Tuesday, April 29. 2008
Week 33
Sunday, April 27. 2008
Public Displays of Affection
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!!!
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
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hG7wiVHHmYeblP9oagy7DUG8Xp4AD8VTUAU01
- Gen
Sunday, April 6. 2008
B1-Bomber Crash in Doha
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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