Happy National Day, Qatar

Today, December 18th, is National Day in Qatar.  It is celebrated with a military parade in the morning and fireworks in the evening.  The big question of the day was what time does all of the events start. My friend and I tried for several days to clear-up the event schedule.  Every Qatari we asked gave us a different answer.  So when in doubt, solicit the advise of the Internet. In most cases, this would be acceptable, except in Qatar!  The only information I found on the Internet was other expats asking the same question, "what time does everything start".  Between 3 people with graduate degrees, we decided to towards the corniche around 8am to the start of National Day.  The best part of the parade was the cars after.  They were decorated in the national flag with young children hanging out of the sunroofs and endless honking.  Sometime to consider for next 4th of July. Enjoy the pics....

Blake tie + complimentary drinks + Lady Gaga=Year End Gala

That right, last night was the company Year End Gala. Black tie attire was required, complimentary beer and wine was served, and music was played into the wee hours of the morning.  This was like any company end of year event I have ever been to before.  It was held at the Grand Hyatt in Doha. We all loaded the same buses we load every morning to take us to site, only this time we were not in red coveralls but in suits and gowns.  The drive was much shorter, just around the corner in fact.  Once at the Hyatt, all ladies were greeted with a red rose and the men rushed to the large oval bar serving wine and beer.  There was an endless flow of food/drink, dance hits, and thoughts of "Toto, I am not in Kansas anymore"

Here are the highlights....

• The Americans could only fill one whole table!  Good thing the tables fit 10 and not 12.
• Towards 10:30pm, bottles of wine started to become the table center pieces
• There were 3 carving stations; beef, duck, and turkey
• DJ was a Qatari in a kilt
• The desert station was to DIE for  (In retrospect, I should have started there)
• Scottish men in kilts dancing to Lady Gaga "Poker Face" and Shania Twain "Man I feel like a woman"
• Watching the leadership team cut a rug on the dance floor to "Like a Virgin"
• Being swung and twirled from line leader to line leader. Totally out of control! 
• 10+ nationalities singing Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer" 
• Can-can line for "Come-On Eileen" (yes, I participated)

Chrimas in Qatar

Yes, there is such a thing! Thanks to the management at the Pearl (which a local billboard calls "Qatar's Heart") has put up fake Santas, a huge Christmas tree, and giant presents. For a country that does not celebrate Christmas, I am impressed!

There are even end-of-year sales. Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and Armani are up to 50% off.  My wallet still hurts, but the pain is just a little bit less.

 Happy Holidays to all!

Qatari Wedding

This past Thursday, I attended my 1st Qatari wedding.  It was held at the Four Seasons hotel in Doha.  The woman's entrance (the women and men are separate) was adorned with a red carpet. Once inside,  my camera was taken.  No pictures allowed, except the professional photography, which only took pics of the bride.  Once inside, there was  a gold bench/thrown decorated with flowers at the front of the room with a runway running all the way to the back.  There were decorated tables and couches around the room for guests.  I went with a fellow American. We were the only two non-Qataris there.  Some of the Qatari women arrived without their abaya's. Instead they wore beautiful colorful gowns.  Their hair was done up in an 1905's style up-do.  The shoes! Oh, the shoes! I was so jealous. All I can say is WOW! 

We sat down at one of the tables to the side of the stage/runway.  When we sat down, nearly 1.5 hours after the wedding started, there was virtually no one else there. Another 2 hours goes by with being offered fresh squeezed juices (I had strawberry guava) and Arabic sweets before the room fills up.  Interestingly enough, no one sat by us the entire night.  The Qatari women passed the time until the bride arrived by dancing (no running man, chicken dance, electric slide or macarena here) on the runway to the VERY loud Arabic music playing. My understanding is that the women dance in front of the elder women in hopes to swoon a mom in anticipation of an arranged marriage.

Once the bride arrived, she was wearing a huge white wedding gown with a large headpiece.  She looked stunning. She stood in the middle of the runway as the women came up to congratulate by showing her with money. The sprinkled money from the top of her head and let it float to the floor. My understanding is all of the money is given to charity.  After several minutes of standing, the bride sat on the thrown/couch at the end of the stage.  From there, it was time for all the guests to start eating.  The bride does not eat. She says stoic on the stage. Once done eating dinner, the guests start to dance again on the runway.

This was the end of the night...no groom, no cutting of the cake, no 1st dance, no father daughter dance. Very different, great experience!

oh...I did get a ride home in Jaguar.  Very nice car, but not sure it was the worth the 2X Karwa price. 

And the winner is.....

Qatar for 2022!  The announcement was made by FIFA yesterday afternoon around 6:30.  In anticipation of the announcement, the Pearl (upscale shopping area where I live) had set-up jumbo TV screens and huge speakers. As soon as it was declared Qatar for 2022, "We are the champions" played loudly over the speakers and cheers erupted.  I had plans to go out last night. The streets of Doha were backed-up in grid locked traffic with everyone honking horns, Qataris sitting on top of their SUVs, and kids hanging out the windows. One word-chaos!  You could not help get goose bumps over the pride of Qataris that their beloved growing country won the bid.  What to do now?  Rumor has it-build air conditioned out door stadiums and an "out of limits" underground city for non-Muslims activities.

Congrats Qatar!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This past Thursday, November 25th, was the US holiday of Thanksgiving. This is when we gather with family and friends to give "thanks" for the special aspects of our lives. This year, I celebrated in Qatar on Friday. Why Friday? Well, Thursday was a work day here so Friday it was.  Thursday came and went like it was not even a holiday (which felt very weird since I knew it was Thanksgiving, but it did not feel like it. I have only been doing this Thanksgiving thing my entire life...).  Friday, around 4pm, a beautiful turkey was placed on a fellow American co-workers dining room table along with all the fixins' brought by all the guests.  I was tasked with squash and cranberry sauce.  Squash is a new Thanksgiving side dish for me.  I honestly looked for squash (OK, only went to one store, but to my credit I do not have a car).  Instead, I went for yams. I googled "candied yams" the morning of and created a very tasty side dish. 

As for the cranberry sauce, I could find it in a jar.  The other 5 Americans brought salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, and pies.  We had pecan and apple pie with Cool Whip. Yes, Cool Whip.  (We even sang the "Cool Whip" song)

 There were about 10 people total, a few non-Americans who were interested in participating in our pastime.  Since we could not figure out how to get football, we decided to play drinking games.  Wow-what a great idea.  Americans are known for being loud...I am sure the entire Pearl community could hear us.  I have not laughed that hard in a long time.  Thanks for a great time.

I could not close this post about Thanksgiving without saying what I am thankful for;

-My loving and supporting handsome husband (you are my everything, but you already knew that!)

-My family and friends back home

-My new friends here in Qatar

-This experience

-My health (even if I am lactose intolerant-hence the problem with the cheesecake for my birthday)

What Not to Wear

For anyone who knows me from my life in the US, I could be commonly found in high heals (pink ones if at all possible), skirts or a dress, and with my nails done.  My husband and I have been together for 9.5 years and he has only seen me twice without my "nails".  I had even started to get my teeth whitened on a yearly basis.  So where is all of that now that I am in Qatar (working in the middle of the desert at a GTL plant)?  The picture says its all......

Is it sad I am excited that I am NOT the shortest person?

Wild Wadi Master Blaster

 My mom and I conquered the Wild Wadi water park in Dubai, which is Dubai's #1 water park (although honestly not sure if there is much competition).  My mom, dad, and I looked like the most likely group to be entering a water park for "small and big kids" (as the concierge at the hotel described it).  We found my dad a nice spot to sit and watch our stuff while my mom and I took to the lazy river.  On the second time around, we were bombarded by a rowdy set of kids. We decided to get out of the lazy river and ended-up in a line for the "Master Blaster".  This is the ultimate of all water slides. It connects with the other 11 slides in the park.  Once we realized we were in too deep, there was no going back.  Just when we thought we had battled the worst, we hit a cross-roads; to take the Wadi twister or the Wadi blaster.  Just as I was asking my mom which one to go down, a nice park employee yelled "twister!" and gave us a big push.  We finished our 11 slide ride with the "Tunnel of Doom" which seemed appropriate for some Mid-West gals who just wanted to ride the lazy river. 

 This was one of the many things I did with my parents to Dubai.  We stayed on Jumeirah beach, went to the Souk Madinet several times, haggled at the Gold Souk, saw Ski Dubai, and enjoyed happy hour at the pool bar.

Thanks mom and dad for visiting me! I had a great time spending the past week with you. Enjoy the rest of your world tour.

Love you & can't wait to see you again soon!!

The First Time

Last week my parents made the long journey from US to Qatar. This was their first time outside of the North American continent.   The long journey started what was sure to be a first of many....

We did the traditional events in Doha and Qatar; shopping and eating. I first took them to City Center to shop for groceries.  What a different experience that is compared to our local grocers in the States.  For

starters, my parents got their first look at a camel carcass, pulses, and European brands.

We went to the souk, smoked shisha and ate local food.  My parents are not smokers, but having the shisha experience was one I could not pass up. After a few "newbie" coughs, we looked like naturals (ok, not even close).  We did a safari tour where we went dune bashing and saw camels. The tour took us to the southern border of Qatar, where we saw the Saudi Mountain. The color difference between the blue water, beige sand, and reddish mountain was amazing!We spent our last days taking in high tea the Ritz and visiting the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by world renowned architect Pei, and touring the Gold Souk.

 

The best part of the week was experiencing the Middle East, all over again, with my parents. It was like discovering it again for the 1st time.  Thanks mom and dad for making the trip. I love you!

Happy Birthday!

November 10th-Happy Birthday to me, my best friend Katie (Nov. 12th), and my co-trouble maker Sybil.  Of course, the day would not have been a birthday without a few laughs...

My day started with a 6am skype with a few of my good friends in Houston at my house. Tim made a birthday cake and said he would freeze a few pieces, so we could celebrate together when I return. Cute, right? Except when he called over the video message with Skype, I was not decent, not decent at all! I was wearing my birthday suit, which was fitting for the day, but not fitting for my friends (who I would like to stay my friends). He called as I was getting into the shower. Good thing Tim asked if I was decent before he moved the computer a little to the left so my friends could say "hi".   My friends almost saw a whole LOT of Courtney....Once dressed, they sang happy birthday and ate chocolate cake topped with my mom's homemade butter cream frosting (made with soy milk so I eat it).

Then...my team bought me a mini cake and sang Happy birthday. It was very nice to see 4 non-native  English speaking nationalities attempting to sing Happy Birthday in English.  Again, very cute, except they bought me a cheesecake.  Apparently, they had to beg the Hyatt Doha for something to buy as a desert at 7am in the morning. They only thing the hotel came up with was a tiny cheesecake. The irony is just hysterical!

EID Holiday

This coming Monday marks the second EID holiday in Qatar, which means four days off of work!  I find it interesting the striking differences between the expat rituals and the local Qatari traditions around the EID holidays.  For expats, we vacate the country to either make a trip back home or to go exotic locations such as Dubai, India, Bali, Maldives, KL, Egypt or Greece.  As for the locals, the EID holiday is a time to pray, gather with family, buy new clothes, and celebrate. 

The last EID holiday, I visited Turkey and back home.  This EID, my parents are coming. We have a lot of fun activities scheduled, such as going to the Souk and a safari adventure.  I looking forward to spending my EID holiday with my family and having a sneak peak into the local customs of the Muslim culture.

Stay tuned....sure there is lots to come in my pink pumps!

Expat Lifestyle

The expat lifestyle is often sought after by non-expats and revered by many expats themselves.  This experience has opened my eyes to the pros and cons of an expat life.  There are many pros, such as the opportunity to see unique parts of the world, chance to make friends from all different cultures, and the financial compensation of working outside your home country. Of course with any situation, the pros do not exist without cons.  The less glamorous aspects of living and working outside your home country-you are NOT inside the country where you have roots, can be difficult to maintain relationships with friends and family back home, often long-work hours, everything is foreign, and not in one place for more than a few years. 

Given all of the above, there are many things that I have done here that I would never do at home, such as high tea or a evening garden party.  Last Friday, I went for high tea at the Ritz Carlton. The menu was an expansive choice of teas from across the globe.

The tea came with little finger sandwich's, scones, and tiny desserts. Combine the food and tea with light soft music and you have a wonderful atmosphere to waste a Friday afternoon.

Last night, I was invited to an evening garden party at a VP's villa.  There were red lights highlighting the treas, black cocktail tables, and a serving staff offering you wine or juice (its a Middle East thing-they drink TONS of juice).  The food was catered by the W Hotel. It was nice to see everyone out of their nomex (fire-retardant) jumpsuits that are required at the work site.  As a I was told by one of the other guests, this is a normal occurrence in an expat lifestyle.

So do I aspire to be a career expat?  Time will tell, but can see some of pros (pictured above)....

Jerk!

Have you ever had a situation, where your only reaction is "I am such a jerk!"?  Well here is my most recent- I live in a "transit" apartment (the fact that I am here up to a year does not feel like transit to me, but....) . The good thing about being permanent transit, is that a maid service comes every Sunday to clean my apartment when I am work (remember, we work Sunday-Thursday).  She unloads my dishwasher, changes my towels, and puts down a clean sheet (there is no top sheet here. its on my list to figure out along with the topless employees at the Turkish bath).  This week, I came home on Sunday.  Did a quick check. Unknown to me, they put down a fitted sheet that looked just like the box spring. So what did I do....I marched downstairs to the reception area, demanded they call the cleaning company, insist they drive all the way back to put a sheet on my bed.

20 Min later, my doorbell rings. The cleaning ladies come in and walk right into the bedroom.  "Mam, Mam, there is a sheet on the bed. Come look".  Well shit, there was a sheet!  I am such a JERK!

Womens Tennis

Doha is not the most exciting place, but this weekend it was full of movie stars and world class athletes.  It was the Tribecca Film Festival and the Sony Ericcson Womens Tennis tournament which showcased the top 8 in the world. I am not a tennis fan nor do I really know or understand the rules of the game.  BUT, the one thing I have learned here, if it is happening in Doha, you go.  I saw the #1 in the world (don't ask me her name-she was blonde, I do know that) who is from Denmark.  I saw several other players, many who yelled EVERY time they hit the ball.

 

So while I did not learn anything new about the game of tennis, I did learn about the difference between Americans (and thier need for personal space) vs. other cultures. Sevearl times this evening, my personal space was impeded by someone trying to reach over  me to buy food, trying to pay for said food, and waiting in line to get into the areana.  I know I am short and sometimes easy to miss by people who are vertically advantaged (like my husband-he is a beacon in a crowd), but that is why I have a booming voice.At one point in time, I had to yell, "excuse me!!!".   It not that they were close, we were practically touching. Look everyone-its hot, we had all been at work ALL day, and no one needs to be that close unless you are behind closed doors with your spouse.  SO....back up!

#1 in the world (at least that is what the anouncer said)





Doha Tribecca Film Festival

 Or DTFF for those of us who visited the festivities.  Opening night was earlier this week on Tuesday at the Doha's brand new cultural village. It was packed full of red carpet celebs such as Salma Hayak, Kevin Spacey, and the festival's biggest supporter, Robert Di Nero. The opening film (Above the Law) was showcased in an outdoor theater with the gulf on two sides.  It was my first French film. Good thing there were subtitles in English (and Arabic). 

The film festival took place over several days. Thursday night was capped off at the Four Seasons beach theatre. This is probably the coolest thing I have done since I arrived several months ago.  The film was "The Two Escobars".  A little disappointed because my husband saw the same film on ESPN in the US. Here I was feeling so special when I could have viewed it in the comfort of my own home for free.  However, if I had watched it at home, I could not have watched the entire movie with my feet in the sand. What a romantic setting, with lounge beach chairs, a warm breeze, the screen several yards out into the Gulf, AND goodie bags! 

Friday night was the not an exciting location, just at one of Doha's 8 malls, but the film was spectacular. I saw "Waiting for Superman", the documentary about the US public school system. Great film, very well done, and a must see!

Same, Same, but DIFFERENT

I am now back in the balmy weather of Doha.  I had a wonderful two weeks in the US visiting family, friends, running a marathon...the usual.  The number one question I got was "What is it like over there?"  There is a simple answer...same, same, but DIFFERENT (which is a favorite saying for this part of the world when describing things that are similar, but very different-ex. whole and skim milk).  What do I experience in every day life....
Food-Humus, breads, LOTS of dates, gorgeous desserts (personal opinion-look better than they taste), camel meat (no, I have not had any yet), juice stalls-AMAZING!
Driving-Few rules of the road, even fewer rules enforced, round-a-bouts with stop lights, heavy congestion during rush hour
Clothes-Abaya's and Thobe's for the Qataris. All others are conservatively covered from shoulders to knees. High-end runway fashion, beautiful handbags and a Rolls are nice accessories.
Families-Very familiar society, which is different than the US. Families in Qatar are considerably larger than you might find Stateside.
Water-Everyone drinks bottled or filtrated water.  Not sure why....
Nightlife-Expats and locals tend to find themselves at either one of the 5 star hotel's restaurants/clubs or at the Souk smoking shisha.  Alcohol can be found at a select few establishments, but most spend their nights sober.
Environment-One word-Beige. Very sandy with mostly neutral colored housing structures.  However, Doha is an architects dream. There are some amazing structures here.

That is all I can think of for now.  Let me know if you want more....

Really? Really!

Sorry I have been absent for a while, but I have been back in the US for the past week. Last Thursday I took the 15 hour and 45 min flight from Doha, Qatar to Houston, Texas.The flight left at 9am Doha time (1am Houston). I tried to stay-up all night to help with the jet lag. My plans were to arrive in Houston on Thursday evening and leave for Chicago on Friday morning. I needed to be well rested because my husband and I were running the Chicago Marathon.  All of that aside, I was looking forward to (AND needed) a nice relazing flight to the States. 

Picture this:  I am sitting in seat 14C, as isle seat.  I was all worried about who might sit next to me. I should have been worried who was sitting in 11A, 11E,  and 19E.  Lucky for me and all the other adults on the plane, those seats were occupied with screaming, whaling children.  It was like a choir of crying, one would start and then others would join like a nicely organzied round of tears. 

You may be asking where were the parents? Sitting right next to them. I understand tough love or the Focker method, but a 15 hour plane ride is not the time to try it out on your children. Really! If you just let you children wail and scream at home, fine. The rest of us on the plane (who were making faces that you could not see) suggest another parenting method for plane rides. Really!  If you are going to let your children cry at ear piercing tunes, then at least provide the rest of us with noice reducing headphones, Really!

Really? Really!

Pink Pumps Goes Global!

I had such a great time in Turkey. Istanbul is a beautiful city with a lot to see and do.  We visited the Hagnia Sophia, several different Mosques, Topaki Palace , shopping, eating, etc. We had none stop fun from the time I landed to the time I flew out.  It was amazing to see the differences between the two Muslim countries.  Qatari women wear abaya's where Turkish women wear scarfs over their heads.  Qataris men do not traditionally talk to foreign women, where Turkish men are VERY forward.  Qatar is not crowded and Doha is very much a car city. 

Istanbul is overly crowded and has a developed public transportation system.  Qatar is sand and water, Istanbul is full of trees and people.  The store keepers in Qatar are very nice and customer focused.  The store keepers in Istanbul can be very forceful, especially this one carpet salesman who was yelling at my friend and I for not buying a rug in his shop. Both counties are uniquely different. Can't wait to continue my travels to new and exciting places!

My best souvenir from Istanbul, my new pink pumps....

Back to Doha

 After a week or so outside of Qatar, it is clear I am back in lovely Doha.  A bunch of ramblings that let me know I had returned: I saw 2 overturned trucks this week on the round abouts, the grocery store was stocked with a complete different set of food than when I visited 4 days before, everything is closed on Fridays until after 3pm, high humidity and heat (which is actually getting cooler!) radio stations transition from Frank Sinatra to JustinTimberlake as it that is normal, beautiful architecture.

I also love my job, but still can't get used to being called Mam".  Doha...how I have missed you and your unique quirks.

"Big Brother" (or "big wife")

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can continue my addiction of Days of Our Lives soap opera, an obsession since I was a teenager.  Thank you to the fantastic technology of SlingBox.  Here is how it works, you purchase Slingbox at your local techy store.  Open the box, align the Slingbox sensors with your DVR sensors and plug Slingbox into a wall jack.  Then you download the application for the Slingbox via the Internet. Within minutes, you can watch anything recorded on your DVR or your TV from anywhere. 

Now that I am back in Doha, I really wanted to test the Slingbox technology. I logged onto my Slingbox account to see that my darling and predictable husband was watching....Sports Center.  (SHOCKER!).  Devilish me decided that he secretly wanted to watch Days of Our Lives. Almost at the same moment I pushed play, I got a message that my husband was trying to call me on Skype. He opens the conversation with a playful "You trying to control my TV woman?".  He he!

Lesson to all husbands-Us wife's are never far away.  Best husband tracker ever!

Anything BUT Traditional

The past week has been spent celebrating the EID holiday AND celebrating I have done.  I spent the weekend in Istanbul, Turkey with a friend and then surprised my husband in Houston. I simply showed-up at 8pm on Sunday and rang our doorbell.  It was so great to see his face light-up with excitement. 

I really needed some grounding after the TRADITIONAL Turkish bath experience I had while I was in Istanbul.  For any red blooded American, my experience was anything but traditional.  Courtney (my friend) and I paid our $35 for our Turkish bath experience. In exchange for our payment, we got what looked like a small Texas red and white checked table cloth. We were told to proceed into the "bath".  We were NOT prepared for what was behind the door.  It opened to a hot steam room with several topless women of all shapes and sizes. Courtney and I were struggling where to look. We quickly hurried our clothes butts upstairs to change into our table clothes.  Since everyone else was nude (from what we could see) we quickly followed.  Here we were in our birthday suits covered only by a small reminder that we were not in Texas anymore.  As we were about to enter the actual "bath", two Turkish women came-up and took our towels. Courtney's gal looked like she could have used an extra piece of Schwarma.  My lady looked pregnant and had boobs that made mine feel inferior.  Did I mention, they were topless?  Still trying to figure this detail out.....Anyways, there Courtney and I were sitting on a hot slab of marble completely naked trying to hold in our laughter (there was nothing funny about the situation, we just could not stop laughing to help with our insecurity of what was yet to come).  Courtney quickly noticed that no one else was butt-naked.  All of the other women were wearing matching black bottoms.  Courtney turned to me with a serious face and asked "You think they all brought the same bottoms?"  My Purdue Masters degree prompted me to respond with an equally serious face "That is not statistically possible".  Our eyes met and we quickly ran out of the "bath" area naked (and laughing).


Once we found our matching black bottoms, we re-entered the bath area only to be instructed by our respective Turkish ladies to lay flat on the marble slab.  What proceeded was buckets of warm water, lots of soap subs, and hand scrubbing of anything not covered by our black bottoms.  

All in all, the experience was well...an experience.  This is what this whole adventure is about. Thanks Courtney for a great weekend in Istanbul!!

When in Rome...

Do as the Romans do.  It became quickly apparent as soon as I received my local mobile phone that the Qatar culture is to not use voicemail. I am not even sure they have voicemail loaded on the cell phones. At first it was a little weird, people call and don't leave a message.  Most of the times, I would have no idea who they were. Now here is where my US customs kick in. As an American, I am very active in the use voicemail. So much so, that if you call and DON'T leave a message, you DON'T get a call back.  Not here!! I would see people the next day who would comment that I did not call them back from the day before. After several months, I have conformed. I find myself expecting people to call me back when I call and do not leave a message.  My how your deeply embedded customs can change in a few short months.

Leave a message at the ":BEEEEP..........................................".

Lets Get Glam!

In Doha, you have to make a reason to get glam.  I brought a few dressed that would get usual wear in Houston, but have been collecting dust since arriving in Qatar. However, last night was a reason to get glam.  A group of 14 celebrated Ramadan by attending a Sohoor dinner at the W Hotel.

Inside the tent at the W Doha

 The lobby welcomes us with the crescent moon.which pointed us upstairs to the Sohoor tent.  The tent was amazing! There was food from India, China, Japan, Mexico, France, and the Middle East. There was Henna , a spinning man, and Shisha. 

The Henna woman was from Sudan. It was amazing how quickly and elegantly she was able to draw on each one of us AND we each got a unique design. 

What a great night-fantastic food, fun conversation, and a wonderful experience leading into the EID holiday. Ramadan Kareem!

Safety First

This glaring call for safety is on the building to the left (if you are staring towards the marina) of my building, so I guess that would make it Tower 3?  Anyways, safety is incredibly important given all the construction in Doha and crazy driving, however I love this sign for a different reason. My husband is a safety man by profession and he is always saying "safety first, honey, safety first".  I can't help but smile when I pass by this sign every day.  However, it did get me thinking about all the unsafe things we do in Qatar (or as an expat) and do not think twice about. So here is my list of unsafe acts that I have done here, all in the pursuit of meeting a new friend or just every day life:

• Got in a car with a complete stranger (a white SUV to be exact) who you only know via email
• Left my purse in my shopping cart while I turn my back
• Run in 100-degree heat
• (I have not done this myself since I can not drive) The non-utilization of the turn signal
• Walked down a dark alley way in the city
• Stop in the middle of a round-about (can't do this either, but this is "the spot" in Doha to meet your buddies)
• Race VERY fancy cars (OK, not sure my Acura would count if it was here.  BUT the men here love the cars and they have a serious need for speed)

Its HOT out there!

The alarm went off at 4:45 as it usually does and I popped-up ready for my morning run.  Now, since I arrived in July, my morning runs have been hot and humid. Yesterday was no exception, only it felt hotter and more humid than ever before! Last week at work, we had a black flag day which meant that it was over 50 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).  Everyone keeps telling me that Doha is great from October-May, that it feels like southern California weather. That the city become alive with festivals and events.  I am looking forward to that. However until we get there....drink up and take extra precaution, especially our fasting friends.  Have a great week!

All dressed-up & No place to go

How do  we look?  This nice shop owner at the Waqif Souq decided to have some fun once he discovered we were from the States. 

Had I been wearing my local garb, my experience earlier that day at Carrefour grocery store would have made more sense. Let me start by declaring that I hit chocolate jackpot! I was standing in the bake section like a kid in a candy store because staring back at me was bags of chocolate chips (milk and semi-sweet!, still holding out to find 70% coca dark chocolate by the time I leave Qatar). Out of no where, a local man starts asking me where something is located in the grocery store. Now I am shocked by this for 2 reasons
1) Local men traditionally do not converse with women, especially non Qatari.  I looked around to ensure he was talking to me.  Definitely, talking to me. 
2) With my faux Prada bag and curly blond hair, I am clearly NOT a local. How would I know where anything is in this giant grocery store. I am lucky to be able to find the grocery store at all, let alone know where anything is located inside it.

So what did he ask me for?  I am not sure. I thought he was asking me about something about fried chicken. I asked him again because I was confused why he is asking me about fried chicken while there is a beaming light coming from the 3 bags of chocolate chips in my shopping cart (or "basket").  I inquired again on his fried chicken request. He got frustrated with me and quickly found a local Qatari woman to ask.  I went on my merry way with my chocolate chips and a smile.