Eight Delta Marketing Group - #EDMG
Author: George Ohan
Arriving: Amman, Jordan – Sunday, November 16, 2014 - 6:20PM
Geography pop quiz! > Do you which states, countries, or
bodies of water BORDER the current location
that you live in?
The Kingdom of Jordan
shares many borders and maybe you’ve heard of some of the following
places: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria,
Israel, and the Dead Sea?
Before making it through customs in Amman, Jordan every
foreigner must purchase a “Visa” stamp
for the amount of 40 Jordanian Dinars, which equals $60. It’s basically just like a nightclub
cover charge to get into the country.
This is where I started to notice the US Army Master Sergeant Benari Poulten show some real discipline
and leadership. Remember, we just entered
an Arab country and Benari is known as the “GI Jew”……affectionately, known as that. He quietly pulled me to the side and gave me a quick safety briefing the way an Army senior
Non-Commissioned Officer knows how to do.
The run down was to avoid using military terms, don’t speak about any
military bases, and locations to shows were definitely off limits to talk
about…….also all of our stories had to match. Try explaining why five guys from the USA are traveling in
the Middle East for a comedy tour….to the Royal Jordanian Police? Now
that’s comedy!
*SUCCESS NOTE: I had to research which countries charge
a VISA Stamp fee. Do they take dollars or did we need
Jordanian Dinars? Maybe we had to
buy Egyptian Pounds? Was the
exchange rate better at a foreign currency exchange kiosk or did the rate in
the ATM beat the airport exchange rate?
Would our ATM cards work in that particular country? Did our financial institutions know
that we were traveling overseas? TOUR MANAGER must know all things good
and evil!
Many times in life we do not manage our
expectations. We create an idea
about something in our minds and when that exact thing doesn’t happen the way
that we had expected it, we are left disappointed. When in fact, we are the ones that created that expectation
of something awesome to happen,
without actually doing anything awesome
to ensure our desired outcome.
EXAMPLE: I bought a gym membership 11 months
ago. I’m still fat and I’m mad
about it! I only went
to the gym 4 times. SEE!?!!?! I expected
to be a hot, buff guy that talks to hot chicks in tight yoga pants….
Instead, I was a hairy, chubby guy that talked to guys in tight biker shorts! YUCK!!!!! I was mad at the person that signed me up at the gym, because
after 11 months I was still fat! – Manage
Expectations.
Mr. Benari Poulten!
Back to who I wanted to talk about. As US military veterans we understand that sometimes our
situation might be less than perfect.
This is where Mr. Benari Poulten SHINES!! We were doing comedy shows in remote places that didn’t
exactly have a comedy club feel, but we had to make the best of it. I can honestly say that we had audio
issues about five different times and it always happened during the opening set. This guy never skipped a beat, he put
the non-working microphone down and kept the show going. We can tell that the crowd of Soldiers
were upset about the audio issues, but Benari just raised the level of enthusiasm and spoke louder. He walked into the middle of the crowd
and delivered joke after joke.
Soon you could see him start to win the crowd over one by one, because he
never gave up. Soldiers love to
see that! When they see you refusing
to quit, they respect that. Armed
Forces Entertainment had assembled the right team.
We had the privilege of meeting multi-national forces and
working with people from his majesty’s military in Jordan. It was awesome to see our guys learning
about the local culture, current state of military affairs, and being great
ambassadors for the United States while overseas. The fact that everyone on this tour were prior service
military members gave us a unique advantage in knowing how to respect where we
were and to represent the United States in a respectable manner.
We were introduced to a man by the name of Osama, a former
Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot.
Benari and Osama seemed to hit it off as “friends” immediately.
This was so cool because Osama was immediately calling Benari his cousin. The GI JEW is now the cousin of a Jordanian guy?! How could this be? This is through education, mutual
respect, and a willingness to understand each other beyond what the media tells
us to believe. Osama ended up
taking us to Mt. Nebo, where Moses saw
the promise land, had a great lunch, and he showed us where he hires people
with disabilities at his mosaic shop to make beautiful art.
It was amazing
to dip our feet in the Jordan River at the Jesus
baptism site, film my buddy Mr. Jody Fuller float in the Dead Sea, dance in a taxi to Arabic
music with Key Lewis and our driver Ashraf, finally to top off the night with watching
a San Francisco 49ers football game in Amman because P.J. Walsh recommended a
sports bar for dinner! (I
ate the Lamb Burger, it was the best
burger I have ever eaten!)
The troops were very thankful that we came and
performed. The stories that they
shared with us after the shows were very inspiring and motivating to The GIs of
Comedy. This is really what keeps
us going show after show. Right
now, this very moment, there is a US military person sitting in a desert
somewhere, doing things that we don’t have to do. If we could bring a couple of hours of happiness to their
lives, then we will!
I spent each day taking photographs, shooting video, and
managing our next move for the GIs of Comedy: Land & Sea Tour. Each evening I downloaded the data and
loaded it up to Dropbox for Thom Tran
to choose which assets he will use for daily promotions. While all of this is going on, I
finally completed my last class to graduate college! Graduation date is December 5, 2014. I have now earned my second degree,
Bachelors of Science degree in Entertainment Business from The Los Angeles Film
School in Hollywood, CA.
Next stop: Tel
Aviv & Jerusalem – Israel – November 21, 2014
(I was born in Syria, we’ll see how this works out for me?)
Very Respectfully,
George Ohan
Instagram - @GeorgeOhan
YouTube - /OhanGeorge
#EDMG #EightDeltaMarketingGroup #EightDeltaGlobal
#GIsOfComedy #ArmedForcesEntertainment #LifeAtLAFS #AFE #VFT #GeorgeOhan #Ohan
#EntertainmentBusiness #Military #Veteran
*BLOG 3 of 5 series
*SUCCESS NOTE,
might be one of the steps that I personally took to get to where I am.
www.GIsOfComedy.com
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