Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
presided over the military parade staged this evening at the military parade ground at Mua'askar Sha'fea to mark the
Sultanate's 39th National Day
. . . forget what movies taught u of devils . . they seem like normal ppl . . so innocent looking . . might be shy as well . . that’s when they catch u off guard . . .
Later on the day after settling in the hotel, I met with the rest of the selected Arab American Business Followers. We were seven in total from different countries, which are UAE, Palestine, Bahrain, Egypt, and Oman. They were either nominated just like me by a Young Arab Leaders board director or applied directly to Young Arab Leaders for the program. Very bright followers who represent different sectors of the economy such as telecommunication, jewelry, banking, IT and automotive.
I didn’t make up the above picture ! No photoshop of any kind either ! It’s a cover of a guidebook I found @ my hotel room in NY.
Landing @ NY JFK airport was pretty smooth ! Contrary to the horror incidents that I heard of people been stripped down to their underpants, and lengthy interrogation process ! None @ all for me, nor did I notice any other passenger experiencing any of it. I was actually Surprised !! especially after the lengthy visa process ! kinda expected some welcome party @ the airport ! They didn’t even ask me to open my bag nor did I have to take my shoes off ! I think I managed to exit the airport within 30 min.
Etihad flight from Muscat to Abudhabi got delayed for around an hour ! The connecting flight to JFK, New York, closed its gates just by the time I reached AbuDhabi airport ! Imagine I was seeing the airplane yet on the ground, though too bad cant ride ! I mean they delayed their own flight flying into Muscat and now they cant make the airplane wait few more minutes in AbuDhabi !!! Although their incharge in Muscat assured that the JFK flight would wait for Muscat flight late arrival ! Nope !! It didn’t happen ! They gave two alternatives, either wait for next day flight or take a car to Dubai and catch a flight via Emirates to JFK after 6 hours ! yup, Dubai I went ! They provided a car to Dubai, and the driver was crazily cruising @ 200km/h ! I slept on the way anyhow !
Last July I was nominated by a Young Arab Leaders board director to participate in the first Arab & American Business Fellowship Program. The AAFP is a partnership between the Young Arab Leaders, Business for Diplomatic Action, and the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy. Nomination isn’t enough to secure a seat, I had to submit my CV, statement of intent, and go through a phone interview via a conference call of three people from the States who represent the organizers of the event. Luckily after two months of processing I was welcomed as a 2007 Fellow to participate in the first Arab and American Business Fellowship Program for 2007. The program starts on the 22nd of Oct, 07 to 13th of Nov, 07. Participants would be flying in to New York, then to De Moines, Iowa, and finally Washington DC."This program is designed to foster mutual understanding and respect between Arab and American societies by :
- Dealing with cultural differences between the Arab World and the United States
- Understanding as many aspects of the U.S. company’s business as possible across multiple functions, such as sales, marketing, communications and public relations
- Gaining a deeper understanding of US politics through discussions with the government, business, and policy-making community
- Developing sustainable networks across boundaries."
After God knows how many emails, phone calls, by the org who invited me to the States, or by me, I finally got the visa early last week ! I was already scheduled to fly out the day after, so that’s about less than 36 hours before take off ! Frankly, I didn’t even shop around for cloths nor prepared my bag before getting the visa ! However, once I did it was an immense rush !
Spent my summer holidays @ Malaysia, and I was surprised of the number of GCC Arabs who were spending their summer over there. No matter where they go u’d still find them in their abayas, dishdashas, and even shisha was present ! Surprisingly even Planet Hollywood was serving shisha !! Apart from the taxi overcharge and the humid weather, Malaysia is a fine place to spend a summer with family. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last two days been very tough to many residence of Muscat. The local radio reported 32 dead and 30 lost due to the disaster so far. A friend of mine slept the night on his house roof along with his family and little baby ! He lost his car and all his house furniture. Similarly many houses living near the coast were flooded with water and mud. The local gov opened schools and uni hostels to shelter an estimated 20,000 people. 
Nevertheless, the local gov management of the disaster is by far commendable. They warned the local people of cyclone two days in advance. Also they urged people who live by the coast to seek shelter on higher grounds. The army deployed to assist the public with water supplies, clearing the main road, evacuation, and several other urgent support. The local tv and radio were on live coverage advising people what do to and conveying urgent civil-defense/police messages.

For more details Omanforum (VANQUISH is my nickname over there) got two ongoing topics on the issue along with several other pictures :