Doha flash!

Two pieces of news: it really rained yesterday (23 January 2009) for the first time since we arrived. Inevitably, there were a number of accidents (even more than usual). Also Pat bought a bike & rode it today to Al Meera (our neighbourhood grocery store). Here's the proof:

Desert birding

I went birding yesterday afternoon with Gord Saunders (Newfoundland) into the desert about 45 minutes south of Doha to find an Eagle Owl. It had been seen first last Friday & is a hyper-rare bird for Qatar. It wasn't easy to see but we did find it. You can just make out its head & ears hiding in the crevice in the upper centre of the photo!

We saw a few other birds (Desert Lark, Desert Hoopoe, & Desert Wheatear) but it was amazingly quiet & an opportunity to see the mood of the desert & a glorious sunset.

Back in the saddle

The school year will be half over, not that I'm counting! We have booked out tickets home in June as well as our tickets to the UK for a conference in March and then to the UK to attend Jill's (Roger's sister) investiture as Head of the Congregational Church in the UK. So our Visa is maxed out!!! Oh well, we don't spend much here.

Roger is out birding with a friend and I am just back from a 'Jumble Sale' at the Rec Centre at Education City. It's an amazing place with Fitness rooms, (1 just for women), coffee shop, bank, photo shop, post office, Fedex place, Laundry, meeting rooms galore, an Olympic-sized pool, gyms, and tons of programs like Yoga, Fitness, aqua aerobics...and everything is free to employees and families. The Jumble Sale was small with mostly expats selling the same kinds of stuff you would see at a garage sale at home. Those of you who know me well will understand my compulsion to buy cheap things quickly!!! So, I bargained for books and DVDs and mugs etc. that I really don't need and will probably give away when I leave. But it is all recycling, and reusing (my justification). I am looking for a bike to ride only to school or to our local government grocery store (Al Meera)...one that doesn't usually have what we are looking for. The local bike store seems to be closed most of the time but through their extremely dusty window we can see a lady's bike...pink, no gears, lovely big basket, big tires and a fender! So, we will continue to drive around 5 roundabouts to get to the store....maybe it will be open soon. I would never bike any further and even that short distance (maybe 15 minutes tops) will be fraught with adventure. I will have to run across 4 lanes of traffic stopping in the middle. This will be okay in the morning at around 6 am but in the afternoon I will have to time my runs well. At least the bike will be bright pink and I'll be wearing a helmet!

The teaching was interesting this week. My grade 11 boys told me ("honestly, miss") that my classes are very boring. I tried not to take it personally....Ha! Philosophically speaking school has been boring for students forever! So, I can understand that. Realistically speaking they are probably 50% correct. So, today I downloaded some 'football' articles for them...we'll see. Next year I will be the ESL consultant at the school, which will mean no teaching of classes. I will withdraw some students for extra help but I will mainly be helping the teachers to make the content of their courses more accessible to the students. Those of you who are teachers will know just how much teachers love having consultants come in to 'tell them how to teach'. So, it will be a challenge. At least I won't be bored.

We have some Palestinian teachers at school who have family in Gaza and they are very preoccupied with the situation there. The students are also and the whole Arab part of the school (teachers and students) are beginning to work toward raising money etc. It is a terrible situation for them and it really isn't possible to talk about another point of view. So, we stay quiet and try to support them. They are such lovely people, gentle and kind and right now very sad. All the news here is about it all the time.

Yesterday we drove out to Falcon Races in the desert. It was really something to see. I'll include some pictures because it's too hard to describe. It reminded me of the big field days (small rodeos) we used to go to when I was young in Saskatchewan....except that they had camels instead of Palomino horses. It's warm today and we are beginning to talk about camping again...maybe in 2 weeks. This time we'll rent a 4X4 to be able to drive across the desert. I have started Yoga again...on Thursday after school which leads into the weekend. The teacher is from Calgary but is going to buy a place in Comox on the Island! That seems to be what people do with their money from here. We, of course, are trying to pay off our debts...I say good luck to that.

We'll go to a friend's house (Judy..American) to watch the Inauguration on Tuesday. I guess Francie and Mike will get a good feel for the energy and have some good stories to tell us. What an exciting time to be in Washington...Take pictures for us.

I'm not sure if some of you heard about Steve's grandmother's death. She had been a principal with our board for years and was very well-respected.

To those of you in the deep-freeze, We send warm sunshiny wishes.

Museum of Islamic Art

Today I spent over two hours in this amazing Museum. This was my second visit but I have still not seen everything, even though there are not a huge number of items on display. The slideshow will give you some idea of what it is like.

Back to Doha

So here we are, back in Doha &, believe it or not, complaining about the cold! It’s only 11 degrees today (Monday) & we are wearing sweaters, coats, & socks. The return trip was not as bad as we expected & we managed to sleep quite well with an empty seat between us. Pat started teaching again yesterday & we are well into the New Year. Our resolutions: save money, keep fit, & enjoy our time here. The month in Canada went by much too quickly but we did manage to spend plenty of time with the grandchildren, even if we were both fighting off the flu & ended up taking antibiotics.

We are definitely in a different season, even though we have yet to see any rain (other than a few drops that Pat claims to have felt back in November … I missed them). The north-west wind (“shamal”) is blowing more often bringing cooler air & sending the sand & dust scurrying across the road like snow along the highways in Canada. We had to buy a small space heater just to take the chill off the apartment. Blankets are highly valued.

Things haven’t changed that much although there are inevitably new buildings that have sprung up overnight. The recreation centre on our compound is still not finished even though it looked close in December. The line of carwash places (“Carwash Souq”) along Al Luqta has undergone a major transformation. All thirty or so have been closed & will presumably be knocked down quite soon. We have no idea what will take their place or what has happened to all the car-washers.

This evening we are going to the opening round of the “Qatar ExxonMobil Open” men’s tennis. We couldn’t get tickets for the semi-final & finals but will see all the players over the next three days. Nadal, Federer, Murray, & Roddick, are all playing so we should se some good tennis. Nestor (Canada) is playing in the doubles. The tickets are quite impressive, measuring 3” by 5” with holograms of the top-seeded players. The whole event seems much better planned than the women’s tournament last November.

We’re looking forward to visiting the newly opened Museum of Islamic Art:

Photo by Ammar

A new milestone in Islamic architecture and art showcasing the gems of Islamic civilization opened 1^st December on Doha's man-made island with a spectacular fireworks display and music performances by world renowned Cellist Yo Yo Ma. The inaugural festivities brought together 1,000 of the world's luminaries.

The museum's collection demonstrates the diversity of Islamic culture, bringing together 800 artistic and historical artifacts from three continents dating from the 7th through 19th centuries.

A day after the opening ceremony, actor Robert De Niro and Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani, president of Qatar's museums authority and daughter of the emir, signed an agreement to launch the first Tribeca Film Festival in Doha. The film festival is scheduled to run from November 10-14th 2009 at the newly opened Museum of Islamic Arts. Co-founded by De Niro to revitalize cultural life in Manhattan after 9/11, the film festival aims to "play a role in bridging cultures closer together," the actor told AFP. An apt venue for bridging cultures and civilizations, the colossal Museum of Islamic Arts marks the oil-rich country's efforts to make Doha the new Islamic centre of culture and art as it aims to be a distinguished artistic link between East and West.