Tuesday, April 29. 2008
Week 33
Sunday, April 27. 2008
Public Displays of Affection
For the first time in almost 2 years of living in Doha, Ankur and I were scolded for being inappropriate in a place of business. Now for those of you who don't know us very well, we're not the most affectionate couple particularly in public. We call each other dude and joke around more than anything. We occasionally hold hands in public (scandalous, right?). Since we live in a more conservative country we are conscious of their culture and would not want to offend anyone. Anyway, we did not deserve to be pulled aside and scolded! This was the scenario:
We were waiting for our car to be inspected at the Qatar Technical Inspection (similar to the emissions testing in the US). Like everything else in Doha this involves a lot of random queues and waiting. So we have a seat and start watching an episode of Scrubs on Ankur's fancy phone. We only have one set of headphones so we split the earbuds and sit close together to see the little screen. To get more comfortable Ankur puts his arm around me. Actually it was more on the back of the chair than on my shoulder. Apparently that is inappropriate in a place of business! I think we were too much in shock to argue plus our car was just about done.
Anyway, this is of course rare in Doha. People are generally more open here.
We were waiting for our car to be inspected at the Qatar Technical Inspection (similar to the emissions testing in the US). Like everything else in Doha this involves a lot of random queues and waiting. So we have a seat and start watching an episode of Scrubs on Ankur's fancy phone. We only have one set of headphones so we split the earbuds and sit close together to see the little screen. To get more comfortable Ankur puts his arm around me. Actually it was more on the back of the chair than on my shoulder. Apparently that is inappropriate in a place of business! I think we were too much in shock to argue plus our car was just about done.
Anyway, this is of course rare in Doha. People are generally more open here.
Saturday, April 12. 2008
Alcohol Fatwa
Egyptian born Yusuf Qaradawi (sp?) announced a fatwa allowing for the consumption of alcohol as long as it does not exceed 0.5%. An typical beer has 5% alcohol by volume - meaning that you would have to drink 9ish glasses of water after a beer and you would be ok. Or conservatively speaking, a tiny amount would not be "haram".
Qaradawi is usually considered a moderate cleric and has spoken against violence against civilians after 9/11. He also said that Music and Arts are a good thing. But the super-conservative types fight everything he has to say. There is a lengthy page about how he is "misguided" and where all of his points are rebutted: http://www.islamicweb.com/beliefs/misguided/qaradawi.htm.
Anyhow, Qaradawi lives in Qatar. I'm curious to see if there will be a backlash against this fatwa.
Thursday, April 10. 2008
Surprise!!!
I forgot to post this last month but Ankur and my good friends in Doha threw me a surprise baby shower in early March :) Apparently they had been planning for quite awhile but I was completely in the dark. As you can see in the photo I was totally shocked!!! Here I am, thinking I'm going to spend a nice quiet evening with my friend before she leaves on her 5 month trip. Suddenly there's like 20 people, cake, gifts, and little cute pink things everywhere. I don't know how I managed to miss all the hints.
Here are some of them:
1) People talked about at the office (to my defense it was always in Arabic)
2) Ankur's cousin, Nehal, flew in to visit us (she was close by in Bombay and we hadn't seen Rohi yet!)
3) Ankur kept asking if I wanted a baby shower or not (my answer was always no but really I meant yes :) he knows me really really well)
4) Best of all...Steve said, "Ankur just called to ask me about a baby shower..." (I thought it was a bit odd but Ankur had just asked me the night before about a baby shower also. So I thought maybe he's just getting someone else's opinion. I don't know?!?)
Anyway, it was a fantastic surprise :)
Here are some of them:
1) People talked about at the office (to my defense it was always in Arabic)
2) Ankur's cousin, Nehal, flew in to visit us (she was close by in Bombay and we hadn't seen Rohi yet!)
3) Ankur kept asking if I wanted a baby shower or not (my answer was always no but really I meant yes :) he knows me really really well)
4) Best of all...Steve said, "Ankur just called to ask me about a baby shower..." (I thought it was a bit odd but Ankur had just asked me the night before about a baby shower also. So I thought maybe he's just getting someone else's opinion. I don't know?!?)
Anyway, it was a fantastic surprise :)
Camel Beauty Pagent
Who knew they had beauty contests for camels and to top it off could get sold for $2.7million!?!! Of course, I've only seen your everyday 10-riyal-to-ride-the-camel camel and not any prize winning ones. Personally, they look pretty wonky to me: giant lips, messed up teeth and weird shaped heads. We're planning to go see a camel race this weekend though so if I see any million dollar camels I will post the photos.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hG7wiVHHmYeblP9oagy7DUG8Xp4AD8VTUAU01
- Gen
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hG7wiVHHmYeblP9oagy7DUG8Xp4AD8VTUAU01
- Gen
Sunday, April 6. 2008
B1-Bomber Crash in Doha
On Friday, a B1 Bomber crashed and burned at the military base in Doha. Craziness.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7E60053C-EE39-4E26-A244-6446F7076ADB
No injuries or anything, but still interesting.
We usually hear them (fighter jets) once a week or so by my unofficial tally, but this is the first time I've heard of an accident. Although since I don't know where the base actually is, I'm probably not the best source of information.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7E60053C-EE39-4E26-A244-6446F7076ADB
No injuries or anything, but still interesting.
We usually hear them (fighter jets) once a week or so by my unofficial tally, but this is the first time I've heard of an accident. Although since I don't know where the base actually is, I'm probably not the best source of information.
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