Arabic Language confusion

I got a piece of mail today from my auto insurance agency. It was addressed to Kareail Narey Toma. As we told our Arabic teacher many times, it is not easy to translate English into Arabic and vice versa. There are a few sounds in Arabic that don't exist in English, and some English sounds, such as "p" or the short "e" don't exist in Arabic. For example, when the brand Pepsi is written in Arabic, it literally comes out being pronounced Beebsi. Also, the K and the C like in cat become the same letter "Kaf" and the S and the C like in certain become the Arabic letter "Sa." Likewise, the Arabic letters Sa and Sod both become English S. There are many examples of such problematic translations.

Anyway, I explain all of this because my name has apparently caused everyone some confusion, because they see the "y" in Caryl and don't realize that its pronounced as the "o" in Carol. My first name, written in Arabic looks like this (remember to read from right to left):

My middle name Marie looks like this:









And my last name Tuma looks like this:











Apparently when you look at that in Arabic and translate it all back into English, it becomes Kareail Narey Toma. The lack of distinction between "m" and "n" is something that I don't really understand, because both letters do exist in Arabic, the mim and the noon. You can see in my middle name that the mim was translated to N, but they got it right in my last name. Unfortunately, the Qatari government did not get it right in my last name, and every single one of my government documents is issued to Caryl Marie Tuna. Grrrrrr.

And for those of you who actually speak Arabic... Yes I do know that my handwriting looks like a two-year old's. I've only been doing this for three months. When it comes to Arabic... I am a two year old!

Asian Games Opening Ceremonies

Jumana, Dave, Lisa, Karen and I in front of the Asian Games Torch tower.

The Asian Games is definitely the largest event that Doha has ever hosted. They've been preparing for about three years, and took place from December 1-15th. There were a decent amount of tourists in, and thousands of athletes and media from all over Asia. Since this is the first time that the Middle East has hosted, everyone wanted it to go well. Many expats fled the country, others planned to hide in our apartments, and some brave souls decided that they wanted to actually try to attend the games. Tickets were expensive for the opening ceremony, but we decided it would be worth it, so we had planned all along to do that. When we realized how cheap the tickets for most of the games were, we couldn't really resist seeing other sports, too.

The opening ceremonies were most impressive. Luckily our seats were under cover, because it poured all day long. The rain let up for the actual ceremony, and then started coming down in buckets again on my walk home.

The beginning of the ceremony featured hundreds (maybe thousands) of men in thobe with torches spelling out "Peace be upon you" in English ("Al-salaam alaykum" in Arabic).

The East Asia Silk Road sequence had hundreds of performers, dancers, and people moving these massive caravans.

The City of the Future segment focused on education, technology, and natural resources (and had some pretty sweet pyro). Interestingly, there was a pretty long section on science, and most people couldn't figure out the purpose of that. After some discussion, we wondered if maybe, since this is the first Asian Games from the Middle East, they wanted to do something to subtley refute the idea that everything is always focused on Allah. It could be much simpler, like they are trying to show another part of their history here, but anyway we thought it was interesting.

I thought one of the coolest parts was the parade of athletes from all different countries. Aside from Qatar, of course, the countries that got the loudest ovations were Iraq, Iran, Syria, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain (Middle East countries) and then India and the Philippines (lots of workers from those countries live in Qatar).

The lighting of the Asian Games torch was one of coolest, and definitely the most suspenseful, moment of the ceremonies. They had trained a few of the Emir's horses to be able to make the climb from the stadium floor to the highest part of the stadium, and I guess on the night of, they just picked the one that was least skittish, but the rain had made the ramp slippery and the horse barely made it. Also, the rider of the horse is one of the Emir's sons (but I didn't know which one!) and at some point later that week I said something about that particular son being cute. Then someone from Education City told me he was 19 and goes to Georgetown here - oops! But I felt better when one of the Georgetown staff told me that women all over Georgetown were talking about him too, and they are in their 40s and knew who he was at the time!

Dave and I with part of our audience participation kit, which was so cool. Except we got so mad at the people (Qataris) who weren't following the directions on when to use each part, 'cause there was a whole list of directions, but they just turned their lights on whenever they felt like it, and then as soon as one person did, the whole rest of the stadium joined in. Yeah this is definitely a relationship-based culture, not a process-driven one.

More to come with pics of the actual sporting events!

Disaster strikes Qatar...

I lost my liquor permit. Seriously, I have no idea where it is. (edit 17 December: I found it! I had forgotten which jeans I wore the last time I went, put on my cute jeans for the club the other night and there it was, yay!) That little card is the only thing that gets me into the Qatari liquor store. Instead of panic, I am trying to focus on the positives. For example, while looking for it, I found: two bobby pins, Uncle Tom's contact info, 150 Indian rupee, 6 riyal worth of Pizza Hut coupons, a DC metro card, a peppermint Cert, and about 82 American cents.

Another positive - I get an opportunity to post in my blog about the complex process of buying alcohol in this semi-conservative Middle Eastern country.

First, you have to get your liquor permit. This requires a letter from your Human Resources Director stating where you work and what your title is, where you live, whether you are single or married, and how much you make per month. You then fill out a form repeating most of that information, and adding your contact information and religion. You take the letter, the form, your passport, and QR1000 ($274.74) to the liquor store, where you have an interview. My interview was pretty much the simplest thing ever - they saw an American passport, and I had put "Catholic" as my religion, so they didn't ask me anything really. Just processed the paperwork. Then they took my picture and gave me a little blue card (this is what I have lost - so sad!) Encoded on this magical card is your permit limit - the amount of money you can spend at the liquor store per month. It is proportional to your salary, for example I get QR2000/month to spend. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I've never come close to this amount).

Some other interesting facts:
~ There is just the one liquor store in all Qatar. It looks like a duty free shop inside. Apparently, a permit used to come with a specific day that you could shop on, and people without permits could accompany people with them. They now allow those with permits to come any day, but no one else is allowed in the store.

~ The store in closed on Fridays (like Sundays in Pennsylvania) as well as for the whole month of Ramadan. Luckily, they triple your allowance for the month before Ramadan. I didn't have my permit yet then, but from what I hear every expat in Qatar was there the week before Ramadan. We even have new friends because of the hour-long line to check out (Hi Mark!)

~ The store is owned and operated by Qatar Airways, the official Qatari airline. Pretty sure this is how they manage to turn such a sweet profit. Oh wait, that could be also be the US$400 it costs for the half-hour flight to Dubai. But I digress.

~ Judging by how long the Pakinstani guy in front of me was in the office, I think that the interview is much harder if you put "Muslim" as your religion on the form. Also, Qataris aren't allowed to get permits, but this problem is easily solved by giving their Indian driver a letter that says their salary is 30,000 riyal/month.

~ And finally, the Emir recently gave the Catholic church some land on the outskirts of Doha to build a new church. Where is it? About 2 minutes from the liquor store. My first thought: "Now isn't that stereotyping." Second thought: "Actually, how convenient!"

Ok, I feel a bit better...

So excited...

for the Asian Games football final match!! I have tickets for the gold medal game, and even better, its gonna be Iraq vs. Qatar!

Its been a rough year for Latin American dictators...

Having taken just one of Professor Borzutzky's classes would have exposed me to General Pinochet's authoritarian rule in Chile... I took five. His death has sparked new discussions over what his real affect on Chile was - while many people abhor the murder and torture of Chileans and non-Chilean opponents, many others are still advocating that he saved Chile from communism and created an economy that today is the strongest in Latin America. To me, the overthrow of a democratically elected government is never justified, and the world doesn't know what would have become of Allende's democratic-socialist administration because the democratic-capitalists of the world decided that he was too dangerous. Apparently a capitalist general with no respect for democracy - who was willing to do anything to stay in power, including killing and torturing his own people while stealing millions of US dollars from them - was a better option. Margaret Thatcher to this day continues her support of Pinochet, and Reagan was one of his strongest allies during his rule. America and Britain even now say they support democracy above all, and we all know that they support capitalism... Allende's overthrow by Pinochet just remains one of the best examples of what happens when democracy and capitalism don't come in the same leader.

On the other side of the political spectrum, but along the same "Latin American dictators get older and sicker" story line, Cuba's leader has been noticably absent from, well, everything in the last 8 months or so. Sources say he's not quite dead yet, but for all practical purposes, his younger (72 year old) brother Raul has taken over. Now is the time for every Latin American specialist in Washington to read After Fidel by CSIS associate Brian Latell. I posted about this book the first time I read it last year, but apparently the second edition is coming out in February. Fidel may have really hated the United States, but Raul was always the more devoted brother when it came to studying Communist ideology. However, being that the Cold War is over, Raul seems much more open to dialogue and *gasp* negotiation with the U.S. The real test, of course, will be what happens when the not-so-young younger brother dies as well, and even the best Cuban specialists don't dare make public speculations about that just yet.

I love having the time to really read and think about the news.

The Jeep Cherokee Sport

Before I start this post, I'd like to go back a few years to something that Allie told me once when I was working in Central PA. She said: "I can tell how bored you are by your incredibly up-to-date blog." Well get ready, everyone, 'cause December is here, the students are gone, and I've been saving up stuff to say. Now, onto today's post. About....

MY NEW CAR!!!

I bought my wonderful little Jeep about a month ago, and it still has the new car smell :-) I got it because my rental car was a tiny little car, and everytime I entered a roundabout, I was pretty sure I was going to get smushed between a Land Cruisar and a construction vehicle. It can go over construction instead of around it, and now I can get to Dunkin Donuts (and various other places) by going over the dirt and rocks, which is much faster than the road. Also, it is much cheaper to buy than to rent it. So yay, I have a new car!

Unfortunately, I am now driving an SUV in a country that has never even heard of emissions standards, let alone implemented any. I'm gonna be driving a hybrid for the rest of my life to make up for this one.

I also thought this might be a good opportunity to explain some stuff about driving in Qatar. I'll probably get pulled over at least once a week for a month or so when I return to driving in the States. Here goes:

1. The Land Cruisar Phenomenon. The creme de la creme of vehicles in Qatar. The must-have of everyone who is anyone. The only way to start a list of "things to know about driving in Qatar." This Toyota SUV is made for taking on desert dunes and picking up otherwise respectable women. If you aren't driving one, just get out of its way.

2. The roundabout.
One of the bigger roundabouts in Doha, very close to Education City.





These exist instead of intersections at most places, and at first they are very daunting. There are literally hundreds of them all over the city, and you simply pull into them when no one is coming, and then exit at your "turn." Cars on the left (the inside) have the right of way. This is convenient when you don't know your exact road, because you can go around the roundabout until you figure out which to take, but it also causes a lot of accidents because many people forget to yield to the person on their inside, and there are a lot of quick speed ups and slow downs.

3. Left turns. Are impossible to make anywhere in the country, unless you want to take your car over the median that exists in the center of every road. If you want to go left, you either have to make three rights or go to the next intersection and make a U-turn. This is usually ok, but if you are running late or there's traffic, its a huge pain in the butt.

4. Intersections. The intersections that do exist have at least two lanes for going straight, one for going right, and two for going left. There is enough space for this because they all used to be roundabouts. There are two lanes for going left because the one on the far left is actually the U-turn lane (see Number 2.) When making a U-turn, one gets in the far left lane and uses the turn signal. When actually turning left, one gets in the center-left lane and does not use the turn signal, lest someone think that you are trying to make a U-turn from the center-left lane. All of this can be moot, as I have seen many people make U-turns from the far right lane, but its usually your best bet for avoiding accidents.

5. Getting lost. It happens all the time. Doha has possibly the worst urban planning I have ever seen. The concept is ok. The port is a half-circle, and the roads are built in concentric circles around the port, with other intersecting roads appearing as spokes to the wheel. Fine. Unfortunately, as the city got more crowded, they started adding half-circles and partial spokes all over the city and now its a big ol' mess. Take lots of gas with you whenever you go out, especially into the old part of town.

6. Accidents. Qatar has the highest per capita rate of injuries sustained in car accidents in the world. However, because so many of them happen at very low speeds in the roundabouts, the rate of death is much much lower. When you have an accident (and we always say "when," not "if" in Doha) you must first call the police. Even for fender-benders, because shops can't do any repair work without a police order. If you've colided with a Qatari man, just be quiet. Its your fault.
6a. There are a few things you can do to avoid accidents: (a) don't hit the person in front of you, and in turn, the person behind you will try not to hit you, (b) always yield to the bigger or more expensive car, and (c) always be on the lookout for someone behind you speeding and flashing their headlights. when this happens, switch lanes as soon as possible so they can pass you without being inconvenienced by switching lanes. even when in a hurry, don't actually do this yourself... it makes you an asshole.
6b. If one hits a pedestrian or cyclist, the fines are directly proportional to the nationality (i.e. social status) of that individual. In order of most expensive to least, this is: Qatari, other Arab or Western expat, Phillipino service industry employee, Indian skilled worker, Nepali or Indian construction worker.

7. All traffic laws are negotiable if you are a Qatari in a Land Cruisar.

Some stereotypes do turn out to be true

Last Wednesday I had possibly the strangest day I've had in a long time. It was one odd occurance after another, and my internal schedule for the day was just completely thrown off. By far the strangest occurance within the strangest day was Andrew's arrest by the Qatari police. The story goes something like this:

Background: The Asian Games are coming to Doha, and a few days before the opening ceremony, the Asian Games torch ran all over the city, including through Education City. They closed two of the three security gates to E.C. for the entire afternoon, and the third was to be closed for approximately 15 minutes. People came from all over Qatar to watch the torch in Education City, probably because Her Highness Sheikha Mozah held a ceremony on campus to celebrate. Andrew had to teach an SAT prep class at 4, but we ran out quickly to get lunch, because it was 2:30 and neither of us had eaten yet, due to the aforementioned craziness of the day.

The Misunderstanding: As Andrew and I were pulling up to the Education City campus through the only open security gate, we noticed that they were only allowing people with Education City parking stickers in, they'd blocked the gate to the public. Most people were being forced to make the U-turn in front of the gate and go park somewhere else. The first security officer pointed us forward, the second told us to stop and then pointed to the U-Turn. The third security officer said "No, no... sticker" and pointed us ahead. Since we had already made the U-turn and both of the gates for the exit were open, Andrew and I thought that he was telling us to go through the exit into our parking garage.

The Arrest: As Andrew and I are pulling into the parking garage, we hear sirens entering behind us, and Andrew says he thinks he should get out of their way and pulls off to the side. The police SUV pulls up in front of him and two motorcycles block him in from behind. At this point Andrew says "is this for me?" Four police offers jump out of their cars and start yelling at us in Arabic, and when we don't react because we don't speak Arabic, they open the front door and pull Andrew out, slam him up against the car, and frisk him. They're still shouting in Arabic, Andrew keeps saying "What the fuck?" and I'm staying inside the car but shouting "No Arabic" and "La Arabe" (which means "no Arabic" in Arabic). So eventually they remember the word license, Andrew gives him his driver's license and they determine that there are no weapons on car or person. My first thought is that I need an Arabic speaker, but as soon as I picked up my phone they tell me (or I should say motion to me) to put it down. They manage to get Andrew to understand that they want him to follow them back to the gate guard stand. This all took place at an extremely high volume, but once in the car I finally got a chance to call Dave and told him to call one of our Arabic speaking staff and have him meet us at the gate.

As soon as we reached the gate, they pulled Andrew out of the car again, handcuffed him, and put him for awhile in the back of the cops' SUV, but then moved him inside the guard stand while we waited for Ahmed, our helpful CMU staffer. While waiting, I found the only English speaking policeman and had the following conversation:
Me: Excuse me, can you tell me what is going on with my friend?
Police: No ma'am, nothing wrong, just waiting for torch.
at this exact moment, a Qatari junior high student runs through the gate with the Asian Games torch.
Me: No, no... the police took my friend inside, can you tell me what's happening.
Police: Oh, what nationality your friend?
Me: He's American.
Police: Oh no, no have American
Me: He looks Chinese, but he's American
Police: Oh yes China man, he right there (points through open window at Andrew)
Me: Yes I can see him too, can tell me what they will do with him.
Police: Right there. (points again)
Me: Ok, never mind, shu'kran (thank you).

At this point Ahmed arrived. He's a very religious man, which is easy to see in this culture because of his beard and the way he wears his traditional dress, and as soon as the cops saw him it was like Andrew and I were completely different people. Ahmed asked me what happened, he translated it to them, they did the same with Andrew, they all came to the conclusion that it was a misunderstanding, but they couldn't let him go without telling their supervisor (who was with the Sheikha and obviously we weren't a priority at that point.) They allowed him a phone call to get his backup to teach the SAT prep class, and an hour later, they let him out. He has bruises and cuts on his wrist, but otherwise he's ok. I wish I had pictures, but I think the police would have put me in jail too if I had tried to take pictures of this rediculous scene.

The next day: Andrew had to go to the police station to pick up his license (with Ahmed, our CMU security guy, and Education City's head security officer). At this point we discovered it wasn't the police at all that we were dealing with, it was the Qatari version of the Secret Service.

And that was just the craziest part of the craziest day is a really crazy week. I slept most of the weekend.