Things I won't talk about

How is that for a title? Actually, there are plenty of these topics. Saved for another day. It never fails. Just as you are about to pack up and leave, you meet some people you wish you had met 5 months ago! Like a Canadian researcher writing about Qatari women's issues, a lawyer in one of the foreign law firms that works on joint ventures, a Mayalsian on the Board of Directors of the Sisters of Islam, a Saudi woman teaching in Qatar, a Palestinian feminist, an Egyptian business man with interesting connections, an Islamic scholar from Bosnia. a woman writing about child camel jockeys in the UAE. Don't worry. I took notes. Someday I'll talk. I like the people here. I will miss them. Like the security guards at Qatar University. Usually, kind and helpful. The cleaning staff --- from the Phillipines and Sri Lanka and India and Nepal. Not here because they want to be, but here because of the promise of work and money to send home. This country imports 95% of what they use. The country is determined to become more self sufficient so that means they cannot be totally dependent on oil and gas. Diversitfication - sustainability. All the issues that we, in America, know are important. I understand that agriculture is something that this country would like to consider and they are even buying land in other countries --- like Ethiopia. Wow! Maybe we need some Morgan County farmers over here to grow some corn and beans in the desert! Or a FutureGen in Qatar! Sometimes we joke that this country has more money than God --- but, truly, money is not the issue. Tourism is developing. We decided to look up Barbizon Towers this morning. Kind of a "one more thing we wanted to see" place before we left---- one of the only natural "wonders" left in Qatar. It's only 15 minutes from where we live. Not much has been preserved in this Beduion society, so you look for things to go see here! Well, we found the Barbizon towers. Part of an old watch tower and fortress complex. Poor families live around it and in it and a school occupies a portion of the watch tower structure. It's crumbling. One corner area is a trash dump. There is no entrance to this structure, although you can see steps that probably lead to the tower. You just can't get there. Dirt roads with big pot holes surround the area. But, it is there and this is one thing I decided to talk about! Last evening was our potluck - 8 neighbors came over for dinner. All post doctoral students. Several from Malaysia, one from China, Bulgaria, and the 3 Americans. Another regret ---- I should have organized this sooner. While we have been to a couple get togethers here and all were nice and relaxing ----it takes the initiative of one person to do it---- and I like doing this, so I should have done it earlier. And I won't talk about our conversation ---- that's for another day when I am back in the U.S.A.