Adam Tower: a must-visit!

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Amsterdam tower

It is new and it is brilliant, the Adam Tower – a remake of the former Shell research labs in Amsterdam. I had a great time this week while giving a presentation about dealing with international business and culture in front of spectacular views over Amsterdam. Nevertheless my public was highly attentive, for a moment I doubted whether they would be with me at all but they did 🙂
If you look at the photo above and you see the 9 meter high windows in top of the building, that is where I stood – and here are some pictures of the views:

amsterdam tower  amsterdam toweramsterdam tower  amsterdam tower
The making of the Adam Tower is a story out of a wizard book: three Dutch guys who were succesfull in the international music scene decided to cooperate in this and won the battle for the tower in competition with 34 other interested parties. They turned it into a combination of music company offices, a hotel, different bars, restaurants and clubs with a 360° turning restaurant in top: a music tower!
On top they offer a platform for all inhabitants of Amsterdam and our tourists to watch the spectacular panorama and to take a seat in Europe’s highest swing: the Amsterdam lookout. Alas I had serious business to do when I was there so I definitely have to come back to experience that swing!
Our city is blessed with these creative entrepreneurs who make such major contributions to the quality of life in Amsterdam: well done, thank you guys!
Last but not least an photo-impression (made with my phone, lack of quality, in reality much better) of the elevator going up: the music experience starts already from there…
amsterdam tower elevator  amsterdam tower elevator
Adam Tower, a new experience not to be missed!

Other must-visits in or around Amsterdam:
Anne Frank House
Keukenhof: 7 million spring-flowering bulbs
Vlinderado

 

Bardo Museum – Musée de Bardo Tunis: wowowow!

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baptism mosaic
Bardo museum Tunis

If you think many mosaics, think more. If you imagine an endless view of mosaics, double or triple what you imagine and that is what the Bardo Museum in Tunis offers you. I knew the collection of mosaics this museum contains is thrilling but I could not have guessed the amount and the size of the beauty: wow, just wowowow.
‘Are you really going to the Bardo Museum?’, people asked me in surprise. A terrible terrorist attack took place on this museum just two years ago. But of course that means that it is now the best protected monument of the country, Tunisia. Do not hesitate, just go. Nowhere else in the world you will find this abundance of mosaic beauty and such an oversight of mosaic art in different periods and denominations: Roman, Christian, Jewish, Byzantine or just ‘Carthago’.
mosaic bardo museum  mosaic lake bizerte - lac de bizerte
However, that is not all. They have fantastisch Punic pieces (statues, masks, steles), nice jewelry of the Vandals – proving vandalism has beautiful sides! There is some Roman and pottery stuff that I found less interesting; at least it is less unique. But the great Ottoman hall of the Bardo Museum leaves you in surprise, wondering why you find that more beautiful and refined than the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
ottoman period bardo museum  ottoman ceiling bardo museum
The rest of the museum is more or less non-existent: the coffee sign leeds to a completely deserted part of the museum where coffee nor any other consumption could be found. The museum shop that could imo be thriving, is a disappointment. The toilets are clean however, kept so by a most gentle attendant. Overall, the museum personnel is really helpful: they want you to enjoy your stay and do everything to make sure you will see what you came for. Only because of their kindness I found the Punic room that I was desperate to see after the mosaics. The logic of the museum plan is not clear for all but the personnel compensates largely for that: a big thanks to their involvement and enthusiasm!
More info at the site of the Bardo Museum in English or the Musée de Bardo in French.

Tip: another spectacular mosaic museum is Zeugma in Gaziantep, Turkey
Interesting ‘open air’ mosaics can be found at the Agios Trias Basilica in Cyprus and in the Villa del Casale in Sicily

Unique coins in Money Museum Tunis

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money museum tunis

‘Well, they have coins’, Tunesians told me when I asked them what the Money Museum (Musée de la Monnaie) is like. Their tune was not very respectful, in their eyes it did not seem worth a visit. I wanted to see the museum anyway, especially as it is not mentioned in tourist guides and these can be the most interesting visits like the Museum of the History of Cypriot coinage, another hidden pearl. I was certainly not disappointed.
This museum is found within the Tunesian Central Bank and depicts the history of coinage in the area: that means it starts already in the time of Carthago, 4th century BC. Most interesting for me were the coins from the era of the califates like the Ommayyads, Fatimides, Aghlabides and Abbasides: it was like a new world opening for me. musee monnaie tunisAlready in the first century of islamic era, coins were made with Qu’ran inscriptions and this museum shows a good quantity of them (a lot in gold, part of the attractiveness of course).
Another thing I learned is that coins can be shiite or sunni. First I thought I misunderstood but the proof was in front of my eyes.

shiite coins

shiite coins

sunni coins

sunni coins

I seriously studied these coins but I am afraid my expertise is too limited to understand the subtile differences.
There is, overall, a very good explanation that goes with these coins but not in English: in Arabic and in French. For the coins of the early centuries I must say it was difficult to relate the information given to the coins as exposed. This suddenly improved when the period of antiquities was left behind. From then on, all is clear, although sometimes quite detailed. For experts, this is the absolute place to be.
The museum also shows some interesting notes that tell us which heroes of the past are valuated enough to be on the national banknotes. I saw f.ex. Ibn Rachik, Hannibal, Ibn Khaldoun.
It has many square coins: square coins musee monnaie tunisAnd it presents plenty of memorial coins, and coins of special sites where I found Amsterdam among them.
coins about sites musee monnaie tunislibrary musee de la monnaie tunisLast but not least: the library they have offers books in 5 or 6 languages, not just about coinage but also about history and art of the region. It is an excellent collection for those who want to study and it seems to be an undiscovered place: you can sit there in complete tranquillity, surrounded by friendly workers who are happy to welcome anyone interested in their cultural heritage.
The Money Museum (Musée de la Monnaie) of Tunis: worth a visit!

Interested in money? Read here about Money Museum Gaziantep
Also: Heimat Museum Borkum

Training diversiteit in Jordanië: business as usual (2)

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diversiteit in jordanië

Training diversiteit in Jordanië, onlangs gaf ik die voor de tweede keer, ditmaal bij een telecom bedrijf. Na de eerste training formuleerde ik een aantal hypotheses, zie de blog: Diversiteit in Jordanië (1) en die houden stand ook na deze nieuwe ervaring:

1. ‘de cultuur in Jordanië is conflictmijdend, mensen leren van jongsaf aan reacties in te schatten en confrontaties te vermijden en ontwikkelen daarom bijzondere antennes‘: ja ja en ja. Zoiets is heel aangenaam in de dagelijkse omgangsvormen, zeker weten dat het ook NL-ers zou verrijken en verblijden! Mits het natuurlijk van twee kanten komt. Ook bespaart het tijd, niet alles hoeft expliciet uitgesproken te worden bij een training diversiteit in Jordanië. Keerzijde is dat als iemand dan een keer iets uitspreekt, er een lang gesprek nodig is want de kwaliteit die in het NL poldermodel uitstekend ontwikkeld is – elkaar ergens halverwege tegemoet komen – is minder ontwikkeld.

2. ‘het zakenleven in Amman wordt niet, zoals te doen gebruikelijk in Nederland en Duitsland, geplaagd door schuldgevoel‘. Blijft overeind. Jordaniërs zijn praktisch, hoe werkt diversiteit & inclusie en hoe moet het werken of hoe willen we dat het werkt en wat gaan we daaraan doen. Zo’n houding is bevrijdend als je principiële en laten we wel wezen, soms oeverloze discussies gewend bent. Gewoon het gewenste resultaat bepalen en daarvoor gaan, heerlijk!

3. ‘de waardering voor objectieve kennis is groot, er is minder ‘mening’ en meer waardering voor bevindingen uit wetenschap‘, was mijn hypothese. Daaraan voeg ik nu toe: en aan ervaringen van elders, om daarvan te leren. En aan kennis over wat de wereldwijde transitie naar een nieuwe economie en governance van ons vraagt. Het lijkt wel of Nederland te maken heeft met de ‘wet van de remmende voorsprong: Nederland loopt voor en lijkt het dus beter te weten, is arroganter. Jordanië loopt evident niet voor en is zeer ambitieus om wel degelijk onderscheidend te zijn in het veld van diversity & inclusion. Heel interessant om mee te maken.

ammanDat Nederland of ‘het Westen’ iets kan leren van het Midden-Oosten staat voor mij inmiddels wel vast. De komende maanden onderzoek ik dit verder, al (samen)werkend in de praktijk, op weg naar vertaling voor westerse organisaties. En net als in de vorige blog, nodig ik graag  mensen met ervaring in die regio uit te reageren ter bevestiging, nuancering of ontkenning van mijn conclusies of aanvulling daarvan. Wordt vervolgd!

Lees ook: Diversiteit in Marokko en Tunesië
En: Seba culture & diversity workshops in Malawi

Recycling plastic: the Amsterdam or the Tel Aviv way?

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Recycling plastic Tel Aviv

recycling plastic tel aviv

plastic recycling tel aviv

Recycling plastic Tel Aviv has a nice way to make the inhabitants recycle their plastic bags and bottles. In the streets of Tel Aviv, one finds open bins. Open means: they do not block the view on the road; they are attractive to use because one can see the results of a contribution; and it is hardly vulnerable for vandalism and other more heavy stuff.
What I like too is the artistic sense that comes with these bins. It could have been enough to just place them on the street with the open iron wires, but the persons who created this wanted an extra and added some flowers, butterflies and other details that make life happier.
Compare the bins above to what we have in Amsterdam :
recycling plastic bin amsterdam recycling plastic amsterdam
These are closed recycling bins: one can not see through them and they form a big block, here at a crossroad, that prevents overseeing the streets. Posters that are put on them prevent the use of graffiti but do absolutely not give more joy to the consumer when using the bin for recycling, on the contrary: they are not at all attractive and too many people have never used them yet. I think we should have the Tel Aviv plastic recycling bins: more open to the street and more inviting to use them.

Other blogs you might like:
Security is your friend in Tel Aviv

Security is your friend in Tel Aviv

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white night

Security Tel Aviv

White Night in Tel Aviv is an enormous street festival. On balconies, in parks, on the street sides and in squares, acts, music bands, DJ’s and the like have their performance while thousands of people are passing. Security Tel Aviv: how does this city deal with that in a country where attacks on Jewish people (two more attacks on the day of White Night alone) can always be expected?
It means they have controlpoints on every street opening to festival activities. Imagine that this would be done in Amsterdam: it would give a lot of discussion and the poor security officers would have a lot to explain and to deal with. There would be rows at the controlpoints and the idea of controlpoints would prevail over the joy of the festival. Security Tel Aviv means that it is clear that security is essential and it comes first for everybody. The threat is felt as real – so security is your best friend when you go to a festival.
There is no delay at all at the controlpoints. The public acts with discipline and speed: showing quickly what they wear under their shirts, opening bags on time. The only problem I saw, was with a Dutch guy who wanted to go in with a (glass) bottle of whisky, which was not allowed… This is the most efficient security I have ever seen and this way, a festival stays pleasant under difficult and risky circumstances. Even when the average visitor might pass 5-10 controlpoints in a single evening, White Night in Tel Aviv means just high quality performances in a great atmosphere.

Other blogs you might like:
Recycling plastic: the Amsterdam or the Tel Aviv way
Grandfathers, Jews and the impulse to act
Mikvé Israel-Immanuel synagogue
Simone Veil: une vie
Jewish museum Warsaw: context

Ramallah: Jews removing Christians from Middle East

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RamallahRamallah is a lively and kind city. During a short trip through the city, at least five people said spontaneaously ‘welcome’ to me. Isn’t that nice? I love tourists in Amsterdam (except when they walk on the biking paths) but I never tell them ‘welcome’; maybe that is a good thing to learn from the Palestinians here! It makes life more beautiful…
Ramallah2Ramallah is also a contradictory town where you can buy the biography of Hillary Clinton at several places as well as Mein Kampf from Hitler, both in Arabic. I met with some police officers who were nice and accepted to have their photograph taken; another spontaneous move I guess, in this region where officials usually say no.
The kindness and politeness of this city’s inhabitants is in strange contrast with the attitude as soon as ‘politics’ enter the arena. Faces become rigid, attitudes harshen, voices turn loud. The people of Ramallah and the Westbank suffer real hardship because of the Israeli occupation. They tell you heartbreaking stories about it, and you don’t want anybody to live that, themselves or with their children.
Somehow, Isreali’s or Jews are to blame for everything here. Most of all I was surprised about the story of a Christian Palestinian who said there is a Jewish plan to remove all the Christians from the Middle East – not just the Westbank – so that the Jews can have all the land and the Americans can claim that Christ was born in the US (in New Jersey for example) and not in the Middle East. When the Americans chased Saddam out of Iraq, they looted the musea of Iraq and sent all the stolen antiquities to Israel so that the real archaeological history could be wiped out. I always thought the Americans didn’t have a clear plan in case they’d win in Iraq and they just forgot to protect the musea but here they are themselves deliberately looting the musea, following a deliberate plan they have together with ‘the Jews’.
My Christian Palestinian continued by telling that the Jews left Egypt and they also left Babylon 7000 years ago and now they want this land, Palestine, for themselves. Wasn’t leaving Babylon closer to 2700 years than 7000 years ago? I am just guessing but 7000 seems way too long ago. ‘Yes’, my Christian Palestine friend says, ‘of course 2700 years ago, that is the same, they left Babylon’. I do not think that that is the same in the ligth of the discussion we are having but my view is ignored.
He thinks the Jews are behind the removal of the Christians from Iran, Iraq, Palestina, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Libanon and maybe more countries. It is evident that during the last 40 years Christians have been fleeing the Middle East and I have been quite involved in that but this is really the first time in my life that I hear someone tell that this stems from a Jewish plan. How this would serve the Jewish case is not clearly explained. What matters is that ‘they want this country from the sea untill the river since the 19th century’. The Jews crucified Jesus and now try to remove the Christians from Middle East countries. The Americans work with them because that will help them to turn Jesus into an American born citizen.
A nice conversation just turned into a conspiracy theory that divides us into two worlds… I do not know what to answer. I just remain speechless.

Sderot: 15 seconds to run for your life

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sderot

In Sderot, people have 15 seconds to run for their life when they hear an alarm because a rocket bomb will fall on the city. Before, this alarm was a siren. At the sound of the sirens immediately everybody in the 25.000 populated city started to run for a nearby concrete shelter that is safe. Nowadays the sirens have changed for a voice telling ‘code red’, because the life-threatening rockets fell so often at Sderot that it was difficult to bear the sound of the sirens all the time. During the last 10 years, 8.000 rockets hit Sderot…
Imagine if you had to run for a rocket once a day, just once a day: how would you feel? And how alert would you be, knowing that when the signal came, you had 15 seconds to reach a safe shelter? It means you’d have to know all the shelters in the places you regularly visit and that you’d always be aware of the distance between yourself and those shelters (as 30 seconds is too late and could mean death).
sderot Nevertheless, with 25.000 people, Sderot has a shopping center. The parking lot in front of this shopping center counts 3 concrete shelters so that everybody who comes to the center can be sure to find safety on time when he/she will be surprised by a rocket while shopping. They sell nice stuff and they are really surprised when you buy a shirt but don’t speak the national language; Sderot is not a town where tourists use to pass by….
It is almost impossible to understand how this mixture of normal life and rockets effects adults ànd children in Sderot. Especially children are traumatized but also adults can be stressed and quite affected by the continuous tension. Just try to run for your life 3 times a day and see what it does to your mood, your emotions, your productivity and your hope for the future. Then imagine that you live this situation hundreds of times a year. Maybe you cannot imagine. But it is real in Sderot… since many years.

Other blogs that might interest you:
Grandfathers, Jews, and the impulse to act
Security is your friend in Tel Aviv

Diversiteit in Jordanië: business as usual?

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diversiteit jordanie - business as usual
Diversiteit in Jordanië, dat was voor mij nieuw. Toen ik via een Duitse opdrachtgever de vraag kreeg of ik in een bouwbedrijf in Amman – de hoofdstad van Jordanië – een diversiteitstraining wilde geven, zei ik meteen ja maar was ik ook wel verbaasd en een beetje onzeker. Ten eerste had ik een dergelijke vraag niet verwacht vanuit de bouwsector in Jordanië (ziedaar, uw diversiteitsexpert is niet vrij van vooroordelen). Ten tweede was ik nog nooit in Jordanië geweest. Diversiteit is bij uitstek een contextafhankelijk onderwerp en als je uitgaat van diversiteit als businesscase, wat ik doe, moet je terdege weten waar de businesskansen liggen voordat je iets zinvols kunt bijdragen aan diversiteit in Jordanië. Maar ja, zo’n kans krijg je niet elke dag en ik ben altijd al een fan van het Midden-Oosten geweest…

Zo toog ik enkele weken later, na een visum te hebben gehaald bij de Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordania in Den Haag en bovendien alles bestudeerd te hebben wat er over het Hashemite Kingdom te bestuderen valt, naar Amman. Na enkele dagen doorgebracht te hebben met ingenieurs, architecten en HR-functionarissen kom ik tot een paar conclusies over diversiteit in Jordanië die ik graag nader zou willen testen:

1. de cultuur in Jordanië is conflictmijdend, mensen leren van jongsaf aan reacties in te schatten en confrontaties te vermijden. Mensen hebben daarom antennes ontwikkeld om te voelen hoe dingen liggen zonder dat ze verbaal worden uitgesproken. Als trainer viel me op dat de deelnemers vaak aan een half woord (of aan mijn gezichtsuitdrukking) genoeg hadden; waar Nederlanders of Duitsers behoefte hebben aan explicitering, kunnen ze in bedrijven in Jordanië ook zonder (ik zeg dus niet: heel Jordanië, het gaat over de zakelijke omgangsvormen).

2. het zakenleven in Amman wordt niet, zoals te doen gebruikelijk in Nederland en Duitsland, geplaagd door schuldgevoel. Waar in een diversiteitstraining gewezen wordt op patronen van uitsluiting, of het nu gaat om gender, cultuur of religie, kunnen deelnemers er vrijelijk om lachen en zich onbevangen afvragen: waarom doen we dat eigenlijk zo?

3. de waardering voor objectieve kennis is groot. Diversiteitstrainingen worden met name in Nederland geplaagd door mensen die ‘een mening’ hebben. In Duitsland is er meer waardering voor bevindingen uit onderzoek en wetenschap en in Amman is dit ruim aanwezig: er is ronduit honger naar kennis. Wetenschappelijke resultaten vinden een open oor en ambitie voor toepassing.

Mijn ervaring met de Duitse opdrachtgever en het Jordaanse bedrijf was zo goed dat ik in juli terug ga voor een vergelijkbare training bij een telecom bedrijf in Amman. Ik ben benieuwd of mijn conclusies (hypotheses) over diversiteit in Jordanië stand houden of gewijzigd worden – hierover zal ik zeker een nieuwe blog schrijven. In het dagelijks leven horen wij meestal negatieve berichten uit het Midden-Oosten. Toch zijn daar bedrijven die al sinds jaar en dag succesvol met diversiteit omgaan, want het Midden-Oosten = diversiteit. Zonder die kerncompetentie kun je daar geen bedrijf runnen. Ik vermoed dat het Westen daarvan kan leren en heb de ambitie daarover meer te ontdekken en dit te vertalen naar de westerse context en behoeften.

De komende maanden ga ik ook naar Israel en Tunesië en mogelijk nog andere landen. Ondertussen ben ik benieuwd naar reacties van mensen met ervaring in die regio ter bevestiging, nuancering of ontkenning van mijn conclusies of aanvulling daarvan. Neem gerust contact op en wordt vervolgd!

Archaeological Museum Amman: caring for 6500 year old child…

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chalcolithic child

 

Today I was very moved when I saw the estimated 6500 year old remains of a buried child in the Archaeological Museum  Amman, at the Citadel. The museum shows many artefacts, neutrally placed on glass or wooden shelves. However, this child got special care: it was placed on a soft, warm cushion. Is there a better way for a museum to show that they care? is there a finer way for Jordanians to express their culture of respect?

Culture is not a matter of big flags and statues, although I admit they can be part of it. Culture is often recognized from little, tiny details in daily life, such as the care for a child that has died not just centuries but thousands and thousands of years ago. This museum shows that even after so much time, it is possible to surround a child with love. Wow Jordan… It really touched my heart!

archaeological museum ammanThe museum has some spectacular pieces that in Western museums would be presented with lots of pooha. However here in Amman they are shown in a very modest way. This is a pity because if you do not know, you might overlook the uniqueness of the findings. I spoke very enthusiasticly to a Jordanian woman about the museum and the artefacts I saw there and she thought deeply and said in surprise: ‘I was there but I must have missed that, I do not remember at all’.

So if you go pay a visit to the archaeological museum at the Citadel of Amman, do your homework beforehand and you will enjoy your visit tremendously because nowhere in the world you can find older statues than here: really! And while you’re there, don’t forget to pay your respects to the chalcolithic child that most probably had loving parents and is now taken care of by loving Jordanians.

The sign in front of the child says: ‘The burial of infants in jars was a common custom in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Palestine. The jar was generally placed under the living room floor, possibly to keep the child within the family circle‘. (Ghassul, Chalcolithic).
Chalcolithic means: 5500-3500 BC.

One other real old, real interesting museum: Archaeological Museum Gaziantep, Turkey
And this one, also in Gaziantep: Medusa Glass Museum
And this one, in the Netherlands: Archaeological Museum Haarlem

Quand on a 17 ans

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quand on a 17 ans

 

Another one of these great French movies: Quand on a 17 ans (being 17). French art means that the story is multilayered; the story does not run from one action to the other but shows the diversity of events happening in just a few people’s lifes in a mountain village high in the Pyrenees.
That setting is great, absolutely well chosen and beautifully exploited. You’ll see the nature of high mountains in different seasons. The very best scenery is at night, in the snow white mountains and the moon shining, when one of the main characters takes a bath in a lake reflecting the peak and the trees.
The main story in Quand on a 17 ans is about two young guys who seem to hate each other, but guess what at the end of the movie… 🙂 in that sense it is a quite romantic movie where ‘tout va bien qui finit bien’. The road to that good ending has enough complexity in it to keep the spectator interested. Apart from that, there is life in the movie and death and all human weaknesses and anxieties as they can be lived, even high up in the mountains. Quand on a 17 ans is worth watching!

Blogs about French movies:
Loin des hommes
Visages villages

Panagia Melandrina church – Northern Cyprus heritage (18)

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panagia melandrina church

Finally we found the Panagia Melandrina church. We would not have managed without the help of an only-Turkish speaking but all-knowing worker at the Belediye (city hall) of Esentepe : friendly and enthusiast to help us out. After a search of several days for the Panagia Melandrina church, it was a joy to find it but a disappoinment to see it. UNDP and EU invested recently in ‘emergency measures’ to save this church (see UNDP-info Panagia Melandrina). I really wonder why they chose this church out of so many churches that could benefit from their time and effort.
melandrina church esentepe
The Panagia Melandrina church lies in the middle of bushes and fields not far from the coast at the harbour location of Esentepe and it is in fact a ruin. It goes back to the 15th century and did have wall paintings as they were reported by an historian in 1896 but those have disappeared long ago. The monastery this church was part of, was active till around 1940. The efforts and investment of the UNDP and EU mean that the church is prevented from total disaster with countless wooden polls : see the photographs.
panagia melandrina church  panagia melandrina church
A roof was made and it is covered in plastic (partly torn already), also two of the outside ailes are covered in plastic. One wonders whether that does any good to the fragile remains, especially in humid times. Unless you are interested in sites like these anyway, there is not one reason I could think of to recommend to you a visit to the Panagia Melandrina church. There are a lot of other, more beautiful and less annoying antiquities to see in Cyprus.
Both the UNDP-findings and information on sites like this site indicate that the church may be built on an older temple or other remains. That is very interesting as this is also the area where some of the rather unknown Mezar Houses, the underground houses of the 10th century would have been found. In some cases, one can go for what one can see. In this case, I’d spend my time and investment on what could be underneath the surface…
melandrina church kibris

Another church near Esentepe: the Abadi church
And in Esentepe center: Agios Ambrosius church