Blogs from Qatar, Middle East - page 11

Geo: 25.2819, 51.5175Goodbye to Erna, flight to Doha... read more

Like many of my blogs in Qatar, this has to do with the driving. Positives and negatives. Negatives. These people are the most aggressive drivers I've ever come across. I have had people beeping and flashing their lights behind me when we are in bumper to bumper traffic waiting for the lights to change - what the heck do they want me to do???? It is complete and utter insanity, which gives me new respect for police officers in the US. These people can so easily cause an accident and they really don't care. They pass on the shoulders, in between lanes, ride your bumper until you move no matter how busy traffic is... Roundabouts? Frightening at times! Most roundabouts are at least two lanes wide and most are three - apparently you can be in ... read more

After this week's issues with ordering foods, I stocked up on some healthier options that I can use at my own bare-bones hotel room. I have a fridge and a kettle - limited options but I am making do. Still no sign of a slow cooker anywhere... :( It has not been my favorite last few days, but I think it is mostly because I'm getting a little stir crazy in a one room hotel room where the only thing to do is mess around on the internet, which doesn't even work half the time. I miss cooking. So, I prepared my lunches for the week as well as easy snacks for the rest. I can munch on those for a while, right? I just had a giant steak delivered from Applebee's so I'm set on ... read more

Yesterday we spent the whole day at the conference center. It was a really amazing experience; I got to sit in on some high level conversations between countries, got to meet even more new people, and got to ask both the Executive Secretariat and the President of the COP a question. Both of them were very nice and funny, actually. When I said I was from Alberta, the President went on about how he's been there before. The big meeting we sat in on was countries discussing what the role of the ADP (a working group within the UN) will be in the coming years. It was really interesting to hear what different countries put forth. Most of them seemed to think that there was a lack of political will to combat climate change and that ... read more

It's day 6 in Qatar and, right now, it's 11:34 p.m. This morning we went to the conference exhibition grounds for the first time. They had a ton of different booths set up, most of them showing new green technologies that are being developed. Probably the coolest thing I saw was an electric car that runs completely off solar energy; you plug it into a car port with solar panels on top and, in a few hours, it's ready to go! Of course, it also costs about $125 000, so I don't think I'll be getting one any time soon. Another interesting invention at the exhibition was a machine that takes humidity from the air, and condenses it to get water. This would be especially useful in Qatar, where they have almost no fresh water available. ... read more