UCQ

Oh, yes, I do actually work over here. I realize I haven’t talked much about the University of Calgary - Qatar (UCQ) and the work I do here. UCQ is the first satellite campus of the University of Calgary. The State of Qatar contracted with the University of Calgary to deliver a Bachelor of Nursing degree program to prepare Qataris with a world-class education in the nursing profession. However, there are some problems associated with that.

Entrance to the University of Calgary-Qatar

The first problem is that nursing suffers from poor image here in Qatar. Such work is considered to be menial, not a profession that one would aspire to. The Public Affairs department at UCQ is constantly working to provide the public with information though the media and advertising that will help change that perception. It’s a tough, tough job to overcome years of culturally ingrained perceptions. All staff and faculty also work on this simply in their day-to-day exchanges with the people around Doha that they come into contact with.

The next problem is that even when you find students who are interested in applying to our program, they do not meet our admission standards. The agreement with the State of Qatar is that we deliver the same program we provide to students in Calgary to the students here in Doha. As my former boss described when he came to start up the program, “We thought we would get all kinds of applications, admit the students, and be off and running!” Well, not exactly . . . in fact, not even close. Arabic is the official language in Qatar, but the education system is changing to having English as the language of instruction. That’s not an easy thing to implement when your teachers don’t know English either, and are expected to start teaching in the language. Although many students may have the required Biology, Chemistry and Math background, they not only don’t have the required English language proficiency, they also learned the Biology, Chemistry and Math in Arabic. You would think the concepts would be the same in any language, and you’d be right; but, for the poor student taking Zoology 269 (Intro to Human Anatomy and Physiology) in English who doesn’t know the English terminology for parts of the anatomy, it can be challenging indeed!

We offer English for Academic Purposes courses and of the 72 students we have had in the program since I arrived here, only about 5 have not required those courses. The rest have all required extensive course work to bring their English up to an acceptable level. When they reach a certain level in the program, the students are permitted to take some credit courses as well. I really admire them – when I try to imagine learning Arabic and trying to do a degree program in Arabic at the same time, I know that I would NOT have the determination (or the smarts) to do it.

Another problem is a cultural one. This is a very gender segregated society. Women are only to fraternize with males who are members of their own families. As a result we have separate gyms, cafeterias and prayer rooms for the female and male (all 3 of them) students. Our campus is a small one – only two buildings; and we have 10 security guards. With that number of guards on our small campus, you would get the impression that this is an unsafe place to be; but it definitely is not. I think the main reason for the security guards is to ensure there is no mingling of male and female students. Our faculty members have to be very creative in their teaching methods, particularly related to anything related to sexuality. Can you imagine trying to teach that to young women who have never even shaken hands with a male who is not a member of their family?

Sheikha Mosah bint Naser Al Missned (second of three wives of the Emir) is the driving force behind educational reform in Qatar. She recognizes that without it, Qatar will be left in the dust. They have rich oil and natural gas resources, but they can’t depend on that forever. Labourers are brought in to do all the work Qataris don’t want to do. The result is a population that is 80% expatriate. Qataris feel ticked off that they are a minority in their own country. Here are a couple of links to interesting articles about these two issues: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/middleeast/14qatar.html

and

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704247904575240083760987978.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

So it is quite a challenge we face at UCQ, and each day brings new surprises. We will be graduating the first class of students at the end of June – 24 wonderful young women. Some have young children and full family responsibilities, but their education is important to them and they have been very successful. The Emira will be in attendance and the students are all very excited about it. It will be a wonderful event in celebrating their accomplishments and we expect the graduates will be great ambassadors for the nursing profession and UCQ. We can only go up from here!

Turkey - Last Three Days

This will be quicker since I've been back in Doha for a while and probably won't remember or be quite as enthusiastic about the last three days of our trip to Turkey.

We arrived back in Istanbul and it seemed such a huge, busy city after the 3 days in the quieter villages and countryside of Cappadocia. Thursday, Cathy and I went to visit the Topkapi Palace while Jackie and Isabelle took a day to chill. The Palace is huge and is on several acres of land overlooking the sea. There were huge crowds and it was difficult to see the displays, so we didn't actually stay too long. That afternoon we met Jackie and Isabelle at the Grand Bazaar. I wasn't really in the shopping mode so I headed back to the hotel for my own chill time.

The next day we took the ferry to the Prince's Islands - 5 islands in the Bosphorus that do not allow motorized vehicles so there are lots of bikes and horse drawn carriages. We went to the 4th island which is the largest and most popular with the tourists. We had lunch at a water front restaurant where we watched a fisherman pull up in his boat and drop off fresh fish. Had the best calamari ever! We walked through the shops and up a hill past some beautiful houses that are the vacation homes of some of the wealthier Istanbul residents. The gardens were lovely and it was so quaint to have the carriages rolling by. Cathy and Jackie hiked up to the very top of the island where there is a monastery; while Isabelle and I enjoyed a short snooze in the park. The trip on the ferry was fun - it was absolutely packed and the people-watching was great!

On our final day in Istanbul we went to the bazaar district. It was Saturday and I think the entire population of Istanbul was there! I had a couple of near panic moments when I had to talk to myself saying, "It's OK; you'll be OK." The crush of humanity was incredible; but we all still managed to find some interesting things to buy (of course)! We must have walked 10 miles that day and when we finally got on the plane to head back to Doha we were quite exhausted . . . . . and filled with wonderful memories - it was an amazing trip!

Next stop - Calgary; can't wait to see family and friends!

Turkey

I have been wondering how I can convey all the wonders of Turkey to you in short, quick snippets, but that would be virtually impossible. So, grab a cup of coffee and settle down for a long read!

Day 1 – Istanbul

Three of our party of four (Cathy, Isabelle, and I) arrived in Istanbul bright and early after flying through the night from Doha. We took our bags to the hotel and, since it was too early to check in, stored our bags and started to explore the area. We are staying in the Sultanahmet district which is the historic old city of Istanbul – very tourist-driven and reminds me a bit of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

An early spring morning in Istanbul

We wandered over to a main street where we found a lovely place to grab some breakfast and then we found our way to the Grand Bazaar. It is huge and goes for blocks and blocks with small shops selling rugs, pottery, jewelry, etc. etc. The merchants are charming and friendly, but we restrained ourselves.

Early morning in the Grand Bazaar - it's not usually this quiet & empty

We wandered around until noon when we headed back to the hotel to check in, take a bit of a nap and wait for Jackie (the 4^th in our group) to arrive. The Lady Diana Hotel is a lovely small hotel located about 500 meters from the Blue Mosque – couldn’t be a better location. We can easily walk to all the major attractions, and there are many, many restaurants and shops nearby as well.

After Jackie arrived we headed back out to do some more exploring, then headed back to the hotel for dinner and an early to bed since we had a full day planned for Saturday. I was already in love with Istanbul after only one day. It is a very European city with many outdoor cafes and the people are so warm and friendly.

Day 2 – Istanbul

After breakfast on the rooftop of the hotel, we headed to the Blue Mosque. The tourist crowds were huge, but it is all very well-managed. We queued up and at the entrance you take a plastic bag to put your shoes in to carry with you rather than leaving them outside and having to come back and pick them up. Although signage says women must cover their heads, and we had our scarves with us, no one enforced it and most women did not cover. The mosque is huge and has a long history. The main area has beautiful painting and mosaic work on the domes and walls. By comparison to this the women's area is incredibly small.

We then walked down to Aya Sophia which was originally a Byzantine church. Its beautiful paintings were covered when it was converted into a mosque. It is now being restored – a painstaking task to uncover the Christian paintings without destroying them. I found this to be much more impressive and interesting than the Blue Mosque. The building is enormous and I loved to try to imagine worshippers filling the building.

After a midday beer we visited the Basicila Cistern which was very interesting. It is the largest of about 150 subterranean structures and is about 150,000 square feet with 336 columns. The water came from about 12 miles away via a system of aqueducts. The lighting in the cistern is very effective and added to our amazement and awe of it.

Inside the Basilica Cistern

That evening we walked around and shopped a bit and then stopped for dinner. At the end of our meal, the waiters started dancing and it was great fun to watch. It was an impromptu thing in honour of the owner’s birthday. All the customers got into it and were clapping and yelling encouragement. It was one of those serendipitous things that happens that is so much fun and so memorable!

Day 3 – Istanbul

Today we got a later start after a relaxing breakfast. We wandered around – mostly people-watching. It was Sunday, the weather was incredibly warm and sunny – a perfect spring day, and it seems the entire population was out and about. We decided to try taking the tram and made our way over to the Asian side of Istanbul. Not much happening there, so we headed back over the bridge. The bridge was teeming with fishers – I never saw so many fishing poles hung over the side of a bridge! There is a row of about 10-12 restaurants under the bridge.

Restaurants under the bridge and fishers on the bridge

We decided to grab some lunch there – according to the tour books it’s apparently an experience you have to have to eat under the bridge. We had a red snapper baked in salt. It took a long time to cook and we enjoyed watching the ships coming in and out of the port while we waited. The fish arrived and was flaming. When the flames subsided, the waiter cut through the hard crust of salt to expose and serve the fish. It was sooooo delicious.

Our flaming fish!

After lunch we decided to add to the decadence of the day by having a Turkish bath. What an experience that was! We were each given a towel and pair of panties to wear after we put all our clothes into a locker. Then we entered the large marble room with a huge – I mean huge, there were about 20 women on it – round marble slab in the middle of the room - a very hot, steamy room. I lay down on my stomach was scrubbed all over my entire back, then flipped over and scrubbed on the front. Then I was directed over to sit along the wall on the marble seats where I was rinsed off with buckets of water being poured over me. The most interesting part of this was that in the middle of the huge marble slab, what appeared to be a bachelorette party was going on. About a dozen 20-something-year-old women were singing, one was drumming, and then a few of them got up to dance – all topless, some bottomless too - and completely uninhibited. The bride's friends dressed her in a frilly, ruffly white pair of panties and stretchy tube bra-type thing and she also got up to dance. They were all so lovely and the dancing was very erotic and sexy. After I was rinsed off I headed to the hot tub to relax a bit before getting a massage – and it was one of the best massages I’ve ever had.

After the massage I could hear some clapping and singing going on below and looked over the balcony to where another bridal group was serenading the bride. I managed to capture a small video of it that appears at the bottom of this post (and no, it's not x-rated).

We were so relaxed after all this that we simply couldn’t drag ourselves out to dinner, so we bought some cheese, crackers, wine, etc. and sat in our room and ate, then packed for our early departure on Monday for Cappadocia!

Day 4 – Cappadocia

An early start as we were picked up from our hotel at 5:30 am to catch our flight to Kayseri – a city in the area of central Turkey known as Cappadocia. We were met on arrival and taken to meet the rest of our tour group – 14 in all. We spent some time walking and climbing around some ‘fairy chimneys’ which are similar to the hoodoos in Alberta – rock formations worn down by water and wind.

Fairy chimneys

The area is full of them and many, many caves as well which were used by early Christians in the area. We then moved on to an area where the fairy chimneys looks look like mushrooms. There we were able to climb up to a small cave chapel and see the caves that were living quarters for Saint Simon.

me, Isabelle, Jackie & Cathy in St. Simon's Chapel

Climbing to the top of the hills we found spectacular views. We have been so fortunate with the weather on this trip – it’s been absolutely beautiful, spring weather – and in fact, it was very hot today around the stone, but there was always a breeze and once inside the caves it was very cool.

Our next stop was the town of Avanos where the Red River provides red clay for the pottery the area is known for. We stopped at a pottery workshop and got the requisite tour – complete with some shopping at the end; but I restrained myself, worried mostly about getting something back to Doha without having it all in pieces.

After our lunch break, we headed to the Goreme Open Air Museum which is a collection of 9 cave chapels and a cave church. This is where early Christians gathered and the chapels and church are covered in frescoes, some of which are in remarkably good shape considering the age of them. They are from anywhere from the 4^th to the 12^th century. We then went to a viewpoint that overlooked the entire area – and it was spectacular indeed!

We were then dropped at our hotel for the evening – a cave hotel. Our room is at the top of one of the fairy chimneys and we have a great view of the area. We have been told we’ll have a great view of the hot air balloons drifting over the valley in the morning.

Our room in the cave hotel - carved in a fairy chimney

One of the delights of the day was meeting the other people on the tour. The most inspiring was a couple named Monica and Frank who were 85 and 87 years old respectively and were doing a good job of keeping up with the rest of us as we hiked around these areas. They had met in Vienna after World War II and settled in Westchester County, New York, but have now retired to a home in Puerto Rico! Another couple – George and Odette – were Torontonians, originally from the Middle East. They were on the trip to celebrate their 40^th wedding anniversary. There were two young couples as well – one from Britain/Australia, and the other was a Japanese woman and an Australian man. The final members of our group were a Turkish couple who spoke no English, so it was near impossible to communicate with them. The guide had to repeat all she said in English to them in Turkish.

Frank, Cathy, Monica, Isabelle, Jackie, me & Odette

We had dinner at a restaurant nearby the hotel and the atmosphere and the meal were both wonderful. At the end of the meal, the owner of the restaurant came by our table and we had a great conversation with him about the area and life in the small villages.

Day 5 – More Cappadocia

Thank goodness, we had a later start today, we could catch up on a bit of sleep after yesterday’s early start. We took a long hike through Rose Valley where we saw farmers working in the vineyards uncovering the grapevines that were buried during the winter, and planting other crops – all doing the work by hand because their farms are small and it isn’t economical to purchase farm equipment. Over the course of the two days we saw farmers plowing by hand and using mules to pull their plows. It seemed so quaint to us, but it is such hard work! Besides the farmers, we got up close and personal with the beautiful formations that are the result of erosion.

View of the area around Goreme in Cappadocia

We then visited an art centre where beautiful objects are created out of onyx, turquoise, precious and semi-precious stones. There was a demonstration of shaping onyx into various articles.

After a stop for lunch we visited an underground city where Christians lived for many hundreds of years in hiding from the Romans. The city we visited had eight underground levels of which only 4 are open to the public. I am a bit claustrophobic, and managed to make it down 2 levels, but after that the passageways were too low and close and I simply could not carry on. Neither could Monica and Frank and another couple from Argentina (Ricardo and Maria – also delightful), so we found a table outside and enjoyed apple tea – a Turkey specialty.

Our next stop was a Turkish rug making centre where we saw a demonstration and learned about the many different types of rugs – the materials and techniques used. Of course, we also were shown samples of the different types of rugs, and I am now the proud owner of a silk-on-silk rug that is going to take a place of honour on my wall. The design is called the Tree of Life and is in red and blue-green and I love it!

Our final stop was Pigeon House where pigeon houses have been carved into the rock to make homes for the pigeons that provide the poop for fertilizer. The pigeons were also used as carrier pigeons, taking messages between villages all along the valley.

That night we attended a Turkish Night which was a dinner (really bad typical Turkish food) and Turkish dance which, although pretty bad, at least gave us a taste of the native dances and costumes.

Day 6 – Cappadocia

This is the day we all four looked forward to the most. We were up very early to go for a hot air balloon ride this morning. Our new best friends, Monica and Frank were there too! They needed a bit of help climbing in and out of the basket , but they were such good sports and they loved it, as did I! Watching 50 huge balloons all take off and float along the valley and over the fairy chimneys was a once in a lifetime experience that I am still having a hard time believing I have had.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing in the courtyard of the cave hotel and then flying back to Istanbul. We checked back into our lovely little hotel and went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by a colleague back in Doha. It was a lovely place in an old building with excellent food - we must remember to thank Diane for the recommendation!

Will wind this up for now; but check back later to find out how the week ends!