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. 

I am going to hell now :)

My morning coffee buddy disappeared for about a week. We suspected she was pregnant because we swore she kept looking a little bit bigger each time we saw her. When she finally came back she looked a whole lot thinner and ragged as dirt. She can't be more than six months old herself, poor little thing.

So, we know there is a litter of kittens somewhere nearby. My mother figures she was going to have them here the night of the big BBQ because that was the last night we saw her, but instead went somewhere nearby because of all the people in the yard. We have to start checking the gardens now every morning because she may well move them into the yard when we're not looking. A name can not be far away.

:D


Update: She has a name now, and her own food. We're going to have to figure out where those kittens are because her little dish of gourmet nursing mother kibbles is driving the other cats insane. The courtyard looks like a furry soup kitchen.

Tea at The Ritz

We had a ladies' tea yesterday at the Ritz Carlton Doha. I was amazed at how affordable it was, considering the location. A traditional "English Ladies' Tea" is about 30QR per person. Considering the level of opulence inside - WOW. I never would have thought that this was something I could afford to do. I have to confess, before coming here to visit my parents, I just looked at tea as something that was orange, hot, and sat in a pot. I never thought of tea in the way that I thought of wine. To me, tea was always common and I never paid it that much attention. You just have it on the stove in case someone comes to visit. If you're feeling all foofy and hipper than thou, then you drink green tea and you lace it with unpronounceable flowers from Asia. If you're feeling the need to convince yourself that you're not a narcissistic suburbanite wiener then you drink organic tea that comes from some mountaintop fair trade "womyn's collective" in a 3rd World country that you'll never visit. That was about the extent of my tea-ness.

The Ritz Carlton Doha takes grand to new heights

Here, everyone drinks tea. Not only do they drink it, they hold it in the same regard that I do wine. People have multiple tea sets with glasses for specific tea leaves and they pair it off with specific food and serve it up in so many different ways. I will probably never look at tea the same way again. The ladies here collect tea cozies the way that I collect wine decanters. So it was with this sort of a crew that I embarked on my third ever proper "afternoon tea", the first being as a teenager in Victoria, BC, and the second being in Ottawa or Montreal....maybe.....I forget....it wasn't terribly memorable.

This chandelier was to the left of us 

The ladies' tea gave the Muslim ladies in my mother's circle a chance to come out and socialize. They aren't allowed to be in private homes, unaccompanied. At a place like this, they can come and socialize without a small army of husbands, brothers, or fathers lurking around.

Part of The Lobby Lounge

The Lobby Lounge of the Ritz is where we held our tea. It is GORGEOUS. I've been to some really nice hotels over the years for various functions in Canadian cities, but few have come close to the standards of the Ritz Carlton. If you ever have the opportunity to visit one and enjoy a formal tea, do so. At the R-C Doha, despite being very open, the location felt discreet and private. We were able to people watch, yet were not on display ourselves. The staff were beautifully dressed in gold and black Asian style split skirts and tunics. Like all the other serving staff I have encountered in restaurants across Qatar, they are a constant background presence; magically there when you need them, ever present but unobtrusive. If I ever make it back there I will try their Moroccan tea and a traditional Arabic tea service. I enjoyed a pot of their China Rose. I have had rose tea in the past, but the scent of the rose petals diffusing out of the pot was an absolutely divine sensory experience. The only thing that still catches me unaware is that smoking is still allowed in restaurants here, so like yesterday, our tea was booked not even realizing that the default would be a smoking section. However, while we were unable to be moved, the smoke was not really noticeable and the doorman was very nice and kept the door open to allow fresh air into our area. So the staff were resourceful in their efforts to please our party. We fussy Canadians thank you!!!

No one rushes you in Doha. There is no 20 minute kick-off to turn over your table, which is funny because dining out costs less here than in Canada. I have to remind myself not to eat like a North American, to just slooooow down, to enjoy my food, because no one is going to usher me away to prep my table for the next people standing around glaring at me from the waiting area. It just isn't like that here. Dining out in Doha is enjoyable, whether it is five star cuisine or a family restaurant that also feeds the occasional stray cat. Eating is practically a spiritual experience, not something to cross off the chore list must eat on the way home. I will miss the social restaurant atmosphere the percolates this city, it is relaxed beyond belief.

I spy....the dunes!!!

So I just checked my blog stats, which I do every time I log in to write something. It is interesting to see where people come from. Someone from "mSpy" is coming here? Being nosy, I followed the link back to the main site. For those of you who are interested, mSpy is a mobile software program that allows you to spy on someone's cell phone if you have access to their device to install the program. So, if you'd like to invade the privacy of your spouse or children, and wreck your relationship with them forever when they eventually find out that you're going all Big Brother on them, go there and purchase some software. Let me know how that works out for you :D

Ooooh......sand!!!!

We went duning yesterday!!! I don't have many photos, because it is very difficult to take a picture of something when your face is smooshed into the window or wedged into the ceiling or your head is now flying towards the person seated beside you. FUN. I love it!!! If there are gigantic sand dunes where you live, then I highly suggest doing this. Of course, if there are dunes where you live then you've probably done this already.

I could not believe the amount of people out there. We were in the Sealine Beach area. The amount of families that maintain summer camps in the dunes was staggering. I don't tend to think of the desert as a terribly busy place, but being from Canada my impression of what a desert is comes from reading TinTin comics and Hollywood, hahahaha. The Qatari people are originally Bedouin tribes, so for them this is traditional living. I don't think my mother was too thrilled about getting knocked around in the SUV, but I enjoyed it. However, I also enjoy mudding, drag-racing, roller coasters, grizzly bear-wrestling, walking through downtown Winnipeg alone, and other dangerous things, so we can just add driving sideways in circles down the sheer facing side of a dune to the list.

A lot of us were trying to take photos of one kid who was like Evil Knievil  on a quad.

At one point we came to a rest stop near some camps and got to take pictures of the gulf as well as the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the water. The guides were pointing out the watch towers and immigration buildings, as well as some of the beacons on the smaller islands out in the water. Apparently people try to swim across the straights in that area in order to sneak into both Qatar and Saudi Arabia. I don't know. I can see wanting to sneak into Qatar, but Saudi Arabia just doesn't strike me as a place that I would want to make a run to,but I guess enough people feel differently that illegal immigration into the country is enough of a problem that a border patrol is neccessary. I will post pictures of the coastline when I get home because they are on my digital camera. The photos that I post right now during my trip are all one-step uploads from a cell phone.

Museum of Islamic Art

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Islamic Art. This museum can not be done in one day. You need to budget at least two days, as evidenced by the fact that I only got through the first two floors of static displays. There is so much to see. As I learned this morning while reading the paper, a former resident of Qatar has published a photographic book about Qatar, which was on sale in the gift shop there.

Unfortunately, Erik was too efficient and showed up while I was in the gift shop, so I bought a few magnets and rushed out. People giggle at me a little bit because drivers are different here. At home, you do not make the taxi wait or you will be facing a long walk home. Here they show up early, and they do not run away if you don't materialize within 30 seconds of their arrival. AND they are pleasant. Wow. Maybe I will be brave over the next few days and make the driver wait. Probably not :D

Back to the museum!!! Lots of things to see. It is very well guarded, too. There was at least one guard in every room and they made their presence known but were unobtrusive. A couple of times I got lost because I was too busy staring at displays and not paying attention to where we were going I lost my mother and they helped me around the rooms. Again, I am perpetually amazed at how friendly everyone is here, even when there might be a language barrier. A word of caution: do not, and I mean, do not try to touch things. I watched the guards very quickly respond to a tour group of ADULTS who kept on trying to climb onto this horse and rider display, then try to get on this rug, which had to be about 50ft long. Firstly, shame on you people!!! "Do not touch" means do not touch and yes, this means you. Who climbs on a thousand year old carpet? Tsk, tsk, tsk. A very coordinated response from security personnel very quickly and quietly took care of things. Seriously, it was like ninjas took care of everything, it was that fast.

But rowdy, obnoxious tourists were not why I went :) I am only posting a few photos of my trip there. I have many, many pictures but these are my favourites, and sorry about the flash spots!!!

This is a one piece panel carved from stone. It comes from India and is dated to the 15th century. The photo does not do it justice. Well, none of the photos do these beautiful artifacts justice, you have to see them in person. This huge panel was carved in one piece. ONE PIECE. The detail, even 600 years later, is stunning.

 This is an Iranian watercolour Qu'ran. There is gold leaf in the painting and the geometric designs on the pages are amazing. To think that scribes sat patiently through this, working for years on a single book is awe-inspiring. I have many photographs of different Qu'rans that were displayed in the museum but this one is my favourite. It comes from the late 1500s. 

This is a page from a book, although I'm not sure what book it comes from. It is also Iranian, from the same period as the Qu'ran above. This is gold leaf and mainly blue pigment as well.

This is a piece of Persian tile that is about 500 years old. The colours are still stunning. The geometry of the designs is very precise. Blue, gold, and copper were the most predominant colours in use in many of the displays

 Iranian or Turkish, I can not remember. This is a bowl that was made at a time when the people of Persia were having much contact with cultures from China and the art was beginning to reflect the Chinese cloud motifs. 

Another beautiful Iranian tile, from about the 10th century. We often think of our ancient ancestors the world over as being somehow primitive because they aren't like us. This couldn't be further from the truth. The mathematical planning in a design like this, and the others, points to a high degree of knowledge. Such use of numbers has been referred to as "Sacred Geometry" because not everyone was privy to the mathematical formulae used in the creation of artistic renderings. Every time I look at these photos I want to crochet something, but yarn seems to be the one thing that eludes me in Qatar.

 This is an Iranian oil lamp from the 12th century. It is very small and contains a lot of fine detail around the handle and spout. 

This is absolutely breathtaking in its beauty in person. This is a jeweled falcon, from India. Falcons have been revered the world over for thousands of years, and even to this day in Qatar. The streets are dotted with large posters of Falcons and also Oryxes. People are very proud of their falcons here. I am told that Qatar Airways gives falcons first class treatment when they travel on a QA plane, but I don't know if that is true. I suppose if my mother gets hired on with them, I will get to find out:) My mother said that when she was teaching in Doha, some of her students brought in their falcons to show her. One summer a falcon moved into the tree in my backyard in Canada and graced us with its presence all throughout the summer and early fall.

 These are Syrian bracelets from the 16th century. Beautiful and heavy looking!!! The details in the facing around the gemstones are just amazing. 

These are Central Asian jars, from either the 9th or 10th centuries. The thing that always amazes me when I go to a museum anywhere, is that the things which our ancestors made, would probably still be useful today. Can we say the same thing about the goods we manufacture now? 

Qatar News

Just reading the paper this morning and a few things caught my eye....

Firstly, since everyone else is doing it, I will join Qatar in congratulating His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Thani, Chief of Emiri Diwan on the occasion of his marriage.

Blessings to your marriage and remember the old expression, "Happy wife, happy life". :)

I was hoping to find a nice link through the newspaper like I did for the other things below, but I couldn't.

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The following article was on the bottom of the fold, and it should have been on the top. Just my opinion.....but a pending water crisis is more important than some new ambulances. I did not realize that Qatar leads the Gulf countries in water recycling and conservation. Bravo!!! However, when you think about the rapidity of growth in this tiny nation - the population was about the same as the City of Winnipeg when my parents first arrived here in 2004, and now it's over 1.7 million people. That would place a HUGE demand on all resources, and let's face it, in a desert country water is probably more precious than gold. I read in the article about a hydroponic garden that has been started recently as a conservation project. I wonder if that was the garden centre I was in the other day. Hmmm.

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Qatar: Sand, Sea, Sky. I read about this book, written by Diana Untermeyer, wife of the former US Ambassador to Qatar, from 2004 to 2007. I will be hunting for this book. I wish I had seen this paper article YESTERDAY when I was at the Museum of Islamic Art because it is apparently for sale in their gift shop. However, the article also states that it can be purchased online so if I can't get back there before I leave, then I suppose I can order it when I get back to Canada. This is a great country and the people here are so warm and welcoming. They really do make you feel like family, even when you're falling flat on your face trying hard not to be a typical Westerner....which I may or may not have done :D

Al Bidda Park

Waterway through the park. There are stores on either side

A couple of evenings ago we went to Al Bidda Park. This is a family park, where unaccompanied or single men are not allowed. Families and single girls come here to socialize and relax. There are some things about being here in Doha that I will miss, and places like this are on that list. It is nice to go somewhere that is reserved for families or women, where you don't have to worry about being harassed by men. Even in the evening, which is when we were there, there were women with small children. They were playing and exploring while their fathers were praying in the small mosque on the grounds. As late as it was, it felt completely safe.

Monument across from the park.

I am always amazed at how people just let their children wander off here. There is a level of trust in this community that I have not seen anywhere else that I have lived. As a parent I would never let my son to wander by himself when he was small in a mall, park, or on the street. You couldn't have paid me enough!!! Nowadays he is almost 18 and it is his turn to be my bodyguard :) I mentioned this to a lady I have met since visiting here and she laughed and said "Well, child abductions just don't happen here.....who would do that? It's just not something anyone considers because that sort of crime is not a reality of life in Qatar." Amazing, truly.

Go here. Eat. Love. 

We had supper at my parents' favourite Thai restaurant, Thai Smiles. I love Thai food, I cook a lot of it at home. This place is tucked under part of the Al Bidda Park. The food here was lovely and I was introduced to many things which the owner/manager swears are traditional Thai meals, that I have never seen before. My favourite of the evening was the egg packet - an envelope of cooked egg, like a very thin omelette, containing spicy chicken, sweet peppers, lemongrass, and mushrooms. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The food just kept coming and coming. That is one thing about the independent restaurants here. I've noticed that until you indicate that you are so full that movement is becoming a physical impossibility, the servers will keep bringing you food. Now, I am pretty certain that Tony Roma's, Applebee's, and all the other corporate franchise restaurants from North America are not like that, but every non-franchise place that I've been to has been this way so far.

Spring rolls. Mmmm.

More food!!!

Something else that I have noticed is the way water is served. It comes to the table in big 2L bottles. In Canada and the USA you usually get big enormous glasses that are never ending. The water here is never ending, too, but it's just different. Even in the nicest restaurants, you still get a big plastic bottle and tiny little glasses plunked in the middle of the table. Not bad, just different. Eating in restaurants is a cheaper here than at home, too.

A feral kitty waiting for service :)

And of course, there were lots of feral cats around. They are very laid back and relaxed, and drift in and out of everywhere. No one seems to mind their presence.