Why Do Qatari Men Touch Noses?

Watch this funny video from Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani for the answer:

 

  

I know, I know - I promised:  a blog every Friday, no matter what.  But today…I'm just too tired.  After a (busy, but fun) week of 9-hour and an 11-hour shifts with students at Weill Cornell Medical College.  A week of early mornings, hurried shopping, midnight laundry.

 

A week of language classes missed.

 

A week of sunshine lost.

 

I'm befuddled in English, confused in Arabic, mixed up in Khaleeji, Masri, FusHa.

 

There are the usual distractions muddling my horizon - half marathon training after a long setback.  Missing family, faraway car troubles, taxes due, FAFSAs to complete…five babies I haven't seen in way. too. long.

 

And new distractions like Bob's guys-go-golf trip to ABU DHABI this weekend (clicker to myself! Snacks and sweatpants in front of the tv!) and deciding if I should run tomorrow's inaugural "Doha Marathon" along the Corniche - just advertised in yesterday's paper.

 

If I were blogging today I might write about stuff in the news…for example how all women (teachers, administrators, support staff) were suddenly banned from working in Independent Boys' Schools (ie, Qatari public schools). "For fear that (young boys) may start imitating their behavior or mannerisms."  (Doha News Link)

 

Or about Sheikha Moza's nanny training school where "the goal of the academy (is to) protect children from other cultures that diffuse into the society through Asian nannies in particular." (Doha News Link)

Or maybe I'd tell you about red suburbans and motorcycles and drivers with guns who park in the middle of roundabouts, blocking/clogging roads, so whomever-high-up can get from here to there unimpeded.  And how it used to be interesting to watch the long line of black cars stream past and wonder, who-might-that-be?  But now when I see those speeding flashes of red…I whip the car around and consider how wide a circle I'll have to make to avoid the inevitable traffic backup. 
 

 

unrelated palm trees pic

 

Nope, I'm just not up to blogging today. Instead I'm gonna watch another funny video, drink some coffee and…wait for the sun.

Cold and Wet in Doha

One day,  it rained.

Not just  a drizzle, not just for an hour.  All. Day. Long.  The sky heavy with low, fat clouds.  Puddle making, skin drenching, chill producing, wet.  Heaven opened flood gates wet.  Tears on my beach wet.

 

West Bay one foggy, rainy day

 

No stormwater system meant pool sized puddles filled streets.  Shoes, socks, jeans, underwear soaked, hair plastered to heads.

 

And still the rain came down and down and down.

 

Foreigners cowered inside under blankets but locals took to the streets.  Walkways were packed with happy groups of men and women in traditional dress, carrying umbrellas, wearing coats.

 

In Arabic class, Qatari Teacher's teenage niece texted her.  "Isn't the weather amazing?"

 

Teacher smiled.  "We prayed for it," she said.  "Water is the essence of life."

 

I shook my head and my life dripped to the floor.

 

Perspective is everything.

 

You see, when "normal" temperatures often exceed 115F - cold and wet isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Winter in Doha is cool temperatures (mornings as whoa-low as 60F!), rare drops of rain, chill wind with spitting, stinging sand.

 

Security guards in heavy winter coats, ski gloves and thick pants shivering through 12-hour stand-in-one-place shifts. Workers in stocking caps and boots sweeping walkways.
 

 

Sand in teeth during a last time jog with run-everyday-no-matter-what daughter.

 

Long stretches without a Beach Day.  Brown roots showing in fading sun-bleached hair.

 

Space heaters (no central heat in the desert), blankets, leggings, shoes instead of sandals.  Whole rooms constructed of tile means it's colder inside than outside.

 

But then...Doha Winter is also planting, fertilizing, digging, weeding, watering.  Happy flowers.

 

 

Desert camps, falcon events, dune bashing, truffle hunting.  Crowds running the Corniche until 10am.  Beach sun between 10am-2pm.

 

winter camps under a blue desert sky

 

Brown dish-dashas.

 

 

And one day, at least…rain.

 

rainy afternoon at The Pearl