Thursday, July 05, 2007

First 2 weeks in Bahrain

Sorry to those that have been asking for this post for a while but I really haven't had much time to do much apart from work and the endlessly fantastic social calendar.

First thing's first, I am officially MCVPER of AIESEC Bahrain. WoOt. Changeover happened at conference last week and, this week, Sahar and I have been in the office full throttle as the fledgling MC team with big shoes to fill. Go us! And to those that thought AIESEC was taking up enough of my life back home, it is now a paid full-time position looking after external relations, sales and strategic management of an NGO at a national level. Nice.


The AIESEC events calendar has been action-packed, I bought a new suit, shoes and belt for the Bahrain Future Business Leaders Forum (picture above) that happened last week and it was great. A room full of Bahraini students at The Diplomat Conference Centre listened to speeches on Islamic Banking and Entrepreneurship. National Conference followed soon after and was 3 action packed days at the Royal University for Women (smack in the middle of the desert!) with nice sessions including ones run by some external companies.



Apart from the office, the cafes here are pretty sweet for meetings, work or just chilling. Some of my favourites are La Ventana (pictured above), Verandah and Coco's... along with the usual chains (including Costa Coffee, a homegrown Gulf chain). The cafes also have good food, as do many of the other places around. For a population so small, there sure are a lot of places to eat! Some of the best food I've had include burgers, Thai food, Indian food, Tikka, Lebanese food, Egyptian food, mehiawa (fish juice), the list is endless... and fairly inexpensive.



At night there has been a lot of shisha with the guys. There are some really great shisha cafes around here, the one pictured above is Beirout (not the best Shisha but it only costs 500 fils (
A$1.50) and is cool to hang in. I have been slowly destroying my lungs and I feel this trend is set to continue.



The greatest thing I've experienced here so far is definitely the people. Thank you so much to all the guys + gals that have made my first few weeks on the island so amazing, pleasant and welcoming. You guys are fantastic... smart, fun, chilled... Bahrainis should be famous the world over for the coolness. Looking forward to an awesome year of forging new connections and endless fun + chilling. Here's a pic of all the peeps at the BFBLS.


Which brings me to some other special people. Lyna, Claude and John, the outgoing MC team. You guys are seriously amazing, the work that you've done here, your results speak for themselves in the people you have developed (and the bank account too, nice). Despite all the challenges, and yeah they were many... what you have achieved is so fantastic and so totally worth it. AIESEC Bahrain is going to be a MENA powerhouse and it's all because of you guys. Massive massive shoes to fill for Sahar and myself. Thank you for the chilled nights, the great chats, the support, the hectic (and mistimed) transition and the wisdom, guidance and strength you have displayed. It was a humbling experience. Lyna + Claude, I hope to see you both in the States one day. John, I'll see you back here in a month mate, enjoy your travels.

And that's me signing off. I promise to blog more. A promise more to myself than to anyone else.

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posted by LX @ 7:07 AM Comments: 7