Wrapping things up.....

It is 37C out today, sunny, and bright. The sky is blue, there is not a cloud in the sky, and the birdies are chirping. It is going to be so very difficult to go back to Winnipeg, which probably won't be nearly as warm....and where work awaits :(

I keep staring at the empty multi-purpose room which used to be a Starbucks. It would make a perfect esthetics salon for the ladies in this, and the neighboring compounds. It will be difficult to go from here, where people love to get things done and aren't afraid to spend money back home to where people aren't that into themselves and won't part with a dime. Other things I will miss:

1. As this is a Muslim country, there are no drunk people on the streets. No Lysol Fellowship meeting on street corners. It is nice not to have to step over passed out or nasty drunks. There are liquor permits in the city, to accommodate the large foreign working population, but something you don't see here, even with alcohol, are drunk expats staggering around. 
2. There are no sideways baseball hats and asses hanging out of pants. There are no girls wearing their underwear as outerwear, with fat dimpled bellies hanging out over jeans that are three sizes too small. People here, even the poorest, still dress both traditionally and nicely. There are no slobs here and if you look like ten pounds of poo stuffed into a five pound bag, people will say something to you and you will be expected to correct the problem. Even if they don't know you, people will still walk up to you and let you know that you are dressed inappropriately. They will be polite, but this is a conservative religious culture, and they will let you know that you are not up to code in their society. 
3. There are no drug dealers rolling slooooooowly through parking lots blaring bassbooster sound systems that shake your spinal cord. There are no gang wars, no shootings, stabbings, or anything like that. I don't fear elementary school playgrounds after dark in Qatar. There are no collections of scary looking teenagers that look like they might beat you to a pulp just as soon as ask you the time. Teenaged pack-roaming doesn't seem to happen here. The young adults that I've seen in my three weeks here have been polite, well-spoken, and well-behaved whether in the presence of their parents or not. I am sure that they do have their moments, youth finds a way, but they don't seem to be crazy out-of-control angry brats without boundaries that I've become accustomed to at home. 
4. There are no crazy homeless people who smell like pee collecting on the streets here. In fact, there are no crazy homeless people here at all, that I've seen. Crazy cat ladies, weirdos pushing shopping carts, freaky flashers, people looking like they've slept in a garbage dumpster - nope. I don't think those exist here. If they do exist in Qatar, their numbers are very few. 
5. Anyone coming into this country has to have either a work visa or visitor's visa. You need to serve a purpose here, there is no showing up and being without a place to stay and/or job to do. If you aren't working, and you're not a tourist, self-supporting resident or a native born Qatari, you are not hanging out. I'm sure there are probably some people who are here illegally, but I am betting it is nowhere near the issue it is in Canada. The only gravy train in this country is the one that you have to work your butt off for because you have a job here, so no one is showing up on Qatar's doorstep looking for instant benefits and a citizenship card. 
6. People are expected to fit in, behave, and tow the line here, and they do so. Crime here is a rarity. Little bits of grafitti are only just starting to show up here and there in the city....the sort of violence that I accept as an everyday occurrence in Winnipeg (shootings, stabbings, swarmings, car theft, home invasions, etc) would be highly out of place here. Of course, as I said before, people who come to Qatar do so because they have a reason to be here. There are no droves of refugees or large populations of  people that have no employment or lack purpose, therefore, there is little distraction towards crime and criminal behaviour. Security and safety are a big deal here, no one wants the problems of other developed nations emerging in this tiny country.