Sunday, October 14, 2007

What Time Is It?


Mark in Petra
This time next week (Insh'Allah) I'll be in Madrid, Spain. Buddy Mark Schroeder (see his Blog link to the right of the page) and I are going to Spain and Portugal before beginning possibly my last Middle East recruiting tour before I head off to the Peace Corps.

We plan on visiting the sites of some battles fought during the Duke of Wellington's Peninsular Campaign against Nap (Call me Bonaparte) Napoleon back in the early 1800s. In keeping with the theme of our Arab/Muslim work tour we'll check out Granada and the Alhambra, mainly to find out if it was the Moops or the Moors (Seinfeld reference).

We'll finish the Iberian tour at Gibraltar when we grab a ferry across the Strait to Morocco. A short (?) train or bus ride later and we'll be in Casablanca and back with my international recruiting tribe for one last go 'round. We have 35 universities signed up, a post-9/11 record. We finish on November 8th with a scuba diving trip in the Red Sea near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It's going to be kind of a bittersweet trip for me. I love the Middle East and all the folks I run with. My hope is my partner Joseph Humadi (not THAT kind of partner!) will take me back when I return from my mud hut in two or three years.

So for now I'm doing one more packing job. Gotta remember, "Less is More, Less is More." But I am bringing my mask and fins.

So what time is it?

Game time.

3 comments:

Jan said...

i hope you were rootin' for the redskins! sadly, they couldn't pull it off--but there's always NEXT week!
My post today reminds me of what you plan to do with the peace corps. self-less giving...but i know you'll have fun too. you have the most interesting life of anyone i know! i'm envious of your travel experiences. must be nice to have 'no strings' to tie you down!

Jan said...

not to be 'too' intrusive, but have you sold your house yet??

Hani said...

Have fun, be safe and see you in Muscat.