Its weird that its not weird...

I've been trying to figure out recently why I haven't blogged in such a long time. I could say its because I've been busy or because there's nothing going on in the Middle East to discuss, but both of those would be untrue. Awhile back I was walking with a friend and we were talking about life in Doha and I realized that life just really isn't that strange here. I started the blog to discuss all of these cultural realizations that I had while I was here, but in my second year here, life became just exceedingly normal.

Each day I go to work. After that I go to the gym and then either get dinner with friends or cook and read or watch TV. On the weekends I go to the club or bar, or to see a movie, hang out at the pool, play around on the computer, etc. etc. Doesn't sound too interesting, does it?

That said, every once in awhile I have a moment that reminds me "I live in Doha!" The other day it was a guy in a suit standing outside in the 110 degree heat talking to a guy in a thobe. I see that all the time, but this time it was a reminder that Qatar is in the Middle East (haha, duh).

So, in my last couple days here, I'm going to try to write down all the stuff that isn't quite normal. All the travel. The Qatari wedding. The food. And maybe some random observations of life in the Middle East that I would like to remember for a long time after I leave.

Birthday Weekend :-)

I had the most amazing weekend for my birthday. On Friday afternoon we hung out at the pool for a couple of hours, and that night my friend Andy hosted a wonderful "Happy Ramadan and Caryl's Birthday" party at his incredible house. There was dancing in the upstairs living room, live music on the landing, chill out space on the first floor living room, and plenty of couches and beds for people to crash in when the night finally ended around 4:30am. Andy also decided that the theme would be a black and white party, so everyone came dressed in black and white and we all looked very classy. Nalani made an incredibly delicious chocolate and vanilla layer cake, which Ben was responsible for carrying during the singing because we were all afraid Nalani would drop it. A bunch of my friends came, and they brought their friends, and Andy's friends came... it was awesome. Highlights included Brendan's "black and white" outfit, Andy's maids timidly asking me at 3:00am if they could go home and wishing me a happy birthday, and my wake-up call from Russ the next morning. As people were leaving they requested more parties at Andy's house, and of course we always aim to please.

Pictures, courtesy of Jinnyn...


mmm, I dream of this cake. too bad "Ben" forgot the plates and we had to eat it off of paper towels.















Abir (who missed the black and white memo), Jinnyn (the photographer), me, and Samira (who brought awesome chocolate)














Amanda, Aussie queen of the punch; Charles "I brought you some of my liquor stash, so you know I like you" Nailen; Jinnyn again; Henri (Quebecqois!); Nalani, queen of the birthday cake; and me again!














My actual birthday was a couple of days later on Sunday, which is a work day. Usually our staff has birthday lunches, but since its Ramadan, there's nothing open for lunch. So what did my wonderful team do? They got creative (and generous!) and had a birthday potluck with everyone's specialties. One of my bosses even offered to host it at her home. And Darbi, another queen of birthday cakes, made delicious chocolate, coffee, coconut, walnut goodness with candles on top :-)

That night, I talked with my dad and brother on the phone for a bit and then played squash with Greg, and then Nalani and Ben took me to Chili's for some good old fashioned American (tex-mex) food. And the Chili's staff sang their hearts out for me and gave me free dessert. Overall I would say it was one of my best weekends in Doha yet! I missed my family of course, but my friends did an awesome job. Along the line of Darbi's recent posts - they are my "I'm grateful for..." of today. And most days, really.

Ramadan Resolutions

For some reasons I've been looking at Ramadan as kind of the new year - a time to make some changes that I think are worthwhile, and set goals for myself that I've been meaning to work on for awhile. So far, my three Ramadan Resolutions were to go to the gym very regularly, study for the GREs, and write in my blog more often. I'm actually 2 for 3. The gym is my new favorite hangout, especially since I've got some friends that I go with, and even more people that I usually see there. There's a 5k charity event in a couple of months and I'll probably actually run it instead of walk. This may not be impressive to many of my friends who are long distance runners, but I'm quite proud of myself.

Ramadan is such a slow time that studying for the GREs is pretty easy, especially now that my satellite subscription ran out and I have no TV. (Originally one of my resolutions was going to be "no TV" but then I realized that with the start of Steelers season I really couldn't give it up completely. Now that the satellite is out I have to find a place to watch the game tonight, if its on - insha'allah.) I took my first practice test a couple of weeks ago and realized that I really suck at 8th grade math. Dividing fractions could not have been harder, I was so frustrated. But just a little bit of studying has really got me back on track.

Doha is really a great place to do these kinds of things, even when its not Ramadan, because we really don't have a ton to do here. I love hanging out with my friends and all that, but for the most part, the work day ends at 5 or 5:30, and then what are you going to do? I'm usually the kind of person that gets depressed if I don't accomplish something every day, and I'm feeling very comfortable in my work-study-gym-friends routine of life here.

And now maybe resolution #3 is back on track... it was kind of short and very rambling, but it was a blog post!!

Ramadan Kareem!!

Today is the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. This means that all Muslims refrain from eating or drinking anything from sunrise to sunset. Today, in Qatar, those time are approximately 3:58am to 5:41pm. They also avoid smoking, sex, gossip, and negative thoughts during these times. Most get up around 3:30am to eat something, then they nap or just chill in the late afternoon, and then after sunset they visit with family and friends until the wee hours of the morning.

This pretty much changes everything about life in Doha for the next month: traffic patterns change because work hours do. Student programming is practically non-existent because they're exhausted and race home for dinner right after class. There are a lot of charity events to attend because Ramadan is the month to pay special attention to the poor. Meanwhile, the non-Muslims eat covertly in a closed office because all of the restaurants are closed during the day. We dress even more conservatively than usual. All of the bars and the liquor store are closed, and we make up for it by having house parties every weekend from now until Eid (the festival at the end of Ramadan).

That's pretty much Ramadan in a nutshell. Because work slows so much, I'll make more of an effort this month to blog about the things I've learned in the past couple months.


Also, Happy New Year to all of my Jewish friends!! Someone please post an explanation of Rosh Hashanah so I can stop feeling bad about focusing on Ramadan in my post. Unfortunately there's not much learning about Jewish holidays to be done here in Qatar.

Last on the Bandwagons

My satellite TV in Doha just started showing "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Entourage," and I know that I'm a little late in realizing this, but they're both awesome. Although Studio 60 is hilarious, it actually makes me a bit sad to watch because I already know that its been canceled. And one of my students promised to lend me the first season on Entourage so I can catch up. The remainder of the summer looks promising :-)

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.