The Zeitgeist

Frankfurt, NYC + Bad Air Travel

I feel an update post on what's been happening in Bahrain is in order but first I wanna post about some stuff that's been on my mind of late. So I found out on Wednesday night that 24 hours later I was meant to be on a plane to NYC, cool. Took Lufthansa Bahrain - Frankfurt and sat next to this great guy from Minsk (near my hometown) who was working for Citigroup in NYC and was on a business trip to Bahrain. He told me some interesting stuff, told me to visit Brighton Beach in NYC, the Russian area, and that I could get by there without speaking a word of English... so excited about that. He also told me he was really scared of going to Bahrain initially for the business trip and tried to get out of it. It's amazing, the level of ignorance that exists in the world, as Bahrain is surely one of the safest countries ever and, when compared to NYC, is basically like a church safety-wise. He was Assistant VP of Emerging Markets for Citigroup, which sounds like a really cool job! We spent time complaining about how bad Lufthansa was...

All my days of flying Asian airlines had not prepared me for the air travel world outside. Lufthansa had no personal TVs, no free eye masks, no free toothbrushes, pretty bad food and NO LEGROOM AT ALL (unlike Gulf Air which had all those things and heaps of legroom, by the way, so what if it's going broke). Lufthansa did, however, have Recaro seats... nice.

My 6 hour stopover in Frankfurt was eventful. Thank you Australian passport, I got to go and hang out in Frankfurt, check the place, snap heaps of photos and all that... and still get back to the airport in due time to get my connecting flight. Poor Sahar with the Bahraini passport had to stay in the airport due to lack of visa. Boohoo. Frankfurt is a hell of a town. Plenty of nice gleaming skyscrapers, great period architecture that is unique to Deutchland, nice cafes (had a GREAT coffee there), cobblestoned streets and Turkish people (very friendly too). Had a great chillout with an espresso and my book there, had a great sandwich in the airport and the best part, spent all morning speaking nothing but German... great practice :D

I thought it couldn't get worse after Lufthansa but it did. United Airlines was terrible. Flew 7+ hours from Frankfurt to DC on of their OLD jumbos which rattled and shook. Not only did it not have personal TVs but it only had one projector which I couldn't even see (at least Lufthansa had a few TVs in the cabin). The food was even worse, the legroom was comparably bad, the plane sat on the runway at Frankfurt for an hour while we sweated it out because the plane had... get this... NO CLIMATE CONTROL. Just those little AC vents in the ceiling. Great. The staff were friendly and helpful though, can't fault their service, just shitty at everything else. Sat next to a nice old lady who was going to miss her connection to Tampa, Florida and probably have to stay overnight in DC, damn. I made my connection - just - because it was delayed. Phew. DC to NY was good, a small Brasillian jet, kinda like the domestic flights on Virgin Blue back home.

My general first impressions of NYC are just the same as off the TV. The place is big, brash, covered in skyscrapers and full of people with swagger. New Yorkers swagger around because they think their city is the best in the world. They talk to absolutely anyone and are very "confident" (see also, 'aggresive') in their style. Good people though, happy to help... just don't pussyfoot around in NYC or you'll get stepped on. There's heaps of stuff to do here. Great (and cheap, thankyou weak USD) fashion, good bookstores, cafes, bars... yet to see the big sights though - tomorrow. Spent the day walking around Soho. Aiming to do more touristy stuff + chilling tomorrow.

Chilling in a bar called "Underground" near my hotel with a beer right now, it has free wireless. I'm staying on the Upper West Side, 102nd + Broadway... word. Starting meetings on Monday.

One thing I've realised today, as I've been walking around NYC with all the peple, cars and buildings everywhere, with all the smells of food and dirty things, with all the swagger and all the multiculturalism, with the myriad of things to do... I miss Bahrain. Like Lyna said, sometimes you know you have a second home...

Labels: Frankfurt, New York, travel

posted by LX @ 8:50 AM Comments: 5

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.

Labels: aiesec, bahrain, food+drink, people, social life

posted by LX @ 7:07 AM Comments: 7