vblog series goes awry: meet imane

Well, if you've been following the vblog series Meet the Team, you'll know I had to do a whole lot of cat-wrangling to get videos of everyone.  And yet, alas, I didn't get everyone. 

Probably our most critical member was not an IBMer but our local facilitator, Imane.  She worked for the NGO (non-governmental organization) that implemented our Corporate Service Corp program locally in Al Ain.  As such, she negotiated our accomodations at the hotel, transportation to and from the airport and client, developed the Statements of Work for both projects and provided support to us throughout the month in Al Ain.  But she was so much more than that.

As soon as I met her, I felt that spark of recognition you get when you meet a new lifelong friend.  Imane is originally from Morocco (one of 6 children) and now lives in Dubai with her dashing American husband.  She is warm, caring, honest, open, generous and absolutely hilarious.  She's the one I consulted with my most pressing questions:  the potty, abayas, being Muslim, being a Muslim woman.  She made me taste stuff (even eggs! ack), tossing her favorite phrase, "life is short." 

She kept all of us laughing the entire time we were there - and I can say that the combo of Imane, Sheela and me probably bordered on being intolerable since we laughed so much.  She has much to say and firm opinions, the product of her intelligence and broad experiences traveling the world.  And, like other teammates who I admired so much, she spoke multiple languages.  One morning Imane and I went for coffee:  she chatted with the team and took orders in English, met a friend in the hall for a quick chat in Arabic, took a phone call in French, ordered the coffee in English, another hallway chat in Arabic and made a crack at Felipe in Spanish when we got back to the room.  Astonishing.  I was also amazed to watch her quickly develop 11 plans for all of us on our last day in the UAE.  Seemingly without effort and within about a millisecond, she came up with options for how each of us could spend our remaining time:  where to stay, how to get there and then to the airport, what to do and where to stash our luggage.  And then made the arrangements.  Without even batting an eyelash.  Eleven times!  All of us were scattering like rabbits!  As if this isn't enough, she cooks (treated us to a lovely Moroccan tea at her home) and she can trill an [r] like nobody's business. 

I'm totally bummed not to have the video so you could see her expressive face and frenetic waving of hands as she rapid-fires conversation.  I already miss her a ton.  Thank you is inadequate, Imane.  Until next time...  #ibmcsc uae