I guess anybody who was keeping track of my summer activities, may probably not be surprised if I say the sick puppy is still nipping at my heals.

 

Remember the colleague who spent her summer verbally abusing me?  She has secretly left to go work with the competitor on the project we are bidding for...only problem, her secret is no longer a secret.  If I was this b*&$%s supervisor for 5 seconds, I would take her out back and whip her ass.  I swear!  She has basically put at risk our entire work in Aqaba - past, present and future.  HQ was so worried that she was going to go bad mouth us all over Amman because we wouldn't give her a 20% raise, and now she's done more damage in 2 days that has implications much further than a couple thousand dollars.

 

I knew that girl was trouble the first time I caught her in a lie.  She couldn't bother to lift one finger to help me in the past 2 weeks because she was too "tired."  Now, apparently, she is not too tired, because her cover up is that she is working with the other employer during the day and for CHF at night!  You know what's the worst part of this?  Somebody at HQ is swallowing this shit!

 

trust me, I'm angry, and I have a hell of a lot against that girl - she continued the smeer campaign against me long after I was gone from Aqaba - writing a note all the way to the President of CHF about how incapable I was.  I hope she gets everything she deserves (you can not imagine how difficult it is for me not to write any explicatives in that sentence!)

 

And you know what I say - let the competitor take her - she is completely useless!  The minute she has to deliver on something....who is she going to cry to?  I hope they give her no assistants.  I hope she throws a screaming fit in front of the director, and she gets fired.  The other completely hilarious thing is that the competitor wanted to make her director of their program for Aqaba (which she declined)....the girl has charm....and that's about it!

 

Ok, I do have positive, good things to say, but I'd rather vent at the moment!

 

It amazes me what an affinity I feel towards Aqaba.  I don't feel this way in Amman.  I guess despite all the ups and downs of last summer, somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Aqaba.  I felt it when I was talking about my strategy a few weeks ago to a partner company and they asked me if I would take the trip here.

 

Whenever I walk into those "old familiar" places, the people I knew greet me with a smile - they remember me!  Even more rewarding is that people are talking positively about the strategy I wrote.  I was given the caution several times to make sure I was producing something that was relevant, and now, it is the people in the community telling me themselves that it IS relevant.

 

The weather here is cool, probably the coldest it gets all year.  It feel strange after being in the oppressive heat all summer.  I feel more confident exploring nooks and crannies of the city that I didn't have a chance to visit during the summer.  Time passes, life takes on its continual changes, and I feel forever grateful in being brought back to a place.