The APLAR (Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology) 2012 is on - previously scheduled in Damascus, Syria, it is pushing through in Amman, Jordan.
Many had been adamant in coming, in my case, mainly due to the extended Arab Spring phenomenon, just several hundred kilometers away, and the fact that geographically, Jordan is wedged between Israel and Iran. But in the airport I met several friends from other countries and represented in the mix were attendees from Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and some from western countries AND the trainees slinging poster canisters. It was a comforting sight.
Today will be the first day of meeting and I am hopeful that this Middle East meeting will still give us a good "harvest".
Some notes on the bus trip to the hotel: searing hot sun, immense expanse of red brown land, with sparse dots of palms, olive grooves, one camel herd, and one sheep and goat herd - as quick as my neck can turn. It's fantastic, given other countries that I have visited had trees and plants, asserting themselves between buildings - here it is a desert expanse, breath -taking for a first-timer. One cannot but praise God for His creation. We are in the Dead Sea - where the convention center is located, and it is 384 meters below sea level!
Many had been adamant in coming, in my case, mainly due to the extended Arab Spring phenomenon, just several hundred kilometers away, and the fact that geographically, Jordan is wedged between Israel and Iran. But in the airport I met several friends from other countries and represented in the mix were attendees from Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and some from western countries AND the trainees slinging poster canisters. It was a comforting sight.
Today will be the first day of meeting and I am hopeful that this Middle East meeting will still give us a good "harvest".
No comments:
Post a Comment