Last 2 years in a nutshell and lessons learnt

• Worked as tutor for 2 subjects at university while doing my final year project [ take on more than you can chew, and then chew like hell]
• Was a faci in AIESEC conference [preparation is underrated]
• Visited the middle east after a 2 years absences, visited Jordan, UAE and Oman for the first time [you can’t choose your family but if you could I would choose mine]
• Finished the Final Year Project at Uni [time management skills still need improving]
• Worked at The Australian Open 2010 [every once in a while you stumble upon something so busy and yet so fun]
• Became a TED fan [ creativity and inspiration are everywhere, you just need to look ]
• Worked at Baker Delight for a year [being in a student positions sucks]
• Did toastmasters for 6 months [public speaking not as scary as one might think]
• Took 2 courses of Spanish [languages are learnt by practice not just by taking courses]
• Parents visited Australia and then went on a family vacation to Malaysia [ kids grow so fast, and family gathering take a lot of planning]
• Went occasionally to the gym [must learn more self-discipline]
• Hosted multiple people to stay over [بيت الضيق بسع ألف صديق ] this is an Arabic proverb roughly translating to a small house has enough space for a thousand friends]
• Said good bye to a lot of close friends [ life moves on .. and so should you ]
• Had my first “business trip” to Sydney and Queensland [ if you think you can do something, put your hand up, and hotels are so much better than backpackers ]
• Had multiple amazing Sunday sessions [good times are really good energy boosters]
• Had endless BBQs and Sheesha sessions
  لجلسة مع أديب في مناظرة أنفي بها الهم أو أستجلب الطربا
  أحب إلي من الدنيا و زخرفها و ملؤها فضةً أو ملؤها ذهبا
• Applied for my last semester in Mexico [long term planning works and you don’t get what you deserve in life you get what fight for]
• Was a chair at AIESEC conference [ even you if you think you’re not ready … give it a try, and when in need ask for help]
• Got my first noise complaint [Arabs are loud by nature ]
• Got an IBM offer [having a peace of mind is so underrated]
• Got rejected by the ATO [WTF?]
• Bought my Mexican trip flight last minute at an amazing price [sometimes life throws you a bone]
• Got introduced to multiple good TV shows and movies [TV shows give you many inside jokes and conversations]

Farewell and Adieu… Part 1 [G06 Apartment]

As I get ready to embark yet another Journey... I find myself yet again in the situation where I have to leave (almost) everything behind, pack light and head off, it was a lot easier last time because I didn’t have as much invested in the place where I was living.

So to provide a bit of background G06 was “the apartment”, she was nice, warm and cosy. She was my first …. The first apartment I ever had a say in choosing, furniture, managing, and most importantly setting the rules, bringing together the guys, organising the furniture and for the first time since I left my parents place at 16 that I felt I had a home so-to-speak, a place that I can come back to If I was ever to travel, a place where I can hang ridiculous posters and change anything I didn’t like.

And for those you have been there, you would know there is always a bunch of us having a good time either over a nice Summer night sheesha, an intense card game, a competitive XBOX game, a last minute Sunday BBQ when the weather allows it, endless movie nights, Mint Tea, non-alcoholic Holsten, and very loud political conversations … Oh Oh Oh and most noticeably chocolates which for some reason were bought on almost a daily basis ( that one’s for you Yousef) and the list just goes on …

It was not easy leaving G06, especially as we packed everything, every item had its own little memory, like the TV where Mo and Yousef found outside a building and brought it home, and it was only a year later when Zaid was staying with us that he got fed up with the fuzziness and decided to get it a cable so we can watch clear TV, or the Ikea bookshelf that over time become a place for mail, keys, uni notes and other misc objects … (we found 5 3D glasses, and my Safeway tag).

But in the end … All good things come to an end … Such is life and this was too good to be an exception, as I move on I can only hope that the next place I settle down in is as warm and cosy as G06.

So where's home for you Muhammed ?

When meeting new people a popular crowd question for me is usually this "So ... where's home for you Muhammed ?" After stating that my name is Mahmoud and not Muhammed, I pause, because until now i can't honestly say I have found a place called home and this is why ?

I was Born in Kuwait to two Palestinian parents, I hold two passports Jordanian and Australian, yet I felt most comfortable/loved/stable and in Bahrain.

So which one those should I call home .. and although I believe home to be a very subjective matter where feelings and emotions cannot be ignored, I'll try to approach this with as much objectively and try to break it down to see where that takes me.

First is my origin Palestine, now I am Palestinian by blood, and both parents have placed a lot effort in teaching us the history of Palestine and our role as Palestinians, and I have been quite active in the Palestinian communities through different stages of my life, and with the current situation there, it just adds to my attachment there, now I have only visited it twice, the latest being roughly 13 years ago, and I still follow the news on what happens there on a daily basis, so I cant exclude it.

Second is my birth place Kuwait, where I was born and left when the Gulf war started, to be honest I don't remember much of my time besides a few memories and what our apartment looked like at the time, nor do I have the urge to go back there or any significant emotional bonds to the place, so I call safely exclude it from that list, and even though my very first memories are there I don't think its enough to keep it around as a candidate for home.

Next on the List is Jordan ... well Jordan to me was amazing, I have lived there on three different stages, one as a first grade kid right after Kuwait, the second was at grade 5 right after we came back from Australia and the third was when I moved out at the age of 16 which was the longest and latest roughly 5 years ( that's my record for most continuous time spent in one country), now living in Jordan shaped most of my personality traits and I have had an absolute blast of a time there, School was great, University was mind blowing and I completely loved the place, and add that the fact that I hold a Jordanian Passport, so Jordan is looking like a pretty good option.

Then we move to Bahrain, which is simply lovely, the people are welcoming, and I spent 4 years there most of middle school and a bit of high school, but I think with Bahrain as much as I loved the place, I don't think that love is an enough reason to call a place home, there has to be bond, something that runs deeper than love, so I'm afraid Bahrain is off the list.

And Lastly we have Australia, which I stayed in over two stages once as a kid for about 4 years and then at uni since 2007 which is almost 4 years, and through that time I have had the most personal growth ever, it gave me the opportunity to travel, try new things, explore other cultures and much much more, add to that the fact that I'm also a citizen of Australia, so that's still a viable option.

So in the end we have Palestine, Jordan and Australia, which brings to me to two questions, first is "Does home only have to be one place ? or is it "acceptable" to have more than one home and the second "Does home have to be a geographical place ?", Or can home be a concept rather than a place, where home is wherever one feels loved and safe.

I have yet to find and answer on where home is and where I'm from, but when asked that question I usually go with the answer that requires minimal follow ups or is most convenient for the crowd I'm addressing, for this is too much information to share with a crowd that can't pronounce my name.

I'll end this with a quote that best describes my current state by Maya Angelou when she said "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself"

My Time at Tennis

So we are a few months away before the Australian Open 2011 kicks off, which really brings back a lot of memories, and I guess by now it’s probably a good time to reflect on my time there.

To give a bit of background on the topic, Tennis Australia advertises IT positions at the Open targeted at students, which means that all you need is an IT background, the proper mindset, be eager to learn and good communication skills, which I found to be quite an interesting position, especially for a student.

I applied for the position and after a group assessment, an interview and a short placement; I was one of the lucky ones to get in.

I was positioned on the IT help Desk, which as the name suggests means solving IT issues. It took a while for me to get used to picking up the phone, especially when you feel that your IT skills and knowledge is quite limited and you hesitate every time you pick up the phone, but after a while and with guidance from the experienced crew members you feel more comfortable with the phone ringing, actually you get too comfortable with the phone ringing, so that you start to feel that something is missing when your phone is quiet for a continuous 5 mins and you start checking it every 10 secs.

No doubt that the Australian Open is an extremely fast paced environment, it is expected that you should be calm in a-not-so calm environment, which is a lot easier said than done I must add, another very noticeable thing about the environment there is that it is by far nothing like your typical IT crowd, and this is why :

• The IT people there are quite physically fit, almost everyone had a sport on the side – including management
• They are very sociable and approachable
• They have a great sense of humour
• And -get this right- we had a high female presence, which is one of the rarest things to have in IT.
• IT is quite integrated with the business

As students you are each allocated a responsibility, mine was Laptops, which basically involved configuring, distributing and collecting them, which I found to be both interesting and challenging especially on the final night; those involved with last night mayhem can relate to this.

Now I guess it I didn’t quite grasp the weight of the responsibility till the final night, this is when I apprenticed both excellent management and team work. One of the major tasks which I responsible for was collecting a large amount of laptops after the game, the level of cooperation and support that everyone pulled together was beyond words, not to go in much detail but as the saying goes "nothing goes as planned ..." applied to the situation, as stress was getting the better of me I felt that every single member on the team was there willing to stay back and give everything to ensure that my responsibilities were completed. That was a pretty comforting feeling in such a stressed out situation, to cut a long story short we managed to get home at about 6am.

Another interesting thing about working at the Open is the habits you develop, not good or bad but rather different, such as:

• Answering your personal phone with "Service Desk, Mahmoud Speaking"
• Waking up at 6 am and wearing the Tennis shorts and Polo even on your days off
• Feeling out of place on your days off
• The only thing that reminds you that haven’t had lunch is passing by the players café

I guess something that really stood out for me in the Open was the management, they fully understood that we were students and as students go, our job is rarely perfect to put it nicely, but to feel that – and sorry for the overused term – Management has got your back was quite comforting.

Another thing I found quite interesting about working there is the Reflective Journal they ask you to keep, now you hear a lot about tracking your own progress and how keeping a journal helps in uni, but boy does it make all the difference, and really does help you to realise where things went wrong and keep track of your own progress.

And I guess nothing is complete without listing what happened afterwards, so not only did that job help improve my soft and hard skills, it also helped me in landing a decent IBL position at Bakers Delight.

So yeah... To wrap it all up, I really enjoyed my time there and would not hesitate for a second to go back, and I would highly encourage any student to apply for this amazing opportunity.

A Special Thanks goes to following:

• Chris and Isabelle for amazing management
• Nathan (co-discover of Nathanization), Hayley, Josh and Heath and for their continued guidance, patience and support throughout the Open.
• Jodie, Row, Dom and Michael (the experienced ones) David (co-discoverer of the Cirona factor), Daniel (the non-coffee drinker) for the good chats, and raising the spirit when needed.

The ants are marching ten by ten ...

As far as Arabic stereotypes go, one of them is that they love traveling in large groups, and we are no exception, as we arrived in KL and met up with uncle's family, we were marching the Times Square mall and when I say we I mean 11 individuals, yeah that's right 11, keep imind that 5 of those are under the age of 13 which made my trip all the more challenging.

Another amazing( you can sense the sarcasm here) habit Arabs have is that they are very loud when talking, and each one has his own mindset and we tend to be very spontaneous, put all those into one equation and you get a very messy and noisy situation, especially when deciding when to eat or where to visit next.

But given all that and how bad it might seem to some people, I grew around that culture, I don't agree with all of it, but deep down i really enjoy it, no matter how much I dislike it in the moment but I really treasure it later.

I guess this blog is not really the deep and meaningful but rather something I want to read in few reads and smile on how my mindset has changed.

Bottom line is that no matter what bad habits you might have, enjoy them while you can, cause they will be the thing you miss the most when they are gone.



The family in the malaysian traditional outfits.
P.S it tools roughly 45 mins to get everyone together and to pose in one photo, but it was worth it the end.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My new life style

I recently hit 24 years in age, I'm still having mixed feelings about it, life for me has been such a roller coaster, and a good one i might add, but it has been 24 years, but i still haven't found the thing that I'm realty passionate about, there so much i want to accomplish and so much I need to learn about, in a way it feels that 24 years i wouldn't say have been wasted but could have been better utilized.

Now not to go on a rant, but i will be changing my life style, to only maintain what i want, and start cutting bad habits, and to get more involved in social media and my career development, and to place my five year plan.

Alright I've said too much, I really just wanted to get back into blogging and thought I'll start with this. So there world.

"You'll always regret the things you didn't do way more than the thing you did"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Rain Story

So as many of you have probably experienced yesterday, how the weather took the Melbournians by surprise, and as with any surprising event, there are always stories to be told, some good, some breath taking and some boring to the sense that you wish stick a fork in your eye, I believe that this one will remind you of the old saying “good things happen to good people”.

I was on my way to play my first game of Squash with my brother Yousef at the Hawthorn Club on Glenferrie Rd, I was quite excited about it actually, on the way we noticed small hail falling, I was actually quite pleased at first, but moments later we were hiding under... well basically anything we can find while we look for the next covered point on the way.

As we swiftly ran across Burwood Rd/Glenferrie, we came along a small entrance in which a 4-member family including 2 babies where taking shelter, so we politely squizzed in for about 7 mins, before we built up the courage to jump to the next store entrance, and again there we were sharing limited space with 2 other guys.

At this point both me and my brother are soaking wet, and just as I was pulling out my phone to check that it is still on, I notice a girl about 100m away trying to pack a few banners and chairs back in the café, so me and my brother – being the brave ones that we are - went over there and helped her out to pack up under the lashing anger of the hurtful balls of hail, after we finished we figured we are already wet and in the open, so we made a suicidal run to the club which was at this point just across the road – which at the time seemed like and extremely long walk-.

We walk in the Hawthorn club to find a lady whipping the floor, the ceiling was leaking hard in at least two places, so you can imagine it wasn’t the most peaceful place at time, and we actually had the nerve to say “Ummm ... we have a reservation for a squash court”, I’m pretty sure the lady thought that we were either kidding or just plain stupid, but she was actually pretty quite about it and said “this is really not the time, besides the indoor courts are flooded as well”.

So there we were disappointed, devastated and depressed OK maybe I’m exaggerating a bit here, but giving what we went through to get there and how wet we where at the time I was pretty upset, so to make myself feel better I suggested that we pass by the closest café, get a hot chocolate and wait till the weather eased up a bit.

We cross the road to get the café and ask them if they’re still open, and the girl (same girl we helped out) goes “yeah sure anything for you guys”, so we ordered 2 warm lovely hot chocolates, got a complimentary 2 amazing pieces of chocolate cake as well as two delicious donuts to take away, they would even let us pay for the hot chocolates, I really felt that was way too much of a thank you, but it definitely made my entire weekend.

As soon as the rain calmed down, we bought a few things and made small feast back at home, which was almost a perfect end to a very refreshing day.

Btw if anyone is interested the Café is called Table talk café and its Glenferrie rd just opposite the Hawthorn Club