First Christmas in Doha - Reflections

I think I will start by saying that our first Christmas in Doha has been good, maybe even very good.  Why you might ask?  I think primarily because we put a lot of effort into it this year because we didn't have the normal seasonal and societal cues we have been used to both in America and the UK.

There were some decorations in the malls and stores, mostly in the stores that originally come from America or the UK, but some of that will be due to the fact that all their store decorations regardless of the country the store operates in, gets dictated to them by the brand head offices, typically not located in the Middle East.  There was in fact some criticism of these stores Qatari/Arab partners for allowing their stores to decorate for Christmas by a vocal and prominent Islamic scholar, Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi.  Regardless of this, it was nice to see some decorations, but it was definitely less then we are used to.

So what did we do?  Well I started playing lots of Christmas music in the car and the flat.  My favourite are songs on Simply Christmas Crooners.  No pop star renditions for me.  Michael's favourite 100 Favourite Carols featuring the UK's best choirs, i.e. York Minster Choir and Durham Cathedral Choir.  Then of course were the decorations in the flat.  We have a six foot fake Christmas tree,which we bought before we moved here as real Christmas trees just aren't a viable option.  We thought we liked it and we though at 6 feet it was a good size, but the ceilings in our flat are so high that it looked small so it got put on top on the children's small table to better fill the window.  I think a trip to one of the Christmas speciality stores in America is going to put on the itinerary for our holiday this coming summer.

One of Iain's Christmas presents was a 2 hour Gingerbread house workshop at the Ritz Carton Hotel.  We had a great time decorating our house.  Iain was very specific in what he wanted and where.  I did all the icing and he did all the decorating (and eating) with the sweeties.  He got his own chef's hat and apron and the 2 main pastry chefs at the hotel demonstrated what to do and there were lots of trainee pastry chefs on hand to help the kids.  I think one of the best parts, for me, was the fact that we made an absolute mess of our workstation but I didn't have to clean it up.  It is on our to do list for December 2010 only this time Arran will decorate his own one as well!

Our boys had their annual Advent Calendars this year which was great to do together.  But this year it was made even more special by our church giving out daily advent bible passages to read together.  It really helped to keep all of our focusses on the real reason for the season. 

Christmas day began with the our present unwrapping ceremony which happens by only one present being opened at a time and everyone getting to see it before the next one is handed out.  The boys highlights were for Arran a Thomas Start Your Engine Race set  and for Iain F1 Ferrari Lego set.  Lots of books, a crystal growing kit, lego essential and chocolate added to the days delights.

We enjoyed a wonderful sermon at church on the importance of the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ and wishing all of our new accquaintences at church a Merry Christmas.  The real topper of the day was having Christmas dinner with our boys and 4 of Michael's colleagues from work.  Here in Doha there are a lot of men who don't see their families for 11 months of the year.  There are lots of reasons why the men don't bring their families over and cost seems to be the greatest reason.  So instead of these guys not having anyone to share Christmas day with we had four join us.  Two are from the Philippines, one is from Sri Lanka and the last is from the UK.   We had a wonderful time them and the boys loved sharing their delight and joy in the day with them.  We ate a terrific meal prepared by one of the local hotels, as in our current, tiny kitchen it would have been impossible to cook for 8.  I am positive that my oven could never fit the 5kg turkey we ate!

On Boxing Day we always go for a walk, this year's was very different for the past.  It was warm and sunny with crystal blue skies.  We walked from the Islamic Art Museum (the best architecture in Doha) along the corniche and then up to the Souq for lunch and then back again.  We just kept marvelling how warm and lovely the weather was and how different this was to the cold, wet and muddy walks in England.  

Obviously the season isn't quite over yet as I post this blog entry but I really wanted to share with you all how our first Christmas in Doha has gone.  As you can see we enjoyed it.  We have no plans yet to ring in the new year but I am sure something will come together.  Overall it has been a good end to what has been a really tough year.  The two things I am so thankful to God that the year is ending on good note for are; 1. Iain's skin condition is being well controlled by the medication and 2. We are together again as a family after 6 months apart. My mother and I are in firm accord when we say that in so many ways we are looking forward to the end of 2009 and the start of 2010.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Alternative Thanksgiving

I haven't lived in the States for ten years now and during those ten years I have never made it back for Thanksgiving celebrations. I think primarily because it is to close to Christmas and in the UK Christmas is a huge holiday. For the past ten years, we have always tried to mark the holiday in some way. Before we had kids we would go out for a nice meal and talk about what we were thankful for in the past year. Once we had our eldest and we were more established in a family home (rather then the bachelor flat in London) I started to cook a proper Thanksgiving meal. Because it isn't a holiday in the UK and with working and the amount of time it takes to make Thanksgiving we always celebrated it on the following Saturday. We would have our neighbours around and they would all help be preparing a dish and we had a great time.

This year when October turned into November and thus our thoughts turned to Thanksgiving I didn't really know what we were going to do. Groceries here in Doha tend to be more expensive especially imported western brands. Plus I could only find frozen Turkeys and I am not a huge fan of frozen turkey. There was also a part me hoping that we would get invited to a Thanksgiving meal by one of the families in our Church, but that didn't happen ( I will save my thoughts on that subject for another time). We finally decided that since the two people we wanted to invite to Thanksgiving had already accepted invitations elsewhere that we would go for an Alternative Thanksgiving.

At the moment it is a big holiday here in Doha, Eid-al-Adha where the Muslim world is celebrating Ibrahim being willing to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah. So my husband has 3 days off work and there is a general feeling of everything being in holiday mode, especially the roads as they are so quiet. We decided a week ago that we would spend the day at the beach and then on Wednesday my husband's Filipino colleagues invited us to a beach BBQ and camping over night on the beach.

We drove the 80kms to Durkan yesterday afternoon, it only takes between 45-60 minutes. We spent a couple of lovely hours on the beach sunning it, swimming and playing cricket. The beach was quiet, the water was cool and calm and the sand was pristine. The water was the clearest water I have ever seen and it was shallow for a long way out so the boys really enjoyed it.

We were joined by the Filipinos around 5:00 when we all set up our tents and the BBQ started. We proceeded to eat the most wonderful fresh king fish, chicken, other fish that I have no idea what it was and tons of rice. Everything was absolutely delicious and we tried everything, including fish head soup (in which you don't eat the fish heads, they are just used to flavour the liquid).

I am not sure I could have asked for a better Thanksgiving in the circumstances of living in a new country. We were surrounded by friends, enjoyed lots of really good food. Laughed and talked a lot. Slept under a beautiful clear sky in which I saw all the constellations I recognised but just in a slightly different position as I am a lot further south then I am used to being. I think the best part was enjoying something so new and different together as a family.

Driving to School Today

Anyone who lives in Doha, or who has even visited Doha will tell you that driving can be an absolute nightmare. There are road rules, though mostly everyone ignores them. In my short time here I have seen some of the more outrageous and stupid driving then anywhere else I have been before and I have been a fair few places where driving can be an adventure. I am thinking mostly of the time I have spent in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Rome! Doha takes the cake when is comes to bad driving.

My personal favourite is when there are 2 clearly and well defined marked lanes and suddenly someone pushes through the middle to make a two lane road a three lane road. I have started to take up us much space as possible at one roundabout where this happens all the time to prevent it happening to me. Needless to say the person trying to push through honks a few times, but I ignore them.

Today I think I have seen the worst. My eldest son attends a school that is out on the edge of Doha. It takes us anywhere from 40-60 minutes in the morning traffic to get there. The second to last road that we drive on is one lane in each direction. It is perfectly straight and has a couple of speed humps to try and keep speed low. All of a sudden there in the road is a tent, a huge marque. It has been set up on someone's property to host a party or a wedding or something like that and it is obviously going to be a big party. But instead of setting up the tent in a spare bit of desert (like the rest do and there is no shortage of it), they set up the tent on their property but the tent is to big for their property and it extends to cover the entire two lanes of the road. That's right you did indeed just read 'covers the entire two lanes of the road'. Not a small part or half of the road but the whole darn road.

click on the photos to get a better view

To add to my horror at outrage at this is the fact that there have been no signs, or warnings or any redirection set up at all. There is enough space for one car to squeeze between the edge of the tent and two lorry (truck) cabs which had been left in the desert next to the road. This road is very busy in the morning, there are something like seven schools that are accessed by this road. We also have no idea how long it will be like this because of the lack of signage. I was so horrified by this tent this morning that when I went back this afternoon to collect my son I took pictures. Enjoy the craziness that is driving in Doha.