Eight Delta Marketing Group - #EDMG
Author: George Ohan
Blog 4 of 5
Blog 4 of 5
Arriving: 7:45 AM - Tel
Aviv, Israel – November 21, 2014
I’m sure we’ve all heard that Syria and Israel have some
problems between the two countries, right? The reason I am saying this is because I was born in Syria,
so even though I am an American citizen with a USA passport “Place of Birth” says Syria. However, my ethnicity is ARMENIAN. My last name is Ohan, instead of Ohanian because when my
family fled through the desert to avoid being slaughtered by the Ottoman Turks
during WW1 they changed their name and posed as Arabs to survive the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. (Turkish
Government still denies killing 1.5 million people) I hope you enjoyed the history lesson. I have never seen a history book that
is used in U.S. schools teach this.
CUSTOMS CHECK IN at Tel Aviv airport:
“Passports and papers please. One moment please.
Mr. Ohan can you please come with us?” Damn! It happened in less than five minutes
of me being in Israel. I look over
at the guys and the person that stuck out the most to me was P.J. Walsh,
because he had a genuine look of concern on his face. The four comedians all made it through customs and proceeded
to the baggage check area. I was
held back for additional screening and luckily we had two escorts from the US
Embassy there picking us up so they could help out with this situation. Israeli security brought me into a room
and asked me several questions dealing with: personal affairs overseas, family
in foreign countries, addresses of known family members that do not live in the
United States, business affairs, financial questions, and more. I knew that I was not a terrorist and I
would soon be free to go, so I kept a very positive attitude, I never lost my
smile, and anyone that asked me how I was
doing received a genuine response of, “Loving
life!” When it was all over, I
came walking out to the baggage claim area and I was acting as if security gave
me the full rubber glove “digital stimulation” (They did NOT) and the comedians
were all laughing. Ok, welcome to
Israel! Our escort, Adan started
to explain how things work and we were off!
I’m not sure how many people have even stepped foot into a
U.S. Embassy, but we were on our way to meet the Ambassador and General in Tel
Aviv? Israel is an amazingly
beautiful country and I recommend anyone to visit when they have a chance. We enjoyed a delicious traditional
breakfast on the Mediterranean Sea and got our day started. The hosts from the U.S. Embassy were
very gracious and generous with their time. The GIs of Comedy and
Armed Forces Entertainment were in
great hands.
After extensive security briefings about the “Iron Curtain” with the Ambassador and top-ranking
General at the embassy we had an opportunity to visit Jerusalem. P.J. Walsh is a chill, laid back,
mostly doesn’t say much if nothing is needed to be said type of person…….
However, in Israel this guy lit up!
He seemed genuinely excited to be going places, taking pictures, and
learning about the history of the Old City. This was very cool for me to see because he is an Irish
Catholic from New York, and they’re just usually angry for fun. We had a chance to see things
like: Oskar Schindler’s grave,
King David’s tomb, the Western Wall, and so many amazing places with historical
significance. Throughout the day I
noticed P.J. taking some really great photos and the thing that stuck out to me
was that he was really present in the moment and wanted to capture very
specific images. As a
photographer, I can appreciate when a person wants to cherish a time and place
in their life as it’s happening.
My inspiration comes from people being inspired about LIFE. This is a guy that is usually very quiet until show-time,
but on this day the entire world was his stage. P.J. kept giving me little bits of humorous encouragement
and words of wisdom throughout the day, as it related to being the SYRIAN guy
in Israel. I appreciated that very
much and I started to notice that our team was really coming together. (On our first day in Italy P.J. offered
to shove my camera up my ass;
now we were a little bit past that)
Our hotel was really great, David Intercontinental in Tel Aviv is an amazing place to
stay. That evening I went
exploring the city on foot and really got to see how things came alive. People walking around enjoying life,
restaurants full of people, and different live events going on in certain
venues. Our next show was not
until the next evening so I had the next morning to explore the city more. This day was Shabbat and most of the stores were closed, the streets looked
empty, and people were spending time with family and friends. I finally found a cool place called
Bugsy’s to get my traditional Israeli breakfast and keep it moving. (Any city that I go to, I
explore!) I was looking for a cool
piece of art to take home and I came across a shop that looked like it could be
located in downtown Los Angeles.
When I walked into the shop the young lady that greeted me spoke English
perfectly! I took a look around
the store and I found a piece that popped
out to me and asked her about it.
She proceeded to tell me about the shop and how they keep all of their
prices under $1,000 to keep art affordable and to inspire artists to bring
their pieces to this shop to sell.
The art that I chose actually belonged to her! This is a great gesture to an artist; choosing her work
without being influenced to do so.
I ended up buying the piece and now I have a memory for ever! Check out her stuff on
Etsy: www.SwordMeOut.etsy.com
- @LisaEyes on Instagram
SHOWTIME!
As a tour manager one of my responsibilities is to gage the
type of show to put on for our crowd.
I knew that our audience would be high ranking military officials, U.S.
Embassy civilians, and Israeli locals so we had to adjust some of the comedians
sets to match that crowd. The GIs
Of Comedy are true PROFESSIONALS in every sense of the word. They really delivered when it counted
and the whole crowd was pleased from the first minute until the last minute of
the show. P.J. Walsh really
brought his “A game” on this one.
The reason I say this is because I had watched his previous sets and to
see him make the adjustments to his jokes for this crowd and still maintain the
comedic value was genius. ……A true artist and professional at work.
Next morning driving to the airport our taxi gets pulled
over for a “random” search and here we go again! I was detained by Israeli security again for many questions,
baggage inspection, and further investigation about our trip in the
country. This time they even
stopped us a second time inside of the airport and questioned all of the
comedians that I was traveling with about my affiliation to Syria. We all had our “Loving life” attitudes
and it all worked out.
Next stop: Sharm el Sheik, Egypt
Very Respectfully,
George Ohan
Instagram - @GeorgeOhan
YouTube - /OhanGeorge
#EDMG #EightDeltaMarketingGroup #EightDeltaGlobal
#GIsOfComedy #ArmedForcesEntertainment #LifeAtLAFS #AFE #VFT #GeorgeOhan #Ohan
#EntertainmentBusiness #Military #Veteran
*BLOG 4 of 5 series
*SUCCESS NOTE,
might be one of the steps that I personally took to get to where I am.
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