Summer Plans

With most of the students, faculty, and TAs gone, its time to think about what I'll be doing this summer to keep myself entertained. So here are my ideas so far. Kind of like new year's resolutions, but for summer.

~ Work projects that I was too busy to finish while the students were here, mostly assessment stuff and looking further into the primary and secondary education in Qatar
~ Entertain the intern from the Pittsburgh campus that will be here for three weeks (and living with me)
~ Orientation 2007!
~ Actually learn Arabic - insha'allah
~ Study for the GREs (just bought some study books!)
~ Work out lots
~ Read lots
~ Vacation (insha'allah again! - I have the time, but need to find places that are far enough to be less than 100 degrees, but close enough to afford)

Back down to Earth

The other day, a bunch of us were all in the pool at my compound. Now, its been quite hot out recently, and usually they chill the pool in the summer, but for some reason the chiller wasn't working and the pool felt like bathwater by the middle of the afternoon. At one point, I even said, "If this is the biggest complaint in our lives right now guys, that our pool is too hot, then I think we're all doin' ok." Everyone agreed.

A few days later, I realized that my nails looked like crap, and I hadn't been feeling well, so I decided to make a manicure-pedicure appointment at my normal place. The woman doing my pedicure asked me if I was from America, how long I had been in Doha and why I was here, and I asked her the same. I asked her if she was from the Philippines, even though I already knew she was. I knew because everyone in the service industry in Qatar is Filipino. They work the registers and the floor at every chain store and most small shops; they bring tea to employees at work, patients at the hospital, and everywhere in between; they are drivers, nannies, maids, secretaries, security, waiters, and manicurists... the list goes on. To be honest, not once have I had a bad interaction with a Filipino employee, but neither have I really had a chance to talk with any. Our CMU employees are always too busy working, and I, alas, do not have a nanny, maid, personal driver, etc. But manicures are long and there's really not much to do but chat, so I figured this would be a good chance.

Turns out that this particular woman has only been in Doha for three weeks. She said that all of the employees of the spa live together, within walking distance of work. She seemed ok with that, but had a lot of questions for me about what it was like to work at the university, and the benefits of being an American ex-pat. Then she told me that she left her 6 year old daughter and 11 year old son in the Philippines. I couldn't bring myself to ask what circumstances led her to leave her kids and come to work in Doha. I think that's a second manicure conversation.

Everyone is leaving :-(

I'm discovering one of the more unfortunate parts of ex-pat reality. Make new friends, then they leave. And being that I associate mostly with people from universities, they all leave at the same time. Tim left a week ago, Ramzi on Thursday, Erik and Silvia on Friday, Ryan yesterday, and I took Andrew to the airport this morning. Mollie and Gregg leave at the end of the month. Lauren will be here until June and Drew until July but they're still leaving.

The flip side is that there are new people coming in all the time. And its a small ex-pat world in Doha. Side story: The other day I met a girl named Jinynn, who has only been here a few weeks, and we were just chatting about her work and other stuff. Turns out she knows Jen, the first friend to leave this semester (way back in March) because she is now doing the job that Jen had at Qatar University. I went to put her name and number in my phone, and she says, "oh I'll spell my name 'cause it has a weird 'y' in it." I was like, "no way, my name has a weird 'y' in it too, its c-a-r-y-l." And she goes, "wait! you're c-a-r-y-l! you're in my phone already!" So it turns out that she has Jen's phone, and Jen left some numbers in there and instructed Jinynn to call Mollie, who would introduce her to the rest of the people in the phone. So she's already gotten together with Mollie, Drew, and some other people, and she and I decided that we're destined to become friends. Yay!

I like it when my happy side stories become longer than my sad main entry.

Thobe and Abaya Day

Yesterday a bunch of us decided to wear traditional Qatari clothes to work and around Doha. It was interesting, especially since I went to the grocery store, a small Arabic shop that doesn't get much traffic from Westerners, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Most people knew that I wasn't Arab, but a few thought that my pale skin and light hair (what little of my hair could be seen) meant that I was Syrian or Iranian or something.

Anyway, thought you might like to see the results.

Group shot: Dave, 'Funke, Nikki, Lily, me, Marjorie, and Ryan














Jinanne lent me an abaya (the actual robe), a shayla (the head scarf), and the sunglasses to anchor the shayla 'cause I was having trouble keeping it on my head. Jinnane is wearing hejab instead of shayla - hejab would be the head covering that shows absolutely no hair, and that is what religious women wear in Islam. The shayla is more cultural to the gulf area.














Dave models the Qatari dress for men - the thobe (the white robe), the ghutra (the white head covering), and the aghal (the black ropes on the head), along with the traditional accessories - worry beads, sunglasses, and cell phone.



















Nikki, Marjorie, Dave, me, and Lily














Ryan gets a little too close for thobes and abayas.



















Ryan models the casual look of the young Qatari men - thobe and baseball cap.



















I managed to get a bit of work done on abaya day. The fact that yesterday was payday also led to more than one joke about "put on Qatari dress for just one day, and all of a sudden you have a couple thousand dollars more than you used to - how appropriate!"