Sushi in Doha

Left to right: Matt (Illinois), Rebecca (London), me (Toronto), Mike (London), Fasil (New York).

Last weekend, friends and I ate at Sakkura Sushi in Doha. It was decent fare and reasonably priced. Good times were had by all. More pics to come.

The Pressure Cooker that is Egypt...

Even though I'm not there anymore, I still try to keep up with Egyptian news and politics. I came across this article that I wanted to take note of here. It is, what I think, a pretty well-balanced analysis of the current political state in Egypt. While some have criticised it as being too pessimistic (in comments), I think it really just points out that Egypt is in a state of political transition, particularly due to the uncertainty of what would happen after the current president passes on.

Here is the article.

Update

So I've been in Doha, Qatar for four weeks now. I would say that I've adjusted to things here for the most part. There are little things here and there that will take some getting used to, but overall, I'm okay now. If you don't already know, we are in the month of Ramadan now (Ramadan Kareem!) and so many are fasting. And as per the khaleej (gulf) culture, non-fasters are asked to abstain from eating, drinking and smoking in public. Fasting, from what I see and hear, is hard enough as it is, but to do it in 40+ degree weather, is something else. Some teachers are handling it better than others though. I'm personally doing the best that I can to be discrete.

As for the weather itself, the average temperatures now is about 38-40 degrees or so, which is notably cooler than the 44-48 degree weather we experienced when we got here in August. Even today, some of the teachers and I were commenting that we could actually walk outside for a bit and not end up drenched in sweat. Now there's just a dampness after a ten-minute walk, haha. The weather won't really cool down until November apparently when it should hit 20 degrees or less. Can't wait for that.

The culture shock that I've experienced has been muted but present. Qataris are very different from Egyptians, as I've come to realise. In fact, other than the fact that they are Arabic speakers and Muslims, I can't see any other major similiarites. The character of both nationalities are very different, with Egyptians being generally gregarious, outgoing, passionate while Qataris very somewhat aloof, reserved and shy. This is my first impression, at least. Maybe it'll change as the months go by. So, generally that took a bit of adjusting when I had first arrived.

As for my students, I've just finished my first week of teaching. I teach an all-girls class and they range from 17 to 22 years of age. While most are Qataris, I have some Palestinians, Bahrainis, a girl each from Yemen and Somalia, and a couple more girls from the Comoros. I teach two separate classes and each contain about 25-27 students, depending on who shows up each day. And since we are in the month of Ramadan, my eight o'clock class has been moved back to 7:30am. Let me just say that this week has been tough. The funny thing is, there is a week left of Ramadan, which means that we're going to teach for another week and then we have our first week-long break. Yay! Many of us are looking forward to that break, overlooking the ironic fact that we had just started classes. I'm sure many of the teachers including me, will be dying for a break come November. I can guarantee it.

So overall, things are okay over here. Life for us has stablised and I'm anxious to learn more about this culture and people. I've also met some really nice, friendly people who I'll hopefully get to know better. Luckily, the apartment complex that I live in (in our residential compound) houses eight flats, six of which houses single females. The other two include a newly-married couple and the other, a family of four. I do not doubt that this was intentional. I do appreciate that we were put together because it has made the adjustment here a bit easier. We have a clubhouse as well, which houses a small pool, gym, and pool and ping pong tables. The clubhouse also has a "Ladies Day" on Sundays and Wednesdays when only women are allowed to use the facilities. While I didn't think this would matter to me in the beginning, I now find myself using the clubhouse only when it's Ladies Day, as it is the only time when the clubhouse is void of teenagers with nothing to do. Enough said on that.

Alright, I think that'll do for a good synopsis of what I've experienced thus far. More to come, hopefully. Until then, Eid Mubarak!

In Qatar

I am here. I am safe. And I am sorry that I haven't posted until now. It has been busy and internet was hard to come by during that time. As of today, I have internet at home so I will be able to post more often from here on end. Hopefully.

One thing I'd like to say though, in case you didn't already know... Doha is damn hot. The range as of this month has been 45-48 degrees celsius or so. Never experienced that before until now. It's something else, I must say.

I will try to provide more info next time. Until then.