Well, I went to my first funeral in Doha this week. The father of one of our desk clerk's died suddenly on Monday morning and as Muslim custom is to bury the body within a very short amount of time, our entire staff was thrown into the whirlwind of figuring out what we should do (as westerners, females, males, non-muslims, non-arab muslims, etc - oh the choices). At two PM that day the females followed in a caravan to the desk clerk's home (she lives with her parents and other family members) while the male staff members headed to the mosque and grave site for the burial.
When we arrived at the home, 1) no one there spoke english, so that was awkward 2) there were dozens of shoes outside the door and 3) the desk clerk with whom i work and her sister and mother were not there. we were escorted into a bedroom off of the main living room with two twin and a half sized beds and a small couch where we waited for awhile. After about 15 minutes, i heard what I thought was a child crying, but it was actually the desk clerk and her mother and sister entering the home in desperate grief. It just made your heart ache.
She went around the main room crying and hugging and mostly saying "Allah, Allah, Allah" and speaking arabic or being spoken to in arabic. she then came in our room and the same ritual was followed. she then sat on one of the beds and just wept and repeated "Allah" over and over again to herself. She wore an abaya, but just had the shayla draped over her hair and she was clearly doing her best to just keep it together as her father had died, not only suddenly, but just a few hours before.
While we all sat there in silence as a means of comforting her, it of course led me to think about how fortunate i have been in my life to have not yet lost close (blood) family members. When Curt's grandfather died, it was very sad, but we also had known the writing was on the wall for some time and he had lived a long and good life, even if the lives of people you love are always far too short. I couldn't help but think that while the separation of the men from the women was messed up from my western perspective (there is some concern women will be too hysterical and will upset others if they were to be at the grave site), there was also something rather poetic about this large community of women who were just there to do whatever she would need or want them to do. Some people brought her and her mother and sister water or juice. Some people went over and hugged her or just sat near her. I of course thought of the sad day when i might lose one of my close family members (and curt's dad's recent antics made that memory all too real and fresh for me) which caused me to well up myself from time to time.
I also couldn't help but think, Holy crap! they are burying him so quickly! For me the process of death to burial mentally takes some time and to know that within a few hours of his death, you will NEVER see him again seemed a little too cruel and difficult for me. Even if mortician's can never QUITE get the open casket thing to really look like the person did in real life. Anyway, through this experience, my heart goes out to Shaya and her family. I truly hope our presence gave her just that little bit of support that can help her through this unimaginably difficult time.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sunday, February 8, 2009
New Babies, New Blog
http://vukenoyertriplets.blogspot.com/
This is the place to get your fix on what's happenin' with The Boys! I hope to be better at this than i was with my first blog . . . enjoy :)
This is the place to get your fix on what's happenin' with The Boys! I hope to be better at this than i was with my first blog . . . enjoy :)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Oman Pics and around Doha
1) House in the wadi
2) Where we saw some arab men drinking booze and sitting in the wadi
3) Chris, me, Kevin in the grand mosque
4) Mosque on the corniche
5) The front of the grand mosque (where they lead prayers from, facing Mecca)
6) Giant swordfish in the super market
7) DEEP excavation . . . as opposed to the shallow excavation?
8) Her Highness Sheikah Mozah bin Misned 
9) No idea HOW this happened on a two lane road with a large barrier in between the oncoming traffic.
2) Where we saw some arab men drinking booze and sitting in the wadi
3) Chris, me, Kevin in the grand mosque
4) Mosque on the corniche
5) The front of the grand mosque (where they lead prayers from, facing Mecca)
6) Giant swordfish in the super market
7) DEEP excavation . . . as opposed to the shallow excavation?
8) Her Highness Sheikah Mozah bin Misned 
9) No idea HOW this happened on a two lane road with a large barrier in between the oncoming traffic. Spring 2008
In the last blog I mentioned I was 5 weeks pregnant in Egypt. Just after that trip we went to the Dr. to see if we had multiples since we had used Clomid to assist in getting pregnant. The Dr. found twins immediately and Curt was PSYCHED! Then she thought she saw a third sac, but couldn’t grab a heartbeat on it, so she referred us to the sonologist to confirm if it was twins or triplets. On the 3rd day of the 3rd month we found out – we were having TRIPLETS. We had wanted to wait until our trip to the US in late March to tell people of the pregnancy, but this was too big for us to keep to ourselves. WAY too big. Rather freaked out, but thankful there weren’t 4, we called my folks first and then called Curt’s the next morning to share the big, no, HUGE news. They of course were happy to hear we were finally pregnant, but of course as in shock as we were that it was with 3. It’s still a little heard to believe, but we felt pretty lucky I hadn’t had any issues with morning sickness or any of the other worries that come with ART and the first trimester.
We had the opportunity to head to the US for a professional conference in late March 2008 so we tacked on visits with family and friends who were kind enough to clear their schedules and come see us! By this time I was about 11 weeks pregnant, so we were telling everyone else our shocking news. It was great to see people, and I was feeling like I was already “showing” – silly me.
My folks flew out to Atlanta to see us and then we took a week long tour of the southeast, hitting Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, Pawley’s Island, SC (where Aunt Linda and Uncle Don hosted us!), then back to Atlanta. Curt and I then headed to Chicago for the weekend for a training for him and to catch up with some friends. It was lovely to experience some cold, some rain, some sun and all the in between weather that is spring in the US. His parents drove out to see us for our last night in Chicago and then we headed back to Doha.
The middle of May we headed to Muscat, Oman with our friends Kevin and Chris (from Egypt) for a short weekend. It was just lovely. It was hotter than hell already (in the hi 90s) and I was feeling more pregnant, but it’s so hard to imagine that something only an hour and a half away (by air) can be so much greener!!! And they have small mountains, which makes for some nice scenery. We rented a car and went to a wadi (it literally means, “where water runs”) one day and saw wild donkeys and wild goats and various date palm farms. In the rainy season (apparently they have one) wadis will actually become rivers that head out to sea. We hit up a cool hotel for lunch right off the water, checked out the souk and the boys bought some Omani hats. Muscat is quite different from Doha. There is lots of signage on the roads labeling streets, there seems to be some sort of zoning when it comes to their buildings, and people are more laid back, even though it is still obviously a Muslim country. It is more acceptable to see mixed genders hanging out, even in couples, than it seems to be in Doha.
That Saturday we went to the grand mosque which was AMAZING. It is only a few years old and they have the world’s largest Persian carpet inside. Supposedly it took 400 women 6 years to make, or something like that. I was allowed to go in, however I had to wear pants, a long sleeved shirt and cover my hair and neck completely. Keep in mind it was in the mid to hi 90s at 9 AM. CRAZY! Then, Kevin and Chris decided to try one last time to get Kevin a silver Arabic coffee set, but the bargaining was not to be done. We opted for a light lunch and then we paid to use one of the hotel pools for the rest of the afternoon before we caught our flight home. We would definitely recommend Oman, though we would encourage people to head out of Muscat and spend time in Salalah, which is supposed to be pretty amazing. We also heard the snorkeling was pretty cool, but we weren’t feeling up for it.
A week after our trip we moved into a 3 BR apartment to get ready for the babies! Luckily we don’t have much stuff so it only took about 5 hours to pack our whole duplex and then about 3 car loads to get it over to the new place with help from friends. I of course was not much help as by this time I was pushing 19 weeks of pregnancy.
I will also add some additional pics from Doha that we’ve been meaning to share. Just some oddities you see around town. Enjoy!
We had the opportunity to head to the US for a professional conference in late March 2008 so we tacked on visits with family and friends who were kind enough to clear their schedules and come see us! By this time I was about 11 weeks pregnant, so we were telling everyone else our shocking news. It was great to see people, and I was feeling like I was already “showing” – silly me.
My folks flew out to Atlanta to see us and then we took a week long tour of the southeast, hitting Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, Pawley’s Island, SC (where Aunt Linda and Uncle Don hosted us!), then back to Atlanta. Curt and I then headed to Chicago for the weekend for a training for him and to catch up with some friends. It was lovely to experience some cold, some rain, some sun and all the in between weather that is spring in the US. His parents drove out to see us for our last night in Chicago and then we headed back to Doha.
The middle of May we headed to Muscat, Oman with our friends Kevin and Chris (from Egypt) for a short weekend. It was just lovely. It was hotter than hell already (in the hi 90s) and I was feeling more pregnant, but it’s so hard to imagine that something only an hour and a half away (by air) can be so much greener!!! And they have small mountains, which makes for some nice scenery. We rented a car and went to a wadi (it literally means, “where water runs”) one day and saw wild donkeys and wild goats and various date palm farms. In the rainy season (apparently they have one) wadis will actually become rivers that head out to sea. We hit up a cool hotel for lunch right off the water, checked out the souk and the boys bought some Omani hats. Muscat is quite different from Doha. There is lots of signage on the roads labeling streets, there seems to be some sort of zoning when it comes to their buildings, and people are more laid back, even though it is still obviously a Muslim country. It is more acceptable to see mixed genders hanging out, even in couples, than it seems to be in Doha.
That Saturday we went to the grand mosque which was AMAZING. It is only a few years old and they have the world’s largest Persian carpet inside. Supposedly it took 400 women 6 years to make, or something like that. I was allowed to go in, however I had to wear pants, a long sleeved shirt and cover my hair and neck completely. Keep in mind it was in the mid to hi 90s at 9 AM. CRAZY! Then, Kevin and Chris decided to try one last time to get Kevin a silver Arabic coffee set, but the bargaining was not to be done. We opted for a light lunch and then we paid to use one of the hotel pools for the rest of the afternoon before we caught our flight home. We would definitely recommend Oman, though we would encourage people to head out of Muscat and spend time in Salalah, which is supposed to be pretty amazing. We also heard the snorkeling was pretty cool, but we weren’t feeling up for it.
A week after our trip we moved into a 3 BR apartment to get ready for the babies! Luckily we don’t have much stuff so it only took about 5 hours to pack our whole duplex and then about 3 car loads to get it over to the new place with help from friends. I of course was not much help as by this time I was pushing 19 weeks of pregnancy.
I will also add some additional pics from Doha that we’ve been meaning to share. Just some oddities you see around town. Enjoy!
1) Me, my mom and dad at a plantation outside of Charleston, SC
2) Curt boozing it up with Kristin and BDub at ACPA - I was sleeping
3) Me, my mom, Aunt Linda and Curt at Pawley's Island
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Walk. Like. An Egyptian.
The last week of Feb. Curt and I took a trip to Egypt with 2 coworkers, Lindsay and Chris. We were able to get some SUPER cheap tickets, plan for a 3 day Nile cruise and a couple of days in Cairo for less than a thousand dollars – and it had been nearly 2 months since our last vacation, so it was TIME. :)
We arrived in Luxor, where the cruise would leave from, early on a Friday morning. As in most Muslim countries, it was pretty darn quiet, outside of the guys trying to get you to take THEIR taxi from the airport. While we drove through the country side and then into this sleepy town, I couldn’t help but think we were in Cuba, even though I have never been to Cuba. The cars and cabs were from the 1960s at the latest and all with Slavic names from companies that no longer exist. The buildings were for the most part small, square and industrial, at least those that were finished. We found out that the Egyptian government taxed owners of “finished buildings” which has obviously become an incentive for people to NOT finish their buildings. Many apartment buildings which were CLEARLY lived in for long periods of time, had ribar sticking out from the “roof” which while it had concrete poured, had no appearance of being “finished” by any stretch of the imagination.
We spent the day by the pool, saw the Luxor temple that night and prepared to get on our cruise the next day. This once sleepy town was no more after the noon prayers. There are people out with their donkeys carrying loads of stuff, in carriages tourists can rent, or just feeding donkeys on the side of the road, not to mention the cars and buses and their horns. ALWAYS THE HORNS! You see, side and rear view mirrors are not used here. At all. People just pull out when and where they would like and the driver who is getting ready to plow into them gives a stern HONK to let them know that “Hey, I’m here, don’t pull into this lane.” Or even better, “Hey, I think you are driving to slowly, so why don’t you move to the side so I can sneak through?” I think the second one happened more often than the first.
The Luxor temple was amazing. There are carvings on almost every square inch of wall that are still incredibly clear and easy to make out. The structure itself, as with all of the other temples we ended up seeing is mammoth, especially when you realize it was built about 2000 years before Christ. By hand, with no machinery as you and I know it today. Some of the ceilings in the temples (which by now are pretty much fully open to the elements) have the original paint on them that is still vivid. You’ll be able to see it in the pictures included. The next morning we went through the fiasco of flagging down a cab, who then disregarded geometric rules as he tried to squish our luggage into his trunk (he was one of the few without the roof cargo) and then haggle over price for 10 minutes. Meters are apparently without merit in this country. Anyway, you’d think if you know the name of your cruise line you will be able to see it from the shore, but that is just being WAY too sensical of you. You see, there are easily 50 cruise boats in Luxor at any one time and they usually dock them 3 or 4 deep, not to mention that OUR cruise boat was not in the down town area with all of the others. Guess that’s what we get for being cheap bastards and not paying for the “transfers” that would ordinarily come with the cruise. We learned our lesson on that one.
The cruise itself was cool. We were in Isis Group and Magid was our tour guide. The food was pretty good, the entertainment, like most cruises, was a little lame at night, but since I just found out we were 5 weeks pregnant, I was able to fall asleep at 9PM with no problems. J Our first morning we had to get up at 5 AM to take a bus to the Valley of the Kings and see some tombs, then to Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple and then Agamemnon, as well as the obligatory alabaster store. The tombs were AMAZING. While they had been looted eons ago by thieves, they carvings and the original paintings (again, 2000 years BEFORE Christ) were so vivid and clear, it took your breath away. It was pretty interesting how much the Egyptians valued their afterlife. Our guide shared that kings didn’t build palaces, they prepared their tombs as soon as they were put on the throne. The Great Pyramids were some of the first tombs, but they were such an easy target for thieves (they too were emptied long ago, except King Tut) that they didn’t want their departure for the afterlife to be disturbed.
The morning of day two I lay in bed enjoying the quiet and sound of the river, only to hear Curt suddenly hurling in the bathroom. Yep, he got the Death on the Nile. He proceeded to have ALL types of gastrointestinal issues for the next 24 hours, even though he tried to be a trooper and make it to the first temple that day. Otherwise, he stayed locked in our room as I tried to coax him to eat soup or drink tea or the coffee with lemon the staff insisted he drink. He was having none of it. On the morning of day 3 of the cruise, when we had to leave the boat, we got a phone call that our coworker Lindsay had succumbed to the Death and as we had to leave our rooms by 7:30 AM we made a game time decision for she and I to skip the tour and to change our flights to Cairo for the earliest one we could get. Even if she had to travel while she was violently ill, at least she would be in a hotel room as soon as we could get her there and she could whimper to herself quietly. Curt and Chris took the temple tour, but as they said, once you have seen one temple, you’ve pretty much seen them all.
When Lindsay and I got to Cairo (after what seemed to be an eternity for her I’m sure) we took a crazy ass cab ride over an HOUR to the hotel. No A/C, so the windows were down the whole time. Apparently air pollution dangers haven’t made it to the powers that be in Cairo because I felt like I was sucking off of a tail pipe the whole time. The thing with the horns is more pronounced and more important in Cairo. Where the US would ordinarily have 3 lanes of traffic wide, drivers will squirm their way to eventually being 5 cars wide. It’s a city of 20 million people and about 2 stop lights - both were flashing yellow when we drove by. There are also people with donkeys, guys on bikes selling bread from 10 foot long boards on their heads, kids playing in the middle of the street (think the day before Christmas outside of your busiest mall entrance – like that), people crossing wherever they think they can make it since there are no lights and no cross walks, buses stopping where they see fit – it’s a madhouse. Our hotel seemed to have speakers from the local mosques actually INSIDE the rooms. Apparently, when mosques are very close to one another, they will stagger their call to prayer so they don’t interrupt one another, which leads to calls to prayer that last anywhere from 15-30 minutes. After finally arriving in our room, I then succumbed to the Death of the Nile. Luckily I was in our room and hadn’t eaten much that day so I got a much easier time of it than Curt or Coco. Turns out, a friend of ours who lived in Egypt for 8 years told us that many of the Nile cruises actually wash their dishes using Nile River water. Considering some people still throw their garbage (the whole can) in the river, it’s no wonder many people get sick from those cruises.
We had a lovely Egyptian guide during our two days in Cairo who took us to the Great Pyramids, Memphis, the Citadel, and the markets. We had stuffed pigeon, some yummy salads, and of course the obligatory hummus and “mixed grill”. I can’t say I ever want to return to Cairo. With so much of the country’s economy based on tourism, it amazed all of us that it seems they have done little to make tourism easier on the tourists (easy public transport, clean air, removing beggars from inside the historical sites, etc.) Constantly we had people in the different sites who would grab your arm and take you to one part of a temple to show you something and then demand “baksheesh”, or a tip. Kind of annoying.
1) Curt in Valley of the Kings
2) Guys in rowboats on the Nile selling cheap crap
3) The pyramids are really SMALL!
4) Curt with the Death of the Nile
5) Chris & Coco - walkin' like egyptians
Deepest apologies for not updating this blog sooner, but more updates are on the way! Promise!
We arrived in Luxor, where the cruise would leave from, early on a Friday morning. As in most Muslim countries, it was pretty darn quiet, outside of the guys trying to get you to take THEIR taxi from the airport. While we drove through the country side and then into this sleepy town, I couldn’t help but think we were in Cuba, even though I have never been to Cuba. The cars and cabs were from the 1960s at the latest and all with Slavic names from companies that no longer exist. The buildings were for the most part small, square and industrial, at least those that were finished. We found out that the Egyptian government taxed owners of “finished buildings” which has obviously become an incentive for people to NOT finish their buildings. Many apartment buildings which were CLEARLY lived in for long periods of time, had ribar sticking out from the “roof” which while it had concrete poured, had no appearance of being “finished” by any stretch of the imagination.
We spent the day by the pool, saw the Luxor temple that night and prepared to get on our cruise the next day. This once sleepy town was no more after the noon prayers. There are people out with their donkeys carrying loads of stuff, in carriages tourists can rent, or just feeding donkeys on the side of the road, not to mention the cars and buses and their horns. ALWAYS THE HORNS! You see, side and rear view mirrors are not used here. At all. People just pull out when and where they would like and the driver who is getting ready to plow into them gives a stern HONK to let them know that “Hey, I’m here, don’t pull into this lane.” Or even better, “Hey, I think you are driving to slowly, so why don’t you move to the side so I can sneak through?” I think the second one happened more often than the first.
The Luxor temple was amazing. There are carvings on almost every square inch of wall that are still incredibly clear and easy to make out. The structure itself, as with all of the other temples we ended up seeing is mammoth, especially when you realize it was built about 2000 years before Christ. By hand, with no machinery as you and I know it today. Some of the ceilings in the temples (which by now are pretty much fully open to the elements) have the original paint on them that is still vivid. You’ll be able to see it in the pictures included. The next morning we went through the fiasco of flagging down a cab, who then disregarded geometric rules as he tried to squish our luggage into his trunk (he was one of the few without the roof cargo) and then haggle over price for 10 minutes. Meters are apparently without merit in this country. Anyway, you’d think if you know the name of your cruise line you will be able to see it from the shore, but that is just being WAY too sensical of you. You see, there are easily 50 cruise boats in Luxor at any one time and they usually dock them 3 or 4 deep, not to mention that OUR cruise boat was not in the down town area with all of the others. Guess that’s what we get for being cheap bastards and not paying for the “transfers” that would ordinarily come with the cruise. We learned our lesson on that one.
The cruise itself was cool. We were in Isis Group and Magid was our tour guide. The food was pretty good, the entertainment, like most cruises, was a little lame at night, but since I just found out we were 5 weeks pregnant, I was able to fall asleep at 9PM with no problems. J Our first morning we had to get up at 5 AM to take a bus to the Valley of the Kings and see some tombs, then to Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple and then Agamemnon, as well as the obligatory alabaster store. The tombs were AMAZING. While they had been looted eons ago by thieves, they carvings and the original paintings (again, 2000 years BEFORE Christ) were so vivid and clear, it took your breath away. It was pretty interesting how much the Egyptians valued their afterlife. Our guide shared that kings didn’t build palaces, they prepared their tombs as soon as they were put on the throne. The Great Pyramids were some of the first tombs, but they were such an easy target for thieves (they too were emptied long ago, except King Tut) that they didn’t want their departure for the afterlife to be disturbed.
The morning of day two I lay in bed enjoying the quiet and sound of the river, only to hear Curt suddenly hurling in the bathroom. Yep, he got the Death on the Nile. He proceeded to have ALL types of gastrointestinal issues for the next 24 hours, even though he tried to be a trooper and make it to the first temple that day. Otherwise, he stayed locked in our room as I tried to coax him to eat soup or drink tea or the coffee with lemon the staff insisted he drink. He was having none of it. On the morning of day 3 of the cruise, when we had to leave the boat, we got a phone call that our coworker Lindsay had succumbed to the Death and as we had to leave our rooms by 7:30 AM we made a game time decision for she and I to skip the tour and to change our flights to Cairo for the earliest one we could get. Even if she had to travel while she was violently ill, at least she would be in a hotel room as soon as we could get her there and she could whimper to herself quietly. Curt and Chris took the temple tour, but as they said, once you have seen one temple, you’ve pretty much seen them all.
When Lindsay and I got to Cairo (after what seemed to be an eternity for her I’m sure) we took a crazy ass cab ride over an HOUR to the hotel. No A/C, so the windows were down the whole time. Apparently air pollution dangers haven’t made it to the powers that be in Cairo because I felt like I was sucking off of a tail pipe the whole time. The thing with the horns is more pronounced and more important in Cairo. Where the US would ordinarily have 3 lanes of traffic wide, drivers will squirm their way to eventually being 5 cars wide. It’s a city of 20 million people and about 2 stop lights - both were flashing yellow when we drove by. There are also people with donkeys, guys on bikes selling bread from 10 foot long boards on their heads, kids playing in the middle of the street (think the day before Christmas outside of your busiest mall entrance – like that), people crossing wherever they think they can make it since there are no lights and no cross walks, buses stopping where they see fit – it’s a madhouse. Our hotel seemed to have speakers from the local mosques actually INSIDE the rooms. Apparently, when mosques are very close to one another, they will stagger their call to prayer so they don’t interrupt one another, which leads to calls to prayer that last anywhere from 15-30 minutes. After finally arriving in our room, I then succumbed to the Death of the Nile. Luckily I was in our room and hadn’t eaten much that day so I got a much easier time of it than Curt or Coco. Turns out, a friend of ours who lived in Egypt for 8 years told us that many of the Nile cruises actually wash their dishes using Nile River water. Considering some people still throw their garbage (the whole can) in the river, it’s no wonder many people get sick from those cruises.
We had a lovely Egyptian guide during our two days in Cairo who took us to the Great Pyramids, Memphis, the Citadel, and the markets. We had stuffed pigeon, some yummy salads, and of course the obligatory hummus and “mixed grill”. I can’t say I ever want to return to Cairo. With so much of the country’s economy based on tourism, it amazed all of us that it seems they have done little to make tourism easier on the tourists (easy public transport, clean air, removing beggars from inside the historical sites, etc.) Constantly we had people in the different sites who would grab your arm and take you to one part of a temple to show you something and then demand “baksheesh”, or a tip. Kind of annoying.
1) Curt in Valley of the Kings2) Guys in rowboats on the Nile selling cheap crap
3) The pyramids are really SMALL!
4) Curt with the Death of the Nile
5) Chris & Coco - walkin' like egyptians
Deepest apologies for not updating this blog sooner, but more updates are on the way! Promise!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Oh, the Places We'll Go!
We have just passed the 7 month mark for living in Qatar and have proved that Curt and I are both BAD at keeping our blog up to date. Try as we might, it just seems to be the last thing we plan to do on weekends.
Since we got back from our LOVELY American visit with the Kenoyer clan, Brad and Lindsay, Claire and Mike and Tom and Kyndra in Colorado we had both our first sand storm and our first rainstorm in the same week! In early January, the wind was HOWLING one night. I woke up on a Monday morning and it smelled in our house like a big handful of sand does when you put it close to our face – only it was just in the air! Outside looked like it was heavy fog, but it was actually sand in the air. Our entire house had a nice fine layer of sand on anything and everything it could land on. This went on for a full day, but was still pretty windy and blowy for another day after that. It sucked. Then a few days later we got TORRENTIAL rain mixed in with some nice showers. It was pretty great, minus the fact we don’t have any heat in our house. Luckily we bought a ceramic space heater in November, as well as a fleece blanket because while 50 degrees doesn’t sound too bad, it is when it’s the temp IN YOUR HOUSE! (Unless you are our friends, Steve and Tara, then that’s normal. :) I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed overcast wet days as much as I have here. It is just such a nice change from the day to day. The obvious issue with rain in the desert is that there is NO drainage. While most roads don’t flood, per se, if there is any sort of grading in the parking lot or road, you can be sure to have water above your ankles. Not my idea of fun. And people here drive through it like it’s nothing – maybe b/c if they don’t, they can’t leave their houses?!
In other news we are heading to Egypt the end of February for some R&R. We will be in Luxor for a day, then take a Nile River cruise for 4 days and then we will be in Cairo for 2 days. We are traveling with some co-workers, so it should be a hoot! The end of March we will be in Nepal for a week on an alternative spring break trip with students (can you believe it?!). We will spend time in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan. We will spend time at a wildlife reserve (elephant baths anyone?!), river rafting and then we will be building a wall for a school playground. Apparently one side of it has an 8 ft. drop, so they want to make sure the kids can play without putting themselves in mortal danger. We will have plenty of pictures coming up, but in the meantime, we will share some of our day to day pics from living in Qatar.
Since we got back from our LOVELY American visit with the Kenoyer clan, Brad and Lindsay, Claire and Mike and Tom and Kyndra in Colorado we had both our first sand storm and our first rainstorm in the same week! In early January, the wind was HOWLING one night. I woke up on a Monday morning and it smelled in our house like a big handful of sand does when you put it close to our face – only it was just in the air! Outside looked like it was heavy fog, but it was actually sand in the air. Our entire house had a nice fine layer of sand on anything and everything it could land on. This went on for a full day, but was still pretty windy and blowy for another day after that. It sucked. Then a few days later we got TORRENTIAL rain mixed in with some nice showers. It was pretty great, minus the fact we don’t have any heat in our house. Luckily we bought a ceramic space heater in November, as well as a fleece blanket because while 50 degrees doesn’t sound too bad, it is when it’s the temp IN YOUR HOUSE! (Unless you are our friends, Steve and Tara, then that’s normal. :) I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed overcast wet days as much as I have here. It is just such a nice change from the day to day. The obvious issue with rain in the desert is that there is NO drainage. While most roads don’t flood, per se, if there is any sort of grading in the parking lot or road, you can be sure to have water above your ankles. Not my idea of fun. And people here drive through it like it’s nothing – maybe b/c if they don’t, they can’t leave their houses?!
In other news we are heading to Egypt the end of February for some R&R. We will be in Luxor for a day, then take a Nile River cruise for 4 days and then we will be in Cairo for 2 days. We are traveling with some co-workers, so it should be a hoot! The end of March we will be in Nepal for a week on an alternative spring break trip with students (can you believe it?!). We will spend time in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan. We will spend time at a wildlife reserve (elephant baths anyone?!), river rafting and then we will be building a wall for a school playground. Apparently one side of it has an 8 ft. drop, so they want to make sure the kids can play without putting themselves in mortal danger. We will have plenty of pictures coming up, but in the meantime, we will share some of our day to day pics from living in Qatar.
1) Just a regular night carting sheep around in Doha
2) Now that's a big shopping cart (right outside of a lcoal mall)
3) & 4) just to prove American fast food has made it here - Pizza Hut and KFC (they are CRAZY for KFC here)
5) Qatari Curt - Curt, Mohammed and Chris with Mohammed's b-day gift for the guys
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Weddings, Qatari Style
Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Qatari wedding by my colleague Ameena. Weddings here are done just a little bit differently from the states. When a person receives a wedding invitation, it is has a number of personal invitations included for the friend/family member to hand out to friends. Now, it’s very important to remember that male and female guests do not have the same experience during a wedding. The female wedding reception is a completely different event from the male reception. The wedding ceremony itself actually takes place at the courthouse and is called the “engagement” and happens anywhere from a few weeks to a year before the wedding parties. The man and woman could live as husband and wife (technically) after the court house ceremony, but it would not be acceptable in this culture until they have their formal wedding parties.
The male reception is pretty much a bunch of guys out in an expanse of desert (usually near a major road) in a majliss that is set up (lots of easy chairs and places to smoke shisha) with a large space open in the middle. The men have sword dances and sometimes eat camel (so I’ve heard).
The ladies reception is a whole other story. They all take place in hotel ballrooms and they are completely run by ladies (the drink and food servers, the band, etc). This is done so ladies who want to remove their abayas (long black overcoat) and shaylas (head scarf) or neghabs (face veil) can do so for the party. When Kristin (a co-worker) and I arrived at the hotel, we had to give our personal invitation to the only man we saw at the place – the “bouncer”. We then had to go through a metal detector and they checked our purses to make sure we didn’t have any cell phones with cameras or any digital cameras. If you do, they take them from you and you have to pick them up after the reception. As we walked in the ballroom we saw that we were 2 of 5 or 6 white people there. That is a very interesting experience to have, especially when you consider we don’t even speak the language of the majority of the people there.
This ballroom was out of control. As you walked in there was a giant huppa-like structure covered in live flowers and vines and leaves. Just beyond that is a catwalk, just like at a fashion show that led to the front of the ballroom where there was a huge elaborate stage with live 30 foot trees, flowers, greenery, its own lighting system, etc. The ballroom had about 70 round tables that seated 10 people each. The catwalk also had seats along it that were reserved for family and close friends. The tables are elaborately decorated like at a western wedding, but they also included our own tea service, a tray of chocolates and pistachios. While there was seating for over 700 in this ballroom, at no point were all of the seats taken. I would guess there were about 500 ladies at this reception (and remember the men are having their own reception someplace else with almost as many people).
And then there were the dresses. Think Oscar Night formality with Video Music Awards scandal. The ladies who wear black abayas and shaylas/neghabs in public are wearing dresses cut down to THERE, with all the glitz of a Vegas show. Lots of rhinestones, bows, satin, fake gems, sequins, crystals, etc. And of course the makeup was flawless and THICK. Earrings were enormous, some hung so low they actually rested on the woman’s collarbones. Nothing Kristin and I could have worn or done with our hair or makeup would have been “too much”. We got there around 8:30PM and around 9PM the all female band begins singing in Arabic like we were at a rock concert. You could not hear yourself talk, but since this is when close family members get up on the catwalk, all you want to do is stare anyway. When the ladies get up on the catwalk, they dance their way up and down while other friends and family members come up and throw money at them. All of this money then goes to the band to thank them for their beautiful music. People can also come up to the band and give them money and they will sing a blessing for your family throughout the wedding. This entire time, hired ladies are serving tea, chocolates, savory hors d'oeuvres, freshly squeezed juices, Arabian sweets, etc. are walking around and offering you whatever you like. Around 9:45PM the music stops for a bit and we have the sound of chirping birds as the bride comes in. She is in a stunning gown (traditional white wedding dress) and looks like a 19 year old Eva Longoria.
Her veil is about 15 feet long, as is her dress. She has two Filipino assistants who fluff out her dress every time she takes a step or two. It takes her nearly a half hour to get to the front of the ball room because the whole way she is posing for pictures and being video taped by professionals. Just before she gets on stage, she turns around to face the “audience” and the band starts up singing again. At this point family and friends come up and shower money on her – this also goes to the band. People are literally throwing 20-30 pieces of paper money, which can be anywhere from 1 riyal to 500 riyals ($0.27 to $160 – I SWEAR I saw a 500 riyal note!).
She then goes up to the stage and sits there looking out at people for what felt like forever. The band is still going on, but only family and close friends go on the catwalk to dance. Around 10:30PM we suddenly start seeing ladies grabbing their abayas and shaylas and all of a sudden the groom and about 20 other men are walking up the catwalk. They move MUCH more quickly than the bride. The men are relatives of the bride and groom. The bride had a large black cloak thrown over her that completely covers her since some of the men are not blood relatives of hers. After a few minutes and some pictures, the men who are related to the groom leave and ladies who are family members of the bride begin to take their shaylas and abayas off. After some more pictures, the groom sits down next to the bride as they face the audience. The band is playing the entire time and the bride and groom just sit there not talking. I found out from one of the women we sat with that the bride and groom are first cousins. This is apparently common practice in this region. Since males and females do not intermingle like they do in other cultures, families want their daughters and sons to marry people they know. This isn’t all families, but it’s pretty common, which is also why they have some of the genetic blood diseases they have.
At some point the groom left. Around 11PM they announced that dinner was now open and we headed to the buffet that could have easily served 1000 people. It was the same food throughout, but there were close to 75 different food warmers filled with rice and whole lambs, and chunks of lamb and vegetables and hummus, etc. Close to 12AM the bride begins her long, slow journey back to the door down the catwalk. Since there are no men, ladies are fully revealed and there is lots of kissing of cheeks for the bride and relatives of the bride. We heard there was a private dinner for the bride and groom up in the hotel later.
This wedding was on a Sunday night, so by midnight we were pretty beat (since we had worked that day and had work the next day), but our colleague who invited us said she stayed until about 1 AM and her mom stayed until close to 3 AM. While the wedding was interesting, I wouldn’t have classified it as “fun”. There was no dancing by large groups of people, you could barely hear yourself talk over the music (which you couldn’t understand anyway) and it was 100% alcohol free. With all of the food and accoutrements, we were guessing that the female reception was in the $75,000 to $85,000 USD range. And the groom’s mother is responsible for paying for the wedding!
I’m the most sad that I couldn’t take any pictures because I felt like I was surrounded by the animal equivalent of macaw parrots – and I don’t think I can do it nearly enough justice for how elaborate it all was. We will add some pictures of male weddings soon, since they are just on the side of the road. At least you will be able to see the male set up, even if you don’t see the sword dances or roasted camel! :)
The male reception is pretty much a bunch of guys out in an expanse of desert (usually near a major road) in a majliss that is set up (lots of easy chairs and places to smoke shisha) with a large space open in the middle. The men have sword dances and sometimes eat camel (so I’ve heard).
The ladies reception is a whole other story. They all take place in hotel ballrooms and they are completely run by ladies (the drink and food servers, the band, etc). This is done so ladies who want to remove their abayas (long black overcoat) and shaylas (head scarf) or neghabs (face veil) can do so for the party. When Kristin (a co-worker) and I arrived at the hotel, we had to give our personal invitation to the only man we saw at the place – the “bouncer”. We then had to go through a metal detector and they checked our purses to make sure we didn’t have any cell phones with cameras or any digital cameras. If you do, they take them from you and you have to pick them up after the reception. As we walked in the ballroom we saw that we were 2 of 5 or 6 white people there. That is a very interesting experience to have, especially when you consider we don’t even speak the language of the majority of the people there.
This ballroom was out of control. As you walked in there was a giant huppa-like structure covered in live flowers and vines and leaves. Just beyond that is a catwalk, just like at a fashion show that led to the front of the ballroom where there was a huge elaborate stage with live 30 foot trees, flowers, greenery, its own lighting system, etc. The ballroom had about 70 round tables that seated 10 people each. The catwalk also had seats along it that were reserved for family and close friends. The tables are elaborately decorated like at a western wedding, but they also included our own tea service, a tray of chocolates and pistachios. While there was seating for over 700 in this ballroom, at no point were all of the seats taken. I would guess there were about 500 ladies at this reception (and remember the men are having their own reception someplace else with almost as many people).
And then there were the dresses. Think Oscar Night formality with Video Music Awards scandal. The ladies who wear black abayas and shaylas/neghabs in public are wearing dresses cut down to THERE, with all the glitz of a Vegas show. Lots of rhinestones, bows, satin, fake gems, sequins, crystals, etc. And of course the makeup was flawless and THICK. Earrings were enormous, some hung so low they actually rested on the woman’s collarbones. Nothing Kristin and I could have worn or done with our hair or makeup would have been “too much”. We got there around 8:30PM and around 9PM the all female band begins singing in Arabic like we were at a rock concert. You could not hear yourself talk, but since this is when close family members get up on the catwalk, all you want to do is stare anyway. When the ladies get up on the catwalk, they dance their way up and down while other friends and family members come up and throw money at them. All of this money then goes to the band to thank them for their beautiful music. People can also come up to the band and give them money and they will sing a blessing for your family throughout the wedding. This entire time, hired ladies are serving tea, chocolates, savory hors d'oeuvres, freshly squeezed juices, Arabian sweets, etc. are walking around and offering you whatever you like. Around 9:45PM the music stops for a bit and we have the sound of chirping birds as the bride comes in. She is in a stunning gown (traditional white wedding dress) and looks like a 19 year old Eva Longoria.
Her veil is about 15 feet long, as is her dress. She has two Filipino assistants who fluff out her dress every time she takes a step or two. It takes her nearly a half hour to get to the front of the ball room because the whole way she is posing for pictures and being video taped by professionals. Just before she gets on stage, she turns around to face the “audience” and the band starts up singing again. At this point family and friends come up and shower money on her – this also goes to the band. People are literally throwing 20-30 pieces of paper money, which can be anywhere from 1 riyal to 500 riyals ($0.27 to $160 – I SWEAR I saw a 500 riyal note!).
She then goes up to the stage and sits there looking out at people for what felt like forever. The band is still going on, but only family and close friends go on the catwalk to dance. Around 10:30PM we suddenly start seeing ladies grabbing their abayas and shaylas and all of a sudden the groom and about 20 other men are walking up the catwalk. They move MUCH more quickly than the bride. The men are relatives of the bride and groom. The bride had a large black cloak thrown over her that completely covers her since some of the men are not blood relatives of hers. After a few minutes and some pictures, the men who are related to the groom leave and ladies who are family members of the bride begin to take their shaylas and abayas off. After some more pictures, the groom sits down next to the bride as they face the audience. The band is playing the entire time and the bride and groom just sit there not talking. I found out from one of the women we sat with that the bride and groom are first cousins. This is apparently common practice in this region. Since males and females do not intermingle like they do in other cultures, families want their daughters and sons to marry people they know. This isn’t all families, but it’s pretty common, which is also why they have some of the genetic blood diseases they have.
At some point the groom left. Around 11PM they announced that dinner was now open and we headed to the buffet that could have easily served 1000 people. It was the same food throughout, but there were close to 75 different food warmers filled with rice and whole lambs, and chunks of lamb and vegetables and hummus, etc. Close to 12AM the bride begins her long, slow journey back to the door down the catwalk. Since there are no men, ladies are fully revealed and there is lots of kissing of cheeks for the bride and relatives of the bride. We heard there was a private dinner for the bride and groom up in the hotel later.
This wedding was on a Sunday night, so by midnight we were pretty beat (since we had worked that day and had work the next day), but our colleague who invited us said she stayed until about 1 AM and her mom stayed until close to 3 AM. While the wedding was interesting, I wouldn’t have classified it as “fun”. There was no dancing by large groups of people, you could barely hear yourself talk over the music (which you couldn’t understand anyway) and it was 100% alcohol free. With all of the food and accoutrements, we were guessing that the female reception was in the $75,000 to $85,000 USD range. And the groom’s mother is responsible for paying for the wedding!
I’m the most sad that I couldn’t take any pictures because I felt like I was surrounded by the animal equivalent of macaw parrots – and I don’t think I can do it nearly enough justice for how elaborate it all was. We will add some pictures of male weddings soon, since they are just on the side of the road. At least you will be able to see the male set up, even if you don’t see the sword dances or roasted camel! :)
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