Photos of the Week

Is there really anything I need to explain here? Scandalous, I know!

Photos of the Week: Double Standard

Here are some interesting shots I got at the camel races a couple of weeks ago. This is a common sight here. I have often been puzzled by this. It is frowned on in Middle Eastern countries for men and women to have any public display of affection, yet it is very acceptable to see two men holding hands or linking arms. I almost get a little jealous when I see this, knowing that I cannot reach over and grab Brett's hand or give him a good bye kiss when I drop him off at the university. In some twisted way this seems to be a double standard. I know that this practice also takes place with the Indian, Malaysian, Nepalese, and Filipino part of the population here. It is not unusual to see women walking closely holding hands either.

This proves, at least in my mind, that human beings need that physical touch from someone, especially in public where some of us need reassurance and strength from those closest to us. So, because it is taboo to hold their sweetheart's hand, men here reach out to their buddies for that need to be met. I'm not even adding any gay issues into this equation, because didn't you know, there are no gay people in the Middle East. :)

Word Verification

How do you verify a nonsense word?
When it is absolutely without a doubt absurd?
Is a subutri an underground park
Where the sloides can be slid in the dark?

And what about the madvo that bously refuses
The advances of warics and totally confuses
The adjik sitting in the singsk with its book
Looking up words with a noplad kind of look?

It gets more exciting when the spyro is there
Apprehending the drophot villain with flair.
They refsk and battle until both are exposed
And shockingly neither are ever opposed
To the essectul turn of the intiz twist in plot
Ending up in the baria, neither getting caught.

Then a rock throwing utley shows up on the screen
Telling the lownelio to get outtewai of his dream.
Not everyone understands the siongl of a man
Who measures his belidgu by calizes on his hands.

The typical sociste will never be enlightened
By the fusit to be found in the chotweis of excitement.
I hope your brasuls are comprehending this stuff
If not then I think your computer experience will be rough!

Photos of the Week

I have been waiting for months to capture this fairly common site around Doha. I have talked about this before, but never shown pictures: Yes, you read correctly. Many, way too many of the beauty salons here call themselves "beauty salOOns." I think it is a mistake that just keeps perpetuating itself, because one salon owner (who is obviously not a native English speaker) just copies the mistake from someone who copied it from someone else. It is hilarious, too, that this has injected a wild west flavor into a very eastern society. A woman told me that when she told the owners at her salon about the mistake, they were very embarrassed and changed it as soon as possible. Here you can see images of the Diamond Beauty Saloon that is in the nice, newer part of Doha.

Another funny fact about the salons here is that they have big walls around the establishments and men are not allowed to enter. They actually keep the doors locked. I had to ring a door bell when I went for my hair appointment and wait for the receptionist to let me in. Maybe they have had problems with men storming the salons and demanding equal services, who knows. Really, I think it has to do with Mulim women's ideas of modesty. At my hair appointment I saw a beautiful woman getting her hair done, then she went into the powder room and proceeded to cover herself up with her abaya and shayla. It made me wonder why she had just spent all that money and time. But you know, some days I really wish I had a shayla to hide under!

So back to the "saloon" label. The irony here is that Qatar is a Muslim country. Any kind of spirited beverage is taboo for followers of Islam. So I guess these are the covert operations going on right under the noses of the authorities. The government thinks that ladies are going to these establishments to get beautified, but in reality, they are partaking in the one stop shopping experience: a little color, a little cut, a little cocktail. Who wouldn't be happy with their new style and the bill after that?! All I can say is, after my one and only experience with a salon here, I really could have used a stiff drink.

The Camel Races

Saturday we went to the camel races in Dukhan. They were not what I was expecting. Instead of riders, the camels have small robots on their backs that are controlled with remotes. The camel "racer" is the man holding the remote, and he controls how much the robot "whips" the camel. It was amazing to see camels RUN/GALLOP for about 14 minutes straight. The sad part was seeing the camels finishing the race with foam around their mouths. I've never seen a horse race in person, so maybe horses finish the same way.

The beginning of the race is the best part (sadly the video I took of the start did not turn out), because the camels are all lined up with men standing in front holding the leads. When the start line is pulled up, the men let go of the leads and have to run/leap out of the way. If you ask me, they don't pay those guys enough! There were some camels who didn't want to start the race and some who didn't want to finish. I have to say I don't blame them at all.

There is a Land Cruiser with a video camera and a camera man on top that drives along the race route and films the event. Most of the race is not even visible to the people sitting in the stadium seating. Because sitting in the seating area is so boring, spectators can board a bus that follows the camels around the track along with numerous other vehicles. Brett and Abbey told me that it was the best way to see all the action.


The end of a LONG camel race

Most of the action, for me, was shooting pictures on the grassy area where people were allowed to get up close and personal with two camels. Some children could not take their hands off the poor animals. Abbey, on the other hand, could not get far enough away. It didn't help either, when I finally got her to pose with one, the camel reached over and tried to take a bite of her pony tail. Many people rode the camels (including Brett), but I was just fascinated by the funny creatures. Their eyelashes are things of beauty, but as Abbey put it, their teeth are disgusting. One of the camels kept making a whistling noise with his mouth and would show his teeth each time. This is how I captured the cheesy "smile" in one of the shots.

So there you have our adventure to the camel races. Not one of the highlights of my life, but definitely an experience to remember and talk about. I just want to make one thing clear, especially to Brett's dad Kenny: there were no bets placed, at least not on the races. I did wager at how long it would take Brett to jump onto one of the camels though!

Lawrence of Arabia Rides Again! Notice how he waves to all his peeps!

These Things Make Me Happy!

Tutoring Timmy

I met Timmy a few weeks ago and asked him if his real name was Timothy. He said, "My name is Timmy, but my nickname is Timothy." Funny, huh! Actually his real name is Greek, and I can't remember exactly what it is, so I'm grateful he has an anglicized version for me.

I have taken on a new occupation for three hours a week: tutoring a fourth grader. His mom is French, his dad is Greek, and his maid is Filipino. So he hears five different languages every day including English and Arabic. It's no wonder that Timmy is struggling in school with reading and writing.

Tonight Timmy had earned a reward by working so hard, so we played a game. I drew a grid with letters of the alphabet on the road out in front of his villa, and we proceeded to play a spelling game with a ball. I asked him to spell a word and he would have to bounce the ball onto the letters to spell it. He liked the game much better when I had to spell the words he gave to me. I had to dig deep to remember how to spell "entrepreneur".

My favorite part of tutoring is being invited into someone's home and seeing first hand how this family operates. This is really my first experience getting to know someone here in Qatar, other than ward members or people Brett works with. Timmy's dad Nihad is just like all the Greek characters in My Big Fat Greek Wedding - welcoming and warm and so hospitable. It has really been difficult for him to accept the fact that I never want any tea or coffee when I am there. Tonight I finally just told him about my religious beliefs. It wasn't the first time he had heard about Mormons, so he started telling me all about it. I corrected him on a few things, but for the most part, he had an accurate picture. As a pilot for Qatar Airways, he has had a global experience in his life, even living for a time in Texas. His English is very good, but he is not able to help his son as much as he needs to. Even though this is such a culturally diverse home, and there are many advantages for children in these kinds of families, I really see the disadvantages so clearly as I find the things Timmy struggles with.

I often felt cheated that my dad did not teach me German as I was growing up. I had to go to college and take two years of it in order to get even a taste of speaking a second language. But now I see the wisdom of speaking one language in a home. Many children probably do very well with more than one language, but a child with any kind of learning disability really has complications.

So this is my latest challenge. Let me know if you have any advice on how to motivate a very active fourth grader to sit and read on his own.

Yes, Definitely Skive if You Get the Chance!

To skive is British slang for the practice of avoiding responsibilities because you want to do something more fun or just don't want to do what you should be doing. In the context of schooling, this is known as truancy. In the military, this is known as desertion. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

So Amy hit the nail on the head - way to go! Jan, well I don't know what to say about your definition. I think you are thinking about some past life experience or something. Kristy's guess was close, only because she has probably done her fair share of skiving at the sleepovers she mentioned.

So if you get a chance this week, make sure and save some time to do a little skiving - relax, put off that load of laundry. Allow yourself that all important downtime to bunk off for awhile. If the British put their stamp of approval on such activity, well that's good enough for me!

The Museum of Islamic Art

Two weeks ago we visited the new Museum of Islamic Art that opened in Doha this last December. The building is stunning and the art is impressive, but you can only look at so many Quráns - just kidding. The building is so impressive that it overshadows the art, but as they acquire more exhibits, I think that will equalize. The building was designed by I.M Pei, a famous Chinese architect. Brett got to "meet" him at the VIP open house he went to. He was giddy for days telling me about how I. M. Pei had stood right next to him. Here are just a few photos from our day there.

There are quite a few of these amazing doors on display. The details are exquisite.

"I'm a Genie is a bottle, baby. You've gotta rub me the right way. "

These people are serious about their rugs.

I don't usually think of the Middle East when I think of a knight in shining armour, but here it is.

You can see the Qatar Islamic Center in the background here - kind of a spiral design.

Museum Behavior?

This reminds me of something from a Ray Bradbury or Ayn Rand novel.

To Skive or Not to Skive? That is the Question!

Have you ever heard the term "skiving" or "to skive"? I hadn't until I met my British neighbor Felicity. What wonders come out of her mouth! I am fascinated by language anyway, and to hear the English language spoken with such colorful expressions and vocabulary is an adventure as well as a delight. I have warned her that I am going to start jotting things down in a notebook, because by the time I get home I have forgotten what clever phrases or terms she used. I always have to walk the fine line between annoying her and showing my wonder at her glorious use of the mother tongue in our casual conversations. Sometimes it just isn't cool to say, "What was that you just said?! What does THAT mean?"

So here is the fun part: Please post a comment about what you think "to skive" means. It is a verb, I will give you that much, but no fair turning to Google. I will let you know if any of you get it right in my next post. Hint: Another similar term is "bunking off." Pip, Pip, Cheerio!

Doha Zoo

Last week we finally made it to the Doha Zoo. We took numerous photos. It was a wonderful day, and we all got to feed the resident elephant and listen to the roaring contest between the two lions and the one tiger. Two days ago I thought I had copied all the photos onto the computer. So of course, ignoring that nagging voice inside my head that said, "WAIT!" I deleted them from the camera. Then when I tried to put a photo on my blog, I realized that only ten of the 285 photos were copied into the file. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The good news is that after hours of learning, a few screams in frustration, and a few bucks shelled out, I was able to recover the deleted photos from the camera using a program called PhotoRescue. So let me know if you ever need to recover some photos - I can tell you about all the highs and lows of the process.

Brett likes to visit his cousins now and then.

So here are some (no, not all 275) expensive photos. I hope they are worth it!

Abbey and Brett were TERRIFIED of the alligator!

Ha, ha Mr. Vulture! I cheated you out of my dead photos.