This past weekend found me in Doha, Qatar for a volleyball tournament with my junior varsity boys (all 9 of them). The school I am at is now part of a league that includes schools from Cairo, Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi which means some rather different travel opportunities for me. Of course when you are at a sports tournament there are rather limited opportunities to see much of the country around you. For the most part I was restricted to the hotel and the American School of Doha. We spent one evening with the kids at the Villagio Mall, a large shopping center which was constructed to look a bit like Italy inside, complete with a sky painted ceiling, a small canal (which had gondola rides), hallways that look like streets with houses on either side and an indoor roller coaster. All in all my boys played well, with a lot of heart, and managed to win two games ensuring they weren't last in the tournament. Even more importantly in my mind, our jv teams earned the sportsmanship award thanks to their positive play and friendliness off the court, making me quite proud.
I was excited to realize that I knew 3 people teaching at ASD from my time in Paraguay (how is it that I've now seen 4 people from Paraguay while based in India?) and that I had the opportunity to sit and talk with them between volleyball games. One friend even came to pick me up on Friday and take me downtown for about an hour; giving me the opportunity to walk on the corniche and get a glimpse of downtown Doha and the architecture which is along the ocean front. My two favorite sights were probably the different looking crosswalk signs (yes I am in the Middle East) and the bright green words screaming "realize", "think" and "achieve." At least this way I fell like I got to see a bit of Doha and learn a bit more about the country. Did you know that every native Qatari receives a check every month (for somewhere around $6,000) from the natural gas exported from the country? You can see how this means that there aren't any poor Qatari in the country. In fact all of the workers are imported from other countries making up 80% of the country's population. This international work force makes for an interesting contrast in a predominately Islamic country where the men wear a long white thob and a ghutra on their head while most of the women were covered head to toe in black.
I was excited to realize that I knew 3 people teaching at ASD from my time in Paraguay (how is it that I've now seen 4 people from Paraguay while based in India?) and that I had the opportunity to sit and talk with them between volleyball games. One friend even came to pick me up on Friday and take me downtown for about an hour; giving me the opportunity to walk on the corniche and get a glimpse of downtown Doha and the architecture which is along the ocean front. My two favorite sights were probably the different looking crosswalk signs (yes I am in the Middle East) and the bright green words screaming "realize", "think" and "achieve." At least this way I fell like I got to see a bit of Doha and learn a bit more about the country. Did you know that every native Qatari receives a check every month (for somewhere around $6,000) from the natural gas exported from the country? You can see how this means that there aren't any poor Qatari in the country. In fact all of the workers are imported from other countries making up 80% of the country's population. This international work force makes for an interesting contrast in a predominately Islamic country where the men wear a long white thob and a ghutra on their head while most of the women were covered head to toe in black.
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