A morning off

Donairs!!! There is a god!!!

The last few days have been busy. We went to the Global Village 2012 event last night. This was done through CNAQ, a local college that is based out of Newfoundland, Canada, and the proceeds of the event went to the Red Crescent Society to help the people of Syria. It is different being over here, in a (generalized) part of the world that the news focuses on. Most of the people here in Qatar are not actually from Qatar, they are from somewhere else, and a lot of people are from Syria. You can see the pained looks on their face as they talk about home. Many of the people are still tribally affiliated here, a world view most of us in the Western world lost centuries ago. Borders mean relatively little to them and their family networks stretch all over Persia and the Middle East, so issues in one country affect everyone. 

Twirling with sharp objects; don't try this at home.

It was a great event, but it was COOOOOLLLD!!!! I am sorry dear Qatar, but I suspect that I may have brought the winter with me when I came to visit. I should have warned you all, that happens, hahahahaha. Anyway, I had a hell of a time trying to take pictures because the Nokia touchscreen is sensitive to both pressure and heat, and my hands were freezing. I did manage to get photos of donairs and some Yemeni dancers. It is not a great picture of the dancers, though, because they were moving really quickly. It was difficult to take photos anyway, because it was so crowded. I could not get good shots because of this, then when the temperature dropped, I just didn't bother. Besides, I was spending all my time trying to get photos to please other people and not enjoying myself. Dear friends: I really am here, and I really am doing things. You'll just have to believe me, hahahaha :)

Getting from one end of the mall to the other in a gondola rocks!!!

We went back to the Villagio Mall yesterday. Now that my feet are feeling better and there are no more shamals, there is shopping to be done!!! I will confess, I am not terribly interested in being bombarded with museums and other "official" things that must be done on a vacation. I would like very much to see the Islamic Cultural Centre, do some duning, and that is it. Otherwise, I just want to shop, hang out, and crochet. I am enjoying putting my feet up. I have been messaged by people who are wondering when my adventure "begins" and this is my adventure. I am hanging out in a place where everything runs on mañana time and it is nice. 

I wonder if CP Rail will consider candy trains. 

There are no drunks lying in pools of their you-know-what on the street, there are no gang wars with people getting shot and stabbed, there are no crazy drug addicts screaming obscenities at me while I'm on the bus, and if I look even the slightest bit lost/upset/off in any way, someone nice is approaching from somewhere to see if there is any help that they can offer - at home people just bow their heads and pretend they didn't see you having trouble or getting harassed. They are happy that it isn't them and they carry on. Considering where I live, this IS an adventure. I guess I'm not doing much to increase tourism to Winnipeg, hahaha. I miss my family and coworkers but I am not going to be happy to come home to dear, dirty Winnipeg. If I could, I would just tell my family to pack up the kitties, rent out the house, and fly here. When I come home, I will get to have all the adventure I could want because I work with the public in downtown Peg City. Ugh. So not looking forward to that. 

Every home needs a chocolate fountain!!

There is a lot less stress here about "getting things done". A common phrase heard around here is "Insha'Allah" meaning "If god is willing" which more or less translates to "It might happen, it might not, I'm not going to waste time worrying about it, I've put it in God's hands." People are very social, too, and spend a lot of time looking in on each other. This hospitality gets returned, of course, so there is a constant cycle of casual visiting that can fill up one's social schedule very quickly. I am willing to bet that everyone here knows their neighbors, which can not be said of many of the communities in North America. We used to be like this, and then that changed. I think for the benefit of our health, we need to ditch the day-planners, start thinking Insha'Allah a little more, and start visiting our neighbors.




The food is also very fresh. You can buy canned goods and package mixes in the grocery stores like home, but the pricing is opposite. At home, the premade stuff is cheap and the fresh food is expensive, but here it is the fresh food that is cheap, so more people here actually cook from scratch, so I suspect that they eat fewer calories, processed carbs, sugar, etc. The restaurants that I've been to actually cook 100% from scratch so they take longer to serve your meals, but that is fine. I can taste the difference. There aren't a lot of corporate farms out here, either. I've been doing my homework and in many places, food is still grown and harvested with more traditional methods, although modern technology does get used. I think the lack of processing makes a big difference to the overall health of the people. I was concerned that I would gain weight while I was visiting, but I don't think that will happen. I probably won't lose weight, either, because everyone wants to haul out the goodies for me, but it's a vacation. I will return to the real world and back to my diet soon enough.


Something else I have noticed about here: I have only seen two muffin tops since I got in to town and they were both sported by expats. That is not to say that there aren't chubby people (although there are a lot fewer of them than there are in Winnipeg) but they don't seem to carry their weight like North Americans do. The lifestyle is very different and I believe that this, combined with more traditional eating has a beneficial effect. Of course, that's only been proven over and over again in study after study, but I don't know how many people are actually paying attention.