Hi all. Quite a bit of time has passed since I have written... Tessa turned 4 on February 18th, I’ve traveled a little in the Gulf (Dubai & Oman) and I’m managing OK without Nebiat who decided she wanted to stay in the US of A on a permanent illegal basis. Having a live-in maid was great. The house was always presentable and I could dash off at a moments notice because I had a live-in babysitter. Nebiat was a great help with the kids and the house, but I am managing OK with a part-time babysitter and cleaning lady. I know I sound completely spoiled, but picture this – Eve and Eliza throw the leftovers of their highchairs onto the polished imitation marble floor. We’re talking 3 meals a day. If you don’t clean instantly, it hardens or is a grease-slick that someone will slip on. When I try to clean right away, my little angels make their way into the kitchen (which is very separated from the dining room) to open bags of lentils, pasta, and empty the “play cabinet” of Tupperware or dig the dirt out of the houseplants. Tessa is delighted by all of the mischief and proudly reports, “Eve and Eliza are up to monkey business.” Eliza can now open the fridge. When she does, she stands there, looks at the backlit bounty, and starts clapping. One day she opened the veggie bin and bit into a jalapeno. That was funny. Am I a mean mommy? Yes I am. So, I leave the hardened, slippery goo on the floor for a couple of days until the cleaning lady comes to remove the crud with a blow-torch. The baby-sitter comes on Sunday and Thursday mornings, so I can go to the grocery, exercise or whatever. Lately, it’s just been grocery and a shower. However, I did have a classic expat day a while back. A little background – many westerners here are members at the 5 star hotels, The Ritz, the 4 Seasons, the Inter-Continental. You can use the pools, beach, the exercise rooms, spas, etc. I think the reason expats hang out at the swanky hotels is that these places are oases in this funky developing country. It’s pretty decadent in a land where many laborers are being paid $6 a day. Anyway, I attended a birthday party at the 4 seasons spa that included a massage and a multi-course luncheon. It was lovely. Sushi, salads and chocolate. I was there all day. That night, I went to a Rob work-related dinner at the Ritz Carlton. I have been here nearly a year and this is the 1st time I’ve done this sort of thing. I enjoyed every moment, because in the morning it was back to “monkey business” and the greasy-hardened biology experiment on the dining room floor.
Other than day-dreaming about my spa day, I have spent a lot of time interviewing potential replacements for Nebiat. So many characters and stories. I think the word has gotten out that we are absolute, gullible schmucks. A lady, who attended the aforementioned spa b-day party, said she heard about the maid who ran away in the States. She lives in Dubai. Other people who I’ve met recently have said, “Oh that was your maid?” Anyway, Nebiat lied to me so much, that I am finding it difficult to believe anything these candidates tell me – esp. when it’s strange. There was the sweet faced Indian lady who came with her friend, who translated. She said she went to India over the Christmas holidays, had a baby, left the 3 week-old baby baby with her husband in India and when she returned to Doha, the American family for whom she was working had left. OK. Another lady showed up 2 hours late for the interview, complained non-stop about her current employers, a French couple with an older son, and begged me to hire her. She asked my nationality and she said desperately, “you’re American, you’ll help me.” A couple of ladies, who spoke no English at all, arrived with men who had driven them and would hardly look at me. They kept their eyes down and seemed so uncertain of themselves. They were currently working for Qataris. I went with a neighbor to a maid agency where they have piles of resumes with depressing photos attached. The neighbor asked the people in the office, “are their any girls upstairs?” I was told that there are maids who run away from their jobs and go back to the agency. They live upstairs for a couple of days until they find another job or are sent back home (typically the Philippines or Indonesia). They run away mostly because they are abused or mis-treated. There was one upstairs who was ready to go home, but she would come down to see me. A tall young Philippine came into the office. She had tears in her eyes and was trembling. She was frightened of me. I didn’t even need to speak with her; she was ready to get the hell out of Doha and away from whatever had happened to her. I could go on about how expats, not just the Qataris, are unkind to these poor women. Some never get a day off, have no privacy, and are treated like slaves. One expat lady I know was puzzling over the fact that her maid hit her kids, but never gave the maid a day off. Duh!
After all of this, I was wondering if it was more trouble than it was worth, but we have through one of Rob’s colleagues, found a young woman in the Philippines who wants to come to Doha to work. Her best friend, from childhood, is their maid/babysitter. Her name is Emyliza. I called her and spoke to her briefly, whenever she tried to speak, a rooster crowed into phone. (Thank you, Tom Waits). I looked at the unsmiling photo attached to her resume & references and don’t think she looks like an axe-murderer. Anyway, we’re bringing her here and we’ll see how it turns out. Sorry this is a somewhat depressing 1st blog entry, but I have more to write, esp. about Dubai & Oman. If I don’t send this now it will sit for another … who knows how long.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
17 July 2006
Hi Everyone:
Procrastination-Patti here. I have been working on this draft e-mail for more than a month. I just need to send it. This is not literature, I just want to describe what it's like here in Qatar. Here goes...
We live in a new compound called Green Village. It's not very green, it's more beige and brown. But we will have some green soon enough as we have a gardener, Mr. Kareem Mohammed, who has planted some things, indian jasmine, hibiscus, omani lemons, palms, oleander and others. Mr. Kareem (everyone here uses 1st names with the title, so I'm Mrs. Patti) is from Pakistan and he's very soft spoken, slightly dishonest, and wears a UNC baseball hat. Now it's so hot, we're really gambling to plant anything, but Mr. Kareem assures us if we water, everything will be OK. The leaves on a lot of our plants are sun scorched. Sept-April is prime garden time. The temps now are regularly 110 degrees and humid. Speaking of names, there are some classics here - along a row of auto shops there is "Al Sharky Car Upholstery" & "Al Joker Mechanic, " but the all-time winner is Mr. Aushit, who came to hang roman blinds in the kids rooms. It's pronounced the way it's spelled; poor guy has to deal w/snickering expats like myself. We have also met a lot of nice people on our compound - a couple of americans, a lot of danes and australians, some french and germans. There was a pool party and the Australians cooked shrimp, on the barbie! Rob and I have been giggling about that for a week.
The kids are very happy now that their rooms are set-up. Our container arrived a couple of weeks ago. I knew Tessa would be happy to see all of her things, but I had no idea that the babies would be so happy to see their cribs and old familiar toys. We unpacked some oddities, a ceramic pot full of salt (salt in the packing papers), an empty water bottle from Whole Foods, a menagerie of flower vases and coffee mugs and a full garbage can from rob's office - we really needed that junk mail shipped to Doha! Anyway, now that the toys are here, we can try to get the kids away from the bidet. It is a constant source of amusement. Tess loves to tattle on the babies, "Eve and Eliza are playing in the hiney washer!" The babies are motoring across the floor. Eliza is close to walking. She also pretends to talk on the phone, eat with a spoon from an empty bowl and will take a doll and rock and pat it on the back. Eve, although very roly poly, can beat Eliza to the top of two flights of steps, loves to eat fresh peaches, flaps her arms like she can fly and babbles all sort of nonsense.
I have been keeping myself busy searching for things for the house. The rooms are very big with high ceilings and it's a challenge to make them feel cozy. We painted the living room, dining room, entry and the bedrooms. Also purchased a pair of Iranian tribal carpets for our big entry area. Found a cool console type table for the entrance made of wood reclaimed from old Indian sleeper railwaycars. I met a very nice British lady who is a textile designer & decorator and knows where to find everything here. She took me to a great shop where I purchased lovely Indian wedding saris to hang over the diningroom windows. Rust and Red - the saris are very special- with gold threads, beading and sequins. I know what you may be thinking, but they are very dramatic and the work that goes into them is simply amazing. For the living room the decorator found a crisp white linen with fine, oatmeal-colored, embroiderery. The Indian fabrics here are wonderful. I'm in love with it all right now.
Shopping is a favorite past time of the Qataris. The big airconditioned malls are relief from the heat and blowing Doha dust. Grocery Stores are inside the shopping malls. So can take your week of groceries/cart and all and go look at TVs, clothing or whatever else the mall sells. I really get a charge out of the swaggering teenage boys in their thobes. They fuss with their headcoverings (I forget the arab name), their ipods, cellphones and some seem so uncomfortable, yet proud. Sometimes I think, "dude, get over yourself - you're hanging out at the food court." You find a lot of American products at the grocery stores, Tide laundry deterget, Cherrios ($7 a box!), Diet Coke, even Washington State granny smith apples! The best produce is from Lebanon - great tiny little cucumbers w/no seeds, baby eggplants and herbs and very spicy arugula. However, given what's happening in Lebanon/Israel now, I'm not sure if we'll see any of that produce for a while. We actually know a few people who were visiting relatives there and had a difficult time getting out.
While at the grocery, Tess and I ran into a young man on R & R from Iraq. He was just buying a few things, some fresh squeezed OJ and candy bars. According to Rob, these guys, when they get R & R, just want to do something that seems normal like tool around a mall; well, OK. Anyway, this young guy said he was on his last day of R & R and remarked, "I guess we’re doing the right thing." I asked him how everything was going and he said no one from his unit had died. We talked a few more minutes and he tried to shake hands w/Tess and she- in classic 3 year old fashion- turned away. I was embarassed and thought how he probably does the same thing to little Iraqi kids and they (I hope) are happy to shake his hand. I told him to take care of himself and asked Tessa to say bybye to the nice man. I hope he’s OK. He was so sweet and so sad all at the same time.
I'm driving a lot here and am proud to say I don't get lost anymore. There is no consistent signage, telling what road you are on or what road you are about to cross. The signs are directional, like, you are headed toward the airport. It can be quite maddening, so how we all give directions and find our way around the city is by the names of the roundabouts. Most are named after some odd-shaped concrete monument which is in the center. There is the rainbow roundabout, which is a big arch that is covered in blue&white tile. Someone told me at one time there was water running over it, would be quite pretty actually, but it’s not working now. Then there is Sports roundabout, which is a pyramid shaped thing with a mosaic depicting a different sport on each side. There is Civil Defense Monument roundabout, which is know as “brontosaurs ribs” to myself and Rob. It is a creepy brownish/reddish colored wing that really looks like the big side of ribs that was put on Fred Flinstone’s car on the intro to the Flintstones. There is Burger King roundabout, it has no monument, there is just a burger king on the corner. My favorite is Smelly roundabout. This roundabout has been under construction for a long time and when you approached you were overwhelmed with sewer smell. However, this has been repaired, but everyone still calls it Smelly.
As I have mentioned, construction is everywhere. On the sides of the roads, you see men in blue coveralls digging trenches, operating machines or just hanging out in the Doha dirt. They all have scarves or T-shirts over their faces so they don’t have to breath in the blowing dust. Very much like Syriana, for anyone who has seen that movie. They must be incredibly hot in their work clothes and with their heads covered. At the end of the day, you see large groups of them waiting at the side of a road for a bus that comes to take them to the labor camps. I can only imagine the conditions. Rob said these guys make $6 a day. The skyscrapers that are being constructed are mostly garish, mirrored things. There are a pair of zig-zag buildings, a hotel in the shape of a torch that will have a real flame at the top (yikes!) and a copy of the transamerica building. They all seem to scream and compete with one another. Thank goodness someone had the brillance to hire I.M. Pei to design the Islamic Museum which should open next year. It is so simple and the right scale.
I could go on and on, but will save it for the next installment. Please forward to anyone who might be interested in our adventure here. I'll write more when we return from Italy. We're going for one month to hang with the grandparents, celebrate Eve & Eliza's 1st birthday and eat a lot of proscuitto! Also looking forward to showing Tessa, Botticelli's Birth of Venus @ the Uffizi.
I miss you all!
Love Patti
Procrastination-Patti here. I have been working on this draft e-mail for more than a month. I just need to send it. This is not literature, I just want to describe what it's like here in Qatar. Here goes...
We live in a new compound called Green Village. It's not very green, it's more beige and brown. But we will have some green soon enough as we have a gardener, Mr. Kareem Mohammed, who has planted some things, indian jasmine, hibiscus, omani lemons, palms, oleander and others. Mr. Kareem (everyone here uses 1st names with the title, so I'm Mrs. Patti) is from Pakistan and he's very soft spoken, slightly dishonest, and wears a UNC baseball hat. Now it's so hot, we're really gambling to plant anything, but Mr. Kareem assures us if we water, everything will be OK. The leaves on a lot of our plants are sun scorched. Sept-April is prime garden time. The temps now are regularly 110 degrees and humid. Speaking of names, there are some classics here - along a row of auto shops there is "Al Sharky Car Upholstery" & "Al Joker Mechanic, " but the all-time winner is Mr. Aushit, who came to hang roman blinds in the kids rooms. It's pronounced the way it's spelled; poor guy has to deal w/snickering expats like myself. We have also met a lot of nice people on our compound - a couple of americans, a lot of danes and australians, some french and germans. There was a pool party and the Australians cooked shrimp, on the barbie! Rob and I have been giggling about that for a week.
The kids are very happy now that their rooms are set-up. Our container arrived a couple of weeks ago. I knew Tessa would be happy to see all of her things, but I had no idea that the babies would be so happy to see their cribs and old familiar toys. We unpacked some oddities, a ceramic pot full of salt (salt in the packing papers), an empty water bottle from Whole Foods, a menagerie of flower vases and coffee mugs and a full garbage can from rob's office - we really needed that junk mail shipped to Doha! Anyway, now that the toys are here, we can try to get the kids away from the bidet. It is a constant source of amusement. Tess loves to tattle on the babies, "Eve and Eliza are playing in the hiney washer!" The babies are motoring across the floor. Eliza is close to walking. She also pretends to talk on the phone, eat with a spoon from an empty bowl and will take a doll and rock and pat it on the back. Eve, although very roly poly, can beat Eliza to the top of two flights of steps, loves to eat fresh peaches, flaps her arms like she can fly and babbles all sort of nonsense.
I have been keeping myself busy searching for things for the house. The rooms are very big with high ceilings and it's a challenge to make them feel cozy. We painted the living room, dining room, entry and the bedrooms. Also purchased a pair of Iranian tribal carpets for our big entry area. Found a cool console type table for the entrance made of wood reclaimed from old Indian sleeper railwaycars. I met a very nice British lady who is a textile designer & decorator and knows where to find everything here. She took me to a great shop where I purchased lovely Indian wedding saris to hang over the diningroom windows. Rust and Red - the saris are very special- with gold threads, beading and sequins. I know what you may be thinking, but they are very dramatic and the work that goes into them is simply amazing. For the living room the decorator found a crisp white linen with fine, oatmeal-colored, embroiderery. The Indian fabrics here are wonderful. I'm in love with it all right now.
Shopping is a favorite past time of the Qataris. The big airconditioned malls are relief from the heat and blowing Doha dust. Grocery Stores are inside the shopping malls. So can take your week of groceries/cart and all and go look at TVs, clothing or whatever else the mall sells. I really get a charge out of the swaggering teenage boys in their thobes. They fuss with their headcoverings (I forget the arab name), their ipods, cellphones and some seem so uncomfortable, yet proud. Sometimes I think, "dude, get over yourself - you're hanging out at the food court." You find a lot of American products at the grocery stores, Tide laundry deterget, Cherrios ($7 a box!), Diet Coke, even Washington State granny smith apples! The best produce is from Lebanon - great tiny little cucumbers w/no seeds, baby eggplants and herbs and very spicy arugula. However, given what's happening in Lebanon/Israel now, I'm not sure if we'll see any of that produce for a while. We actually know a few people who were visiting relatives there and had a difficult time getting out.
While at the grocery, Tess and I ran into a young man on R & R from Iraq. He was just buying a few things, some fresh squeezed OJ and candy bars. According to Rob, these guys, when they get R & R, just want to do something that seems normal like tool around a mall; well, OK. Anyway, this young guy said he was on his last day of R & R and remarked, "I guess we’re doing the right thing." I asked him how everything was going and he said no one from his unit had died. We talked a few more minutes and he tried to shake hands w/Tess and she- in classic 3 year old fashion- turned away. I was embarassed and thought how he probably does the same thing to little Iraqi kids and they (I hope) are happy to shake his hand. I told him to take care of himself and asked Tessa to say bybye to the nice man. I hope he’s OK. He was so sweet and so sad all at the same time.
I'm driving a lot here and am proud to say I don't get lost anymore. There is no consistent signage, telling what road you are on or what road you are about to cross. The signs are directional, like, you are headed toward the airport. It can be quite maddening, so how we all give directions and find our way around the city is by the names of the roundabouts. Most are named after some odd-shaped concrete monument which is in the center. There is the rainbow roundabout, which is a big arch that is covered in blue&white tile. Someone told me at one time there was water running over it, would be quite pretty actually, but it’s not working now. Then there is Sports roundabout, which is a pyramid shaped thing with a mosaic depicting a different sport on each side. There is Civil Defense Monument roundabout, which is know as “brontosaurs ribs” to myself and Rob. It is a creepy brownish/reddish colored wing that really looks like the big side of ribs that was put on Fred Flinstone’s car on the intro to the Flintstones. There is Burger King roundabout, it has no monument, there is just a burger king on the corner. My favorite is Smelly roundabout. This roundabout has been under construction for a long time and when you approached you were overwhelmed with sewer smell. However, this has been repaired, but everyone still calls it Smelly.
As I have mentioned, construction is everywhere. On the sides of the roads, you see men in blue coveralls digging trenches, operating machines or just hanging out in the Doha dirt. They all have scarves or T-shirts over their faces so they don’t have to breath in the blowing dust. Very much like Syriana, for anyone who has seen that movie. They must be incredibly hot in their work clothes and with their heads covered. At the end of the day, you see large groups of them waiting at the side of a road for a bus that comes to take them to the labor camps. I can only imagine the conditions. Rob said these guys make $6 a day. The skyscrapers that are being constructed are mostly garish, mirrored things. There are a pair of zig-zag buildings, a hotel in the shape of a torch that will have a real flame at the top (yikes!) and a copy of the transamerica building. They all seem to scream and compete with one another. Thank goodness someone had the brillance to hire I.M. Pei to design the Islamic Museum which should open next year. It is so simple and the right scale.
I could go on and on, but will save it for the next installment. Please forward to anyone who might be interested in our adventure here. I'll write more when we return from Italy. We're going for one month to hang with the grandparents, celebrate Eve & Eliza's 1st birthday and eat a lot of proscuitto! Also looking forward to showing Tessa, Botticelli's Birth of Venus @ the Uffizi.
I miss you all!
Love Patti
Ramadan Kareem & Eid Mubarak
Happy Ramadan everyone! Ramadan is almost over and we haven't run out of booze. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. During Ramadan, as some of you may know, muslims fast during the daylight hours and break the fast at sundown. It's a period of reflection, prayer and forgiveness. All religions have this sort of time. And it too, is commercialized. There are Ramadan decorations on the stores - flashing lights and stars and crescent moons - and even limited edition Ramadan Diet Coke cans and Ramadan Tide and Downy -white musk scent. Anyway, when the fast is broken -called Iftar- it's party time. For Iftar, many people set up big tents and have feasts, or go out to restaurants. We haven't really ventured out too much at night, during Ramadan, because the drivers are twice as crazy. There have been articles in the newspapers about the traffic accidents and ER room activity increasing during Ramadan. Iftar goes into the wee hours(as in 3 am), then everyone sleeps, works till noon, and then sleeps the rest of the afternoon to make fasting easier. Then they wake-up for Iftar and start all over. After Ramadan, there is a week-long holiday, Eid. For Eid, Tessa's school has a one week break. There will be fireworks, more parties, and and exchange of gifts. The best part of Eid is that the restaurants will reopen during the day. During the last month ALL restaurants have been closed during the day and open only for Iftar. You cannot buy a coffee, soda or chicken mcnoggins. To be seen drinking or eating in public is highly offensive and illegal. The other inconvenience is that you cannot buy alcohol. Only hotel restaurants serve here and you can buy it at the one and only liquor store in Qatar, the monopolistic QDC or Qatar Distribution Center. But during Ramadan, the hotels don't serve and QDC is closed. As you can imagine, there was a run on the liquor store the day before Ramadan began. We were there with all the other idiots, standing in a line that ran out the door. I think the drinking population is terrified the Emir will decide after Ramadan not to reopen the store. We saw people with 6 cases of beer and an a group of men with 8 cases of cheap scotch! We were hording the overpriced wine. The tax on alcohol is 100%. So an inexpensive bottle of grocery store wine becomes an expensive bottle of grocery store wine. But in the last four weeks we made only a small dent in our Ramadan stockpile.
The other big event here in Doha are the upcoming Asian Games. Olympic class atheltes from all over Asia will come to compete from December 1-15. Will be very interesting from many aspects - 1) will it actually take place? The Games committee has threatened to move the games to another city if the roads and stadiums are not finished. There is one month to the start of the games and, uh, the roads and stadiums are not finished. Rumor has it the Emir and Heir apparent are freaking out that they will not be able to pull it off - could be very embarrasing. 2) will anyone watch? ticket prices are incredibly low, like $2-10. Of course the spectacular opening and closing ceremony tickets are in the $100s. But if timing works, I would love to take Tess to see some events, perhaps equestrian, swimming, gymnastics or softball. I'm also very interested to learn more about cricket. Rob's company driver, Mr. Salim, is a huge cricket fan and I would love to see a match with him. 3) most important - what will the traffic be like? The airport roads were gridlocked this last weekend when many left for Eid. Everyone is wondering how we will get kids to school, go to work and function when there are events around the clock at the stadiums that are scattered all over the city. Sounds skeptical I know. I want it to succeed for Doha, but we have for the last 6 months watched with bewilderment, the progress on road in front of our compound. It is the main road to Kalifa Stadium, the largest stadium and 3 smaller stadiums/arenas where events will be held. Half of the road is not paved, 2 major intersections are closed and they have spent an enourmous amount of time and manpower installing medians and patterened brick sidewalks that no one will ever use. We wonder often about the planning here and have come to the conclusion that there is none. When you drive around the city you see multiple styles of street lights, different height curbs and many of the skyscrapers that are under construction have no parking. Hmmmm. But enough on how "doha" it is here. On to more interesting things like...
People - our Green Village gate guards are, on rotating basis, Mr. Krishna and Mr. Rana. Both are from Nepal and couldn't be sweeter. Mr. Rana is my favorite and I want to find a manufacturer to make a Rana doll. He's a little pudgy and gives an Benny Hill salute and smile when you drive through the gate. Krishna gives a less enthusiastic salute/wave thing. There are the maintenance guys, Samid and Ravi with the dynamite smiles. Samid is super. He's from Sri Lanka, very cool in a Kangol hat, wrap-around mirror shades and can fix anything. I purchased a lamp to replace the copper and silver monstrosity that hung in the dining room. Samid thought for a while and used bicycle brake cable to hang it at just the right height. Pretty clever I thought. There are Ann & Warren, the american drs. who live on our compound. Warren is a surgeon and Ann, an ob/gyn. This might sound corny, but it was nice to hear an american accent when we first arrived. They have 3 kids, the youngest is Tessa's age. They have been very supportive and are patient to answer medical questions in a place where we're all a little uncertain about the quality of care. For example, Tessa, Eve and Eliza were given a wrong vaccine. Fortunately it was not something that could hurt them, it's just that their TB vaccine scar (the one we all have on our shoulder) will be on the inside of their forearm. However, the implications are terrifying. They could have been given an incorrect dose of something that might have really made them sick or worse. The vaccine mix-up was a major crisis for the ministry of health. There was an investigation, we were briefed at meetings attended by the head of the hospital, his lackeys and a bunch of ministry of health people. They said, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that we thought 13 children received the wrong vaccine, but only 3 got it. The bad news is it was your 3 children who got the vaccine. I was in tears. Warren said, "It's the 3rd world w/paint." They might have the spiffiest hospitals with the latest equipment, but they just don't have the protocols and staff. So needless to say, we are thrilled that Warren and Ann live just a few doors away.
Ok - two more goofy Doha tid-bits and then I need to wrap this up or I won't send it until Thanksgiving! Drove by a shop with a great sign "King of Toys." I thought, "finally, an alternative to toys r us." Went in and was amazed to find the real land of misfit toys; the only thing missing was Charley-in-the-Box. The boxes were faded, looked like they had been warehoused since 1970. Anything pulled off the shelf for being hazardous had to be there. Rickety ride-on toys, poorly designed slides, creepy dolls. I'm getting the willys just writing about it. So let's talk about scarry food instead. Mega Mart has become our favorite grocery because they have more European & American items. You can get decent meat and they have a good bakery. One funny thing this store does with things like cereals, snacks etc is that one month before the expiration date, they mark the price way down. So at one point this summer, Tessa and every little girl we knew had stockpiled Princess fruit chews when they were down to $2 a box, from $6. You must be careful however. Rob was snacking on some of Tessa's cereal last week and said, "these are awful." He looked at the date and it had expired in June.
At Carrefour, another grocery here, in the meat department there is a freezer with a window. Through the window you can see hanging, very dead, skinned sheep, heads still attached. Tessa finally noticed them one day when I was at the meat counter. While I was waiting for the butcher to cut some steaks, another man was stocking the freezer with the sheep. Their heads were in plastic bags, tounges hanging out. And this guy walked behind the steak man 3 or 4 times with the carcasses on his shoulder. Tessa's eyes were huge. She waited until we were a few aisles over and said, "they don't talk anymore, do they." She doesn't like to go to Carrefour and if we go, I promise not to go near the sheep.
Speaking of Tessa, she's adjusting to her school. She is very proud of her school uniform and is working on using "listening ears." I had my 1st parent- teacher conference. She's 3 1/2 -Yikes. But she is enjoying it and I think she is happy to be busy. She has picked-up some british-isms, like "tomato" with a short "a" and calling a raincoat a "mac." Eve and Eliza, where to begin? Eliza is close to running. She likes danger. She eats everything. Waves, imitates and unfortunately, likes the Wiggles. Eliza is Tessa's biggest fan. Eve is standing very well and has, just this week, taken 3 steps and discovered clapping. She says, cat, dawg, up, "one, two, go." and "go, go, gooooo." She loves the TV and the swimming pool. She has a sweet tooth and is more solitary, will play by herself. Which is good, because I'm usually chasing after Tess & Eliza.
I want to send photos, but we are having software issues. Will have to figure-out something.
We miss you all.
Love- Patti
xxoo
The other big event here in Doha are the upcoming Asian Games. Olympic class atheltes from all over Asia will come to compete from December 1-15. Will be very interesting from many aspects - 1) will it actually take place? The Games committee has threatened to move the games to another city if the roads and stadiums are not finished. There is one month to the start of the games and, uh, the roads and stadiums are not finished. Rumor has it the Emir and Heir apparent are freaking out that they will not be able to pull it off - could be very embarrasing. 2) will anyone watch? ticket prices are incredibly low, like $2-10. Of course the spectacular opening and closing ceremony tickets are in the $100s. But if timing works, I would love to take Tess to see some events, perhaps equestrian, swimming, gymnastics or softball. I'm also very interested to learn more about cricket. Rob's company driver, Mr. Salim, is a huge cricket fan and I would love to see a match with him. 3) most important - what will the traffic be like? The airport roads were gridlocked this last weekend when many left for Eid. Everyone is wondering how we will get kids to school, go to work and function when there are events around the clock at the stadiums that are scattered all over the city. Sounds skeptical I know. I want it to succeed for Doha, but we have for the last 6 months watched with bewilderment, the progress on road in front of our compound. It is the main road to Kalifa Stadium, the largest stadium and 3 smaller stadiums/arenas where events will be held. Half of the road is not paved, 2 major intersections are closed and they have spent an enourmous amount of time and manpower installing medians and patterened brick sidewalks that no one will ever use. We wonder often about the planning here and have come to the conclusion that there is none. When you drive around the city you see multiple styles of street lights, different height curbs and many of the skyscrapers that are under construction have no parking. Hmmmm. But enough on how "doha" it is here. On to more interesting things like...
People - our Green Village gate guards are, on rotating basis, Mr. Krishna and Mr. Rana. Both are from Nepal and couldn't be sweeter. Mr. Rana is my favorite and I want to find a manufacturer to make a Rana doll. He's a little pudgy and gives an Benny Hill salute and smile when you drive through the gate. Krishna gives a less enthusiastic salute/wave thing. There are the maintenance guys, Samid and Ravi with the dynamite smiles. Samid is super. He's from Sri Lanka, very cool in a Kangol hat, wrap-around mirror shades and can fix anything. I purchased a lamp to replace the copper and silver monstrosity that hung in the dining room. Samid thought for a while and used bicycle brake cable to hang it at just the right height. Pretty clever I thought. There are Ann & Warren, the american drs. who live on our compound. Warren is a surgeon and Ann, an ob/gyn. This might sound corny, but it was nice to hear an american accent when we first arrived. They have 3 kids, the youngest is Tessa's age. They have been very supportive and are patient to answer medical questions in a place where we're all a little uncertain about the quality of care. For example, Tessa, Eve and Eliza were given a wrong vaccine. Fortunately it was not something that could hurt them, it's just that their TB vaccine scar (the one we all have on our shoulder) will be on the inside of their forearm. However, the implications are terrifying. They could have been given an incorrect dose of something that might have really made them sick or worse. The vaccine mix-up was a major crisis for the ministry of health. There was an investigation, we were briefed at meetings attended by the head of the hospital, his lackeys and a bunch of ministry of health people. They said, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that we thought 13 children received the wrong vaccine, but only 3 got it. The bad news is it was your 3 children who got the vaccine. I was in tears. Warren said, "It's the 3rd world w/paint." They might have the spiffiest hospitals with the latest equipment, but they just don't have the protocols and staff. So needless to say, we are thrilled that Warren and Ann live just a few doors away.
Ok - two more goofy Doha tid-bits and then I need to wrap this up or I won't send it until Thanksgiving! Drove by a shop with a great sign "King of Toys." I thought, "finally, an alternative to toys r us." Went in and was amazed to find the real land of misfit toys; the only thing missing was Charley-in-the-Box. The boxes were faded, looked like they had been warehoused since 1970. Anything pulled off the shelf for being hazardous had to be there. Rickety ride-on toys, poorly designed slides, creepy dolls. I'm getting the willys just writing about it. So let's talk about scarry food instead. Mega Mart has become our favorite grocery because they have more European & American items. You can get decent meat and they have a good bakery. One funny thing this store does with things like cereals, snacks etc is that one month before the expiration date, they mark the price way down. So at one point this summer, Tessa and every little girl we knew had stockpiled Princess fruit chews when they were down to $2 a box, from $6. You must be careful however. Rob was snacking on some of Tessa's cereal last week and said, "these are awful." He looked at the date and it had expired in June.
At Carrefour, another grocery here, in the meat department there is a freezer with a window. Through the window you can see hanging, very dead, skinned sheep, heads still attached. Tessa finally noticed them one day when I was at the meat counter. While I was waiting for the butcher to cut some steaks, another man was stocking the freezer with the sheep. Their heads were in plastic bags, tounges hanging out. And this guy walked behind the steak man 3 or 4 times with the carcasses on his shoulder. Tessa's eyes were huge. She waited until we were a few aisles over and said, "they don't talk anymore, do they." She doesn't like to go to Carrefour and if we go, I promise not to go near the sheep.
Speaking of Tessa, she's adjusting to her school. She is very proud of her school uniform and is working on using "listening ears." I had my 1st parent- teacher conference. She's 3 1/2 -Yikes. But she is enjoying it and I think she is happy to be busy. She has picked-up some british-isms, like "tomato" with a short "a" and calling a raincoat a "mac." Eve and Eliza, where to begin? Eliza is close to running. She likes danger. She eats everything. Waves, imitates and unfortunately, likes the Wiggles. Eliza is Tessa's biggest fan. Eve is standing very well and has, just this week, taken 3 steps and discovered clapping. She says, cat, dawg, up, "one, two, go." and "go, go, gooooo." She loves the TV and the swimming pool. She has a sweet tooth and is more solitary, will play by herself. Which is good, because I'm usually chasing after Tess & Eliza.
I want to send photos, but we are having software issues. Will have to figure-out something.
We miss you all.
Love- Patti
xxoo
Let the games begin!
Hi Everyone!
The Asian Games have begun and the road in front of our house is finished! The big hotel with the flame on top has been "fired-up," we can see it from our house. We were able to see the amazing fireworks display from our bedroom window on the opening night. A lot has happened in the last month. We celebrated Halloween - the girls went dressed as cave people. Simple dresses made from an animal print fleece blanket; complete with bone clubs and Eve in her "Pebbles Flintstone" hairdo. We had trick or treat on the compound, had to explain it to the Danish and French who were not sure what it was all about, but quite a few people decorated and passed out candy. I really had to search for pumpkins, which I finally found at the wholesale market. This is where you have to haggle over the price and all of the veggie and fruit sellers try to get you to come to their stand. I think I wound up paying roughly $10 for two decent sized, but oddly shaped pumpkins. They were more brownish orange on the outside and the skin was very very thick and hard to cut. The inside of the pumpkin however, was the most brilliant orange I've seen.
For Thanksgiving, we had a progressive dinner with the other American families on the compound. We hosted drinks and appetizers, Ann and Warren (the Drs. I mentioned last time) hosted the main event and Kelcey and Thierry (he's French, but we forgive him) hosted dessert and have a big TV and a sports package so we could see the football games. I made roasted shallots and carrots and snow peas. If you read Kelceys blog, "the doha daily" http://kgrandsire.blogspot.com/2006/11/doha-daily-112706.html you'll find out why I had to make snowpeas instead of greenbeans. You'll also see a picture of Tessa. As an aside, Kelcey has done a superb job documenting our compound and a lot of what goes on around here in Doha. There are photos of green village, the torch hotel, Khalifa stadium and the giant shopping cart.
I broke and dislocated one of my toes a couple of weeks ago. I ran into a wall while racing through the house at midnight, in the dark, to get a crying Eve from her bed before she woke up Eliza. The walls of our house are made of cinderblock & concrete and I knew immediately that it was broken. I hobbled into our bedroom, handed Eve to Rob, hopped down 25 steps to the kitchen, where I got a bag of frozen peas for my foot. I then sat in the kitchen floor with my peas and nearly fainted. I'm not sure if it was from the pain or from the realization that I would have to seek medical care in Doha. We went to a private small clinic where they xrayed my foot, but the orthopedic doctor was off duty. They sent me to Hamad Hospital, which is the big state run hospital where Warren works. The orthopedic dr wouldn't see me because it was only my toe. So a nurse taped my toes together gave me some really lame pain meds and sent me home. Ann informed me the next day that they won't give pain medication, other than tylenol or advil, unless you are staying in the hospital. Went back to the private hospital in the am. The orthopedic dr. was in; he removed the tape and said that it had been taped wrong at Hamad. I go back in two more weeks for an xray to make sure it's healing properly. It's feeling better and is not crooked anymore, whew. The hospitals have separate mens and womens waiting rooms. However, the cashier for women is in front of the mens waiting room, so they all stare at you when you are paying. No wonder the women cover themselves from head to toe.
We are coming back to DC for Christmas. We should arrive Dec 15 and we leave the 6th or 7th. It is a long long flight and the kids will be jet lagged, but I know Tess is excited to see her grandparents and her "green house." We're bringing our nanny/maid with us. She'll be a great help and she's very excited to the see America. Her name is Nebiat and she's from Ethiopia. She is a godsend. She helps so much with the children and has become very attached to them. So we're thrilled to show her the DC area, although I don't think she's ready for the weather. In Doha now, it is in the low 70's & 60's, super nice in my opinion, but poor Nebiat is freezing. The guards at tessa's school are in wool overcoats and the Qatari's are wearing leather jackets over their thobes. I wonder if they wear thermal long johns too?? Their legs must be cold as well? Anyhow, we're really looking forward to the visit and I can't wait to step out into weather where I can see my breath. Frost, ice, joy!
We will definately see some of the asian games events. The tickets are super cheap, 10qatari riyals, approx $2.75, will get you a multi-event day pass. I think Tessa might have the patience to see gymnastics. And if not, no huge loss. I am interested to see Kabaddi and Wushu. Kabaddi is an Indian, team-version of tag and apparently the team chants "Kabaddi-Kabaddi" during the match. Wushu is a Chinese martial arts that uses weaponry like broad-swords, spears, and whips. Not joking, these are Asian games sports. I jokingly ask Rob why the Asian games doesn't have camel polo with a human head as the ball. He said that's only in Afganistan. But if the games can have Wushu and Kabbai, which sound country specific to me, why not human-head camel polo??
Really looking forward to seeing everyone and a refurbished and dazzling SAAM.
Much love-
Patti
PS - Happy 3rd Birthday QP
The Asian Games have begun and the road in front of our house is finished! The big hotel with the flame on top has been "fired-up," we can see it from our house. We were able to see the amazing fireworks display from our bedroom window on the opening night. A lot has happened in the last month. We celebrated Halloween - the girls went dressed as cave people. Simple dresses made from an animal print fleece blanket; complete with bone clubs and Eve in her "Pebbles Flintstone" hairdo. We had trick or treat on the compound, had to explain it to the Danish and French who were not sure what it was all about, but quite a few people decorated and passed out candy. I really had to search for pumpkins, which I finally found at the wholesale market. This is where you have to haggle over the price and all of the veggie and fruit sellers try to get you to come to their stand. I think I wound up paying roughly $10 for two decent sized, but oddly shaped pumpkins. They were more brownish orange on the outside and the skin was very very thick and hard to cut. The inside of the pumpkin however, was the most brilliant orange I've seen.
For Thanksgiving, we had a progressive dinner with the other American families on the compound. We hosted drinks and appetizers, Ann and Warren (the Drs. I mentioned last time) hosted the main event and Kelcey and Thierry (he's French, but we forgive him) hosted dessert and have a big TV and a sports package so we could see the football games. I made roasted shallots and carrots and snow peas. If you read Kelceys blog, "the doha daily" http://kgrandsire.blogspot.com/2006/11/doha-daily-112706.html you'll find out why I had to make snowpeas instead of greenbeans. You'll also see a picture of Tessa. As an aside, Kelcey has done a superb job documenting our compound and a lot of what goes on around here in Doha. There are photos of green village, the torch hotel, Khalifa stadium and the giant shopping cart.
I broke and dislocated one of my toes a couple of weeks ago. I ran into a wall while racing through the house at midnight, in the dark, to get a crying Eve from her bed before she woke up Eliza. The walls of our house are made of cinderblock & concrete and I knew immediately that it was broken. I hobbled into our bedroom, handed Eve to Rob, hopped down 25 steps to the kitchen, where I got a bag of frozen peas for my foot. I then sat in the kitchen floor with my peas and nearly fainted. I'm not sure if it was from the pain or from the realization that I would have to seek medical care in Doha. We went to a private small clinic where they xrayed my foot, but the orthopedic doctor was off duty. They sent me to Hamad Hospital, which is the big state run hospital where Warren works. The orthopedic dr wouldn't see me because it was only my toe. So a nurse taped my toes together gave me some really lame pain meds and sent me home. Ann informed me the next day that they won't give pain medication, other than tylenol or advil, unless you are staying in the hospital. Went back to the private hospital in the am. The orthopedic dr. was in; he removed the tape and said that it had been taped wrong at Hamad. I go back in two more weeks for an xray to make sure it's healing properly. It's feeling better and is not crooked anymore, whew. The hospitals have separate mens and womens waiting rooms. However, the cashier for women is in front of the mens waiting room, so they all stare at you when you are paying. No wonder the women cover themselves from head to toe.
We are coming back to DC for Christmas. We should arrive Dec 15 and we leave the 6th or 7th. It is a long long flight and the kids will be jet lagged, but I know Tess is excited to see her grandparents and her "green house." We're bringing our nanny/maid with us. She'll be a great help and she's very excited to the see America. Her name is Nebiat and she's from Ethiopia. She is a godsend. She helps so much with the children and has become very attached to them. So we're thrilled to show her the DC area, although I don't think she's ready for the weather. In Doha now, it is in the low 70's & 60's, super nice in my opinion, but poor Nebiat is freezing. The guards at tessa's school are in wool overcoats and the Qatari's are wearing leather jackets over their thobes. I wonder if they wear thermal long johns too?? Their legs must be cold as well? Anyhow, we're really looking forward to the visit and I can't wait to step out into weather where I can see my breath. Frost, ice, joy!
We will definately see some of the asian games events. The tickets are super cheap, 10qatari riyals, approx $2.75, will get you a multi-event day pass. I think Tessa might have the patience to see gymnastics. And if not, no huge loss. I am interested to see Kabaddi and Wushu. Kabaddi is an Indian, team-version of tag and apparently the team chants "Kabaddi-Kabaddi" during the match. Wushu is a Chinese martial arts that uses weaponry like broad-swords, spears, and whips. Not joking, these are Asian games sports. I jokingly ask Rob why the Asian games doesn't have camel polo with a human head as the ball. He said that's only in Afganistan. But if the games can have Wushu and Kabbai, which sound country specific to me, why not human-head camel polo??
Really looking forward to seeing everyone and a refurbished and dazzling SAAM.
Much love-
Patti
PS - Happy 3rd Birthday QP
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)