Click on links below. Just do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thkJ5Uhggfw&feature=related
and.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS08Bjgq_rc&feature=related
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Smelting Pot
When you've been writing a blog as long as I have, it's inevitable that writer's block will hit. And now, after 2 whole entries it has finally found me. Between "The Block" and an extended trip back to the glorious U.S. of A., it's been quite a while since my last post.
I suppose those with less blog experience than I would probably attempt to sidestep "The Block" with some object focus, networking, picture association or some other silly writing technique. What I do when this happens to me is come up with what I think is a clever title and then spend the next few weeks trying to fabricate a life experience to go along with it, in turn, justifying another blog entry.
Here is the outcome:
Step 1 = figure out what “smelt” really is.
Smelt is mainly defined as "A family of small anadromous fish common in the North American Great Lakes."
Here is where I hit another blogging snag. I’ve been scouring the Doha restaurants and grocery stores for any trace of this delicacy in hopes of a "chance" encounter but to my knowledge the North American Great Lakes are still in North America. Unless some local Qataris have a hankerin for some smelt, it’s not going to swim it’s way over here. We even took a trip to the local fish market where we were able to slosh around in fish guts in 112 degree heat. While we were unsuccessful in our quest for smelt, we did find an entire shark and an enormous octopus should we need one.
Step B: Move on to another use of the word.
Smelting is defined as "A metallurgical thermal processing operation in which the metal or matte is separated in fused form from nonmetallic materials or other undesired metals with which it is associated."
I had a bit more luck trying to incorporate “smelting”....read on.
In a country with a population of around 1.2 million people, only roughly 350,000 of them are local Qataris. The rest of us are Expatriates (a.k.a. Expats). An Expat is a person living in a country other than their legal residence.
Based solely on the experiences we've had in the past couple of months, there appears to be three distinct "caste" systems here in Qatar. In category 1 at the top of the food chain are the local Qatari people who have undergone (I admit, I'm stretching a bit here) "smelting" and have separated themselves in fused form from the other two undesired categories.
In category 2 are the "educated" Western expats much like ourselves that are here for what we would refer to as white collar jobs.
At a VERY distant third are the expats that the locals have sponsored and allowed to come over and handle their nasty chores. While they are here voluntarily, word on the street is that they are sometimes subject to less than desirable behavior and working conditions. They mainly come from the lower economic areas of Southeast Asian countries in which they may not have been able to find employment. Typically they make less than what we would consider minimum wage and send as much money home as possible to support their families. Most of them won't return home for years after coming here because they can't afford the airfare.
The picture below shows the parking lot at the mall. The men in full jumpsuits have been hired to stand outside in the lot all day and offer to wash your car for 15 QR (around $4.10) while you shop. I will not deny that I love this convenience but I do feel bad for them being in the heat all day and the fact that out of that $4.10 they probably only take home a small portion.
It has definitely been an eye opening experience for us and we have thoroughly enjoyed being exposed to such a mixture of people from so many different countries. We have met people from Holland, Wales, Ireland, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, India, Ethiopia, Malaysia and um, Canada. The funny thing is that we still haven't met a single local Qatari person! We see them shoving past us to cut in line at the malls (mall picture below) or trying to run us off the roads etc. but haven't had the occasion to be personally introduced to any. I do think this is an appropriate time to insert that when looking up the definition of caste system it actually says: "caste should not be confused with class." However, I would NEVER put that in writing and am fighting hard not to form an opinion until I actually have the opportunity for a face to face chat.
I suppose those with less blog experience than I would probably attempt to sidestep "The Block" with some object focus, networking, picture association or some other silly writing technique. What I do when this happens to me is come up with what I think is a clever title and then spend the next few weeks trying to fabricate a life experience to go along with it, in turn, justifying another blog entry.
Here is the outcome:
Step 1 = figure out what “smelt” really is.
Smelt is mainly defined as "A family of small anadromous fish common in the North American Great Lakes."
Here is where I hit another blogging snag. I’ve been scouring the Doha restaurants and grocery stores for any trace of this delicacy in hopes of a "chance" encounter but to my knowledge the North American Great Lakes are still in North America. Unless some local Qataris have a hankerin for some smelt, it’s not going to swim it’s way over here. We even took a trip to the local fish market where we were able to slosh around in fish guts in 112 degree heat. While we were unsuccessful in our quest for smelt, we did find an entire shark and an enormous octopus should we need one.
Step B: Move on to another use of the word.
Smelting is defined as "A metallurgical thermal processing operation in which the metal or matte is separated in fused form from nonmetallic materials or other undesired metals with which it is associated."
I had a bit more luck trying to incorporate “smelting”....read on.
In a country with a population of around 1.2 million people, only roughly 350,000 of them are local Qataris. The rest of us are Expatriates (a.k.a. Expats). An Expat is a person living in a country other than their legal residence.
Based solely on the experiences we've had in the past couple of months, there appears to be three distinct "caste" systems here in Qatar. In category 1 at the top of the food chain are the local Qatari people who have undergone (I admit, I'm stretching a bit here) "smelting" and have separated themselves in fused form from the other two undesired categories.
In category 2 are the "educated" Western expats much like ourselves that are here for what we would refer to as white collar jobs.
At a VERY distant third are the expats that the locals have sponsored and allowed to come over and handle their nasty chores. While they are here voluntarily, word on the street is that they are sometimes subject to less than desirable behavior and working conditions. They mainly come from the lower economic areas of Southeast Asian countries in which they may not have been able to find employment. Typically they make less than what we would consider minimum wage and send as much money home as possible to support their families. Most of them won't return home for years after coming here because they can't afford the airfare.
The picture below shows the parking lot at the mall. The men in full jumpsuits have been hired to stand outside in the lot all day and offer to wash your car for 15 QR (around $4.10) while you shop. I will not deny that I love this convenience but I do feel bad for them being in the heat all day and the fact that out of that $4.10 they probably only take home a small portion.
It has definitely been an eye opening experience for us and we have thoroughly enjoyed being exposed to such a mixture of people from so many different countries. We have met people from Holland, Wales, Ireland, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, India, Ethiopia, Malaysia and um, Canada. The funny thing is that we still haven't met a single local Qatari person! We see them shoving past us to cut in line at the malls (mall picture below) or trying to run us off the roads etc. but haven't had the occasion to be personally introduced to any. I do think this is an appropriate time to insert that when looking up the definition of caste system it actually says: "caste should not be confused with class." However, I would NEVER put that in writing and am fighting hard not to form an opinion until I actually have the opportunity for a face to face chat.
Equally as strange is the fact that we have only spent any significant amount of time with one other American couple. We were put in touch with them through the pet relocation company we used and have met them a few times for doggie play dates and to walk the stray dogs being kept at the Qatar Animal Welfare Society (Q.A.W.S. - http://www.qaws.org/). We have heard of several other Americans in the area but haven't met any.
In our compound, we have a lovely family from Sudan, a Moroccan woman and her Palestinian husband, my new friend Moushira from Egypt and her husband George from England and some other neighbors from the U.K.. We have also become fast and hopefully lifelong friends with our wonderful neighbors from Sydney Australia. Peter, Sara and their 5 year old, Grace, are dog lovers and even watched our dogs for 3 weeks while Mark and I were gone immediately putting them on our 'A' list. We all arrived here in Doha around the same time and Sara and I have enjoyed lots of struggles together trying to figure out this crazy place. My personal favorite is the dead goat she found in our dumpster. Curry anyone?
I took this picture of our front door from the steps of our neighbor’s villa across the way. As you can see, we are in close quarters and life here on the compound reminds me of being in a college dorm somewhat. I have lost track of the times I've run over to Sara's in my PJ's to borrow something or vice versa.
And finally...
Number III: Attempt to manufacture some relevance, any relevance at all, between the title of this week's post to it's content.
I couldn't for the life of me remember where I came up with "Smelting Pot" other than the fact that I wanted to write about the variety of people we have met and of course the saying "melting pot" came to mind. But Smelt??? No idea where that came from.....until I sat down with Mark to watch a re-run of a TV show I saw on my own a few weeks before starting this post. There it was, "smelt", in an episode of Glee. It all makes sense now.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Stove
In my 29 years here on earth, I can honestly say I have spent minimal time thinking about the stove. It turns on, it cooks your food and it turns off.
However, in the past three weeks since my induction into all things Arab, I have used many of my jet lagged hours lying awake contemplating this amazing appliance. More accurately, contemplating this amazing appliance we didn't have. You see, in what we now recognize as a gross error in judgement, we rented a Villa here in Doha with absolutely nothing in it. A brand new five bedroom, 4.5 bath Villa.
I can recall the naive discussion we had when making this decision i.e. "It will be nice to pick out our own stuff" and "in the end it will cost the same as renting a furnished one..." and so on. Hence, there we were, stoveless, AND bedless, fridgeless, sofaless, tableless, sheetless, toweless and well, you get the idea.
Mark beat me to Doha by a day and had a lovely candlelight "picnic" waiting for us when we arrived from the airport. Thanks to Carrefour, the local "Wal-Mart", he was able to rustle up the world's second most uncomfortable bed in the form of an air mattress, some towels and sheets for our first night. I was especially thankful for those sheets the next morning when we awoke at 6:30 am to find a little Indian man tinkering around in our bathroom. Our master bathroom that he had to walk right through our bedroom to get to.
Due to a slight mix-up with the landlord, our villa wasn't quite finished when we arrived and it was covered in an inch of dirt and dust and was sporting several leaking fixtures along with the most intense sewer smell you can ever imagine in the master bathroom. The dirt and dust are now gone, the smell is not.
In the following days we found a website similar to Craigslist(www.qatarliving.com) that is popular with expats leaving the country and were able to locate the worlds MOST uncomfortable bed (only temporary since ours is being shipped from the U.S.), a beautiful dining room table and chairs and some other odds and ends for ridiculously good prices. Yet stoveless we remained.
Now it is definitely true that you don't know what you've got until it's gone and stoves are not exempt from this rule. "If we just had a stove, then...." and "I can't do that because we don't have a stove" or "Once we get a stove we will...". Who knew something as inanimate as a stove could become so empowered??
Finally!! We meet Mr. Emad and his wife...Mrs. Emad. Mr. Emad has just lost his job contract and has to leave Qatar, and his stove, behind. While I am sad for the Emads, I am not sad for the Emad's almost brand new stainless steel stove which has found a lovely new home at the low price of 1600 Riyal ($438.00).
Two non-English speaking Pakistanis, a 1972 pickup, another 300 Riyal and an electrician with no shoes later, we are the proud new owners of said stove.
Now that we are no longer stoveless, anything is possible! We will create culinary masterpieces fit for a Sheik. We will become fit and strong, working out religiously 4-6 hours a day. Our dogs will behave like Westminster's finest. We will start a charity, giving away millions and become fluent in 7 languages while training for the Ididerod. We have a stove. We can do anything.
Thanks for reading everyone!!
Next week's title: The Dishwasher.
However, in the past three weeks since my induction into all things Arab, I have used many of my jet lagged hours lying awake contemplating this amazing appliance. More accurately, contemplating this amazing appliance we didn't have. You see, in what we now recognize as a gross error in judgement, we rented a Villa here in Doha with absolutely nothing in it. A brand new five bedroom, 4.5 bath Villa.
I can recall the naive discussion we had when making this decision i.e. "It will be nice to pick out our own stuff" and "in the end it will cost the same as renting a furnished one..." and so on. Hence, there we were, stoveless, AND bedless, fridgeless, sofaless, tableless, sheetless, toweless and well, you get the idea.
Mark beat me to Doha by a day and had a lovely candlelight "picnic" waiting for us when we arrived from the airport. Thanks to Carrefour, the local "Wal-Mart", he was able to rustle up the world's second most uncomfortable bed in the form of an air mattress, some towels and sheets for our first night. I was especially thankful for those sheets the next morning when we awoke at 6:30 am to find a little Indian man tinkering around in our bathroom. Our master bathroom that he had to walk right through our bedroom to get to.
Due to a slight mix-up with the landlord, our villa wasn't quite finished when we arrived and it was covered in an inch of dirt and dust and was sporting several leaking fixtures along with the most intense sewer smell you can ever imagine in the master bathroom. The dirt and dust are now gone, the smell is not.
In the following days we found a website similar to Craigslist(www.qatarliving.com) that is popular with expats leaving the country and were able to locate the worlds MOST uncomfortable bed (only temporary since ours is being shipped from the U.S.), a beautiful dining room table and chairs and some other odds and ends for ridiculously good prices. Yet stoveless we remained.
Now it is definitely true that you don't know what you've got until it's gone and stoves are not exempt from this rule. "If we just had a stove, then...." and "I can't do that because we don't have a stove" or "Once we get a stove we will...". Who knew something as inanimate as a stove could become so empowered??
Finally!! We meet Mr. Emad and his wife...Mrs. Emad. Mr. Emad has just lost his job contract and has to leave Qatar, and his stove, behind. While I am sad for the Emads, I am not sad for the Emad's almost brand new stainless steel stove which has found a lovely new home at the low price of 1600 Riyal ($438.00).
Two non-English speaking Pakistanis, a 1972 pickup, another 300 Riyal and an electrician with no shoes later, we are the proud new owners of said stove.
Now that we are no longer stoveless, anything is possible! We will create culinary masterpieces fit for a Sheik. We will become fit and strong, working out religiously 4-6 hours a day. Our dogs will behave like Westminster's finest. We will start a charity, giving away millions and become fluent in 7 languages while training for the Ididerod. We have a stove. We can do anything.
Thanks for reading everyone!!
Next week's title: The Dishwasher.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Top 10 reasons to live in Qatar
Hello All!! Welcome to my blog. I have been promising "updates" for two weeks now and have run out of excuses. This is one way to streamline the process.
Admittedly, I also have some selfish motives for blogging such as:
1) Teaching myself what a blog is
2) Passing the time
AND...
3) Amusing myself and hopefully others.
With that in mind, to all of my Arab relatives should I have any, please don't take me too seriously.
AND NOW I PRESENT TO YOU....
TOP 10 REASONS TO LIVE IN QATAR:
1) Nothing but spectacular scenery.
2) You can hand wash your Abaya with ease.
3) The opportunity to live on what resembles an abandoned movie set.
4) You too can have the utmost confidence in your dry cleaning establishment.
5) One stop shopping for the living room furniture of your dreams.
6) A friendly little man reminds you to obey the speed limit.
7) You can sit near the floor and eat with your hands like an infant. Bonus here: You can wear your Steve Forbes T-shirt and no one will think it's outdated.
8) The sand only comes under your front door on uh...sandy days.
Thanks for reading about our lives and keep us updated on yours.
Love to all
Admittedly, I also have some selfish motives for blogging such as:
1) Teaching myself what a blog is
2) Passing the time
AND...
3) Amusing myself and hopefully others.
With that in mind, to all of my Arab relatives should I have any, please don't take me too seriously.
AND NOW I PRESENT TO YOU....
TOP 10 REASONS TO LIVE IN QATAR:
1) Nothing but spectacular scenery.
2) You can hand wash your Abaya with ease.
3) The opportunity to live on what resembles an abandoned movie set.
4) You too can have the utmost confidence in your dry cleaning establishment.
5) One stop shopping for the living room furniture of your dreams.
6) A friendly little man reminds you to obey the speed limit.
7) You can sit near the floor and eat with your hands like an infant. Bonus here: You can wear your Steve Forbes T-shirt and no one will think it's outdated.
8) The sand only comes under your front door on uh...sandy days.
9) That is the tallest man EVER!!!....um I mean Johnny Rockets, Doha, coming soon to a location near you.
And finally....
10) The Family Chicken Centre. Of course.
Thanks for reading about our lives and keep us updated on yours.
Love to all
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