Things have started off well in Pensacola. My second day in town, I made it to church, and discovered that the church is involved with gathering food for the poor, something I like doing, too. They are also celebrating the church in Jerusalem and the Middle East on Palm Sunday, which I find a sort of fortuitous omen, since here I am, coming in from the Middle East.
Monday, we bought the house. We really did buy it, even though it was me signing the papers. Now that I think of it, that’s the way it has been with just about every house we have bought – I have gone ahead to sign the papers and AdventureMan has followed later . . .
The previous owner of the house did some really kind, really generous things. He left a screen for the fireplace that is sort of Art Nouveau, my favorite period, and I really like it. It sounds like a small thing, but he put a full roll of toilet paper in every bathroom. He left all the instruction manuals for all the appliances, and left notes on the remotes, explaining which was which. I found all of this very kind, unexpectedly kind, and generous of spirit.
The contractors who are going to rewire and then restore the house are contractor nerds. You do know how much I like nerds, don’t you? Nerds are people who are probably ‘uncool’ because they have a fascination with something, and don’t care what you think about it. One of these guys is an electrician nerd, and the other is a general contractor nerd, and once they start talking, I (the customer) am almost irrelevant. These guys have listened to what I want, they know what I need, they have asked all the right questions, and then the two of them start talking in their own language (contractor language; it’s English but barely intelligible to folk like me) and they are trying as hard as they can to get AdventureMan and Qatteri Cat and me into the house as soon as possible. These are honest guys, who love the work they are doing, and I feel so blessed to have them in my life.
In fact, I met my realtor because she is married to the contractor guy. I found him on the internet when I needed some work done on my other Pensacola house. He had a valid license, and no complaints. When I interviewed him, my son and husband were also present, and we all agreed, some how we had lucked out. This man was straight forward, and honest. When he told us how much it would cost, we gulped, but he got all the work done on time, and on budget. How cool is that?
His wife spent hours and days and weeks with us, showing us huge numbers of houses, from the amazing to the disgusting. She said she would find the right house for us, and – she did! It is close to our son and his wife without being too close, it is close to church, close to shopping and not far at all from the glorious Pensacola beaches. Woo HOOO on her!
Yesterday, I bought the Rav4. It was so boring, so uneventful, I totally loved it. Who needs new car drama? The car is enough, I don’t want drama! These people were so good to me – they arranged for me to drop my car off near their dealership, which is about an hour from Pensacola (YES! YES, I would drive an hour for the kind of service I got – I got the car I wanted at almost the exact price I was willing to pay) and they picked me up, went through all the formalities, did not try to stick me with any extra charges, in fact I ended up paying $6 less than I thought. They demo’d the new features, handed me the keys and sent me off with a full tank of gas. It was a great way to buy a car, and I love my new car.
Today, I needed to buy book cases. The one rule of moving in is that it goes smoothly IF you have places to put things, which in our case means book cases. I use them for books, yes, but also for fabric storage, sometimes to display photos, sometimes to divide rooms, or to store sweaters and underclothes and things I want to be able to see where they are.
I knew where I had seem book cases at an amazing price, but they didn’t have six in the finish (maple) that I wanted, so a kind woman working there checked local inventories and sent me off to the next store, where they found the six, loaded them on a trolley and a strong young man loaded them into my car. When I tried to tip him, he gasped and pulled back and said “No! No! I’m not allowed to accept tips! I could get FIRED if I took a tip!”
This is not what I am used to!
All in all, people have been amazingly kind, and it seems to happen a lot.
There is one very funny thing I notice about myself, now four days in Pensacola. That is, I cannot go into a grocery store and come out with just what I went in for. The prices here are so GOOD! I keep thinking in Kuwaiti Dinars, or Qatari Riyals, and I think “I might never see tuna fish at that price again!” or “Look at the price on those eggs!” and even though the RATIONAL part of my brain keeps saying “Wait! Wait! You’re in the United States now!” the reality has not yet permeated my buying mode enough to restrain me. I have zero sales resistance. I really just need to stay out of the stores until I can build some resistance up.
At the end of every day I get to come home to my son and his wife and their little baby son, and life is sweet, except that we all wish AdventureMan would hurry and come and join us. And bring the Qateri Cat!
I’m not very good at being sad. Today is one of the saddest days of my life. I’ve been weeping all day, and I’m not one of those women whom the camera loves when they weep. My throat gets thick, so clogged with emotion that I can’t talk clearly, and my eyes get all red and swollen. My cheeks get all blotchy. I hate it, my eyes are leaking, and my nose is running. I think I’ve got it all stopped, and it all starts up again.
Most of the house is packed, the kitchen cupboards cleared out and all the goods not going with us distributed. I weep as I pack my bags. I weep as I take out the garbage. I weep as I load one last load of wash into the washer.
“What is it in particular?” AdventureMan asks me, as I weep, yet again, as I start to write this entry.
“It’s the end of an era,” I choke out, and the tears start rolling once again in spite of all my efforts not to succumb.
“We’ve lived our lives as nomads ever since we met,” I continue.
“It isn’t like we want to live in Doha forever, Doha is changing, too, old friends are leaving.”
“It isn’t like I love packing up and starting over in a new place.”
“I shouldn’t have scheduled to leave on a Friday after church,” I philosophized, but it’s too late now. The waterworks started in church and have turned on and off with ever fresh goodbye.
I steeled myself to smile cheerily at my oldest friends, knowing we’ll meet up again – a wedding, a retirement, a gathering of old hands. But small things defeated me. The friends who switched their normal place in church and sat beside us. The communion hymn “Lord of the Dance” sung as a duet. One of our friends provided our very very favorite meal for lunch. The priest blessing my travels and sending me on with the prayers of the people. The difficult ceremony of saying goodbye to the people we love in a place which has nurtured us, spiritually and socially.
And one young woman painted a watercolor for us of our new grandson.
It is a stunning watercolor, I can hardly wait to have it framed. There is something very special in it – I have a friend who knits, but is constantly telling us how badly she knits. She knit a blanket for the grandson, and it was COLD in Pensacola, and that blanket was used over and over again. The blanket is in the lower left corner of the watercolor. 🙂
It’s going to be a long trip to our new life. We are going to a happy place – sunshine, but not so much heat. Humidity and lightning, but also four seasons and seafood. Our son, his wife, our grandson. All these are happy things. Our new house, a new life, closer to our families. All good things.
I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to my Palestinian friend, like my sister, and she shared all her children with me through these years of friendship. Saying goodbye to her was horrible. We know we may never see one another again. Her daughters assure me they will help us correspond; they will help her use modern technology to stay in touch. 🙂 I don’t know when I will ever see her again . . . and it breaks my heart. I guess I kind of thought she would come visit me. “No,” she said sadly, “no, I will never have the right papers to visit you.” Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how devastating are the restrictions on her life. And I’m just a friend. She hasn’t seen her own father, in Palestine, for years. Sometimes they can meet up in Egypt. . .
I’m not the first expat to leave here. One good friend left Doha last summer, she led the way. We all know that leaving the nomadic life is charting new territory. We’ve had a lot of fun, we’ve loved (most of) the expat experience. We know it’s time. It’s just the inner twenty-five year old is not ready.
AdventureMan’s company keeps saying “when you’ve had a break . . . ” and AdventureMan laughs and says “I’m not taking a break, I am RETIRING!” His company is savvy; they know that three months down the road the domestic life may get a bit old for these high testosterone kind of guys and they will invite him back for a special project or two. He promises me, if it is Doha or Kuwait, I can come with him. Even just a week or two, to see old friends . . . I’ll take it!
Thanks be to God, for creating us, and for giving us this wonderful life we were created to live. Thanks be to God for all these great adventures, for the exotic, the sights and smells and sounds, and for the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Thanks be to God for the generous spirited friends called to his life, who have shared the path with us. And thanks be to God for this outlet, this blog, where I can share the good, the bad and the ugly with friends from all countries who have ever lived as strangers in a strange land (even when that ‘strange’ land is the USA, LOL!) Thank YOU, friends.
America in 2050 — Part 1
This is the first of a three-part series for AOL News adapted from Joel Kotkin’s new book, “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050.” Part 2 in the series will look at America’s increasingly multiracial population in 2050.
This is an opinion piece from AOL NEWS OP/ED If you read this article carefully, you will see that the population trends he cites as promising for the USA are equally applicable to countries in the Middle East with stable economies and forward leaning plans:
Opinion: What America Will Look Like in 2050
Joel Kotkin
Special to AOL News
(March 15) — To many observers, America’s place in the world is almost certain to erode in the decades ahead. Yet if we look beyond the short-term hardship, there are many reasons to believe that America will remain ascendant well into the middle decades of this century.
And one important reason is people.
From 2000 to 2050, the U.S. will add another 100 million to its population, based on census and other projections, putting the country on a growth track far faster than most other major nations in the world. And with that growth — driven by a combination of higher fertility rates and immigration — will come a host of relative economic and social benefits.
More fertile
Of course the percentage of childless women is rising here as elsewhere, but compared to other advanced countries, America still boasts the highest fertility rate: 50 percent higher than Russia, Germany or Japan, and well above that of China, Italy, Singapore, Korea and virtually all of eastern Europe.
As a result, while the U.S. population is growing, Europe and Japan are seeing their populations stagnate — and are seemingly destined to eventually decline. Russia’s population could be less than a third of the U.S. by 2050, driven down by low birth and high mortality rates. Even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has spoken of “the serious threat of turning into a decaying nation.”
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.
In East Asia, fertility is particularly low in highly crowded cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing and Seoul. And China’s one-child policy — and a growing surplus of males over females — has set the stage for a rapidly aging population by mid-century. South Korea, meanwhile, has experienced arguably the fastest drop in fertility in world history, which perhaps explains its extraordinary, if scandal-plagued, interest in human cloning.
Even more remarkably, America will expand its population in the midst of a global demographic slowdown. Global population growth rates of 2 percent in the 1960s have dropped to less than half that rate today, and this downward trend is likely to continue — falling to less than 0.8 percent by 2025 — largely due to an unanticipated drop in birthrates in developing countries such as Mexico and Iran. These declines are in part the result of increased urbanization, the education of women and higher property prices. The world’s population, according to some estimates, could peak as early as 2050 and begin to fall by the end of the century.
Younger and More Vibrant
Population growth has very different effects on wealthy and poor nations. In the developing world, a slowdown of population growth can offer at least short-term economic and environmental benefits. But in advanced countries, a rapidly aging or decreasing population does not bode well for societal or economic health, whereas a growing one offers the hope of expanding markets, new workers and entrepreneurial innovation.
In fact, throughout history, low fertility and socioeconomic decline have been inextricably linked, creating a vicious cycle that affected such once-vibrant civilizations as ancient Rome and 17th-century Venice and that now affects contemporary Europe , Russia and Japan.
Within the next four decades, most of the developed countries in both Europe and East Asia will become veritable old-age homes: a third or more of their populations will be older than 65, compared with only a fifth in the U.S. By 2050, roughly 30 percent of China’s population will be older than 60, according to the United Nations. The U.S. will have to cope with an aging population and lower population growth, in relative terms, but it will maintain a youthful, dynamic demographic.
More Hopeful About the Future
The reasons behind these diverging trends is complex. In some countries, a sense of diminished prospects, combined with a chronic lack of space, appear to be the root causes for plunging birthrates. As Italians, Germans, Japanese, Koreans and Russians have fewer offspring — one recent survey found that only half of Italian women 16 to 24 said they wanted to have children — they will have less concern for future generations.
In contrast, in the United States roughly three-quarters of young people report they plan to have offspring. Such individual decisions suggest that America, for all its problems, is diverging from its prime competitors, placing its faith in a future that can accommodate 100 million more people.
As author Michael Chabon recently wrote, “In having children, in engendering them, in loving them, in teaching them to love and care about the world,” parents are “betting” that life can be better for them and their progeny
Joel Kotkin is a distinguished presidential fellow at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and an adjunct fellow with the Legatum Institute in London.
To submit an op-ed to AOL News, write to opinion@aolnews.com.
I love public transportation, when it is good. When it is modern and clean and orderly, it is good for citizens, good for the community, good for the country and good for the environment. Woo HOOO on Qatar, and on an Emir who says (I paraphrase) to let nothing stand in its way, to remove all obstacles. Wooo HOOOOO!
DOHA: Preliminary work on the ambitious multi-billion dollar metro and ground rail projects has begun and once the networks are ready trains could be moving at speeds of 80 to 350km per hour.
The projects are to be completed in phases between 2010 and 2016 and will take into consideration Qatar’s bid to host the football World Cup in 2022.
The three mega railway projects (the metro network within Greater Doha, the over-ground railways covering entire Qatar and eventually linking it to the rest of the GCC region and cargo trains) are expected to cost an astronomical QR133.5bn.
This was disclosed by the Qatar News Agency yesterday. It said the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, briefed the Heir Apparent, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, on the railway and various Ashghal projects at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.
Senior Qatari Diar officials handling the railway ventures and Ashghal (Public Works Authority) functionaries made the presentations.
According to QNA, the Premier briefed the Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, on these projects on February 2 and was asked to refer them for review to the Heir Apparent.
The Emir also asked the PM to remove any obstacles facing these ventures and added that the projects be forwarded to the Advisory Council and the Central Municipal Council (CMC) as well for revision.
Qatari Diar officials told the Heir Apparent that the metro rail project will cover a total distance of 354km and the trains will run at speeds of 80 to 160km per hour.
The ground rail network will, on the other hand, cover a total distance of 345km and traverse the entire country and passenger electric trains will be running at between 220 and 350km per hour.
This network will be linked to the GCC railways by 2017. Cargo trains covering major economic centres in Qatar will be running at 120km per hour.
Ashghal officials briefed the Heir Apparent on current and future infrastructure projects.
They put the total cost of the various road, sewage and groundwater collection projects at a whopping QR70bn and said the ventures are to be ready in five to eight years.
The possibility of hiring international consultants to handle key public projects was also discussed so that smooth traffic flow on arterial roads was ensured during the execution of these ventures.
A pipeline is to be installed that would collect rain water from the north and other parts of the country and bring it to a reservoir in the south.
And the capacities of the three major sewage water treatment plants are to be increased, said Ashghal officials.
There are so many blogs out there, it’s hard to keep up even with very good ones, blogs which really stand out, blogs which are extraordinary.
My nephew, Earthling’s wife wrote to me about a blog, Kisses from Katie, and urged me to take a look.
This blog is so unusual, so unforgettable for any person who tries to follow God’s purpose for his or her life. This woman walked away from EVERYTHING to serve God’s will, and ended up with 12 children and a grandmother, in Africa.
It’s not like she is a saint. She struggles. She hurts. She works hard with children who are dying, abandoned women, the poorest of the poor. She faces the challenge of raising 12 daughters and all their needs, and special needs. She celebrates their triumphs. She walks her life in utter faith.
I challenge you to read her blog. I challenge you to try to tell me you are not moved. This woman is an inspiration.
Katie works for a group called Amazina and you can learn more about them and their work with orphans and God’s love by clicking on the blue type above.
“Oh!” said the delighted receptionist, “Five children! You must be here for annual exams!”
No!” said the equally chirpy Mom (God knows how she maintained her sense of humor) “They are ALL sick!”
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
“Your mother is driving me crazy!” I heard a woman saying, I guessed she was on her phone to her husband, talking about her mother-in-law.
I was wrong. She was the grandmother, and she was talking to her the sick toddler she had with her. Mom had called and asked her to pick him up from daycare and take him to the doctor.
So all the way home, I am thinking “I have to be fair.”
It’s one thing to write a post when you are all hurt or annoyed by something, and then another to have to go back and give an update which is more . . . ummm. . .. . balanced.
The Qatteri Cat went back to the vet today for a re-check. He is fine. He didn’t want to go, and told me so all the way there.
The “mean” animal handler was there when I came in. She asked who was coming, and I told her, and she came over and called him a “sweetie,” and was genuinely nice to him, and caring.
When it came time to visit the vet, the QC stepped out of his cage all by himself, and behaved himself like a perfect gentleman. . . err, gentlecat.
I can tell you it is a lot harder to write a post about nothing happening and everyone being nice, than it is to write an emotional post. All the way home, I had to think about what I was going to write, and what came to me was that while I was making excuses for the Qatteri Cat being foul tempered (hungry, hurting, scared) I wasn’t making any allowances for the humans, who have to deal with sick, hungry, hurting, scared animals every day, who have to watch them suffer, and die, and who might be hungry, or tired, or in physical or emotional pain themselves. So . . . for all my own crabbiness, I apologize.
Today was a new day. QC is a well cat, and AdventureMan and I are still waiting for the magic phone call.
“Yeh, c’mon in,” replied AdventureMan, a little surprised that she closed the door as she came in.
“I think I know who you are,” she said. “I think you are AdventureMan.”
AdventureMan (who is calling me to tell me the story) tells me he didn’t bat an eye, but said “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“It sounded so familiar,” she said, “when you told me you had a little problem with the vet last week. I went back to the blog. I think your cat is the Qatteri Cat. So no, I don’t believe you don’t know what I am talking about.”
If you know AdventureMan, you will know he can’t keep a straight face for very long, and she handled the situation exactly right for busting him good. I am sure he started grinning, and once he starts grinning, he is totally lost.
Like one other really smart woman we know, she went back and explored the blog, reading through several entries until she was sure. Fully armed with all the information, she attacked. And won. Once you get him laughing, he can’t lie any longer. Well done! 🙂 You know who you are! 🙂
I have the most wonderful housekeeper who helps me out a couple days a week, and other occasions. She is a woman I greatly admire; she works hard to provide education for her children, and she is also a strong voice in her community, giving sound advice to younger women and organizing people for positive change.
Today I asked her if she had taken the bag I had made for her when she went home for a recent visit.
Here eyes gleamed.
‘Oh YES!’ she said, her smile so large it was like the sun rising over the Gulf. ‘It was the only thing I carried! And on my way home, I was waiting for my plane and the desk attendant approached me and asked where I was going. I said ‘Abu Dhabi and Doha’ and he asked if I minded if they upgraded me to Business Class’
We both danced for joy. Manila to Abu Dhabi in business class. Wooooo HOOOO! That’s a LONG flight.
‘Did you sleep?’ I asked.
‘At first, no, because I didn’t know how to operate the seats.’ she responded.
‘And then?’ I prompted
‘I figured it out,’ she grinned.
She thinks it was the bag I made for her. I think God just knew Grace needed a little grace. 🙂
A recent study has warned against the growing reliance on domestic helpers by national families, saying that demand on housemaids has reached “unprecedented levels”.
The ‘Qatari Family’ study prepared by the Permanent Population Committee, said that domestic helpers constituted 24% of the number of people living in Qatari families.
Figures quoted by the study showed that each family had 2.3 housemaids and servants.
“The demand for housemaids to take care of the domestic work and take care of children has increased in a way that made it impossible for families to do without them and that number of domestic workers can exceed the number of family members in several families,” the study added.
It also urged the citizens to cut reliance on housemaids, saying that childcare should be the responsibility of parents rather than domestic helpers.
“It is necessary that parents should be trained and educated through the institutions concerned on how to take care of their children without depending on domestic workers who will never be able to inculcate the society’s specific values, beliefs and traditions in them,” the study indicated.
The study estimated the average number of the Qatari family members to be 9.5 in 2008, from 8.6 in 1997. “Contrary to what happened in several countries where the size of families decreased, Qatari family size increased mainly due to the growing demand on domestic helpers with each family having an average of 2.3 domestic workers,” the study said.
According to the Qatar Statistics Authority, domestic helpers are included in the population census conducted by the Authority.
Without domestic helpers, the study put the national family’s average size at 7.3 persons, which the study said, was “still relatively high”.
About marriage levels, the study said that some 54.9% of males and 55.8% of females, aged above 15, among the Qatari citizens are married, which the study said, signified some sort of “marriage stability”.
It also warned against the growing rates of marriage between close relatives, which increased from 10.3 in 1997 to 23.7% of the total number of marriage contracts in 2007.
“Young people should be educated on the negative effects of the social phenomena like marriage between relatives, early marriage and divorce,” the study said.
On life expectancy at birth for the national family members, the study pointed out that the age has increased from 76 years in 2005 to 79.5 in 2007, which the study said, showed an improvement in life quality.
About the national families’ monthly income, the study put a majority of 71.6% of families in middle and above middle income group ranging from QR10,000 to 50,000 a month, while 27.2% were getting more than QR50,000 in 2007.
Here There and Everywhere 