End of Summer Doha Style

Today it is September 7th and bachelor life and the summer is officially over.

The Summer began on July 3rd when Cathy left for home from Berlin to begin her Summer away from Doha.

It is a boys club in the Middle East as many wives leave town and escape the high temperatures and humidity found in the region (average temps are 35-50 C, or 95 - 122 F for my non metric friends) with humidity near 100% at night.

I'm sure she enjoyed being home during that time, not just to escape the heat (it was pushing 100F at home when she arrived), but to enjoy life as she likes it.  Fresh brewed Folgers in the morning, proper morning shows on TV, Orioles baseball, seeing our boys and their girls, lunch with parents, dinners with close friends.

Our visit to Berlin was chronicled in a previous post.

The month of July was long with adjusting to being a bachelor, then...

Josh and I hung out in Turkey for a few days in early August (this deserves its own post).

Got to see him present to his summer school and spend time touring Marmaris and Istanbul.

Presenting

Shopping 

Drank the only beer in town
(makes ordering easy)

Rode the Ferry across the Bosphorus (several times)

For work reasons I went to Denver in early August.  The Annual Business Development meeting.  It was good to see the work group and re-connect with folks I hadn't seen in close to a year.  It also made me realize how efficient we are in MENA (read - fewer people with broader responsibilities vs. a lot of people with less responsibility in North America).

The trip to the US was extended to include a visit to the home front.

It was a busy seven days.

We had a party for my mother who turns 70 this year (on the 9th of September if you are wondering).

 We made it out to the ballgame

 And after a busy weekend, we relaxed by doing some work around the old homestead and then I returned to Doha in time for Eid Al-Fitr.  I certainly needed the long weekend to recuperate from the jet lag.

I did get to photograph some fireworks shot off to celebrate the holiday.

And with the end of the fireworks the party was over and it is time to get back to work.  Clients are returning from their holiday and the fun has started again.

Tonight my sweetheart returns to Doha.  I hope she is as happy to be back as I am to see her....

Probably not....

Villagio Mall

About two weeks ago the Villagio Mall was on fire.  It was a story that ran through the town very quickly.  In this small country of Qatar and its capital city there isn't much to do for entertainment.  In the modern Arab world the mall is the center of activity - dining, shopping, entertainment, etc.  The Villagio is probably the best Qatar has to offer. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18243136


It opened in 2006 in time for the Asian games and it was labeled the largest mall in Qatar.  It was beautiful as malls go.  If you are familiar with the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, its interior was modeled after it, down to the Gondola ride.


The fire two weeks ago was a tragedy in many ways but most importantly the loss of 13 young lives that will never know what life will be like.  In that loss there is a lot of pain for the families that lost their children, like the parents of the New Zealand triplets - Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes.  God bless them and protect their families in their time of sadness.


http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16243466


http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16238809


I don't know what will happen with the mall, it has been closed since the fire.  I'm sure a lot will take place before it reopens - arrests have been made, investigations are taking place and damage repaired.


When I first arrived in Qatar I was taken there as an example of what Qatar had to offer.  In the rest of this blog I want to share some of the photos of what the mall had to offer.

Signs

Cathy and I are fascinated by the country we are living in at the moment.  It is a pretty plain place with lots of western amenities and activities.  Qatar is a small country, smaller than Connecticut. Doha, the capitol city is a relatively small place.  A lot like my home town of Baltimore, it doesn't take long to get from one side of town to another.  You can travel to the furthest points of the country in about an hour.

Lots of desert to explore and plenty of oddities to observe, which brings me to the purpose of this entry.

In this blog I want to share some signs we've photographed lately.  I want to start by saying, early in my career I worked for a boss that was very peculiar and particular about wording in memos and signage.  As time has passed I've developed the same peculiarity, always correcting junior staff on spelling and sentence structure, even in SMS messages and IM's - who knew.

Anyway, on to the adventure we had that day....

When we saw these signs we looked at each other and said....

I hope the Road Works, by God I'm driving on it...

Can someone tell me what this means, please...

Now I know where to go if that landlord of mine...

Of course you need to know what the store is on the corner...

Not your father's Saloon for sure.  Is it Saloon or Salon?  

The Brits even looked puzzled when I ask.

Finally!! I found 'em.  I guess you can pick up a few Taliban here.

Now I'm on the look out for them damn Al Qaeda.

Oh well, there are many more oddities and signs that make you scratch your head and other body parts and realize there are about 20 different cultures here....

Doha Pearl Man

There are opportunities for adventure in Qatar.

Each weekend we try to take the opportunity to explore and find something different about the city or the country.  It isn't a big place, but there are a few gems to discover.

In early December we heard about the Pearl Man.  A lady we met told us about the man and the general location.

If you know anything about Doha or the Middle East, that is about all the information you ever get.  Most things are passed by word of mouth as very little is recorded, except about the major malls and ministries.

All we knew was go two round abouts past the Oryx Round About and make a U-turn.  The park is on the right.  He is in a small white building.

So, off we went in search of the Pearl Man.

In Rumailah Park there is a long water feature with a pool at each end and a long water canal.  Between the two water features is a row of shops.  Shops that at one point must have been very nice and in service.  Today they are mostly vacant and will be demolished when the Doha Grand Park is built.  We entered the shops from the south side and walked all along one row of shops to the end.  Not seeing the Pearl Man we started up the other side.  Almost near the end where we entered, we spotted a Qatari sitting inside a shop.  We asked him about the Pearl man.  He came out and pointed two shops down to an arab that was standing outside smoking.  Ah, could that be the Pearl Man.

We walked down and asked "Are you the Pearl Man?"  With a nod we knew we had found him.

The Pearl Man's Shop Door

He explained he travels around the world to find pearls (mostly Australia and China).  He has them made into strands and sells them to the "market" and in his shop.

You won't find a better price anywhere in Doha.

Having found a color that interested Cathy he sent her out in to the sun to see the real color.  No, no, no, you must go down there (about 100 yards away) to look at them in the sun.
Then he shoved another six strands in my hand and said go show these to her too.  I walked down to where she was standing and said, "He wants you to look at these also".  Then we looked at each other and started to laugh.  Where in the U.S. of A. would someone send you down the street with six strands of pearls "to look at them in the sun"???

So many to choose from

We went back to the shop and Cathy started to work her way through the decision making process.  I left to get cash, of course a transaction like this was "cash only".  When I returned she was having tea with the Pearl Man and looking over her final selections.

Oh, you are having tea I see.  Of course, like any good Arab, he offered tea and there was a cup for me.  Sweet black tea.  Very nice.

We left the store and half way back to the car when we returned to look at another strand.  The value was so good, you couldn't just leave with one purchase.  We were given a tour of the shop and his late father's art work.

In the excitement of the transaction, Cathy forgot she had put the pearls on in the picture and were forgotten until the Pearl man commented how nice they were.  After a brief moment of embarrassment the strand of pearls were returned to him.

We found the Pearl Man and he was happy to see us.  Another successful Qatari adventure.

Cathy and the "Pearl Man"