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Published: April 6th 2006
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I’m just about to leave for the airport to go to Hong Kong, but I thought I would write a quick blog before I head off for 16 hours of flying and 2 ½ days of partying.
This past week, Doha played host to a Cultural Festival. Now, I thought this would be like Heritage Days where we use the opportunity to share information, food, etc. with other cultures. With 80% of the population being expats, I was sure this festival would be focused on showing us the Qatari culture. Obviously, I haven’t quite learned enough about this culture as I was naïve enough to think that the Qataris would actually do that.
Despite the local English paper featuring a pull-out section highlighting the cultural events happening over the week, all signage and promotions were in Arabic, which should have been my first clue. The second clue came when I tried to phone the Ritz Carlton to confirm that the lectures they were hosting throughout the week were in English. When the person I spoke to could hardly speak English, but said “yes” when I asked if the lectures where in English, I really should have known better. Anyway,
Chris and I went to the Ritz to watch a lecture on the “Limits of Freedom of Expression”. Now, I’ve mentioned that I’m used to being a minority here (especially the gender variety), but in a sea of white and black, I have to admit that I really felt out of place at this lecture, especially when the moderator started speaking in Arabic. Trying to discreetly exit the lecture, we did stumble upon a great photography exhibit, as well as art exhibit featuring early Middle Eastern art. The best part was the free tea, juice and goodies that accompanied the exhibits. Okay, that wasn’t the best part, but it was an excellent incentive to stay and enjoy despite getting weird looks by the locals.
Well, my time with the festival wasn’t done yet. I was determined to learn more about the culture, so Lindsey and I ventured down to the Heritage Village to check out the displays of food, crafts, music, and dance. It was great! Again, though, there were very few expats among the crowd, which can truthfully throw you a bit off. At the end of the night, we ended up in the men’s section (really, it
was literally white on one side and black on the other) and when the men got a little too comfortable with making comments, we made the decision to get out of Dodge. Before that, though, we both had henna applied to our hands, enjoyed Arabic donuts and rose drinks, watched basket weavers, and learned how pearl divers search for pearls.
Soon after we got home from the Heritage Village, a huge storm hit Doha and wreaked havoc on the city. So much so that the last of my cultural festival activities, the International Music Show, was postponed because the outdoor stage was destroyed. Now, it hasn’t been confirmed, but our guess is that the real moderator for the show was only available on the first night and someone else kindly stepped in for the rescheduled show. The show was hilarious. I should mention that it wasn’t supposed to be hilarious. The dancing was great—Riverdance, a great urban tap group called Tap Dogs from Australia, Japanese drummers, bellydancers from Turkey, among many others performed. What was hilarious was the moderator. Although English isn’t always spoken that well here, there are a number of locals who speak it very well. This
moderator wasn’t one of them. The poor lady was charged with doing the English portion and not one sentence that came out of her mouth made sense. The crowd turned out to not be the most forgiving in the world and burst into giggles when she said that one dance gave her “goosepimples” and another dance was a truly “embarrassing dance”. As well, the crowd couldn’t contain themselves when she said that dance bridged the gap “between us and together”. Now, I’m not sure if it was her inability to grasp the English language or the teleprompter writer’s inability, but, boy, was it humourous. I, of course, would look just as ridiculous if I tried to pose as the emcee for a French show, but I’m just wondering who let this lady on and have they ever heard of a rehearsal!?
Anyway, thought you would enjoy my efforts to learn more about the Arabic culture. At times, I think of what a surreal situation this all is, but other times it doesn’t even phase me that men hold hands and women fully cover their faces. I am still really enjoying it, but I have to admit that I’m looking
forward to indulging in the thriving metropolis of Hong Kong this weekend!
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