Ramadan ends, Eid begins

It's Wednesday morning of our holiday. We go back to work next Tuesday. Ramadan is over and we'll finally get a chance to experience regular life in Doha. Now we can go out for a coffee or have a glass of wine in a hotel (not outside!). Yesterday, after I went in to school for a bit while Roger went to meet his student (in French), we went down to the New Old Souq (Souq Waqif) again. As we drove down, we saw hundreds of people gathering along the roads down near the water and realized with horror that we were in the middle of a big party for the beginning of Eid. The traffic is bad at the best of times but it looked very very bad as we drove and wondered how we'd ever find our way home, if the only way we knew was closed. But we found the parking (whew!) and walked through the crowds to find a Moroccan restaurant where we could sit outside. The food was different....Roger had baby camel which he said tasted like 'gamey' beef. People sit around and smoke from big 'hookahs' (called “shisha” here). The cones of tobacco smell of all kinds of flavours like strawberry, etc. Last night a Qatar woman sat beside us and smoked. One scary man stopped and stood and stared at her for at least 15 minutes. He wasn't looking at her with pleasure. She was uncovered and sitting outside smoking. She just stared him down but looked relieved when he left. Then we waited for a musical extravaganza to begin for over an hour...the musicians were still arriving when we left. There were chairs set up in the souq passages but I was the only woman in the non-Arab section. There were many women in the 'special' section for Qatari people. We actually weren't sure how the seating was designated but men in thobes (the long white gowns) and headdresses kept coming and taking chairs from our section to a different section so we guessed that they were reluctant to sit with people like us. Anyway, I'm going to try to set up a slideshow on Facebook of our latest pictures. Let me know if it works (or when it works … haven’t managed to do it yet).

We are having one of the teachers over for supper tonight. He also didn't go anywhere. We have been asked out to lunch on Friday by another of the teachers (to the Diplomatic Club no less). We may try to go to the City Center mall ....read article!!!!

Single men complain over ban at malls during Eid
Web posted at: 10/1/2008 1:42:44
Source ::: The Peninsula / by Raynald Rivera

DOHA • The first day of Eid Al Fitr yesterday was welcomed with a great outcry from single men as malls imposed Family Day turning one of the most festive days in the Muslim world into a day of sadness.

Visitors to the City Center Doha yesterday expressed disgust over the situation crying it's unfair. "This is incredible," said Ariel, a Filipino adding that he thought Family Day was only Friday and he was surprised to find out that it would be imposed for the entire three-day Eid holiday. The signboard at the City Center says: 'Family Day for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd days of Eid from 10am to 10pm'.

"I have waited for this three-day holiday to come but my excitement suddenly turned to disappointment when I found out that the Eid holiday is Family Day for malls. Eid holiday is for everybody not just for families," Ariel added. The day also witnessed some commotion on the mall's entrance with a number of visitors complaining of the unfairness of the mall security guards in letting other singles enter the mall's premises. When asked, one guard said, "They are employees of some shops here." He also said that Qataris are allowed to enter.

A middle-aged woman along with her two children was also denied entry for some reason. "I have been waiting here for 20 minutes but they won't allow me get in," she said angrily. She could do nothing but leave.

Some single men used their old strategies of tagging with families or joining single women just to be able to access the mall.

"We have nowhere to go but the malls this Eid. How are we going to spend our four-day holiday, if they don't allow us to be in the malls?" said an Indian bachelor.

The guards refused to answer questions saying that they were not allowed to entertain any queries or receive any complaints. "If you have any complaints, you may talk to the management. We are just doing our job," the chief guard said. They gave the number of the office and this reporter has called them a number of times but nobody answered.