General

QARADAWI
Originally uploaded by bunybuny45

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.

Lovers exchange blows after man breaks wind

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/03/05/10194830.html

"Two lovers are standing trial for having an illicit relationship and exchanging blows after the man broke wind while in bed. "

-Gen

Picture from Mondoagogo on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mondoagogo/

Not only is the belly growing but the beard as well. Not mine you fools! Ankur is growing a beard until June. Not exactly sure why but I recall Ankur discussing it w/Steve at the bar a month back and the idea stuck. So now we have weekly shots of the belly and beard. Both are doing fine.

The baby has started to move in the last week or two. To me she seems oddly strong for a little 1 lb. 7-9 inch person. She's kicking around now as I'm typing...she knows I'm talking about her! If her kicking feels strong now I can't imagine a couple months from now!

I don't even want to think about what the beard will be like in a couple months either!

-Gen

Compounds have been bugging me for the last few weeks. 

They're the in-city equivalent to US suburbs.  There's recreation, community, shopping, everything (except work) without leaving the compound.  Some (if not most) compounds are bought by large companies and each villa is given to an employee as part of their ex-pat compensation. 

Most compounds are cookie-cutter construction that looks similar to this (you can even see the sprinkler by the sign).  Blah.

But it really isn't the compounds that irritate me - they are nice houses, safe to walk around in, and usually have a nice pool and gym.  It is the people that live in compounds that have no idea abou anything else in the country or region that irritate me. 

I was having lunch at Texas A&M and one of the staffers (not necessarily working in the university) was boisterous and loud and had no idea what the Corniche was (beach lining the city), what there was to do in Doha (or Dubai!), and looked like someone was speaking gibberish when they mentioned Sheesha (hubbly bubbly/hookah). 

Now, if you weren't from this part of the world, this is normal.  But this guy has been here 8 years.  8 years in Doha time is like 50 years in normal city time.  After 8 years, you should be able to say "Qatar" without making it sound like "Que-targh". 

It isn't just some Americans or Brits or Europeans in compounds that have a similar behavioral pattern.  Other ethnic groups in the region tend to flock together and don't have any interest in mingling or learning others' culture.  Some Indians or Filipinos live in a "Mini-India" or "Mini-Phillipines" by speaking only their native tongues and never venturing out of their comfort zones.  Part of this is habit.  People get used to the famililar and will actively need to break out to explore other areas. 

Similar to suburbanites in the US, it isn't an all-encompassing generalization.  There are plenty of people who live in the suburbs, but not in a shell.  There are plenty of Filipinos who have multi-ethnic friends. 

Maybe I've been watching too many Russell Peters youtube videos, "There's not going to be any more white people, there's not going to be any black people.  Everyone's going to be beige."  The whole world is mixing - we might as well be multicultural now.

Maybe it is my expectations in people.  Perhaps I expect ex-pats to be slightly more aware of their surroundings and perhaps see the sights every once in a while.  I perhaps expect ex-pats in an 80% ex-pat country to try and learn new things instead of hiding in a shell. 

Oh well.  I love my hummous.

You learn something new every day.  Today I learned that if you have an extra $1000 to spare, you can make soft-boiled egg yummyness.  As Sam Mason (Tailor restaurant in NYC) states, "If you soft-boil an egg at exactly 65.5 degrees centigrade for an hour, you’re going to get the most perfect egg you could ever imagine, as the proteins respond exactly as you want them to, the white perfectly coagulated and the yolk just barely solidified."

Story in nymag

This is a man that clearly spends too much time cooking. 

Genny's getting a gut (finally).  Saturday marks the beginning on the 19th week or the end of the 18th week.  Click the picture for the full version of her. 

We'll try to take a picture every week to make a time-lapse of her. 

This week the baby starts pooping.  Yay.

I have an interesting relationship with my barber. We don't talk. Well, usually.

Yesterday I was in Doha for 10 hours or so settling a lease, paying bills, etc. Just basically running errands. My hair has been a little out of control as it tends to do when Genny isn't around. Ask her about my beard situation. At noon, on my way to the office to pick up my mail, I stopped in at the barber shop.

My usual procedure is quite simple:

• Wake up barber.  He's usually asleep and I have an odd feeling that he doesn't have more than a few customers.  I've never seen any.
• Sit in chair
• Allow him to cut as he sees fit.
• Pay the 10 riyal ($3)
• Leave

Now the middle part of that list is the one where most people have long conversations about daytime events, gossip, and other non-important discussions.  As my barber only speaks Malayalam (language of Kerala, India), and I don't understand a word of it, I don't even bother.  I don't think he knows I speak English as I usually am completely silent.  He probably assumes that I'm this weird Indian guy who can't speak to him. 

Anyhow, he does a good job (ok for me) and basically trims each hair shorter.  There's no changing my haircut or trying something new as we haven't crossed the language barrier or known enough similar words to make it happen.

But yesterday I decided to say my first word to him: "Gel"

I had a flight later that day and don't have a place to shower before catching my flight.  So hair-goop it is. I took a smudgeon and put it on and was walking out the door.  He ran over to me and sat me down in the chair.

It was then that he applied what must have been half of the tub of gel into my head.  He then decided that the "Ditka" look was the one for me and combed my hair straight back. 

I should stick to not talking to my barber.

"Manama: An Islamist lawmaker has urged his male peers to take four wives, three Bahraini women and one foreigner, in order to help address the issue of the high number of spinsters in the country." - Gulfnews.com

Are you kidding?? 

-Gen