It is the little stuff, oh, and rug night

January 29, 2008

Ok, so first I am going to tell you about when I ate shwarma and went rug shopping (well, actually it was looking) and then I'll talk about the little stuff.

So Thursday after work me and 3 other people who work for A&M went out to dinner and then went to look at rugs. I thought I would be back about 8 and I was wrong. Ok, shwarma is like a wrapped burrito. I had chicken and they cut it off this big hunk of meat. They heat it up and then put in lettuce, tomatoes and other stuff that I ate cause it was dark. It was very good. Then we went to the rugs. These are rugs from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan and were beautiful. They were all handmade by people in those countries and we awesome. Not only did they show us about 75 rugs but they explained what the designs mean, where they came from, and let us walk on them. It was like a History Chanel Special, but better cause you could ask questions and actually touch what they were showing you. They had one rug that was a silk rug and it was huge, it was also over $11,000. Yes, that is in dollars, but it was beautiful.

Ok, now about the little stuff. Yesterday I picked up the latest box that Mom and Dad sent. When I talked to Mom I had mentioned that I couldn't find Kraft Mac'n cheese and some other stuff. I opened the box and there it was. It is like a little touch of home in Doha.

Last night I had dinner with a family across the street and told Jennifer that I couldn't find thyme. Today I came home and there was a bottle on my doorstep. It's the little things that just make me so thankful for the people I meet and that I am family to. Mom sent am email telling me how people ask about me at church and that feels pretty good too that people remember you. I remember you all too. Thank you.

Time is a bit faster here.

January 24, 2008

I told mom about the clocks and she said that it would be an interesting post, so here it is. Before I left Alaska I was trying to figure out what sort of current is used here. I had read that both 220v and 240v were used but I didn't think it could be both. Well, I was right, it isn't both. The electrical plugs here, most of them, are the two circle prongs. Some are thicker than others so you have to get an adaptor for it to work in my UK style outlets. The electronics run on 220V but the current is actually 240V. What does this actually mean? Well, I Saturday night I set my clock at the time that is on my computer so I can get up at 6:50 am. By Thursday morning my clock still says 6:50am when it goes off but it is actually about 6:35am. The higher current makes the clocks run faster. Kind of funny I think, but also kind of annoying. Any clock that is plugged into a wall socket has to be reset every once in a while.

No thyme! but lots of stuff.

January 20, 2008

Ok, so I spent some time at the grocery store yesterday looking at spices. This is why, I can't find any chicken broth and the only chicken stock cubes I can find have everything written in Arabic, except the words "Chicken Stock." Anyway, so this is what I found out about spices, they are much cheaper here. So, the spice ailse is about the length of the ailse at a grocercy store, like Fred Meyers, and those whole side is full of spices. They also have bulk spices, too, but they don't have a lot of labels. Anyway, so I was looking for Basil, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves, oh, and parsley. I got a ton of bay leaves for about $2 in a jar no less, a large bit of basil for $1.50, parsley ws cheap too. Oregano was cheap, but more difficult to find. Not all of the brands stocked oregano and none of them had thyme. I did find large jars of garlic powder and none of onion powder. I also found jars of spices that I had never seen before and have no idea what to do with. Also, finding tomato sauce is a bit harder than I thought. The store only had one little spot of sauce but tons of tomato paste.

Another note is that I got the stuff that I sent from home on Thursday afternoon. It is wonderful to have book, some DVDs, and the rest of my clothes. It was like Christmas, but much cheaper. The bad news is that my film camera SLR made the trip but it doesn't work now so I'm dealing with the moving company on that one. I haven't tested my computer yet cause I am scared of the result.

Another developement this week is that I won't be getting paid until the 1st of February. At first I was a little miffed because there are some things that I would like to get for my apartment, but now I think this is a good thing. Instead of running out a spending money on what I want I am now forced to think about everything I would like to get and I can prioritize it. (Mom is jumping up and down at such a reasponsible statement coming from me!)

Oh, last night I made chili for dinner. I think it is more of an international dinner, the meat was from New Zealand, the corn from the Uk, the beans from UAE, and the prepackaged spices and sauce from the US. It was really tasty too.

This is an example of the money here. It also comes in 5, 100, and 500 Riyal notes.

January 17, 2008

It doesn't feel like January outside. It feels like late May. Oh well, at least it stopped raining for the year. Yes, it rained for about 1 week. It was cold and windy and if anyone had told me to bring warm clothes because you are going to need them in the dessert, I would have laughed.

Ok, so I titled this blog lecturing. after being in the country for about 2 weeks I taught my first lecture class. I am filling in for a proffessor until he gets back and so on week 2 of work I was teaching class. I think it went pretty well. I could have done better, but overall it wasn't bad. I wasn't able to get nearly as far as I wanted to get this time, but doesn't that always happen? When I was talking to Mom a couple days ago she pointed out that no community college wanted to give me a chance teaching lecture and here I got the chance in the first 2 weeks. Granted, this isn't my own class, I won't have it for the entire semester but it is a start. Hopefully, if I stay here long enough, they will give me my own class so I can get some experience.

This summer they are talking about offering second semester general chemistry class. I would love to teach the lecture, but I don't think that will happen. I'll teach the lab though. It will be an 8 week course so that might mean I will have to adjust my summer travel plans.

Anyway, everything is going fine here so far. I went grocery shopping last night and that took a long time. First you have to find where the item is located and then find out what brands are available. If there aren't any familar brands then you start looking arround the packaged, i.e. the Arabic script, to find out what it is. For example, when buying milk you have to look at the color of cap, this tells you whole, 2%, or skim, and you must look at the label. If the label says fresh leban, put it back and look for fresh milk. Leban, as I have told, is camel's milk. Anyway, doing that over and over, it took me 1.5 hours to get groceries. Crazy. I got more of the really good flat bread. So good.

Fabric Souqs

January 13, 2008

I visited the fabric souqs on Saturday. WOW! The colors of fabric are amazing. This is what I have figured out. The souqs are in 2 different buildings, one building is very nice and new, the other is old and has more...character. I would guess about 99.9% of the fabric is on rolls and not on bolts. Some fabric is made for a specific purpose and you have to buy the whole unit (think of it as a panel). I saw lots of fabric with lots of shiny stuff on it. The amount of fabric that could be crammed into the shops was amazing. It was almost overwhelming. The quality of cotton that I found was not very good. Very thin, but then it was also about $2.75 per meter so you can't be too picky.

The clothing fabric was amazing. This fabric was just as good of quality that you would find in the states but must cheaper. There was silks, chiffon, crepes, and so many other things. The fabric that men make souqs out of was also there. I bought some fabric to make a skirt that, in the states would cost at least $15/yard instead was $7.75/meter.

Not a lot of sewing notions here, though. The thread that I found was not the quality that I am used to finding at home. Oh well, my thread will be here soon.

January 10, 2008
Doha, Qatar

Ok, so I sent this email to my folks about getting the medical exam done and I thought it might be interesting. Before I put that in here I got to try some Lebanese food last night. It was good but it was so much food! I love the flat breads here. They are good for dipping in soups and dips. I am not a huge fan of hummas, but it was pretty good at the restaurant.

Went to the medical exam today. Let me tell you about it. First we were in the small van for about 30-40 minutes getting to the medical place. I think it was called The National Medical Authority, or something like that. The men were shown to one portion and the women to another portion of the building. So we walked in and then we went to a nurse who filled out a form and asked us is we were married or single. We then got in line to pay the QR 100. After we paid they gave us this form saying what we needed with our information on it. This form was scanned at every stop. We paid and they sent us to the blood drawing room. They had at least 2 rooms with 2 tables each for getting blood out. The lady had a hard time with me, she had to go out of the top of my right hand and it hurt. They weren’t able to get much and I almost passed out. They waved an alcohol swab in front of my face and made me lie down. After that they had a doctor escort me to the x-ray room so if I fainted I would be with someone. I changed into my white shirt, thank God I brought that!, and they took the x-ray. They stamped my form at both places. After I got dressed again after the xray I was done. The changing room was disgusting, like body order, which isn’t uncommon around here. I waited for another lady and was able to talk to 2 of the other ladies that came with us. One is from Dijon, France (like the mustard) and works for a nonprofit here, the other came with her husband and is looking for a job. The lady without a job is from Egypt and she taught be the numbers from 0-10 in Arabic, yes it is hard. I know the Arabic letters for the numbers too. After a little bit everyone came back out of the building and we headed back to campus. Inside the women’s side there were no men, not even doctors. A lot of the women wore the abyas (spelling?) with the ninja masks (that is what we call them). As a female, they had no problems touching me, which was interesting. They also put a Qatar Foundation sticker on the back of my passport with the TAMUQ logo on it. I guess that is so they know who my sponsor is in country. I should get the passport back soon. To do the paperwork I had to give up my passport until, well, when they give it back. It shouldn’t be too much longer.