Mr. Ullah, the young man in charge of housing for the University, persoanlly came to our apartment this morning to give me the key to our "new" apartment - a spacious 2 bedroom apartment just 1/2 block away from our current studio. Although we will now have to pay $65 a month for this new apartment, the space will be worth it. Mr. Ullah is always immaculately groomed with a white robe, sandals, and the arab head dress of red and white checked. When it is hot, the long white head scarf is tucked up on the head, but otherwise it is worn draped around the face. No need to choose what to wear each day and the contrast with the black worn by women is really quite striking. Well, Mr. Ullah knows me well. As you can imagine, when J. and I could not fit into our kitchen at the same time and J. quickly took over our living room with his 2 computers and all his papers and books, I was in Mr. Ullah's office asking for a bigger apartment before the dust settled here. I must have been persuasive or persistent (or, as J. would say, "someone you don't want to mess with"), but he relented in the "no, we cannot give you another apartment". Once the debate ended, we both smiled and I feel confident I have a new friend.
Next, is the driver's license. Well, until I pass the "fingerprint" test, that's still in future. I am obedietly applying vaseline to my hands each morning and evening and even sometimes in between. If this doesn't work, they will just have to try some other way to identify me other than fingerprints.
Another new sighting on our way to the grocery store. White lights beautifully strung all around a couple houses in the compound nearby. They weren't there before yesterday and they are more brilliant than our Christmas displays. I began speculating as to why these lights suddenly appeared. A new business was openning and this was the display to announce the openning. The house went on the market and is now "for sale". Risking the prospect of my mother looking up the arabic customs in Qatar and proving me wrong, I decided to ask a local native. The lights announce a wedding. Duh! Makes sense now!
We were invited to a car show last evening. Qataris like their cars - big and fancy. The convention hall was filled with Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Mareratis (sp?), Toyotas, Nissans, Lexus, and several names I could not recognize. Next to the hall was a race track where several of the sports cars were test driven at very high speeds. Looking was good enough for me.
J.gave his first presentation to a gorup of about 40 at the university. He talked about standards and how to assess learning in the schools and university. It was very well received which may not be so wonderful. Within hours, he was invited to do more work and more presentations. I received a call from the University President's office from her legal counsel. We are set to meet early next week to see if there is anything I can do to assist the university in addition to working with women law students. I expect any work I do will be volunteer, which is fine with me. I will just have to wait and see what develops. In the meantime, I don't mind having a bit of free time. Each morning I slowly run around the compound in my "Dream Green" t-shirt (my family knows that t-shirt is at least 20 years old. I don't expect to be a marathoner by any means, but I am developing some stamina and figured I needed to do something to offset the good food. No doubt I am the talk of the compound, but since I cannot speak arabic or Hindi, I immagine they are saying nice things about me and how fast I am able to run.
What are we eating? The first week, we made a big pot of beans and rice and literally ate that every day. We swore we will never fix that again as long as we are here, but we were not sure what to eat! Now, we buy hummus, lebanese cheese, tahini, grape leaves, lebanese bread, yogurt, eggs, arabic salad, ......pretty basic stuff. We have attended several lectures at the University and they always have snacks available afterwards. These snacks consist if a type of burrito, small sandwich with creamy cheese, salad and a yogurt drink. When we went out to eat we tried the local fish - hammour- which was delicious. We are hoping to expand our cooking skills. I am waiting for the bigger kitchen we will have when we move tomorrow. But, don't hold your breath. I have a big kitchen at home and that has not improved my cooking. But, perhaps the novelty of the country will inspire me! J. always says there is "hope", but I am not sure that he would necessarily connect that word with my cooking. I will report on that later.
During the last several days, I have spent many hours at the university. Meeting people is really a treat here. The people are very friendly and warm. I enjoy the socializing and frankly relish the opportunity not to have to worry about my billable time. Granted, I have no billable time and that can be a problem, but it sure is freeing! If my partners are reading this -- either ignore the comment or just understand the enormity of the concept! I will not comment on the conversations until I feel I can do so. Suffice it to say, that I am meeting people from all over the world here. Professionals at the University come from New Zealand, Great Britain, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Libya, ----literally most everywhere. Laborers come from India, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan----- bus loads of them.
I am also reading a lot whenever I have time. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is just great. I am also studying up on Islam and Wahabism as well as Sharia law. I have become increasingly worried about Allen. I think he needs to go to Mecca to make up for all he has done wrong. So, if Allen asks for a leave, the partners need to give him one. I, on the other hand, would love to see my way to Jerusalem. But, if Allen needs a "substitute" to go to Mecca for him, I will go there. As you can see, I have no time to cook. There is just too much else to do!
Tonight we are invited to go to some arabian horse races. I am not sure about this, but, no doubt, will be different. Not something we have seen in Jacksonville.
Fortunately, our wonderful maintenance man here put a booster in our apartment for the internet - so skyping is perfect. Almost daily I talk to Emily and Abby!
What wonderful observations. I am trying to picture you jogging around your compound! Our book club had an excellent discussion of The Immortal Life . . . Did you know (in the fine print)that when you sign paperwork at the hospital, you are relinquishing the right to your cells/parts they remove during a procedure. That created even more discussion.
ReplyDeleteThis month our club read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a true story of a young man in a very poor village in Malawi who figured out how make electricity by creating a very primitive windmill with wires and bicycle parts. Fascinating. Now I ready to start Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand, the author of Seabiscuit.