics item).. She either (written by Merve):
1- wants to tell you something but expecting you to insist!
2- does not want to tell you something but if you insist enough she will tell!
3- wants to tell you something no matter what!
4- will never ever tell you she swears to Allah.
5- is indecisive and does not have enough energy to reflect on her enriched mind.

Good night to all the habibis!

Habibindia 01: In Istanbul, arrival and Merve’s loving family

Habibindia 01: In Istanbul, arrival and Merve’s loving family

Ladies and gentlemen, Diljit and Alvi are getting married! and we are going to India! 10 friends are going to attend the wedding. With two good/nice/beautiful colleagues of mine, Christina and Merve, the trip starts in Istanbul. Merve convinced us to stop in the lovely city for two days and we found that great and we decided to go. From Stuttgart we flew with Turkish airlines. The ladies are so interesting that I couldn’t sleep, watch a movie or read in 3 hours. Instead, we had philosophical discussions about if you have the choice to let a train hit and kill 5 people or divert it to hit one guy. What would you choose? Would you focus on the action or on the consequences?

We landed in Istanbul around 4:20, where Merve found her way to the citizens line while Christina and I stood in the international line of the customs. We met the American/Mexican Andy who is coming to visit Europe and is staying one night in Istanbul. Andy was very sociable and talkative or “Gregarious” which is a new word I learnt from him.

Well, I guess I will fast forward the subway, the traffic, the drive, etc.. to meeting Merve’s family. This was a highlight of the evening with a fantastic dinner with 2 of Merve’s aunts in Istanbul and their children, cousins etc.. I must tell you that her aunt is doing a PhD in gastronomy. This won’t even explain how delicious the food was. It was not just delicious, it was art! I enjoyed every spoon of it. The company of the family was enchanting. The warmth and the authentic, genuine hospitality is priceless. For me, these are the best moments in life. Sharing time with great warm-hearted people. We ate, talked and laughed a lot.

“Shukran”, which is “Thank you” in Arabic, was the name of Merve’s mother’s cousin. As you can imagine, I was confused when I introduced myself: “Adham”, and she replied “Shukran”. I missed the logic for a some time till they explained to me later that it was her name 😀

The evening was full of cultural exchange that included hand gestures in different cultures. We found it impressive how 19 years olds looked and talked so maturely and intellectually. respect..

Merve and her family discussed for an extended amount of time the plan for tomorrow. We are planning to discover the city and visit and eat as much as we can. I love this city. Istanbul is one of my most favourite cities. Why don’t I come here more often? Why don’t I go to Roma, Barcelona, Berlin or Munich more often? Well, we are here now!

Merve is smoking cheap cigarettes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2KIWcM3f-A

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 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!