Museum of Islamic Art

I had a chance to visit the Museum of Islamic Art this past Eid and what a place it was! It is architecturally stunning and the contents are pretty amazing as well. The only qualm I had with the museum is the poor labelling and lack of organization in their displays. But like I said, the contents were pretty stunning and I'm sure, priceless. If you're in Doha, a must see!

Cars

Another adult rite of passage crossed, folks. Yesterday, I purchased my first...car! At 29 years of age, I have finally bought my own car. It is used, but it's still my own car. A used 2007 Nissan Tiida, with 50 000km already on it. Its condition is fairly new and I just need to take it in for some regular maintenance and change the front break pads, but other than that, it runs smoothly. It is off-white in colour, but it looks pretty white to me. I will take a picture soon and post it here, but I still wanted to mark this occaision. My first car! Yay!

Goodbye 2008, Hello New Year

I've been very bad with posting on this blog, so no presents for me I guess. I'm sorry for the delayed posting - and I can't really say that it's a reflection of how busy and exciting my life is here either. I've just been consumed with work mainly, and more recently, illness. Over the last Eid el-Adha, I developed really large and tender swollen lymph nodes that tend to emerge in times of prolonged stress. What happens with my body is that through the period of prolonged stress, my immune system is depleted and weaken, making me subject to infections that I would otherwise be able to fight off. So with a weakened immune system, my body experiences some foreign body that's not good for me and my white blood cells kick into gear and try to fight it themselves. That's where the lymph nodes come in and that's why they swell up. One major side effect of all of this is fatigue, nausea, fever, body ache and headache. It's like the flu except it lasts much longer. I'm still dealing with it now but am doing better than I did the past few weeks. It has quite frankly been hell going to work, which I have pushed myself to do.

So fast forward four weeks and it's now Christmas. I really find it hard to be festive here, though. The weather's still pleasant, and there are simply no cues to remind you that it's Christmas. The radio station will play the occaisional Christmas song, but mix it up with Arabic pop. Carrefour has a Christmas section that's always filled with foreigners, but I have to say, I haven't bought any Christmas decorations. It's not fun when it's just for one, kind of like cooking meals. I can't help but think back to what I was doing for Christmas last year and I'm grateful for the memory. My sister had come and visited me in Egypt for the first time in three years and we did the requisite trip to the south of the country along the Nile. We were pulling into the Aswan train station on Christmas morning and by that evening, we were eating at a Nubian restuarant on the Nile that you can only get to by boat. The food was great as was the atmosphere. We then tried some Nubian coffee which was pretty strong. It's a great memory.

This year, in contrast, involved a Christmas dinner at the Marriott hotel somewhere in Doha. Good food was eaten, conversations were had, but I have to say that something was lacking, namely, the closeness that comes with sharing Christmas with really close friends and family. Is this my way of saying I miss home? Maybe - home being evenly split between Toronto and Cairo, I suppose. Finally, to add insult to injury, I am actually at work right now, if you can believe that. There are some loose ends I wanted to tie up and needed to make some photocopies so here I am. The many lives we live.

The semester is winding down and next week is our final week of classes. After that, we have three more weeks to putter around campus and then we're finally released for our mid-year break. Hopefully I'll be able to churn out a few more posts before then. But until then, Merry Christmas to all, and Happy 2009!

Doha Pics

It's about time for an update. Going beyond my immediate surroundings, here are some pictures of Doha city proper. As you will see, it is truly a city in development - while stunning from afar, the Dohan skyline is actually incomplete and alot of the buildings are unfinished and unoccupied. Enjoy.

Dohan skyline on the Persian Gulf.

Doha in development - up close

Doha in development.

The corniche - and a bit of the Persian Gulf.

Souq Waqif

A little taste of Doha's souq - Souq Waqif. Not quite (actually nowhere near) Khan el-Khalili, but it serves its function. I usually get my shisha fix at the souq, which is nice.

November in Doha

Life in Doha is still humming along. It's already mid-November now which means we're at the mid-way point of our semester. Yes, you read that right - we're at the mid-point of our semester because our semester ends at the start of January...! I will, in fact, be working through Christmas and New Year's this year. January 1st is the last day of class for students in my program. This doesn't mean, however, that we're without a break between now and the end of the semester - Eid al-Adha is coming up in December and we'll have a week off then. It's safe to say that I have been patiently waiting for this week to come and now there's three weeks left until then. Yay! Since I don't have any plans of leaving the country that week, unlike everyone else in al-Zuhoor, I will probably lay low and get some well-needed rest. Maybe I'll make more of an effort to get to know this place. But the resting part is essential - I have been waking up at 5:45am every morning for my 8am class on the other side of the city. This has taken its toll on me and it has pretty much been a struggle every morning. My caffeine dependency has risen notably.

Temperature-wise, the country is cooling off. We're now into our mid-to-high 20s and the mornings are even slightly chilly. I do leave the AC at home sometimes, but it is only if I'm doing any cleaning or cooking. Otherwise, I'm feeling like the temperature now is manageable and dare I say, liveable. And on that note, I can say that slowly, but surely, I am getting used to this place. I am making small but significant shifts in my perspectives towards this place. It's becoming less of a foreign place and more of a home that I'm beginning to understand and sometimes even appreciate. Life is more mundane, which also means that there's a certain level familiarity here now.

More meandering musings to come...:)

Life in Al-Zuhoor in Ad-Doha, Qatar

I thought I'd share a few long overdue pics of my place in Qatar, at the behest of family and friends. So I've finally sat down and downloaded a few pics. I will continue to do so with time, hopefully. Enjoy!

This is what the front part of Al-Zuhoor 2 compound looks like. On the left, is my Hyundai Accent rental. In the background is the compound clubhouse. What you see here is what the whole compound looks like. Lots of beige and white buildings. My car fits right in!

Our apartment block. A23!

The hallway in my apartment block. There's eight apartments in total. I'm the second door, closest to the staircase. That's me, at three.

What I walk into everyday.

My "dining" table.

My hallway. One morning, I found the ceiling light hanging off its cord. I have since gotten it promptly fixed. With the will of God, it'll stay that way.