More fun in Qatar

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Well, it looks like I actually some semblance of a social life here in Qatar at the moment. I am midway through a busy month with lots of plans.

Brazilian Steakhouse

One of my favorite restaurants is Rodrizio at the Crowne Plaza. They are so friendly, and while it is quite expensive, the food is fantastic and the atmosphere is great. Flanery loves steak so he has been wanting to go back for a while and I wanted to take my new geologist to dinner one night, so we went Thursday. They have an excellent Malbec that I have with my dinner, but the various types of meat are the star. I think they just season the meat with salt and it is so delicious! They have everything: chicken, lamb, top sirloin, bottom sirloin, etc. Yum yum yum! And I basically won't eat meat for another two weeks... (or until the bbq the next afternoon)

Biking in Qatar - at your own risk (and own fault?)

Every Friday for the last six weeks, I've been going on a bike ride on a designated bike path north of the city. This place is called variations of Ceremonial or Celebration Road as it was made specifically for Qatar National Day. Can you imagine making an entire road that serves a purpose only once a year? Well, it is a beautiful place, or potentially beautiful, I guess I should say. There is a six-lane dual carriage way with frontage roads on each side, a 3m wide bike path with a camel walk in between. Yes, a camel walk. Basically it is the spongy material that runners tend to like to run on but it was built for camels. There are also multiple rest areas that double as exercise points too with a few facilities built in and water fountains. There are multiple pedestrian underpasses that line the route as well. It is about 11km from beginning to end with bike paths, camel paths and facilities on both sides of the road, making it an ideal haven for cyclists. On Friday morning, there is little traffic so you can do as many loops as you want in relative safely. I went this past weekend with a new friend; it has been quite windy lately and this weekend was no exception.

The bike path has become somewhat safe since they finally added guardrails on the far side of the bike paths to isolate it from the desert-scape. Remember last year when the third of three Land Cruisers got behind me and beeped at me? Speaking of which... this morning there was an article and apparently this weekend, a high-speeding car (assuming a Land Cruiser) was driving down the bike path and crashed through one of the barriers: multiple steel posts that cyclists have to veer around to continue on the path after crossing an onramp to an intersecting road. I guess there were cyclists on the path when this happened; fortunately they were not injured or killed. The funny thing about the article? It blames the cyclists. One of the high people in the local sports circuits specifically is quoted as saying: "one of the possible causes of road accidents is listening to loud music through headphones when riding a bike or walking". Now, hopefully what he is trying to say is that in order to better protect yourselves, cyclists and walkers should be mindful of their surroundings while listening to their headphones - I mean, these are what ipods and the like are made for after all, right? But no, what he is in fact saying is that it is the cyclists fault if there is an accident on a designated and cordoned off bike path. It is not the fault of the Land Cruiser who is driving along the designated and cordoned off bike path even through there are five lanes of road just to the left that have relatively little traffic. Seriously, this boggles my mind.

It is so sad because this could be a beautiful outdoor place for so many people, made specifically for them, and instead they choose to destroy it.

Fuwairit Beach

This past weekend after my ride, I met with my coworker, Emlyn, at the coffee shop for our weekly chat. I don't drink coffee, but I got a frozen lemonade and it tasted yummy. After this I went home and got ready for my next social adventure: the beach. I met a bunch of Croatians up at Fuwairit Beach which is to the far north in Qatar on a spit of land. Basically, you can only access the good parts using 4WD. So, I parked and had my friend come get me. I was the only non-former-Yugoslavian; apparently they were mostly Croatian, but also included Serbians and Bosnians as well - they all speak the same language though. So it was just me. They were very fun however and I got to learn a few words (besides the many bad words I already know). Kakosi - how are you. Hvala - thank you. Cevap - which is the delicious kebab like sausage thing; I was skeptical at first when they were bragging about how good it was (and still super full from the night before!). They said "if the kebab had knees, it would be bowing to Cevap!" I have to say, I agree. Dang - that was good! Another word I learned was Rakia - what an evil drink. I felt like it was drinking good tequila (which I hate); they said it was basically continuing the process of distilling vodka. Or something like this - they told me after my third sip; yes, they watched me every time I drank like hawks.

Anyway, Croatians are big on grilling - they always do it every time I'm around them! They had all kinds of foods besides the Cevap; beef sausages, steak, chicken, kebabs, bell peppers... It was a lot of fun to meet new people and get to know others that I've known for longer better. Everyone was super friendly and the sunset was beautiful.

Thunderstorms!

I so miss thunderstorms and have not lived in a place conducive to storms for years. When I go back to the US, I'm finding a place in thunderstorm central. Ok, most people know that I am by no means a neat freak. I was laughing driving my dirty car around for weeks, even though you could get a ticket for it, but things get so dirty so fast here. And at some point, I think the washers at the malls were scared of my car. But twice in the past week, I got it scrubbed down; the first time I gave the guy extra money because it was quite dirty and he did a great job. Both times, it rained that night. Rain here does the opposite of rinsing off your car - they are like giant wet dust balls that dirty everything around you. Sunday was a day of rain and thunder - I was in heaven and my geologists all wound up back at the offices because, of course, people don't work in the rain here outside. Unfortunately, I had a major deadline that day and everyone was (understandably) coming into see me every five minutes. I had a mini-breakdown. (I seem to be saying that a lot lately). Anyway, the point is - I love rain and thunder and I hope we get at least one more before the hot summer arrives!

Saying goodbye

Sometimes you get so set in your groove that you often forget this is a place of many people who live the temporary lifestyle. Most people are here under contracts with their companies for a year or two. Others come specifically for a project. Once their contract is up, they are gone. Well, Melinda leaves today. It was her last day at work. She brought in two cakes and I brought in another two cakes. They were instantly devoured and my tummy is really pooching now (that's for you Can!). Anyway, I will be very sad to see her go. She was in such a different profession, but she hated the thought of staying home everyday doing nothing, so she started to work for me a year and a half ago and she was fantastic. She is a hard worker and quick to catch on. She took on a lot of responsibilities that I dread to see what happens now! Anyway, she flies back to Amsterdam tonight - I am making plans to head that way towards the end of summer so I can also meet her new daughter...

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Photos

VIP movie
saw Insurgent at the "VIP" theater at City Centre Saturday after my massage.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Tail gate party
Looks great