Half Way Mark

Today marks the half way point in my contact with UCQ. The time has gone so quickly - and I don't think it is just the fact of my stage in life that has me saying that. Every expat I talk to has the same experience of time passing quickly here. It is indeed curious.

So what have I learned in my time here?

1. That I am more resilient than I ever knew I could be.

2. That I can live in a smaller space than I do in Calgary.

3. That international travel is not as scary as I thought it would be.

4. That the world really is smaller, and yet much larger, than I thought it was:

a. smaller - all cultures have the same hopes and dreams for their families;

b. larger - long flights wear me out!

5. What it feels like to be among the minority population.

6. That I live a truly privileged life - may I NEVER take it for granted.

7. That Canada is the best country in the world!

. . . and probably a lot more that I am unable to articulate.

In the past few months I have given a lot of thought to the idea of 'home.' Doha is feeling a lot like home to me lately, and I know now that I can make a home anywhere that I can connect with people and feel that I am making a contribution. I remember the day I first entered my apartment here in Doha and saying, "OK, this is your home for the next three years." It has taken some time to settle in and add those things that make it comfortable and express my personality. I've gathered some wonderful things on my travels that now adorn my walls, floors and tables, lovely reminders of the experiences I never expected to have. I've also gathered some wonderful new friends from all across Canada. Because it is difficult to connect with Qataris, we depend on each other for fun and support. We have become a family. Sadly, some of the family will be returning to Canada this year, their contracts now completed.

It's hard to be away from my North American family and friends, and thank goodness for the wonders of modern technology that keep us in touch. Life takes us all on our individual journeys, and I feel so fortunate to have received the opportunity to go on this wild and wonderful adventure. I am grateful to my family and friends for supporting and encouraging me to reach beyond my comfort zone. I love you all!

incredible India!

March 11, 2011 - Delhi, India

Arrived in Delhi at about 8:30 am after a night flight and met our guide and driver. The drive to the hotel took about an hour through streets crowded with vehicles of all descriptions, most smaller ones honking like mad in order that other drivers know they were there.

Our hotel is theLalit Hotel, which is a beautiful hotel in the downtown section of Delhi. I was struck by the security at the hotel which was implemented at all major, hotels following the terrorist attack on the Taj hotel in Mumbai in 2008. The undercarriage of our car and the cargo area were searched,our suitcases and bags were scanned and we had to go through a security scanner as we entered the hotel– every time we entered the hotel. There are guards everywhere!

After we got checked into the hotel, we grabbedsome breakfast and took a couple hour nap. At 2:00 pm our guide picked us up for the startofour tour of Delhi. We first went to India Gate, a memorial to the Indian soldiers killed in the Great War from 1914-1918. The names of 90,000 soldiers are carved into the monument. It is the centerpiece of a beautiful park and the starting point of the Rajpath (or King’s Road) which leads to the President’s Palace. The Palace is also near the Parliament Building - a round building. The park was crowded with people – walking, picnicking, playing with their children, peeing (yes, men pee wherever and whenever the urge hits them). We nextdrove through an area where the British built lovely bungalows and which are now homes formany of the government diplomats. Then on to Qutab Minar which started as a Hindu temple in the 10^th century and was turned into a mosque in the 13th century (I think it was).

Qutab Minar

We then went to the Lotus Temple, a B’hai temple built in the shape of a Lotus blossom, situated in a lovely park-like setting in the middle of a busy Indian city.

Lotus Temple

We went inside where we spent a couple of minutes in complete silence – meditating, praying or simply being silent and still for a while. The building is stunning and the quiet in the midst of such a busy Indian city was certainly an interesting contrast.

We then went to a Kashmiri shop werewe saw an array of absolutely beautiful rugs made from cashmere, yak, and silk. Yes, I succumbed and bought one that is going to look beautiful under my dining table in Calgary! Alice bought 2 – and has actually run out of floor space to put them on!

Then it was back to the hotel where we had a good Indian dinner and headed off to bed to catch up on the sleep missed on our over night flight the night before.

March 12, 2011 - Delhi

After a great night’s sleep and a good breakfast we met our guide, Diljeet, who took us first to Old Delhi. This is more like the India I expected, but still not scary at all. Our first stop was Jama Masjid, a muslim temple built in 1656 by the same emperor who build the Taj Mahal. It is the best and most well-known mosque in India and is made of beautiful red sandstone. To get there we walked through a street of stalls selling just about any/everything you can imagine.

Market in Delhi

It was colorful and the people were interesting to watch. There were beggars, one young boy being especially persistent, but I’m a tough old bag and ignored the pleas. If you succumbed to one you’d be doling out cash all day – much like the bears in the mountains who don’t understand when you’ve run out of food, the beggars likely wouldn’t understand that you are out of money.

After the mosque, we went to Raj Ghat , the site where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. It is now a memorial park, maintained by volunteers. An eternal flame burns there and every Friday a remembrance ceremony takes place there. The flowers there were beautiful and it was a very peaceful place.

Our next stop was an amazing Sikh temple – the Guruwara Bangla Sahib. This was not actually on the tour itinerary,but our guide, Diljeet, is Sikh and he was very proud to show us the temple and talk about all the good works of the Sikh followers. We had to remove our shoes and put an orange scarf on our heads (we were lovely – sarcasm), and we entered the sanctuary where people come to pray before the holy book.

Me wearing lovely orange scarf at Sikh temple

Our guide kept emphasizing the cleanliness of the place. As we left the sanctuary we received a sweet made of flour, butter and sugar and went to taste the water which was reputed to be what saved the entire population of Delhi from small pox. Anyone may come to the temple for a meal. Volunteers have served breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for an amazing number of years (I can’t remember the number, but it was huge). He toured us through the kitchen where we observed the volunteers preparing and cooking the chapattis and stew that is served for lunch. We also watched the people to be fed entering and being seated on the floor and served a tray of food. It was all incredible!

We then visited the Gandhi museum which is onthe site where Gandhi was martyred. It was very interesting and, as you would expect a very beautiful and peaceful setting.

Then back to the hotel, where we spent some time at the pool before dinner.

March 13, 2011 - Delhi – Agra

On the way out of Delhi, we made a stop at Humayan’s Tomb. This is the tomb of a 16th century Mughal emperor and was commissioned by his wife. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is undergoing restoration. The tomb is one of the first structures that was built of the red sandstone that we were to see a lot more of on our tour.

The drive from Delhi to Agra, a distance of about 250 km, took about 5 hour, a good deal of that time spent getting through and out of Delhi! Traffic is exceedingly slow moving in India, but it gave us plenty of time to see the ‘real’ India. Some of the unusual (for a North American anyway) sites I saw were: a barber on the side of road (complete with his chair and stand with mirror), tuk-tuks carrying at least 20 people, women in beautiful saris perched on the backs of motorbikes holding infants, cow pattie bricks piled up and huts made out of these, piles of garbage everywhere, brahma cattle everywhere, goats, camels pulling carts, people carrying enormous loads of crops on their heads, beggars at stop lights, traffic – how do they not get killed? Much movement! Our driver is so good – been driving for 20 years. He told us the 4 things needed to drive in India are: 1) Good brakes, 2) Good horn, 3) Good luck, and 4) Good patience!

As we approached Agra, we stopped at another tomb – the tomb of Akbar the third Mughal Emporer, the son of Humayun(he of the tomb we saw earlier in the day in Delhi). The grounds were lovely and the structure was magnificent, made of red sandstone and marble (Agra is known for marble). We then set off through Agra to our hotel since it was now late afternoon. We drove through many market areas, past the Red Fort and had our first view of the Taj Mahal from a distance – breath-taking!

We stayed at the Jaypee Palace Hotel which reminds me of an old colonial hotel that has been updated. We ate at the Indian restaurant where we tried some more unusual dishes that I really enjoyed.

March 14, 2011 - Agra

TAJ MAHAL!! We could have spent all day here. It truly took my breath away when I first caught sight of it through the gate.

My first view of the Taj Mahal

It is completely symmetrical – the same from every side - including the gardens; and there are several optical illusions that change the view as you approach the Taj. There are photographers all over the place offering their services to take professional (?) photos of you in front of the Taj. We caved in and hired one, and it was somewhat like being followed by a wedding photographer! He stopped us at all the right spots as we approached the Taj (it’s a 1.5 km walk) and posed us, shooed other tourists and photographers out of the way, etc. The results were ok – would have been better if either us had given a thought to what we wore for the day - but we now have these wonderful memories!

Not so professional photo ofme at theTaj

Our guide was very knowledgeable about the Taj Mahal and told us the entire story, all about the design, construction, materials, labour, length of time to build, etc. The grounds are lovely and lush. To walk into the Taj Mahal building itself you have to put booties (like surgical booties) over your shoes – which we preferred to having to remove our shoes and go barefoot as we had at all the previous temples (will our feet everbe clean again?).

Our guide then took us to a local marble shop, under the ruse of showing us the tools and how the craftsmen work with marble. That’s code for, “come help our economy by buying something.” We happily obliged, but my luggage is now sooooo heavy!

Our next stop was the Agra Red Fort which is 2.5 km longand contains many palaces. This is where the emperor who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son in a tower where he had a view of the Taj Mahal, so he spent the remainder of his days looking at the reminder of his beloved.

Much of the fort is now occupied by the police and the military, but we toured all that is still open to the public. It is made of red sandstone that is much harder than the sandstone I am familiar with from North America. Most rooms also had carved marble and inlaid marble panels, most of which had been vandalized over the years, so the precious stones were no longer there.

It was late in the afternoon andvery hot when we ended our tour of the Fort, so we headed back to the hotel for a beer (or two) and some relaxation. I have enjoyed the pace of this trip – we have seen a lot, but are not too exhausted by the end of the day.

March 15, 2011 - Agra to Jaipur

We surprised our driver this morning by being on time and off we headed to Jaipur. Along the way we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri which is another red fort built by some emperor (I'm losing track of all the emperors) for his three wives – oneHindu, one Christian, and one Muslim. It was huge and a wonderful example of architecture that combined all three types design in such a beautiful way. We were quite annoyed by our guide who talked so fast and hurried us around in a rather disinterested way. In addition, were were '10-ruppee’d' to death with tipping and donations for charity, not to mention having to run the gamut of peddlers trying to sell us all sorts of useless stuff. (Oh, they’re only trying to make a living, I know, but it is so annoying to have to say “No, thank you” time after time after time.)

The rest of the day was spent on the drive to Jaipur. We actually got on some "open road” in rural areas, where I continued tobe fascinated watching people go about their every day lives, in ways so completely foreign and different from my very privileged North American experience.

March 16, 2011 - Jaipur

I must say that, although the Taj Mahal was the highlight of the trip for me, Jaipur was the loveliest surprise. It is called "the Pink City" because the entire city was painted pink for the visit of the Prince of Wales in the mid-1800's. We visited the Amber Fort which is high on a hill outside of Jaipur. There we had a hilarious elephant ride up to the entrance; Alice was sure we were going to fall off the elephant and take a dive over the cliff that we rode along.

Alice and me on elephant

The fort and palaces within were lovely, but by this time, all of these were melding together in our memories. Our guide for today was excellent - very knowledgeable and interesting. After a couple hours touring the many palaces within the Amber Fort, we headed down to the Winter Palace, passing by another palace that was built right in the lake (can't remember the name of this palace - maybe "Palace in the Lake?").

We toured the Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) which looks sort of like a honeycomb. It has over 900 small windows which were forthe ladies to be able to look out without being seen.

At the Palace of the Winds

After that we visited Jantar Mantar - an observatory built by a Maharajah in the 1700's. He was fascinated by both astronomy and astrology and built this collection of instruments as well as four other similar facilities. This one is the best preserved and it was amazing to see.

March 17 - Jaipur back to Delhi

Today was simply a hair-raising drive back to Delhi. We were told it would take 5 hours, but there was road construction and very heavy truck traffic, so the trip took nearly 7 hours. Our driver is truly amazing! On arrival back in Delhi, Alice and I both headed to the spa for a much needed pedicure - after having walked barefoot through so many palaces, etc., our feet were pretty grungy! I also had a wonderful massage which helped unknot the muscles that had tensed up so much during the harrowing drive!

March 18 - Home again

Up very early to get to the airport for our 9:00 a.m. flight. How I long for the days when you simply went to the airport and got on a plane without all the preliminary security checking that is now required. It makes me sad that the world has come to this.

It is good to be home; but already I am thinking/planning my next adventure!

South Africa

Now I ask you, what sort of idiot goes on her dream vacation to South Africa and doesn't have her camera with her?!?!!? Well, actually, I had my camera, I had just left the battery at home in the charger - grrrrr! And that's how the trip started. I have wanted to go to South Africa for as long as I can remember, and this was certainly the trip I have most looked forward to . . . and I was not disappointed.

I traveled with three of my colleagues/friends fromUCQ - Jackie, Lisa and Pam - flying first to Johannesburg. The only problem was that Pam was bumped from the flight! Jackie, Lisa and I live in the same building so we went to the airport together. Pam went to a Bryan Adams (yes, he was here in Doha!) concert before going to the airport (see more re: flight times below) and when she didn't show up at the departure gate, Jackie, Lisa and I were certain she had just gotten to the airport too late. In fact, she had arrived just about the same time that we did; however, she had not checked in on-line, and the flight was over-sold, so when she arrived at the airport there were no seats available! I guess she was not alone in her dilemma, as many unhappy passengers were taking out their frustrations on the poor staff members. Pam said she felt so devastated and helpless as the time ticked by and she knew the flight was gone. She phoned to let us know what had happened - good thing Jackie still had her cell phone on. The airline was able to get Pam on a flight that left Doha at 7:00 a.m. the following day, but she would not arrive until about 2:30 p.m. - long after we were gone from Johannesburg.

Many flights leave Doha in the middle of the night which I always thought was crazy, but I'm starting to think it's not a bad idea. I now find that when I get on a plane I simply want to close my eyes and sleep/doze. So our flight left at 1:00 a.m. and we flew all night - 8 + hours, arriving in Johannesburg at about 8:00 a.m. (one hour time difference). We met our guide who is a lovely woman who bears a striking resemblance to my friend, Ineke Ruhnke! We drove about 3 hours to a private game reserve where we spent the next three nights. The rooms were separate rock-shaped cabins that were so lovely - and the shower was actually outside. There is something about baring itall in front of God and everyone that is very liberating!

We had barely arrived when it was time to head out on a 'sun-downer' safari. We were in an open vehicle with a French couple and their guide, as well as the safari guide. It was a lovely warm evening and we saw so many animals - including a huge lion with a fabulous mane. He was quite a way off, but still so satisfying to be able to see him in the wild. Also saw zebras, giraffes, a hippo (who actually performed a bit of a dance for us - jumping up out of the water and spinning around. I know, I could barely believe it myself.); tons of impala, crocodiles, wart hogs (they are so ugly that they're cute), etc., etc. We stopped in an opening just as the sun was going down for a drink, and then headed back to the camp. What a wonderful way to start my African adventure!

We spent much of the drive from Johannesburg and that evening texting Pam to let her know how to connect with us when she arrived in Johannesburg. She had to book a domestic flight from Johannesburg to Nelspruit where a hotel staff member was able to pick her up; but it cost her quite a bit. The airline at least had the decency to upgrade her to business class. We have been teasing her that she will now be impossible to travel with as she has been so spoiled. The tour company also provided a letter outlining the costs Pam incurred for her to submit to the airline in hope of getting some compensation for that (keep a good thought for her).

The next day we (w/o Pam who had not yet arrived) headed to Kruger National Park. We had only gotten about a kilometre into the park when we saw a leopard! Leopards are quite elusive, so this was a real treat to see him - lounging in a tree and very close to the road at that!

Honest, he's in that tree!

In addition to the leopard, our safari yielded: giraffes, zebras, white rhinos, elephants, kudus, impala, vervet monkeys, baboons, buffalo, elephants, waterbuks, springboks, wildebeests, vultures, marabou storks, African fish eagles, and lots of other birds, including one absolutely beautiful blue bird called the woodland kingfisher. I never knew birds could be so beautiful!

That evening Pam arrived at the lodge and we enjoyed our dinner as she related the entire story of what had happened to her. We were all very glad that she was able to join us at last.

The next day we went for another Kruger safari. We saw all the same animals, except the leopard; but added hippos to the list. The hippos are so amazing and they make me smile. I was glad Pam was able to see as many of the animals as we saw. There was one huge herd of elephants that was fascinating to watch as they crossed the road. They just kept coming and coming - the babies were so adorable, and there were a couple of young males who actually threatened to charge. We moved out of the way very quickly! Having seen Asiatic elephants last year in Sri Lanka, I am really happy to have gotten the chance to get up close to African elephants - I love their big, floppy ears.

On our way back to Johannesburg we stopped at the Jane Goodall Chimp Eden which is a rehabilitation reserve for chimps. Chimps are not indigenous to South Africa, so the chimps at the facility have been rescued and brought in from other countries. These chimps have been so badly abused that they will likely never be returned to the wild; but they are getting good care and are in a fairly natural environment.

It is a long drive between Johannesburg and Kruger (~ 4-5 hours, depending on traffic), but the country is so beautiful that we didn't really mind. We are so starved for greenery in Doha that we drank in all the lushness we could! Both Jackie and I said we didn't know what we had expected, but were surprised to find that the countryside we drove through looked much like the foothills in Alberta - the area between Cochrane and Kananaskis. It was beautiful!

Once back in Jo-burg, we boarded a flight to Cape Town, arriving there in the evening. The next day we took the half hour ferry ride to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years of incarceration. I had expected Robben Island to be much like Alcatraz, but it is a much larger island and had a much different history. It was used as a place to isolate 'undesirable' populations (lepers, the mentally and chronically ill). It was also a military base in World War II. We toured the entire island by bus, saw the quarry where the prisoners did hard labour - moving a pile of rocks to one side and then back to the other. There is a cave that was used for the prisoners to get shade from time to time, to eat and to use as a toilet. Since it was so smelly (from the human waste) the guards did not go near the cave. Educated prisoners taught the illiterate prisoners how to read and write by scratching letters in the wall of the cave; and many political discussions and plans were held there. Some of those illiterates went on to get university degrees. They call the cave the world's smallest university!

Cave on the far left is'the world's smallest university"

We were then dropped at the prison where we were guided by a former political prisoner. He showed us the very cell block he had been imprisoned in - along with 59 other men; it wasn't all that big and is hard to imagine 60 men in it. We also, of course, saw Nelson Mandela's cell and the corner of the yard where his buried his book (Long Walk to Freedom).

Nelson Mandela's cell at Robben Island prison

That afternoon we took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain and enjoyed wandering around the area - it's huge, and is the start of Table Mountain National Park which goes all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. It was a spectacularly beautiful day so we could see for miles. The following day was really socked in, so I'm glad we had such a good day. We had such a huge lunch that no one was hungry for dinner!

View of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain

The South Peninsula tour was our next day's adventure. This took us on a short boat trip to see some seals, on to Simon's Town where the South African naval base is located - tiny little navy, and we saw some Cape Penguins (cute little critters). This area is also know for wild baboons, but were were not fortunate enough to see any; although I did spy an eland! We then went to the Cape of Good Hope and hiked from there to Cape Point (~ 3 km) - where most people think the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Our tour guide quickly disavowed us of that notion. They oceans actually meet at a point farther south at Cape Aghulas! The entire southern peninsula is wildly beautiful and is mostly national park land. This is one amazingly gorgeous country!

My traveling buddies and I at the Cape of Good Hope

A trip to the wine country made up day three of our Cape Town trip, and is yet a different type of geography, but equally as beautiful. We visited and tasted at three wineries, and had lunch at a fourth. The scenery was stunning from the patio of the winery where we had lunch and the food was amazing. What a life!

Enjoying lunch in wine country

That evening, back in Cape Town, we walked from our hotel to the Waterfront - which is a highly touristy area. You often read that it is unsafe to go out at night in South Africa, but we felt completely safe in this part of Cape Town. Since it was 2 days before Christmas there were performers everywhere - a choir singing Christmas carols, a male African choir, a marimba band . . . it was very festive. We walked around, shopped and, of course, ate dinner!

On Christmas Eve we boarded a plane for Durban where we picked up a rental car and drove (on the left side of the road - Lisa did a great job of driving a standard) the whole 20 minutes to a guest house in a beach resort town called Ballito. This guest house was so nice. It was called Le Papillon and each room (there were about 8 rooms/suites) was named after a type of butterfly. The bedrooms were very comfortable and had lovely private bathrooms. The common areas (pool, patio, living and dining rooms) were really nice. The area is a very busy tourist area, and we found we were too late to get a reservation for Christmas dinner and many restaurants were closed on Christmas Day; so we went to the grocery store and bought cheese, crackers, olives, salami, oysters, etc. and simply pigged out on all that and some lovely South African wine - quite a different type of Christmas dinner.

A Christmas toast!

Since it was a rainy day on Christmas Day, we found a movie theatre in a very large mall and went to see Meet the Parents the Little Fokkers - bad movie, by the way. We were amazed how many people were at the movies and walking the mall - and there were even a few stores that were open! The rest of our time we spent being lazy at the pool or beach.

On Tuesday, we flew to Johannesburg where we toured the Apartheid Museum which is very interesting and well done. Our driver/guide, although he did not say it in so many words, was obviously not of the opinion that Apartheid should have been outlawed. We stayed at a hotel/ casino that night and there was a display there about the history of South Africa and 'the struggle.' Part of the display was photos and quotes from every day South Africans - and the opinions are very split. It was quite fascinating to read them.

After 12 days of seeing wonderful sights, eating fabulous food (oh, the food, the food - I really don't want to get on the scale), and relaxing, we headed back to Doha. We had a bit of time in the Johannesburg airport before we took off. I found/bought myself a set of noise reduction head phones, which just may be the best purchase I made on the trip! They block out that dull roar of the engines and really quiet down that screaming baby a few rows behind you! Speaking of shopping, I found some great souvenirs of my time in Africa; but also managed to leave a bag with three items somewhere along the way! Oh, just as I started the trip without the camera, I ended the trip without some of my purchases!! I think I'm losing my marbles!

Dubai and Egypt

Dubai – November 12, 2010

After a rather busy and stressful week at work, my Calgary visitors Glenys, Leanne, Donna and I took off for Dubai last night. We arrived tired and hungry at the hotel at about 1:00 a.m. and went in search of something to eat. Ending up at an all-night convenience store, we grabbed some apples, chips, pretzels, cheese and water and headed back to our room for a picnic. Then we crashed until about 10:00 a.m. Had a really horrible breakfast at our hotel and headed over to catch the Hop On-Hop Off bus – a great way to see any city, in my opinion. Because we had a 4:00 reservation to go to the top of the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building) we were rather rushed through the little bit of touring we did. We went to the Jumierah Souq which is a new, modern market built as a replica of an old souq; but it has very new and modern, upscale shops. It is on a canal that had lovely landscaping and boats going by on which you could get a ride – but we didn’t. We had lunch and did a bit of shopping then had to hop a cab to make it to the Burj Khalifa for our appointed time.

The Burj was amazing! The displays at the beginning that describe the building, how it was built, how it compares to other tall buildings, etc. is very well done. You walk through some corridors with other displays and then you get to the elevators which take you up 124 floors in less than 55 seconds– and a very smooth ride it is. The view from the top is similar to the view from the top of any tall building – once I’m over about 50 stories, it’s just darn high as far as I can tell, and the desert sand permeates the air so the visibility was not crystal clear. It was, however, quite amazing to be in this incredible engineering feat.

Since shopping is the national sport of Dubai, the Burj Khalifa is part of the Dubai Mall which is quite a huge mall with lots of high-end stores, restaurants and hotels. We came down the Burj at about 5:30 and went to find a place to have a drink and some appetizers while we waited to see the dancing fountain show - which was amazing! The water spouts in time to music and they sometimes use colored lights as well. It was so pretty! Because it is Friday and the first day of the Eid holiday, it was incredibly busy . . . families were out in force, as were the tourists. It was wonderful to see such a diversity of people out having a good time.

We stopped on the way back to the hotel for birthday cake since it is Glenys’ birthday today. But the ol’ gals were back in our room at the hotel in bed by 9:30 – what a bunch of party girls!!!

Dubai - November 13, 2010

An early, but bad start to the day, with Leanne having 3 bad things happen to her – all before 9:00 a.m.! We intended to have breakfast at 8:30 and then get on the first tour bus to see the rest of the city, and stop to spend time at some of the sights along the way. We were right on time when bad thing #1 happened at breakfast. Leanne’s bowl of cereal – milk and all – was knocked out of her hand by her backpack as she went to set it down. Then when we got to the bus stop where we had to change buses to a different line, she could not find her bus ticket (disaster #2); and although she had her receipt they would not let her on the bus without her ticket. We all took a cab back to the hotel (thank goodness cabs are cheap in Dubai). Disaster #3 was that she couldn’t find her ticket at all and had to buy another ticket! With three bad luck events behind us, we went on to tour Dubai! Seeing Ski Dubai, complete with softly falling snow, was quite a trip. Wandering through the Gold Souk and the Spice Souk were also highlights. The city is very big and we saw all the new modern wonders as well as the historical parts. Dubai is divided by a canal and we took a cruise on the canal and ended the day with a night tour of the city. The lights make the city look magical. It is the Vegas of the Middle East in many ways – lots of glitz.

Dubai to Cairo – November 14, 2010

Most of today was spent in transit from Dubai to Cairo – complete with a wait of over an hour for our luggage to appear, after which we managed to find our tour guide outside of the airport among the throngs of people waiting for arrivals. Cairo airport is a lovely, modern airport . . . but that seems to be about where it stops in this city. As we made our way to our hotel we were amazed at the liveliness of the city – everyone was out and about with traffic everywhere – all kinds of vehicles – even saw a motorcycle with five people on it (and, of course, not a helmet among them). People just wander into the streets and incredibly enough, do not get run over. I had heard what is obviously an urban legend about a man from the US who tried to cross the street in Cairo and could not get through the traffic. His solution was to hail a cab that took him down the street, did a U-turn, and dropped him in front of the building he was originally trying to get to, immediately across the street from his starting point. I told our tour guide that story and he got quite a laugh.

Cairo – November 15, 2010 and to Aswan overnight

Our day started with a visit to the Egyptian Museum. The crowds were crushing, but our guide ensured we saw all the major antiquities, including the mask of King Tutankhamen. After seeing so many photos, it was so amazing to see it in person. Our guide was a trained Egyptologist who was able to give us a great overview and more information than I will ever remember. Tour guides in Egypt have been to school for three years training to have jobs as tour guides. We spent about 2 ½ hours at the museum and, afterwards visited a great shop where I got myself a gold kartouche necklace (a kartouche is an oblong shape on which a peron’s name is engraved in hierglyphics). Then off we went to lunch and then to the Pyramids, Sphynx (our tour guide said “sphynxis”) and a camel ride. I can honestly say I never in a million years thought I would find myself at the Pyramids – I had to pinch myself. The four of us rode camels (my camel’s name was Mickey Mouse) out to the desert where we had many photos taken with the Pyramids in the background. We next visited a papyrus shop where we saw a demonstration of papyrus being made and saw many beautiful pictures painted on papyrus.

Me leaning on one of theGreat Pyramids

Me on Mickey Mouse w/Great Pyramids in background

After this full day we were off to the train station to take a sleeper train to Aswan. Our drive through the streets of Cairo and Giza was unbelievable. I thought I had seen crazy traffic in Doha and Sri Lanka, but those were nothing compared to Cairo! In the streets of Cairo, along with cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and vans, you will find horse or donkey drawn carts, and people (mostly young men) riding camels and horses! Everyone is all over the place, too . . . staying in your lane is a completely foreign concept.

Because it was the day before Eid, our guide was fasting. At the stroke of 5:00 she was able to eat. We were in a shop at the time and one of the clerks ran out and brought in some shwarma for those who had been fasting. In preparation for the sacrifice of an animal and feast to follow that is part of the Eid Al Adha celebrations, we saw many cattle and sheep in the sidewalk markets and butcher shops and in trucks on their way to the markets for families to buy for their sacrificial offering.

We waited in the Giza train station for our train to Aswan. It felt like we were in a movie – it was just like those scenes in an Indiana Jones movie. There were people everywhere; it was dirty and littered with garbage; you definitely would not want to use the public toilets there. As the trained pulled in we found our way to our sleeper car and our two rooms which were very tiny making it difficult to get our big suitcases in the space. Soon we were off and shortly after our dinner was served in our room. It was much like a reeeeally bad airline meal. That was about 10:30 p.m. and after dinner, the porter came and made up our beds. The railbed was pretty rough so sleep did not come easily. All in all, if I slept 2 hours it would be a generous guess. The toilets on the train were pretty bad, too.

Me showing off our sink in our sleeper unit on the train

The porter after making upour bunks - isn't he cute?

Tuesday, November 16 - Aswan

Our porter saw that we were up and about, and brought us breakfast. We watched Egypt roll by as the rail line runs pretty much right along the Nile. It is called the Fertile Delta and we saw miles and miles of healthy looking crops. Most of the houses were pretty decrepit looking, but almost all of them had satellite dishes on the roof!

On arrival in Aswan we couldn’t find our guide, but that wasn’t surprising given that we had been given 3 different arrival times for our train; and when we did find our guide he told us that he had been given a completely different arrival time. Ahh, Egypt!

Once we found him we were off on a tour of Aswan, including the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and the Temple of Philae. All were interesting, but the Temple of Philae was just amazing to see – it was built as a monument to Isis, the goddess of love and beauty.

After our touring, we headed to our hotel which is on an island, necessitating a boat ride on the Nile River. Feluccas were sailing up and down and they looked so lovely.

We had dinner and were off to bed because we had to be up very early for our trip to Abu Simbel.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - Aswan to Abu Simbel

Just how early did we have to be up? Try 2:00 a.m.!!!! I think Glenys, Leanne and Donna will never want to travel with me again!! We had to be ready to leave the hotel at 3:00 in order to join the convoy of buses and vans across the desert to Abu Simbel. It is required that travel be done in convoys for safety reasons – in case anyone has a breakdown. It is hilarious to see all the vehicles jockeying for position on the highway; passing each other and driving into what would be oncoming traffic if there were any. Apparently, at certain times all the traffic is only going to Abu Simbel, and later in the day it is all going back to Aswan, so the drivers all race along the highway.

Abu Simbel is the site of two Egyptian temples – the first was built by Ramses II and the second he built for his wife Queen Neferatari. Both were situated about 55 meters below where they are presently located, but were moved when the High Dam was built and flooded the area. It is unbelievable to think of how the temples had to be cut, marked, moved and put back together again – quite a puzzle. There are two days of the year, February 22^nd and October 22^nd the rising sun streams right into the temple and shines directly on the figure of Ramses. Ra, the Sun God was so important to the ancient Egyptians; seeking Ra’s protection was very important. I found both temples to be so beautiful. The carving and painting on the interiors of the temples is so well preserved, it’s incredible.

It is a 3 hour drive from Aswan to Abu Simbel. We got there around 7:00 a.m., toured the site for a couple of hours and then headed back to Aswan, arriving at about noon. Now it is nap-time by the pool!

Thursday, November 18 - Aswan to Luxor

Drove by van to Luxor - about a 3 hour drive which was hair-raising because our driver did not go under about 130-140 kpm - and that was on a two-lane country road! The road follows the Nile River and all along the way we saw farmers working their fields, mostly by hand. We saw only 2-3 pieces of farm machinery; farming in Egypt is very manual labour-intensive. There were lots of donkey-drawn carts pulling loads of crops. It was exactly like all the photos you have seen in National Geographic.

When we arrived in Luxor we met our guide who took us first to the Valley of the Kings. There are over 50 tombs of pharoahs that have been found there, including that of King Tut. We visited three of the tombs - each one a little different in the number of chambers and art work. The Egyptians of this period felt that they needed all their belongings and riches to be put in the tomb to take with them to the after life, thus the many chambers. It was an extremely hot day, so I was glad we didn't do more tombs - I think I got the idea from the three we visited. We then went on to the Valley of the Queens where the wive of the pharoahs were buried.

The 4 queens at the Valley of the Queens

After lunch we saw the Temple of Karnak, the Luxor Temple and did some shopping (of course) before we headed to the train station to board our train back to Cairo. We actually tried to change to a flight, but were not successful. When we originally booked, the train sounded like an adventure. It was that, indeed . . . once; but twice was just stupidity! Anyway, we again took the sleeper train, although it wasn't as long a trip since Luxor is 3 hours closer to Cairo than Aswan.

Friday, November 19 - Cairo and Alexandria

We arrived in Cairo at 5:00 a.m., found our driver who took us to the hotel to freshen up. We were the joined by the same guide we had for our day in Cairo, and we took off for Alexandria - another 3-hour drive. Alexandria is on the Mediterranean and it is a huge and busy city. We visited the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa which was used from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD and, interestingly was found when a donkey fell into an access shaft. Then we visited a coloseum that was discovered in a residential area, and has since been excavated, resulting in the discovery of some amazing artifacts. I truly think wherever you walk in Egypt, you are likely walking right on top of some incredible antiquities!

We then visited the Citadel of Qaitbay which is the site of the first lighthouse and was used to protect the city from crusaders and other attackers. It is now a lovely park and was certainly bustling with people since we were there on Friday (the Muslim holy day). After that we visited the palace of King Farouk (ruled until 1950-something), which is still used as a summer home by the Egyptian President, and for visiting dignitaries.

We then drove back to Cairo where we spent a quiet evening packing since we had to board our flights early the next day - me to Doha; Glenys, Leanne and Donna to Jordan. I certainly am glad to have had such great company to travel and share this adventure with. We saw the highlights of all major cities/sites from the far northern end to the far southern end of the Nile, and it was fabulous to see it all.

September 2010

I have always felt that we actually have three opportunities each year to ‘wipe the slate clean’ and start anew. The first of these is the new calendar year – January 1^st, the second is spring time (spring cleaning) and third is the new school year – you know, when you got your new pencils, notebooks, etc. and swore you’d keep them neat and you’d do your homework faithfully. Here it is, another September, and we are off and running with a new school year at UCQ and we have a new group of students starting our new Foundation Program (that’s a lot of ‘news’). In the Muslim world our school year started in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan which meant students and some staff were fasting during the daylight hours. We non-Muslims, out of respect, did not eat or drink anything in public view. I was terrified I would forget and offend someone by carrying a glass of water to my desk or something. But I managed to make it through the month without getting deported. It’s actually illegal to eat, drink or smoke in public during Ramadan.

Following Ramadan is the Eid holiday which meant we had a week off of work when the University closed for the holiday. I took advantage of that time and went to Florence, Italy with 3 friends/colleagues and had a simply wonderful time! It was my first time in Europe – although Istanbul is technically in Europe, Turkey is a Muslim country, so it wasn’t exactly how I imagined Europe would be . . . Italy was more what my imagination envisioned. As anyone who has been to Florence can attest, it is a city where history and art meet you at every turn. The highlight for me was Michaelangelo’s “David”, which was just too astonishing for words. How in the world did he DO that? I ate pasta (my favorite) every day and must have had at least 2 gelato cones every day too. Three of us took a pasta-making class that was a lot of fun and we met some interesting people.

My boss, Alice, making home made pasta

A day trip through the Tuscan country side took us to Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa where there was a double rainbow over the leaning tower. That day we had lunch at an organic farm and had some of the most delicious tomatoes, wine, pasta, and fruit I’ve ever had.

That's me keeping the Leaning Tower from tipping over

We stayed in an apartment (Vacation Rentals by Owner- VRBO.com- great way to go) that was in a building built in the 15^th century. It was lovely and cozy – but was a 4 flight walk up the stairs – part of our fitness plan to work off all the pasta and gelato!

The view from my room in Florence

Florence is a very walk-able city and we exhausted ourselves every day seeing the sights. We were wise enough to get advanced tickets to the museums so we didn’t have to stand in line, and we saw enough Renaissance art to last a very long time.

One day we decided we would do the Hop on-Hop off bus tour of the city. A guidebook told us we could find a stop at the Duomo, but we couldn’t find it there. A man at a souvenir kiosk told us we could catch it at the bus stop at San Marco, about a 4-block walk. When we got there we found no Hop on-Hop off bus, but the transit dude there told us we could take the city bus #14 to the train station where we would find the Hop on-Hop off bus. What he didn’t tell us was that the #14 bus was going to take us on about a 45-minute ride through the city before it deposited us at the train station which was really only about 5 blocks away from where we started! Too funny! The positive side is that we got a tour of the city outside of the major tourist part and Cheryle, one of my friends, had an “Italian experience” - got her bum pinched by a really hot Italian guy. Well, not really very hot at all, but she likes the story told that way better than the truth which is he was a kind of paunchy middle-aged guy.

All too soon our time in Italy was over and we headed back to Doha. It was the first time I had flown into Doha during daylight. I now see the wisdom of the University making sure we arrive for the first time at night. Doha is rather magical looking at night with all the lights. In the daytime it is desolate and barren and looks more like a war zone than anything. If that had been my first glimpse of Doha, I’m not sure I would have wanted to stay!

Had an interesting experience yesterday. Many of the expat workers who come to Doha are from Kerala, India. It is a beautiful part of India that is now on my list of places I want to visit. Mr. Nanda, our procurement officer at UCQ (who is from Kerala) invited a group of us Canadians to attend an event held by the Kerala Social Club. It was held at a farm outside of the city and was an amazing event indeed. It started at 9:00 a.m. and we thought it would be like a fair where you came and went and would have food booths, displays, things to buy. We couldn’t have been more mistaken – and ended up being slightly embarrassed. It turns out it was a scheduled program that began at 9:30 and since we didn’t arrive until shortly after 11:00, we missed most of it. However, Mr. Nanda, escorted us to the front of the seating area where we were seated like royalty in these lovely upholstered chairs. When the program of singing, etc. was over (not long after we arrived because we were so late), we were escorted ahead of everyone back to the tables that had been set up for lunch. And what an amazing lunch it was! Each place had been set with a banana leaf for a plate (smart people, no dishes to wash) and a bit of several different types of curries were put on the “plate”. Then they served us red rice and we started to eat with our fingers. They came around with more things that were put on our plates and we ate and ate. The pumpkin curry was my favorite, and the desserts were so good! Interestingly enough, all the serving of food and clearing of tables, in fact all the organization was done by the men. The women were able to enjoy the day without doing any of the work. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I have no photos to share of this fun event.

Last night I went to a ‘Tacky Tourist’ party. It was actually a birthday party and celebration of the birthday girl’s one year of being cancer free. Most of the guests work at the College of the North Atlantic – Qatar and are originally from the Maritimes. These people know how to have a good time. I’m not one for party games, but these people are and the games were actually fun and quite hilarious. Of course, the costumes people came up with were pretty funny, too. One girl was in head-to-toe black with her bikini over top – like an abaya-bikini. I know I’m not explaining it very well, but it was really clever. There were many of us (me included) wearing black sock with sandals – the quintessential tacky tourist garb.

So we are back in the swing of things, it is actually starting to cool off a bit and I am coming up to my one year anniversary of being in Doha. How quickly the time has gone!

Where Has Summer Gone?

July took me back to Calgary for my annual visit home. I spent four weeks reconnecting with family and friends – and it was a very busy time indeed. I joked about having to go back to Doha to recover, and that was not far from the truth. It felt a bit odd to be at home for a while, partly because my house is also home to two boarders who have made their imprint on the place. I had to remind myself that I was there only one month out of twelve and it was their home, too. I felt I was a bit of an intruder, even though neither one of them was there for the majority of the time I was there. Bruce works during the summer months up at the Columbia Icefield and Greg was on vacation for a week and works out of town a fair bit. Bruce got home for one day so I saw him briefly, and I didn’t even see Greg until the third week I was home.

The first morning at home, my wonderful next door neighbors had me and some other neighbors over for breakfast. Pork sausages – yum!! That night I had dinner with a group of dear friends who I see only rarely, but who are such a wonderful part of my life. I spent as much time as possible with my kids and grandchildren, trying to absorb every memory of their wonderful faces and adorable personalities. I took a side trip to San Diego to visit my mom who is doing great! My calendar was booked nearly every day with meetings, appointments, and socializing (breakfasts, coffees, lunches, dinners with friends and former work colleagues) – it was wonderful! When I returned to Doha and turned the page on my calendar, the Augusst page was blank!

Returning to Doha, I walked off the plane at midnight into what felt like a slap in the face with a wet towel. It is extremely hot and humid here now – in the mid-40’s Celsius every day with humidity in the 70% range. I only go out to go to work or to get groceries – cabin fever! Most UCQ staff (my social network) are still away; except for work, I spend lot of time alone. I have a great pile of books, some movies/ TV shows I have downloaded, and have done some cooking to have things in the freezer.

Ramadan started earlier this week (Aug. 11^th). Ramadan is the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar which is a time for fasting and prayer. It is illegal to smoke, drink or eat in public between sunrise and sunset, which means no coffee or water at my desk at work. The cafeteria at work and all restaurants are closed until sunset so there’s no running out to grab a bite during the day. I have never been great at brown bagging it, but I’ve had to change that habit. Many Qataris are still away for the summer so traffic is lighter.

The other night I was picking up a friend at another apartment building. As I waited, a man approached my car. I rolled down the window to find out what he wanted. (I know, you’d never do that in Calgary, but Doha is different.) He was in tears and said he had only been in Doha for 20 days and that he has a “urine problem”, and then he starting lifting his shirt to show me something. I shook my head and told him "no" and rolled up the window, but I felt so bad. The ex-pat workers live in conditions we would find deplorable and work so hard. By comparison our lives are so privileged and I was feeling really awful for saying no to him. I could easily have given him some riyals to go to the clinic and it would have made so little difference to me. This came on the same night as the news report of how little humanitarian aid was going to the victims of the flooding in Pakistan. My heart was bleeding. I felt so awful, but I just wasn’t sure how I should have handled the situation. The next day at work I was telling our CAO about it – he has many years of Gulf experience. He smiled and told me it was a scam – and apparently a very common one at that. Since Ramadan is also a time for Muslims to be more charitable, some scam artists know this and approach unsuspecting foreigners (very white me-types) with sad tales. He told me the guy was likely showing me a colostomy bag (or some reasonable-looking fake) with apple juice in it. I still felt bad about the Pakistan situation and immediately got on-line and made a donation – I hope you did to.

Not much changed in Doha while I was away. Construction is still going on everywhere and it doesn’t appear that much progress was made in my absence. The cats that are usually everywhere (usually in the garbage bins) have slunk away to find some cooler places to hang out. People drive around shopping centre parking lots forever to find the parking spot closest to a door so they won’t have to walk too far in this heat. One thing I’ve noticed is that the sky seems less polluted – likely the result of fewer people being in town and spewing exhaust.

Since things are rather dull right now, I look forward to Florence, Italy where I will be in less than a month. Six of us will be winging our way there on September 10^th. We need to get going on our plans for what we want to see/do, and to make some reservations for the museums so we don’t spend hours standing in line. I’m very much looking forward to this trip since almost everyone I have talked to who has been there absolutely loved the Tuscan region. So stay tuned for updates of my next adventure.

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!