Turn the Other Cheek

Turn the other Cheek

OK…I laughed a lot today… That was very refreshing. I woke up with kind of a strep throat, so I made an appointment to go see a doctor. Im a little bit worried, because I have two weeks worth of insulin left. I know they have insulin here…but do they have the kind that I use? I checked with a pharmacy earlier today, and this little pharmacy didn’t. So im hoping the hospital im going to tomorrow…a diabetes hospital has what I need. Im not worried at all…God will provide as he has all along.

OK, Khalifa and I were chatting. He always tries to instruct me on the ways and culture of Bahraini’s and Arabs. Im always all ears as I try to soak in as much information as possible. Somehow we were discussing that in business you had to be aggressive and tough with Arabs. Keep in mind this is coming from an Arab himself. Khalifa said…”Arabs are different than Christians. You have to watch out. For Christians, they hit you and you turn the other cheek. For Arabs, they hit you…you turn the cheek, and they hit the other cheek.” I just burst out laughing and then that made Khalifa start laughing. He has a really great sense of humor. I really enjoy working for the guy. He’s so full of life. Its just a different type of relationship then owner employee. I mentioned earlier, he thinks of me as a son, like he thinks of all his employees. He tries to take care of them the best he can. I know it’s a working relationship and there is about a 25 year gap in our ages, but there is genuine friendship there. Its really nice. I think it comes from mutual respect. He’s a filmmaker and im a filmmaker. I invited him to go see “Body of Lies” with Dicaprio and Russell Crowe. If you haven’t seen this Ridley Scott masterpiece, I highly recommend it. It paints a very accurate portrayal of the Middle East and the CIA’s involvement here. I did a documentary on the CIA and was actually in CIA headquarters years ago. So im quite familiar with how they operate. As a matter of fact I might have just put myself on a “watch list” by writing that. I love the CIA and what they do…They get a very bad rap in the public…but more on that in another blog.

Now not only is Khalifa a great guy, so are all of his children. His children all revolve around my age and I work with all of them. I spoke to Khalifa’s ex wife at the banquet on Friday. I told her that she and Khalifa must have done something right in raising their children, because I loved all of them. Each and every one, Nader, Tanya, Nadiya, and Omar are all very intelligent, extremely talented creatively. They all have their personality quirks too. When I came over to initially interview with them. They booked me in a five star hotel and Tanya came over with six bags of groceries to put in my suite. Then they all invited me into their homes to meet their families. It wasn’t about just a job, it was like I was joining their family in a way since it is a family business. It is an honor and something I take very seriously. It’s all part of making it fun to go to work each day.

The second funny event happened with Saji the editor. I mentioned a couple blogs ago that Indians have a tendency to say yes to everything, even if they don’t know. They swivel their heads back and forth and say “no problem.” We missed a couple of assignments that way. I pleased with the guys to tell me no if they didn’t understand. Their response (head swivel) “No problem” For those of you that know me…or even those of you reading the blog, know that I ALWAYS repeat myself often times beating the dead horse til he’s ground into glue. So that tendency for overkill really comes in handy when you are talking with the Indians. So today, I was talking with Saji, and gave him a directive. I said: “Do you understand?” He said “No”. I started jumping up and down cheering…at first their look of incredulity turned to a smile turned to laughter…I was finally getting through.

Then Jeddah, one of our photographers brought in this Awful smelling fish dish for her lunch today. This stuff reeked. I asked her if she caught the fish in 2006, but she didn’t get the joke. The stench of this thing permeated the entire office. The other staff members were complaining as they had previously asked Jeddah not to bring in this fish. Now Jeddah is a sweet girl, but a little obstinate. You sometimes have to tell her several times before she gets something (I know, I know, Hey kettle…this is pot calling…you’re black…) So she was pleading that she doesn’t make a lot of money, and she has to eat her lunch in the office. I told her that was fine, but bring chicken or something in next time. Anything other that that putrid fish. If you want to eat it..eat it for dinner, or breakfast. Just keep it far away from the office. The smell was worse that Chow Dofu (Do you remember that?).

Finally I went for the second consecutive night to the Iraqi restaurant Baraq took me to a few months back. Now this area…is way way way away from any westerners. Its certainly an Arab hang out. I have never seen a Westerner in this place. I love to go there, because they have incredible lamb. Its just absolutely delicious all for about $8. I feel safe…even though im surrounded by various Arabs dressed in their national dress (thobe and gutra). Im not sure if my presence there makes them uncomfortable or not. My old boss at Aramco, Abdulrahman clued me in on a secret. Arabs will not approach you first…but if you make the first move then they warm up immediately. I found that to be the case time and time again. Usually whenever I eat alone, which is often, I bring my Bible with me wherever I go to read during the meal. My Bible has been my lifeline for the last four years, my secret passageway to God. So I hadn’t read my Bible yet at all today. So I was tempted to bring it into the restaurant. Then I thought better of myself. Even though my I can freely believe however I want to believe…I didn’t want to flaunt it. I was afraid me being in this restaurant and carrying the Bible in might be construed as arrogant, and aggressive. Im a visitor in this country and I must respect their culture first and foremost. For some hardliner Muslims it might be construed like an Atheist bringing a Satanic Bible into a Baptist church. How would the other church members react once they noticed who and what it was in their midst? It probably wouldn’t be pleasant. So with discretion being the better part of valor, I left my Bible in the car. Now this was not that I was denying Christ…everyone that knows me here…knows where I stand. I just didn’t want to run the risk of picking any fights. So instead..i brought in “The Case for Christ” by Stroebel. A little less risky. The Muslims do believe in Christ, but like the Jews, they only believe he was a prophet, a good man, but not the son of God. Both the Arabs and the Jews are waiting for Christ to come the first time (we Christians are waiting for the second time.)