The general sentiment of this travel experience is much more somber and subdued than last year’s crazy and exciting adventures. I am still trying to pinpoint the reason for my obsession with the MENA region. Maybe it’s the reason I went there in the first place, to encounter a site inherently different from the West in many ways. Many challenges were faced, only as a result of living here, interacting with people, and visiting neighboring countries. I spent 2 weeks researching construction projects in various GCC countries, and then here I am staying in the Shangri-La resort in Muscat that I had recently read about. Reading the same story Egyptian Gazette and the Jerusalem Post, with of course very different angles. The combination of working in the region, reading about it, and visiting the areas gives it much more meaning. I now better understand the uniqueness of each country here, and not to just generalize it as an oil rich region lacking freedoms. I leave with a sense of fascination, disgust, and intrigue.
I think I am done traveling the world like crazy, I’ve seen most of what I want to see..for now anyway. As you can tell, my impression of Dubai last summer was the complete opposite of what I felt this summer. Instead, to get a much more meaningful experience, next summer I’d like to stay for a month or two in 1 country, and intimately connect with it. Perhaps I can spend my days in Morocco (the best hope for democracy and model for other Arab nations)..working with the fascinating children of Sidi Moumen in the slums of Casablanca..or teaching French to the young girls in the boarding schools in the high Atlas mountains. (That way I can make a pilgrimage to Algeria – and the spots that Camus wrote about…Algiers..Oran). But alas, I digress and dream of future adventures…
No comments:
Post a Comment