Very Strange Weather in Qatar and Kuwait
As I was writing a post, I noticed – Holy Cow! It’s 113°F / 45°C in Doha. Checking Kuwait, Holy Moly, it’s 115°F / 46°C. That is Holy Smokes Hot, that is hot hot hot, right?
Thirty seconds later, I look – and my little weatherunderground sticker says it’s “only” 106.9 °F / 41°C in Doha, and “only” 106.9°F / 41°C in Kuwait.
How amazing is that – the temperatures dropping so fast, in BOTH Kuwait and Doha, within seconds?
Peninsula Editor Responds to Qatar’s Advisory Council
From today’s Peninsula:
Advisory Council’s opinion surprising
Web posted at: 6/11/2009 6:45:39
Source ::: THE PENINSULA/ BY Khalid Abdul Rahim Al Sayed
Khalid Abdul Rahim Al Sayed
The Emir, His Highness, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, declared the media free in the country in 1995 and with the launch of Al Jazeera, we have shown the world that Qatar is a country which allows different opinions to be heard.
We were, therefore, quite surprised by the outcome of a debate in the Advisory Council on Monday, which called for stringent punishment to be given to Qatar-based journalists who write against the ruler, national security, religion and the Constitution.
First of all, all the above subjects are already protected by the Qatari Law. Second, we must remember that there is a provision in the Qatari Constitution which allows its revision at a future date by the next generation. We have a saying in Arabic which roughly translates into English as ‘one generation cannot control another’. By raising this debate, the Advisory Council has made a generalised conclusion without addressing the issue directly.
We find it strange that the Advisory Council, made up of Qatari nationals, has this kind of opinion when His Highness The Emir has given us the freedom to voice our opinion on issues freely and in a fair manner.
We are concerned as a Qatari newspaper that if these restrictions are imposed on Qatari journalists, they will be afraid to report news and events as they see them. Needless to say, the impact on foreign scribes here would be too deterring.
I am an avid reader of local newspapers. None of them has ever written anything objectionable against the four subjects referred to in the Advisory Council debate. The Advisory Council, I am afraid, has failed to address the issue of irresponsible journalism. Other nations will find it strange that a country which advocates media freedom through the establishment of Al Jazeera will condone such practice. If there is any misuse, it shouldn’t be generalised. Doing this would soil Qatar’s image in the world.
Given this backdrop, we urge the authorities concerned in Qatar to come up with a new Media Law that would protect the freedom of our journalists, especially as the old press legislation was enforced years ago, in 1979.
Khalid Abdul Rahim Al Sayed is the Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula
Irresponsible Journalism in Qatar
This is from yesterday’s Peninsula, a Doha newspaper
Advisory panel wants curbs on irresponsible journalism
Web posted at: 6/10/2009 3:35:56
Source ::: The PENINSULA / By Mohammed Saeed
DOHA: A debate in the Advisory Council on irresponsible media on Monday has called for stringent punishment for Qatar-based journalists who write against the ruler, national security, religion and the Constitution.
A key member, Nasser Rahid Al Kaabi, taking part in the discussion, said there was the need to include TV channels, radio stations and the Internet in the laws that regulate the media in the country.
Some 24 members of the Council requested the House to debate the issue of irresponsible media.
It was pointed out during discussions that there were some journalists in the country who were misusing press freedom and dedicating their writings to undermine national interest.
The debate called for applying the laws strictly to punish erring scribes. Law Number 38 of 2005 and Law Number 8 of 1979 carried provisions to take erring journalists to task, it was pointed out.
Al Kaabi called for the laws to be amended and said the six-month prison term and minimum fine slab of QR3,000 for erring journalists prescribed be raised.
He said the jail term should be raised to a year and the fine should not be less than QR300,000. Qatar’s social and religious values must be preserved at any cost, the debate noted. THE PENINSULA
Baking Cookies for Palestine
When I was just starting out my own life, I had an idea what kind of life I wanted, but I had no clue how to get it. When AdventureMan and I met, we had the same vision, it was so cool, so unbelievable. We married, and this amazing life has unfolded.
Not everyone is born to move. You have to be good at change. Change can be daunting. Some people are better at staying in one place, sinking deep roots, developing lifetime relationships. Some people – like AdventureMan and me – have a need for stimulation, and we get it by changing locations. We feel so blessed.
It is always painful leaving the place we have been living, pulling up roots is just plain painful. The transplantation process takes time for the organism to adjust, for new roots to develop and take hold. Sometimes, the plant fails. In our case, we have had our failures to thrive, but for the most part, every move has helped us to learn and grow in new ways. We feel truly blessed; we have the lives we were born to lead.
Arriving back in Doha, I called my good friend. We have never lost touch, with e-mail and visits we have stayed in contact, and now I am calling her so she has my new number in Doha.
“You must come Tuesday morning!” she enthused, “We are baking cookies for Palestine!”
This wonderful woman was my teacher for reading and writing Arabic, and she did a great job. I read and write about as well as a five-year-old, but I can sound out words, and can write my name. Best of all, I adored this teacher, and when she called and asked me if there was something I could teach her daughters during the long hot Doha summer, I said “yes” and a new adventure began.
One of the things that happened is that I learned I never really knew what the day might bring. Getting to know her, her daughters, and her family better, I learned now ignorant I am of how totally differently others live their lives and see the world. I was learning all the time, and most of it was from the daughters. On one occasion, the daughters called me at 6 in the morning – they are never up at six! They asked if I would take them to the hospital to see their mother, and I sleepily said “Yes, of course,” and asked what time they wanted to go.
“Now!” they replied, joyfully, for this was a birth.
My sweet daughter-in-law was visiting, with our son, and so the two of us rushed over to pick up the girls, who came loaded with carafes loaded with coffee, boxes of finjan (tiny Arabic coffee cups) and sweets, loading up the car with goods and joyful laughter. When we got to the hospital, we had a quick visit with the Mom and then – the guests started arriving.
First – the room. Our friend was in a king sized bed, surrounded by lush curtains which could be pulled. She had a marble floor and a marble private bathroom with private shower, and a small dressing room. There was a visiting area with velvet covered seating for around 16 people, and mahogany paneling everywhere. This is the poshest maternity ward I have ever seen.
Many of the guests were stopping on their way to work. “When you visit someone in the hospital,” the girls informed me, “a thousand angels pray for you, for having made this visit.” These visits are de rigueur, an absolute must. We were there an hour, a constant stream of women came and went, staying around ten minutes, each receiving a small coffee. Then, the girls told us we could go, that they would stay to take care of serving the coffee and sweets.
The entire episode, we never had one clue as to what we were doing, or what was going to happen next. I learned just to go with whatever was happening, stay quiet, watch and learn. Sometimes, I ask questions, if there is a quiet moment.
So when my friend says come bake cookies, I go. I remember when she first baked her first cookie; she called me to come. She didn’t have a mother, growing up, and there were gaps – like how to bake cookies. We spent a morning learning how to make mamool, and it took me three days to get the smell of butter out of my hands. It was so much fun.
As I entered the workroom twenty pair of eyes looked up at me. Everyone was neatly dressed in aprons and headscarves, but my friend wasn’t there! I found my friend, we exchanged greetings, and she came to workroom to get me started. I had my own apron with me, and they provided me with a headscarf; we all looked a lot alike, little baker women. As a beginner, I got to put out the dough, later put the date paste on each piece of dough, later roll the dough around the date paste and put a hole in the top.
Most of the women, vastly more experienced than I, were using little tweezer tools to crimp the dough into the fabulous tiny ridges you can see in the photo. My friend explained that one of the women’s husbands had made the special tools for making the holes in the dough, and the table for them to use packing up the cookies and wrapping them, another had provided a portable oven for baking the cookies, another donated semolina (the flour) and another the dates.
Working once a week, making these beautiful cookies, (biscuits, if you are British trained) the women have built two wells in Palestine, and are currently building a bakery. They took their grief and outrage over Al Raza and turned it into the most amazing effort for good. They feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, they clothe the poor, they take care of families whose men are imprisoned.
“You must come back!” one woman says as I am heading out the door. “You are a good worker!”
I wouldn’t miss it for the world. 🙂
Sunrise In Doha, Green for Daggero
Daggero wrote on my Rav4 post about how GREEN Doha looked. It wasn’t Doha. I think the photo was taken in England, but the car looked just like my beloved little Rav4, so I used the photo.
But it got me thinking – my little spot in Doha IS green. And you have mentioned taking sunrise in Doha . . . my blind side of the house faces the sunrise, but this morning, I took some sunrise photos for you.
During the week, the sky in Doha is mostly white, I don’t know why. On Friday and Saturday, it was a brilliant blue. Sunrise, most days of the week, is a sort of non-event, like it’s hard to tell where the sun is!
But here are some photos of the sun through the trees in the early morning, and my little section of green in Doha.
Sunrise:
There are some treats – the dual color bougainvillea I planted five years ago is growing lushly against the garden wall. The two lemon trees are taller and lusher. Some other new plants were given to my by my departing friend from her garden, and so my garden doesn’t have that sad, barren look. When the cooler weather comes, I will plant basil. 🙂
Babies Only a Mama Pigeon Could Love
Both pigeon eggs have hatched. We have been in Doha one week today. I wonder how the pigeons felt, with all the comings and goings of workmen – it has not been a quiet nursery.
Both Daddy and Mommy Pigeon are still taking turns keeping the little ones warm. They are very shakey, it is all they can do to move their little necks.
36 and Counting
I’ll be your pool-buddy,” AdventureMan said, as we lounged against the side of the pool. It was the best, the very best anniversary present he has ever given me.
My pool buddies are gone. One is coming back, one is not. The pool is big and beautiful, but being alone at the pool isn’t a lot of fun. Although AdventureMan doesn’t like pools as much as I do, he is willing to make the sacrifice – make the time – to make me happy.
We’ve been married 36 years. We didn’t go out last night, instead we had artichokes and tacos, and burned the wedding candle my parents gave us 36 years ago in Heidelberg. Artichokes, because at the first family dinner AdventureMan attended, my mom served artichokes as a first course, and AM thought it was some kind of a test. Tacos because in our 36 years together, it has always been one of our favorite meals, and because I found all kinds of Mexican food supplies in Qatar.
Then we walked over to the pool, swam, bounced around, talked, and when we got out – even though the temperatures were still high – there was a breeze, and we even felt just a tiny bit chilly! Chilly in the blazing heat of the Gulf summer is GOOD!
Just for our 36th anniversary, there was also a full moon. We walked home, cool and breezy, under the light of a great big romantic full moon. 36 years, and it just keeps getting better and better. 🙂
Serious About Traffic Regulation in Doha, Qatar
We were all at dinner, having a wonderful time when the traffic issue came up.
“There’s so much traffic now!” they were all saying.
To me, traffic in Doha is pretty tame. It’s been six years since we were here for the first time, and Doha was still “sleepy little Doha.” We took photos of the changing skyline almost monthly from the spit where the Bandar restaurants used to be (one day they just disappeared!) and gasped at how fast Doha was changing.
There are a lot of changes. Traffic on the ring roads has been greatly streamlined, although it seems they continue to engineer D ring, over and over again. I just hope one day they will get it right and it will be open, all the way from the road to the north to the airport.
There are traffic lights at the roundabouts, and the traffic flows so smoothly I am astounded. There is still a lot of traffic around the seven to nine at night shopping/dining/visiting time, but the traffic lights have regulated the formerly death-defying roundabouts.
“Go! Go!” I told AdventureMan as the light started flashing green, and he just looked at me as if I had grown a second head.
“Flashing green means STOP!” he informed me.
“Flashing YELLOW means stop,” I informed him right back.
“Not in Qatar,” he said with the tone of voice that says ‘don’t argue this point with me.’
At dinner I learned he was absolutely right. If you enter a traffic circle on a flashing green and the light changes, the cameras – they are everywhere – will take your photo. They will take your photo and you will have a fine, a whopper of a fine, QR6,0000. That translates to around $1,700 in US Dollars. Gasp. And – here’s the cruncher – it is ENFORCED.
There was a time when I lived in Qatar before when the huge SUV behind me pushed me into the roundabout when I wasn’t moving fast enough for him. You still see the cowboys drive up on the sidewalks to cut across an empty field, but there are fewer and fewer of those empty fields left in Qatar. There is none of the speeding and weaving along the ring roads we used to see – there are cameras EVERYWHERE. People get fines for waiting at the airport doors, instead of parking. People get significant fines for going even 10 km over the speed limit. Points are assessed for moving violations, and they add up fast.
I’m going to have to improve my driving skills. I developed some aggressive habits, driving in Kuwait, and I am going to have to tone it down to survive the cameras in Qatar.
I am very interested to see how rapidly behavior can change when penalties are enforced. I am truly (and happily) shocked an how effective it can be. I await with great interest the year-end statistics, to see how the accident rate has been brought down – I bet we all get a very good surprise.
Turkey Central
Going back to Turkey Central on Merqab Street in Doha, was both like a home coming, and a big surprise. It was the second place AdventureMan took me when I arrived the first time in Doha (Fakr al Din, the first place, is no longer there), and it was a place a lot of people hung out.
Through the years, it has had a roller-coaster reputation, sometimes closed for renovations, sometimes closed for health / sanitation violations, but – when open – packed with people in search of reasonably priced, outstandingly tasty dishes.
It’s not one of AdventureMan’s favorite places, but it is one of mine! 😉 So the night we went to the Doha Clinic to get our blood-types – beginning the endless process of paperwork and hurdles for our residency in Qatar – he agreed to take me to Turkey Central.
Oh, YUM.
In the first place, when we walked in it all looks immaculately clean. Cooks and servers are wearing hats to keep stray hair from falling into food. Tables are now granite, chairs are comfy.
The food is wonderful. The place is packed. Our old friend sees us come in and comes over to greet us. We feel at home.
We decided to try some new mezzes (appetizer / salads) instead of our same old, same old hummous, tabouli, mouttable. We tried the chili salad (made of sweet red peppers, not the hot kind, and excellent), the baba ghannoush (actually, we have had this before at TC and love it ) and the moussaka (no meat moussaka) which we both agreed was THE BEST.
The best part of all is the Turkey Central bread, hot, fresh from the oven, and covered with sesame seeds:
AdventureMan ordered the Mixed Grill:
and I ordered my old favorite, shish taouk (marinated, grilled boneless chicken pieces):
Too much food! I walked out with a big bag of leftovers, enough to cover a week of lunches!
Our Neighborhood Mosque
Among expats, we have a joke – “Turn right at the mosque.” It’s a joke, because we all start out giving directions like that until we realize how many mosques there are! You can’t even say “turn right at the white mosque” or “turn left at the blue mosque” because many of the mosques have a decoration or two that could also qualify. Giving directions that include mosques, in a Moslem country, is just not do-able.
To get to our house, you turn right at the mosque. 🙂
This little mosque is just yards from our house. During the nights of power (during the last ten days of Ramadan) you can hear people praying quietly the entire night through. It never bothers me; if I wake up, it makes me feel safe and I go back to sleep again. It is a totally different sound from the angry sermon type sounds that you can hear from some mosques on Fridays – it is soothing and soulful.
I am sorry, it is beautiful at night, but I will have to work at getting a better photo for you.
In the back of the mosque, they have a garden, with vegetables growing, I am guessing to help out the poor in our neighborhood to have fresh food with their rice.
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