Dear Doha Diary

At the end of April, having been in Qatar for more than a year,  I decided that I needed to step up the adventure and experience quotient and look further afield for a bit of excitement.  Where did I choose?   Ever since I met my friends in Souq Waqif, here in Doha, and having been moved by their charm, their warmth, their sincerity, their joy of life, not to mention their excellent dance moves of course!!…. I have wanted to go to Yemen.  When one of my closest friends got stuck in Yemen at the end of last year just as the new Qatari Amir changed the visa rules so that Yemenis could no longer visit Doha, I made up my mind.  I would visit Yemen somehow, despite all the warnings, dangers and difficulties securing a visa. I read that, as a British passport holder, the only way for me to visit would be to book with a tour company and be accompanied by a guide at all times.  OK for a tourist visit, to see the sights, such as the incredible Haid Al-Jazi...

Unbelievable but true - it was a year ago exactly that I arrived in Qatar!!  And what a year its been!!  New friends, new language, new culture, new experiences, and new job of course!  And Ive had to get used to the sun shining almost every day!  What a hardship!  But for a bad weather junkie, I initially missed the rain a great deal.  i love storms, wind , torrential downpours, hail, snow, you name it!! Listening to the rain on my window on a Sunday morning was one of my great pleasures in life!  I wondered how I would cope without it.  But now I am used to the relative predictability of the sunshine and the ease with which I can do things and go about my business without thinking…. "what will the weather do today?".    I can pop out to the Corniche or the Souq for a walk, go for a run or go shopping  and I don't need to carry my 'just in case' umbrella!! Strangely enough though, this year has been the wettes...

Now my hotel is not a particularly busy one, so for most of the time I have a pretty peaceful existence, especially at night as I rarely have someone in the room next door – other than during the big holiday periods when Saudi families come to Doha for weekend breaks.   Their children are lively little cherubs who really enjoy running up and down the hotel corridors screaming – bless their little hearts ! So early in December, when I was being kept awake by a guy in the neighbouring room, who seemed to come in at 1am and have very loud conversations on the telephone until around 3am, I assumed it would only be for a couple of days.  After the 5 th consecutive night of the same pattern, sleeping with my head under the pillow, I asked the hotel reception…… “when is the guy in the next door room checking out?”   Maybe I could get him moved. …… after all, I worked for Al Jazeera and they’d want to keep me happy!   “Oh let me see, madam……. O...

Having been in the Middle East for 8 months now, I should really talk about the Thobe - the traditional male dress in this part of the world. There is certainly a magical power attached to this simple garment and the head dress which accompanies it.  It seems to give the men who wear it a certain authority, a mystery, a power and a magnetism which, when combined with the scent of the Oudh perfume many of them wear is really quite alluring!  They keep their thobes beautifully pressed and pristine white and are so smart every day, wearing cuff links and starched collars. It is amazing how ordinary the very same guys look without it.  One of my dearest colleagues (who will remain nameless for obvious reasons) went from all conquering Bedouin Sheikh to New York cabbie in one easy step - simply by changing his regal thobe to jeans and T-shirt!!  What a crushing blow!!! He was a mere mortal after all.   But still, at work, in his thobe, he is all powerful. ...

I'm feeling a little guilty ....actually on two counts - one because I haven't written a blog for a while (six weeks I think!!) and two because I've just realised I've been asking some of my Muslim colleagues to defy the Quran !  ...... not deliberately and I hope Allah will forgive me! It all came about following a conversation with a Palestinian colleague some weeks ago, who was explaining the real meaning of 'Inshallah' to me...... as most of you know, it means 'God willing'.  However, my friend was discussing the different ways in which people use the phrase and how, in fact, it is often abused.  He explained it thus: A person should only use 'Inshallah' in the context that they fully intend to do something and it will  happen if God wills or it is in his plan.  The only reason that it wouldn't happen would be if God intervened somehow. He went on to say that some Muslims will use 'inshallah' as a 'get-out' clause, a...

With Ramadan approaching, the dilemma for me as a non Muslim was to fast or not to fast?  To be honest, I didn't think about it for long and never had a doubt - of course I would fast.  Since moving to Doha, I've been determined to assimilate ..... as far as a western, non Muslim, non Arabic speaker can!   As regular readers will know, I prefer haggling in the Souq and dancing with the Yemeni boys to drinking with ex-pats in hotel bars and Ive also started learning Arabic. There were a few reasons for committing to the fast - not just to continue my immersion into the local culture, but also because I wanted to share the experience with my Muslim colleagues at work.  Not only that, but I also wanted to test my own commitment, my self discipline and learn something about myself in the process.  Lets face it, for a large part of the fasting time, I would be alone - particularly on the weekend - no one but me would know if I was breaking my fast - so the c...