Fitting In

Have you ever been to a place and felt as if you belonged regardless of the setting Growing up in Jordan, and I suppose the Levant in general, where the culture is entwined and influenced by all these powers that passed through the region.

Two such cultures, having their roots in the same place, what was ancient Greece, are the Ottoman and Byzantine. They both occupy the area which was ancient Greece, the same culture the Arabs built on their advances and discoveries in Mathematics, Medicine, Social Sciences, etc..

I have visited both Greece and Turkey, and notwithstanding the settings, the language and to some extent religion, I felt that sense of familiarity and fitting in at both places. It may have been the similarity in customs, food, music and ancient ruins, it is hard to describe or pinpoint.

Both empires were viewed by Arabs as occupying powers whose aim was to assimilate the region within their respective spheres of influence. Yet, these three cultures (Arab, Byzantine and Ottoman) have interacted, merged and influenced each other for millennia. That the net result of that evolution is etched in our collective memory.

Deliveries

Since 2005 I was involved in about twelve and a half (12.5) deliveries, aircraft deliveries that is. The bulk happened at Airbus at their Toulouse facility. I enjoy Toulouse, such a historic place with a young population, full of university students. Great countryside and not too bad weather.

Three other deliveries happened in Barcelona. Definitely one of my favorite places. The place brims with diversity, from people to architecture to food. A place where the sea meets the mountains, the old meets and coexists with the new.

However, 2009 brought in new deliveries in terms of type; from commercial to VIP and at totally new locations.

Two EMBRAER Legacy 600s from Sao Jose Dos Campos in Brazil. A city that lies in the middle of rolling green hills and beautiful countryside. An aircraft delivery is an aircraft delivery is an aircraft delivery, what changes in a VIP interior is the emphasis on the quality of the cabin. No big deal, well actually it is a big deal, it looks at a totally different level of comfort and quality.

Finally, this brings us to the HALF delivery, it is a green aircraft!

Noooo, nothing to do with the environment, it is green because it has no interior installed. The final acceptance will be performed after completion of the interior installation. This one happened to be in Hamburg. This is my first visit to Hamburg, the city architecture is diverse and so is the landscape, rivers, canals, lakes and the sea. At this time Hamburg is in a festive mood with Christmas just round the corner. The Christmas Market, an open market, was crowded in spite of the rain and a Sunday evening. Gluehweine (hot wine punch) and generous portions of sausages and ham sandwiches seemed to be the favorites of the crowd. Christmas trees were all over the city including the container terminal at the Port of Hamburg.

Deliveries are highly technical and contractual events but that should in no way detract from enjoying the cultural aspects of cities like Toulouse, Barcelona, Sao Jose Dos Campos and Hamburg.

The Art of Cooking

In Arab Culture food figures out in all occasions and celebrations. It is central in weddings, births and death. It is probably the single measure of one'e generosity. Arab will share their food no matter how little it is. And, unlike other cultures we cook for almost double the number of invitees.

After my blog about Wild Peeta my wife commented on Facebook

" Randa Khoury After I read you blog about the fusion shawerma,I am expecting you to write about my cuisine!!!!!! hahahahahah" Well, who am I to disappoint her.

I am blessed to marry a woman who is multi talented. She enjoys painting on glass, silk and canvas using different media and of course she has great patience (having married me). Above all, she certainly enjoys the art of cooking. Not only the normal day to day run of the mill meals like Mahshi (any thing that is stuffed marrow, squash, carrots etc) , Malfouf (rolled cabbages), Vine leaves, Kibbeh (ground meat with Burghul -cracked wheat) and all the other Yakhnie (stews) and pastries, etc..

She specialises in those old almost lost and forgotten recipes that your grand mother and great grand mother used to cook, the ones your doctor warns you against, yea and I mean Kourash and Fawaregh (stuffed intestines similar to haggis) and lamb's tongues, heads and rijlain (feet), stuffed lamb and Dal'a (Lamb ribs and sides). On top of that she made the meanest and tastiest Cheese cake among other cakes and cookies.

These were the meals for Christmas, New Year and Easter and whenever requested by friends and family who we gladly accommodated.

So Bon Apetite

PS For a list of Arabic Cooking Terms refer to http://www.goodcooking.com/midedef.htm

Just Culture

I am not getting all technical here, I just believe this is a cool thing that we all should embrace and not only as it relates to Aviation Safety, but to other aspects of our personal or professional life. It is a good means of opening communication channels within the organisation.

Just Culture is an aviation safety culture that fosters openness and encourages people to report safety concerns as a part of a continuous improvement process. It promotes a non-punitive culture whereas people come forward and report their errors or safety concerns. However non punitive does not mean getting off free. It also assumes that the organization and management may have created situations that lead to unsafe practices and problems.

Just Culture looks at four (4) types of behaviours: Human Error; Negligent Conduct, Reckless Conduct and Wilful Violations. Once an error is reported an investigation to determine the root cause by looking at all probable causes whether they are personal, procedural or organisational.

If the violation was other than human error, then management has to look at some form of personal coaching or even taking punitive action.

The above is a very quick overview of Just Culture and probably a shallow one.

Just Culture is part of the Safety Management System (SMS) that is currently being mandated as a civil aviation regulation across the globe.

Be safe and enjoy

Roots or Hydroponics

The majority of people are fortunate or unfortunate (depends on your point of view) to remain in their country and some of them in the city they were born, for them the question of roots, ties and belonging invariably never comes up or is questioned. However, for the few who leave for work or immigrate and become global citizens experiencing different cultures, these are real issues and pose serious questions.

So, where do you call home? where do you set roots? what makes a place home?

For starters with modern technology you are only physically remote, with social media, chat lines, video, Internet and the many other IT and technology wonders, you probably know more than your family and friends of what is going on there. And, if you happen to live within a couple of hours away there is nothing to stop you from flying in every other weekend.

On the other hand you are working and living in a country you can not call your own but a lot of the younger generations who were born there know no other. For them this is home, they grew up there. it is these generations that probably will have the most difficulty in setting roots, for what they think of as home is only a guest house and what is a vacation spot is home.

So do we need to set roots or can we be like "hydroponics" requiring only a suitable medium to grow, flourish and contribute, easily relocatable as long as our web enabling tools are with us.

Are we looking at a new brand of citizens that we can truly call "Citizens of the World"

Honestly, I don't know. On a personal level may be I am into hydroponics but for sure at certain times it sure feels good to have roots.

Sign of the times.