The story of the henna

As you know from Darren's post, we attended a party on Monday celebrating the half-way point of Ramadan. Garanga'oh, intended mainly as an evening for children, was a lot of fun - even as an adult observer. I enjoyed the energy and excitement of the gathering, and I loved all the beautiful costumes (traditional dress) everywhere.

Darren spent a good amount of the evening taking pictures. I ran into a student who asked me where my husband was, and I had to admit I lost him and his camera!

Unlike Darren, I'm not patient enough to be a photographer. I got bored waiting for him to snap a decent picture of the dancing "Hamoose" amidst spotlights that were constantly changing colour and intensity. So I went for a little walk around the party grounds. I saw a group of young girls gathered in a corner of a traditional village set which peaked my interest.

As it turns out, they were each waiting their turn to get Henna "tattoos". I walked closer to get a better look, and before I knew it, a lady had grabbed my hand, placed it in her lap, and started drawing a flower with the paste. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Well, I guess I'm getting henna!" immediately followed by a slightly more panicked "Can I teach with henna?" When she finished with my right hand, she started in on the left. By that point I had stopped worrying about the consquences. It was too late, anyway.

When this was all over, the lady gave me her business card - I'll take you to see her when you come Marie and Ashley! - and sent me on my way. I was unclear about the procedure so I stopped a young woman in an abaya and asked her when I could wash, to which she replied "when it's hard."

By this time, Darren had succeeded in capturing the college mascot on film and had found me wandering about. He was a little freaked out by my hands, and even tried to avoid them for a day or so.

My students' reaction was completely different. I intentionally wore a long-sleeved shirt to work to avoid drawing attention to my henna. But as I was writing on the board I heard from behind me, "Oh teacher, bee-yu-ti-ful!" There was a general consensus among the class that all I need now is an abaya and I'm all set!

Even now (Wednesday night), I'm still often surprised by my own hands. They catch me off guard. But I'd have to concur with my students; I really think the henna is beautiful. Hopefully I'll still think so when it starts to fade and turns orange!

Before the henna - enjoying some traditional food

Monday night at the party - pre-washing

Wednesday night at home - a nice brown colour

The reality of fiction

Sometimes fiction and reality collide. Other times, they complement each other.

I've been doing a fair amount of reading in my spare time. Now that we've set up the office/den area, I've got a nice reading chair, with natural light throughout the day, which makes it the perfect place to spend Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Last week I finished a book that applies to my life here in Doha in a way I would never have expected. The book is The God of Small Things, written by Arundhati Roy. It's quite well known, I believe - a winner of the Booker Prize. I picked it up at the local Virgin Megastore the last time we were there because I liked the cover. I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but why else would there be cover art on books? It wasn't just the picture though; the quotation on the front said "A masterpiece, utterly exceptional in every way" (Harpers & Queen). I think that was what sold me on the book. That and the fact that it was set in India and cost less than 50 QR.

Having read it, I'm not sure that I would go as far as Harpers & Queen, but I will say it was beautifully written. Roy led me through a complex timeline of multiple pasts and the present with amazing subtlety. Her metaphors were natural and beautiful. She revealed the plot slowly, but not tantalizingly - which I really appreciate.

My feelings about the book are mixed: I quite enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I would necessarily recommend it. Well, I think Marie might like it, or maybe Kathy...I'm not really sure of Kathy's taste in books yet, though.

Anyway, the connection between the book and Doha is this: The story is set in the Kerala province of India. Until a month ago I had no connection to this part of the world, but in the last 3 weeks I have met over a dozen people from Kerala. There are a number of agencies there that recruit workers to come to Doha, and just about every taxi driver I've had the privilege of meeting has been from there. Just the other night Darren and I had a 20-minute conversation with Tiju about his language and hometown (Cochin, which incidentally was the place the characters in my book caught the train.)

I realize my only connection to Kerala or the Malayalam language is a fictional story and its characters, which is hardly a connection at all. But now I at least have a frame of reference for my conversations with the Indians I meet in my travels in Doha.

In this context, one part of the book really stood out to me:

Now that he'd been re-Returned, Estha walked all over Ayemenem.

Some days he walked along the banks of the river that smelled of [feces], and pesticides bought with World Bank loans. Most of the fish had died. The ones that survived suffered from fin-rot and had broken out in boils.

Other days he waked down the road. Past the new, freshly baked, iced, Gulf-money houses built by nurses, masons, wire-benders and bank clerks who worked hard and unhappily in faraway places. Past the resentful older houses tinged green with envy, cowering in their private driveways among their private rubber trees. Each a tottering fiefdom with an epic of its own.

He walked past the village school that his great-grandfather built for Untouchable children.... (p. 13)

There are so many people here, working hard and faraway from their homes (and often their families). Whether they are happy or unhappy I cannot say, but their lives are not easy. Many work long hours in difficult jobs for poor wages that they send home to their loved ones.

I think about these workers when I drive past a construction site, when I'm served in a restaurant, when I walk past a security guard or a cleaner. I wonder if they ever regret their choice to come here to work - if indeed it was a choice. I imagine their children running to the door when they come home after a shift, or return home after a few years away, so glad to see them. I smile at them, and greet them as I would a colleague, hoping they feel a sense that although I cannot understand the situations or decisions that brought them here, or what their lives are like as workers in Qatar, I appreciate them.

On a slightly different note, the other day I bought a jar of mango jam from the local Family Food Centre. When I got it home I noticed the brand name: Kerala's Best. I like to imagine it was made in a small family factory like "Paradise Pickles and Preserves", the one owned and operated by the main characters in my book.

-Fiction complementing reality.-

First anniversary

Today is our one month anniversary in Qatar. We arrived at the Doha airport August 13, just before midnight. Besides the 2 1/2 hours we spent in the London Heathrow airport, we actually spent the entire day of August 13 in the air. So, Darren is more accurate when he says this is the one-month anniversary of the day that we lost.

I'm not sure whether it feels like we've been here a month or not. I guess it does. As I've mentioned before, we're feeling comfortable in our new surroundings, our apartment feels as much "ours" as any of our past apartments have, and we're even getting accustomed to doing business (such as banking, shopping, etc.) at night.

Hopefully by our second messiversary here, we'll both be residents of Qatar, have phone and Internet service in our home, and have more than 12 expressions in our collective Arabic vocabulary! :)

Ramadan Kareem

We're nearing the end of the second week of Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for a Muslim. It's a time of fasting, prayer, and giving. It's also a time of celebration - after sundown.

Although there are some decorations in the local malls, and many stores have special Ramadan promotions, much of the celebrations and observations are done with families behind closed doors. I now understand how my ESL students back in Canada felt during a holiday such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, where families gather together and participate in their own traditions. It's a very special time for those gathered, but it means little to the outsider.

As a non-Muslim living in Qatar, I have been affected by Ramadan, but only in small ways:

1. Class hours have changed. Instead of 50-minute class periods we have 40-minute periods during Ramadan, and there is a college-wide break for prayer around midday. Business hours throughout the country are different, in fact. It is not unusual for things to close midday and not open again until after well after sundown. We were at the city centre mall last weekend, for example, and while the restaurants opened around 6, the stores stayed closed until 8.
   
   
2. The students are tired. Once the sun goes down, the celebrations begins. Many of my students are up all night eating and enjoying themselves. Even those who get a decent night's sleep are up early to eat the Suhoor meal before the morning prayer (which was at 3:58 this morning).
   
   
3. The cafeterias on campus have been closed and we have been instructed (by multiple sources) not to eat or drink in public during daylight hours. One staff room in each building has been deemed a Ramadan-sanctioned eating room, its windows blocked and doors kept shut. When I want a drink of water, I have to go to the staff room and drink it there; I am not permitted to eat or drink in my cubical. I avoid walking outdoors as much as possible during the day, since rehydrating is an issue. And I carry my lunchbag inside my workbag, just to make it less conspicuous.

From my perspective, the secrecy with which we eat, the modesty with which we dress, and the general care with which we proceed is more out of respect than mandate. For that reason, I'm happy to do it. I am a visitor in this country (technically I'm a resident, but you know what I mean!) and it is my obligation and privilege to abide by the laws of the land. Since things like fasting and wearing an abaya are cultural/religious (I use those words together intentionally; it's hard to separate the two here!), my obligation is not to necessarily join in, but to respect - especially in this holy month.

All we ever talk about...

I'm noticing that there are (of late) two main topics of discussion among my colleagues here: residency and travel. This is not surprising considering the time of year. A new batch of employees has just arrived, all waiting to purchase cars and get cable television. Every day a few more get their residency, and with it the go-ahead to apply for a phone line and Qatari driver's license.

Each person prioritizes the privileges that become available once one's residency is secured differently. There are people in our building who went out and rented cars the same day they got their ID card. Darren's first order of business was taking a trip to Q-tel to apply for a residential package, including land line, Internet service and post-paid mobile phone. For me it was searching for flights for the upcoming holiday.

Although it seems as though we've just arrived and classes have just started, we're about 2 weeks away from our first vacation. Eid al Fitr, the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan, is almost upon us, and with it comes 5 stat holidays! So including weekends, college faculty have 9 days off at the end of September.

Since we've just arrived, Darren and I were initially thinking of just staying put and discovering more about our new 'hometown'. But 9 work-less days here would seem very long. So travel it is. It would make sense for our first order of business to be to explore the Gulf further. We know people who have traveled to Syria, Oman, Yemen - all with great stories and fond memories. But we've opted to do something a little more outrageous - we're planning on going to Paris.

France has never been high on my list of places to visit. I'm not exactly sure why that is. I would like to see the Eiffel tower, drink a coffee-substitute in a French cafe, view the Mona Lisa in person, and see just how much of my high school French has stuck. I didn't ever really think I'd have the chance, but thanks to our dear friends, now I do.

Dan and Marie are going to Paris for a vacation in 4 or 5 days and will be there until the second day of our vacation. If that's not incentive to plan a trip to la belle Paris, I don't know what is. We'll only really have a day and a half to visit, but we'll take whatever we can get. That is, if Darren's papers arrive on time.

You see, while I have received my Qatari residency, Darren has not. In order to be a resident of Qatar, one has to be sponsored. My employer is my sponsor, and I am Darren's, so we had to wait until I was a resident before I could officially sponsor him. At the moment he is here on a visitor's visa. He can leave the country, but doing so would make all the work he has done in getting his residency void and he'd have to re-do the medical tests and fingerprinting, not to mention start the waiting all over. And I'm sure the college would not be very excited in helping him get all that done AGAIN.

So here's the plan: If Darren's residency comes in by the end of the day, we'll call the travel agent and confirm our flights to Paris. If it doesn't, we've got a few more days to try to rebook, hoping that the flights we want aren't full. If it still hasn't arrived by the end of the week, we will be two thoroughly disappointed Conleys. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Having read this, you can feel like you've been part of a typical Doha expat conversation. I wonder what we'll all talk about after (1) all the residencies come in and (2) we all get back from our trips. Maybe the next trip?

The unthinkable has happened.

I don't know if I'm acclimatizing or if the difference between a humid and a non-humid day is that stark, but today feels cool-ish to me, and according to theweathernetwork.ca, it's currently 44 degrees Celsius in Doha.

Of course, I was outside only to walk from my apartment to the bus, from the bus to my office cubicle, and then to and from the building I teach in. But still...it feels nice out today!

Yes, my friends, the unthinkable has happened...and I'm certainly not complaining (neither am I planning an outdoor picnic, incidentally! Not yet, anyway.)

Mid-week Musings: Culture Shock and Cultural Segregation

Here I sit in our newly rearranged office/den (the one with the on-suite bathroom!), sipping my green tea and thinking. Supper has been made and eaten, the dishes are being washed by our lovely dishwasher, and Darren is out on a quest to get a reading lamp. I decided not to accompany him today; a girl can only do so much shopping!

It's amazing how quickly this place has become home. I'm referring to both our apartment and the city itself. Of course I don't feel like I truly belong here, but I don't feel like a complete stranger either. I've got a pretty good handle on my job - at least, until they rearrange the classes at the end of this week and reassign our workloads. I know I could get around the city, as long as my destination was a well-known place. I've got - or have access to - everything I need here.

I think what I actually am suffering from is a false sense of belonging. I might be overestimating my ability to adapt to life in this country. I wouldn't be surprised if I've overcompensated for my uncertainties with optimism. I know I'm overconfident in my understanding of the way things work here. I wonder if these things are typical of people in the honeymoon stage of culture shock.

I am certain that a few months down the road I will find myself crawling into Darren's lap so he can soothe me as I weep over everything and everyone I miss. I am expecting to get more and more annoyed at the way "they" do things here. And I suspect I will find parts of this culture that I so desperately want to change. That's all a natural part of culture shock. But I hope that when it's all said and done I don't become an embittered expat, body in one country, heart in another.

Someone on the bus this morning said, "The expat life is a strange one. You never fit in." It's true - as a foreigner in a strange land, try as I may, I will never be accepted the way a national is. This is especially true in Qatar. As I've mentioned before, the country is a multicultural one, with foreigners from all over the world moving here in droves. Consequently, there are pockets of various cultures living within a muslim Arab society. These cultures rarely mix, but rather stick to themselves (whether by choice, habit or force, I'm not sure yet).

I wonder how much of this segregation is actually based on social status rather than culture. While there are certainly exceptions, the majority of the taxi drivers are from the same culture. Servers in restaurants are predominantly from another culture. Teachers and businessmen are from yet another. Construction workers are from another again. So when people from different ethnic backgrounds interact, they are often also interacting with people from a different socioeconomic class.

Even though I like to think I treat my taxi driver the same way I do my waitress, which is the same way I treat my colleagues, it is naive to think that it will be easy (or even possible?) to develop a similar type of friendship with each of these people (even given the right circumstances). I don't doubt this will be an area in which I struggle when the honeymoon comes to an end.

Nothing I have experienced here has really come as a surprise. Darren and I read a fair amount of information on Qatar before coming - most of which was provided by my employer. However, knowing something and living it are two very different things.

Well, my cup is empty, the call to prayer is playing and the computer wants to be plugged in. I guess it's time to end this little reflection session for now. I'm going to choose to enjoy this stage of culture shock while it lasts. And hopefully I'll be able to breeze through to the part where I come to terms with the new culture (whatever that means!). In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the adventure of settling into a new country...and stay away from cranky old expats.

But first, another cup of tea!

Classroom Anecdote

At the beginning of the class today, students wrote a paragraph describing their school schedule. Then, after a lesson on when to add an -s or -es to a verb in the present simple, I asked them to check their paragraphs for proper use of -s on the verbs. (What I wanted to say was "Make sure you have conjugated each present simple verb correctly," but I'm sure you can understand why I didn't.)

To encourage thorough self-editing I said, "When I read you paragraphs, I will check each verb. If I find a mistake with the -ses, I will take my red pen and write a big X." So the students checked their paragraphs and reported that they were perfect. We'll see when I look at them in the morning.

Just before it was time to go, I told the class to have a great evening and a wonderful Iftar (the meal after sunset when Muslims break their fast). "Oh, teacher, you speak Arabic!" was the response. So I had to list off the 5 words/phrases that I actually know:

• kayfa Haal-ak
• al-Hamdu lil-laah
• ramadan
• as-salaamu :alay-kum
• inshallah
  

A student in the far corner piped up, "Teacher, next week I will give you a quiz. If you get one wrong, I will take my red pen and I will write a big X on your paper!"

It made my day - not only did it demonstrate that my students were listening, but also that they have a great sense of humour!

The Eats in Doha

Wherever I go, I find that people are always concerned about what I'm eating. Perhaps it's my bony body type or my history with mild illness, but whatever the reason, if you're one of those people, I'm about to put your mind to rest.

There is a lot of food in Doha. In terms of quantity, there is plenty to go around. In terms of diversity, almost anything can be found here. Because of the large expat community (from the West, as well as from the East - India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Phillipines...), there is a good selection of ethnic foods to be found.

Having said that, there are some items that are harder to come by than others. We have bought brocolli but it's not always easy to find. The same is true for special products like Miracle Whip (which Darren happened to find in one store and stocked up for me!) and whole wheat pasta. On the other hand, there are tons of Asian and European products that I'm not familiar with and that would be interesting to try.

So what do we eat? Well, at home - pretty much the same thing we ate in Canada. Wednesday night, for example, I made spaghetti. The night before we had stir fry. Last week, when we were being fed delicious lunch buffets at orientation, we had simpler dinners, such as egg sandwiches and omelets.

That's not to say that we always eat what we've always eaten. Last Saturday when we got home late and hungry from a city tour, I sent Darren to a nearby takeout kebab place to pick up shawarma. Last night we went to a Middle Eastern restarurant and sampled baba ghanouj (pictured above), chicken kofta and shish tawook. Tomorrow I'm planning on making Biryani. And more and more I'd like to experiment with the "different" vegetables and spices here.

We find ourselves eating out more in Doha than we did at home. Not because of the lack of options for at-home eating, but because of our need to get out.

There are a few reasons for this. First, it's too hot to go out during the day. This makes it really easy to stay in the apartment for hours on end. Fortunately I am forced to leave each morning to go to my job, because I'm the kind of person who would stay planted here. Darren does a good job of getting out most days to run a little errand at least, but he still spends the majority of his time cooped up in here. It's not just us - after sundown, the city seems to come to life. All the stores are open until at least 9 or 10, and children can be seen running around and playing in the rubble heaps late into the evening.

The other reason is that we're bored at home. Once dinner is finished, we've still got a few hours until bedtime. Because I've spent all day at work, I usually just want to be with Darren, or maybe another couple. However, with few distractions at home, it gets boring really quickly. So we find reasons to get out for a few hours in the evening. Sometimes it's to use an Internet cafe, this past week we spend days on our quest to find more comfortable sheets, but other times it's to have a meal.

Fortunately eating out is not as expensive here as it is at home - as long as you stay away from the ritzy hotels. These are the few places that have liquor licenses in the country, so they are popular destinations for non-muslims. But the city is full of interesting (and familiar) places to eat, and we're enjoying discovering them one by one.

Hopefully now you will be less concerned about the Conleys' eating habits in Doha. We've never had it so good, actually!

Friday thoughts

It's Friday, the day of rest! :)

We got ourselves up early this morning just in case the couple who offered to give us a ride to church were planning on going to the 8:30 service. We would have arranged it last night but there was a problem with Q-Tel's tower and the entire city was without mobile service for a good part of the evening. As it turns out, they were going to the 10:30 service, so we had some time to relax this morning. Relax for Darren meant play spider solitaire, and for me it meant try out our new swiffer-esque mop. Which, incidently, works better than I had hoped on our floors. Anyway...

The church rents a villa to use for their services. It holds about 200 people and it was PACKED. We had to sit in the very back row and we weren't even late. The air conditioners were working hard, but whenever you get that many people in a single room, it's going to be hot. Rather than sandals - which allow air to circulate and keep one's feet cool(er), I foolishly wore my wedding sneakers. So in order to help maintain a reasonable body temperature, I took them off. I hope no one was offended by my barefootedness.

The service itself - for better or worse - was very similar to what one would experience in North America. This is not surprising since the majority of the attenders are from Canada and the US. There were some South Africans and Europeans, and at least two people from China, as well. But the church is definitely an expat church. Again, this is not surprising. Qatar, an Islamic nation, is willing to allow foreigners to worship in their preferred way (there are also Buddhist, Bah'ai and Hindu meetins in the city), but I'm not sure what would happen if a Qatari decided to convert.

After the service, we came home and had lunch, followed by a long afternoon of napping. On our new sheets. We really love our new sheets. It's amazing how different 180 and 300-thread counts feel! And now the sun is beginning to set and we are discussing how to spend our evening. I'm sure it will involve a taxi ride to an airconditioned location, a bite to eat and perhaps even the picking up of something else from our never-ending "not essential, but would be helpful" list - like a computer desk, or a vaccuum cleaner, or a strainer. We're so extravagent, aren't we? :)

Work update: off to the camel races (or maybe tortoise?)

We're off to a pretty slow start, but things have started. I have been assigned to teach two sections of a particular course. In one section, there are no students enrolled yet. That doesn't mean there won't be any students; it just means none have gone through the registration process at this time. In the other section, there are 8 enrolled, and I met 2 of them today. Yup, only two. Aparently there were 4 in the first class this morning, but by the time I got to see them, the number had dwindled.

There could be a number of reasons for the lack of bodies, including the facts that it's still August, people are returning from vacations abroad, and Ramadan is about to start. I'm sure I'll be posting more about Ramadan in the coming weeks.

As for the students themselves, my first impression is that they are very lovely gentlemen. While the school I work for is co-ed, all the students in my classes will be men. It's a trades preparatory program, and these guys will go on to be process operators or instrumentalists for a large local oil company. But first they have to improve their langauge skills to the point where they can make it through their courses, all of which are taught exclusively in English.

I'm all ready to get them to work, but I'm learning to be patient and wait for the dust to settle, if you will. In the meantime, I have organized my office space and made a lovely calendar of my workweek.

I hope to meet some more students tomorrow, but then again, it will be Thursday - which is the equivalent of Friday at home (see Darren's post), so chances are not good. Good thing I'm easy-going.

Settling in

We're nearing the two-week point, and there are a few things that I now realize I took for granted in Canada.

1. Cold water. Since I have been here, the only place I have found cold water is in refrigerated water dispensers. The hot water gets very hot, and the cold water is warm. I think it has something to do with the water being stored on the building roofs! :) It's not necessarily a negative thing, but it takes some getting used to. I have to remember not to turn the hot water on when I'm washing my hands, or it will turn into a hand burning session.
   


2. Quiet mornings. As I've mentioned earlier, the city is in a constant state of construction - deconstruction - reconstruction. As I've also mentioned earlier, it's really hot in the daytime here. These two facts combined mean that we awake at 5am to the sound of jackhammers and backhoes hard at work breaking down what once was a four storey building. when the machines move, it sounds like a train squealing its breaks on a track - not the most pleasant sound in the world. But it will be interesting to see what gets built next door to the south and next door to the east. Oh, and next door to the north! :)
   


3. Recycling bins. We drink a lot of bottled water here, and each of those bottles (except the few we keep to reuse) are thrown in the garbage. The same goes for pop cans, styrofoam containers, cardboard boxes, you name it. The college started a paper recycling program last year (I think it might have been students in the environmental health department, but I'll have to verify that). There are green bins beside the photocopiers that say "paper and cardboard only". The chair of my department reminded us to use them, noting that as far as we know, the paper in the bins is being recycled, although no one has actually followed the truck to its destination. I understand that recycling alone is not the answer to the world's environmental dilemmma, but I sure do miss my blue box!
   


4. Trevor. Before leaving Canada, Darren and I sold our Honda Civic, affectionately caled Trevor. For reasons practical, financial and environmental, our plan is to live in Doha as long as we can without owning a vehicle. There are busses that take employees (and their househusbands!) to the college, and the public bus/taxi system throughout the city is pretty good. So, we're doing fine for transportation. Besides, there's no way I'd get behind the wheel after seeing how people drive around here! Having said that, there have been times already (and many more to come, I'm sure) when it would have been nice to have had the freedom to jump in our own car and go somewhere on our own schedule.
   
   
5. The Internet. I do have access to the net at work, but it's for work-related business primarily. There are plenty of coffee shops throughout the city that offer free or cheap internet access to their customers. We've also visited an internet cafe. These are great options, but nothing is the same as having access to the world`s resources from your sofa. This one is just a matter of time. Once we get our residency settled, we can get a phone line and then DSL. Apparently our apartment is not within the range that can have wireless connection, but Darren will figure that all out. That's what a househusband is for!!
   

First Impressions

Now that I finally have a few moments to reflect and type, I'd like to share some of my inital thoughts and observations about our new home. The list of insights will be by no means exhaustive, nor is it meant to give you a clear idea about what we're experiencing. My main goal in writing this is to document some of the first things I noticed in order to return to them in the coming months and years and see how they've changed.

Summer in Doha is hot. When we arrived at the airport at midnight, and walked off the plane, the heat hit us like a brick wall. Fortunately, we were quickly escorted to an air conditioned shuttle that took us to the air conditioned terminal for processing. But the next day when I was standing outside the clinic where we got out medicals done as part of the residency process, I experienced for probably the first time in my life a hot wind. I’m used to a breeze being a cooling agent, but the breeze that was blowing on me was just as hot, if not hotter, than the air. It felt as though I was standing on the wrong side of an air conditioning unit or beside the exhaust pipe of a running car. It was a very interesting experience.

In the past week the temperature may not have fluctuated too much (we don't have internet or TV, or even a thermometer, so we can't check the official temperature) but depending ont he level of humidity, there have been bearable and unbearable days.

Returning faculty keeps saying to us, "Oh, you live in Al Saad (the common name of our apartment bulidng complex, named for the major street it's nearest)? That's a great area! There are tons of restaurants, shops, etc. in your neighbourhood!" However, until the winter comes, I'm not about to go exploring on foot, which is the best way to explore.

There are tons of non-Qatari nationals. In the first few days here, I have not spoken to a singe Qatari. That is not to say I have not spoken to a single non-Westerner. The hotel we stayed at for the first two nights was staffed with people from Sri Lanka, India, Philippines, etc. The same was true for the restaurants we've visited, the bus and taxi drivers whose services we've used, and the stores we've shopped in. The country is full of expatriates without whom there would be no service industry.

Don't get me wrong; I have seen Qataris - on the street, in the mall, around the campus, but I have had no contact with them. I will get to know about two dozen of them starting next week when class begins. The stream I have been assigned to teach is TPP (Trades Preparatory Program) in which 100% of the students are Qatari.

One good thing about the large ex-pat community is that the grocery stores are filled with foods from all around the world. Likewise, there are restaurants and services that cater to a wide variety of tastes and cultures. Also, as a Canadian who comes from a multicultural environment (especially as an ESL teacher!), it's much easier to adapt to a place where there are people of various culture and colours than a monocultural environment.

Doha is an architect's dream. I have seen so many impressive buidlings, especially when driving through the business and hotel districts. Doha is even building a community called the Pearl that is akin to the Palm Tree islands in Dubai.

Everywhere you look there is construction. I had seen more construction cranes in the first 24 hours of being here than in my entire life previously - and that includes pictures! Things are constructed and deconstructed at incredible rates. When we moved into our apartment, there was a building in front. One day when we got home from work (orientation), it was half demolished. The next day it was a rubble heap that matched the rubble heap on three other sides of our building.

Unfortunately, due to the speed at which the city is growing upward, it is impossible to hire enough skilled labourers. As a result, the workmanship is not as good as one would expect at home. But things are bult fast, and built to impress.

There are many other things I could mention, but they will have to wait for another time. For now, I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into our new surroundings.

Settling into our New Life

It's hard to believe we've been here for over a week already. then again, it's hard to believe we've been here for only a week!

For the last work week, starting this past Sunday (remember, Friday-Saturday is our weekend here!), I've been in full day orientation at school. That was 5 days full of long sessions at which tons of information was thrown at us. I feel like I have a basic sense of the campus layout now, although I still have to regularly ask security guards or returning faculty to point me in the direction of a particular building. I also have a basic idea of what I"ll be doing for the next 4 months. In EFL/ESL around the world, we never really know what and whom we'll be teaching until the first day of class. It's frustrating, but that's the way it is. So I'll spend Sunday in departmental and team meetings, and then jump into the classroom on Monday. Fortunately for me, a lot of the technology we're expected to use is similar top what I have used in Canada, so that's one less hurdle for me.

My colleagures are all Canadians. Well, there are some local hires from sub-continental Asia in administrative and support positions. Many of them are from sub-continental Asia. But all the faculty come from Canada. I have met people from all across the country, but since CNA is based out of Newfoundland, there is a huge proportion of Newfoundlanders here. I have very little experience with people from Atlantic Canada, and Newfoundland in particular. As language people, it has been very interesting for Darren and me to hear their different dialects. What a big and diverse country we come from!

In terms of settling into our new lives, we're doing alright. Darren and I are both sleeping well at night, and I have awoken 2 minutes before my alarm clock (set for 5:45 am - in order to be downstairs for the bus's prompt 6:45 departure) the past three mornings. Even today, I woke up at 5:50, rolled over and fell back to sleep, because it's Friday!

Our apartment is very nice. We live in a building with just over 70 units, all inhabited by Canadians working at CNA-Q and their spouses. We have seen over a half dozen units now and no two are identical. Some have long living/dining rooms and offices. Others have the dining room in one of the bedrooms. Others have balconies. We are fortunate to have windows that face the city, not air shafts like some of our friends. The sun wakes me up each morning!

Our little apartment (acutually, compared to where we were living in Thorold it's a BIG apartment!) is beginning to feel like home. As Darren has mentioned, we've been slowly purchasing lamps and rugs and bedding. He found a store that sells real plants so we're going to look into getting a tree for the living room - since there isn't too much foliage nearby. We'd still like to get a different sheet/duvet set for our bed, as well as a different desk for the office. And the baking sheet we bought is too big for the little oven that came with the apartment, so that means a rdeturn trip to the mall to exchange it for a smaller one. But these are all details now - our place is definitely liveable and becoming distinctly "home", which is important because for at least the next 3 years, that's exactly what it is.

Thoughts in our final Canadian days

The last week has been odd. We are currently staying at home #2 on our friends tour. Because we moved out of our apartment July 31, we needed somewhere to stay until our flight - August 12. For some reason, I was afraid to impose on any one person/couple/family to put us up for that long a time frame, so we asked 3. Yup, I decided it would be good for us to move around from house to house to house while Darren and I each finished teaching and prepared to start our new adventure. But it has actually been nice to spend some time with different sets of friends before leaving, and not nearly as stressful as I imagined.

So here we are, sleeping in guest rooms, with clothes and toothbrushes in tow. I am proud to announce that all the earthy possessions we are bringing to Qatar are packed and neatly stored at my in laws'. Except, of course, that which we're using this week. We took one small carry-on-sized suitcase back to St. Catharines with us to use for the week, as well as the backpack that houses our laptop and camera, and a "school bag" each for teaching.

Now that it's time to move to our last stop on the circuit, we're finding it a little trickier to fit everything into the same number of bags we brought here. It's amazing how things can quickly multiply. Besides a few gifts we received at our going away party (which we HAVE to bring with us!), we have accumulated a year's worth of prescription drugs, a few more toiletry items, and a Qatar-appropriate skirt that I couldn't turn down. But I'm married to a master packer, so I'm just going to fold everything nicely and wait for him to come and work his magic!

The fact that we're moving to a completely different country with a different culture, climate, set of expected behaviours, etc. hasn't really hit me yet. I know that we will be immersed in an expatriate community, which will soften the foreign-ness of the experience, but this expat community exists in the midst of a middle eastern culture.

We really have little knowledge about what we're walking into. We've familiarized ourselves with all the information the school provided for us to read, and I check a few blogs written by people living in Doha semi-regularly. Darren talks to his Saudi students about Qatar, and we just re-watched The Kite Runner to renew our excitement for "that part of the world". I've also been reading a book about Iran which is peaking my interest in the region as well. But like any overseas experience, we won't really know what life will be like until we get there and experience it. And that's part of the fun.

But at the moment, I just feel like I'm on vacation. That might worry me except for the fact that my friend Kathy didn't realize she was moving to Japan until she was in the car on the way to the airport. And she turned out alright.

Thank-you!

Well, we are no longer residents of Thorold - thanks to a ton of people.

This past week was one of the most stressful we've experienced in a long time. But like all stressful times, we made it through!

I went to work Thursday morning and by the time I had finished teaching, our apartment had been cleared out of almost everything and cleaned from top to bottom. It was an amazing experience!

A BIG thank-you to

• my family who sorted, packed, cleaned, transported, protected
• our friends who helped with the moving itself
• those who took our possessions either to use or sell
• Darren's family who found room for more furniture than they expected
• everyone who prayed for my anxiety

For the next 10 days or so we'll be staying with various friends and relatives in St. Catharines and Hamilton. It will be a time of visiting and relaxing before we begin our adventure. Hopefully we will run into you in the next week, but if not, we will have to make plans for next summer!

Last chance!

The packing has begun - for real. I went through the storage closet under the stairs while Darren marked essays this afternoon. It's amazing the things we (despiting intentionally downsizing last year) have hidden away in the corners of the apartment!

We've done a good job getting rid of most of our stuff. Plans are in place to deliver our bedroom furniture to friends in Welland, and our living room furniture to our family in Hamilton. Darren is currently uninstalling programs from our computer that we're giving to friends, and this morning a couple came and picked up our bedside tables to furnish rooms they hope to rent to students.

However, there are some more things we'd like to see go to good homes:

• classical guitar
• Dirt devil upright vaccuum cleaner
• set of yellow dishes (including matching cream & sugar set and juice pitcher)
  
• wine & champagne glasses
• DVD player and VCR player
• women's ice skates size 7
• handheld electric mixer
• footbath
  
• GE cordless phone
  

Whatever we can't give away, we're going to put in our friends' yard sale. But if you know of someone who could use any of these things, why should they have to pay for them?

The best part of being a teacher

My 7 students, the teacher who is going to replace me when I move to Qatar, and selected members of their families joined me on a trip to Fort George and Queenston Heights yesterday.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm teaching the bridging course for students who have been accepted to the MA in Applied Linguistics/TESL program in September. It's a 10-week course, 7 of which I'm responsible for.
We spend our time reading articles about topics in applied linguistics, writing essays, paraphrasing, critiquing articles, discussing important terminology - lots of fun! So, we thought it would be appropriate to spend one day relaxing together and enjoying the history of the area.

At Fort George we had a tour of the barracks, officers' quarters, and powder magazine. In addition, we were entertained by the fife and drum band, and a rifle demonstration. They even let us try on soldiers' uniforms!

From there we had a driving tour of NOTL and the Niagara Parkway as we headed to Queenston heights for a picnic dinner. After the interesting, but long drive, the kids were glad to be outside where they could eat and run around. They spent their time playing frisbee, climbing trees and rolling down the hill, as the adults looked on. Just for the record, I believe that sign reads "Please keep off flower beds," not "Refrain from climbing the hill." :)

I'm not sure if anything was learned on this outing, but I think a little diversion every now and then does a person good. Besides, if these people are going to be classmates for the next 8 months in what was the most stressful and challenging venture of my entire life, then having established a good foundation will be very helpful.

Also, it was fun.

The whole gang, minus the majority of Carol's daughter. That's what happens when you ask a random friendly-looking but older gentleman to take a group shot.

Musicals and novels

Last Sunday Darren, our friend Ashley and I had tickets to see You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in Hamilton. In grade 7, Darren played Charlie Brown in his elementary school's production of the Broadway Musical. So, I thought it would be a nice birthday outing. And that it was.

I could imagine little awkward 12-year-old Darren sulking around the stage in character, dreaming of "that cute redhead girl" and yelling at Snoopy to stop dancing and start eating his dinner. I think he was probably really well cast!

This Sunday we were back in Hamilton, this time to celebrate Darren's 33rd birthday with his family. We partook in the Sunday morning service at the Meeting House, and then had a bit of time to kill before heading over to the Conleys'. So, we decided a visit to Chapters was in order.

While Darren browsed through comic books and superhero magazines (What was I going to say - it was after all his birthday!?!), I embarked on the task of finding a book to read on the plane. None of the titles on the Hot and New table intrigued me, so I headed over to the literature section and began to systematically scan each shelf. I now understand why they have all those chairs all over the store! I picked up a few books, read a few pages, and then made my decision.

I purchased My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, a novel about a girl who was conceived to be a donor for her older sister with Leukemia. I thought the 448 pages would keep me occupied during the two consecutive 7-hour flights.

Here's the problem: I've been having trouble saving it for the plane ride!

This is good because it means I finally have time to read for pleasure again. On the other hand, if I finish the book now, how will I entertain myself on August 12?

But my friend Marie, who happens to have a fascination with Iranian culture, has helped me out. She loaned me a couple of books (Lipstick Jihad and another one whose name I forget just now) which will hopefully keep me occupied until I'm at Pearson International Airport. Thanks, Dr. Good!

World Food

I made wonton soup last night. We haven't actually tried it yet; Darren was out with his buddy last night and I was eating leftovers from our birthday dinner Thursday night. But we did try some of the wontons and they tasted, well, like wontons!

Every Friday afternoon my class takes a little break from our academic pursuits and has what I've deemed "Culture Sharing". This involves us taking turns bringing a dish typically enjoyed by people in our respective countries. I know that culture is much more than food, but sharing dishes from one's home country is a great way to start a cultural discussion.

The first week I brought individual strawberry shortcakes. That was followed by butter tarts, since according to Wikipedia, the butter tart is "a type of pastry best known as a Canadian treat". Then we enjoyed Sri Lankan milk rice with tamarind and date chutney, and the week after we danced to Pashtun music after eating palau biryani. Yesterday another student taught us how to make wontons (Pronounced huntun in Mandarin) and gave me the leftover wrappers and ground turkey (she avoided using the traditional pork out of respect for our Muslim student) mixture to use at home.

I find experimenting with different foods to be very enjoyable. I've been taught to cook Peruvian and Colombian food in the past. My roommate Ashley and I even successfully reproduced at least one of those dishes unassisted. That was a very proud day!

When I was in Bosnia, at least two ladies showed me how to make their traditional pie (pita - either with spinach, potatoes, or the most common, ground beef). It was quite a process, one which I am please to announce I was able to complete in Canada. Of course, it didn't taste quite as good...

The American girls I was living with in Travnik, Bosnia and I decided to make apple pies to give to our local friends, especially those who had made pita for us. It was a way we could share a part of who we are while showing our appreciation for their friendship.

It's not a fluke that when people gather, there is often the sharing of a meal (or at least snacks). I don't know if it's the intimacy of the act or the sharing of a basic human need, but eating is central to socializing. And - as far as I can tell - when someone visits your home, the initial reaction of people all over the world is to offer them something to eat...often even when food is scarce.

This line of thinking makes the idea of hunger (on a world or local scale) take on new meaning. While I establish the sharing of food as educational capital, others are longing for a simple meal. While I experiment with international cuisines, there are people in the countries from which the ingredients I use have been imported who cannot feed their families.

I cannot solve the world's hunger problems. I can, however, be more mindful of my level of consumption, and help out as opportunities arise, all the while being thankful for the bounty I have access to as one of the world's wealthy.

Shirtbug.net up and running

If you're looking for witty, stylish t-shirts, baby onesies, dog dishes or maternity shirts, have I got the online shop for you! Shirtbug.net is officially open for business.

Darren has designed his first 5 shirts, with many more to come - after all the marking and packing that I mentioned below!

He has gained a great deal of proficiency with GIMP (a free Photoshop-esque program) and can crank out a design in only 3 days now! :) That's what happens when you're a perfectionist!

I'm really glad that he finally has an outlet for all his pent-up creativity. Did you know my baby has come up with hundreds of ideas for inventions that we do not have the means to create? But thanks to cafepress.com, we don't need the means to actually produce anything; all Darren has to do is come up with clever designs, decide what products to put them on, and leave the rest to the professionals. It's truly a wonder.

And the news gets even better: Darren received his first sale this week! This is not including the 2 t-shirts he bought himself to check out the quality of the products! That's right, the site has just paid for itself this month. Ya hoo!

The Latest

I am entering the final stages with my Major Essay. It will be submitted to my second reader tomorrow and then, once I get his comments and make the required revisions, it will be off to the proofreader! The major work is behind me; it's all about details now.

This is great news, mainly because I don't have time to write any more drafts! We're moving out of our apartment in 15 days and leaving the country in 27, and our apartment is surprisingly void of packed boxes. All of our stuff is being distributed to friends and family, but it still needs to be packed up for moving day! (Which reminds me, if you're looking for something in particular - a nice vase, a side table lamp, a set of very happy yellow dishes to name a few - we can still probably hook you up!)

We haven't finalized our "TO TAKE" list yet. Every day I come up with something else that I'd like to have in Qatar but doubt we'll be able to fit in our luggage. For example, yesterday I decided that I'd really like to bring my housecoat along, but it doesn't fold up very compactly. I think we will have to find a way to include my favourite pot, though! Darren's bent on bringing our cutlery, but I think I'll be able to talk him out of that. And then there's our books - I just know that one of us is going to crave a little C.S. Lewis when our library is across the ocean!

These are the things we're currently dealing with, alongside lesson planning, assignment/test designing and marking first drafts of research essays (Darren) and annotated bibliographies (Larissa). Oh, the joys of being teachers...who are moving! :)

Dancing

Darren shared this video with me tonight. It's amazing how something so simple can be so powerful. Enjoy!


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Flight arrangements

We're really leaving.

While we don't have plane tickets in our hands, we do have an electronic flight itinerary, which makes this entire venture seem much more real.

August 12 is the big day. We're flying out at 11:10 pm, and we'll arrive in Doha just over 24 hours later, at 11:59 pm on the 13th. We'll only be in the air for about 14 hours all together - it's just over 7 hours from Toronto to London and just under 7 hours from London to Doha.

I imagine we'd be all messed up in terms of jet lag regardless of when we left/ arrived, so this itinerary is probably as good as any. And Pearson should be nice and quiet at that time of night! :)

Oh, and they're going to feed us on both planes!