I've gotten this question a lot from my family and friends... what am I doing over here in my work?
I'm working for the Qatar Foundation at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, which is the umbrella university for the six branch campuses over here (Texas A&M University, Cornell Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northwestern, and Georgetown). You can learn more about HBKU here: http://www.hbku.com/en/index.html. I work in Faculty and Student Services in the Housing and Residence Life department. The new student orientation program is run through this department. My main job while I am working here is with new student orientation. I have created a training for the Orientation Peer Advisors (OPAs, or orientation leaders) and will be facilitating the training for them in two weeks. I am also helping facilitate the actual orientation, which will be on August 26th. There are also lead-up events to orientation from August 23rd-25th while the new students are arriving from all over the world. These events have been planned to ensure they have fun and exciting things to do while they are also learning about their new community that they will be living in/going to school in.
As I've said many times in blog posts before, I absolutely love the work that I am doing here and the people that I work with are great. I can't imagine having spent the summer elsewhere! I am currently half-way through my internship and I am already sad about the prospect of leaving. This place is really amazing. I hope to be able to return to Qatar some day and work in Education City in this amazing educational environment. I learn new things everyday, whether it is in the office with my colleagues or out and about running around Doha. The culture here is fantastic and I love being emerged in and and really learning what Qatar is all about. It's nice to see how similar and how different it is from the United States and to really push past all the misconceived notions that people have of countries in the middle east. I feel like I'm learning at every moment of the day and the people I am with are always having really intellectual conversations and candid conversations that get to the truth of matters. I can't wait to share my newfound knowledge with people when I return to the States.
So what have I been doing since I last posted?
Last night was the half-way point for Ramadan (cue the "ooooooooh we're half-way there...." music!). In Qatar the night of the half-way mark there is a celebration called Garangao. Garangao may look like Halloween to an American, but there are some key differences. There is some debate over whether it is a religious or cultural tradition, but it dates back a long time. After iftar (the dinner meal that is eaten to break the fast, pronounced just like it is spelled) children dress up in their traditional Qatari clothing and go around to homes in their neighborhood singing the Garangoa song and receiving candy and sweets from their neighbors. The Garangao song translated to English is:
The song loses the beauty in translation, but I guess that goes with most language translations. Nothing sounds quite as beautiful in English. The celebration is to celebrate the cultural past, children, and gets young children in the spirit for Ramadan. Unlike Halloween, there is no "trick-or-treat or basis in which craft, but more in the religious cultural beliefs of generosity.
Last night, Katie went to Katara, the cultural village with lots of restaurants and art galleries, to experience Ganangao firsthand. There were hundreds of children walking around in mini-thobes and tiny traditional Qatari dresses- it was precious. If you've ever seen a child in a thobe, they're stinkin' adorable! I didn't take pictures at Katara because it's not really a picture-taking society or it would have been rude for me to take pictures of them without their permission. So if you want to see some adorable little Qatari children dressed up, google "Garangao" or look here.
Before we went to Garangao we went to dinner at Thai Snack, which I've been hearing about since my arrival. It was about time I made it over there for some yummy Thai food. It's kind of a throw-together building and the service isn't that great, but the food is phenomenal! Best Thai food I've ever had... I think I've only had it once before... but still the best, and relatively cheap! Dinner was fabulous- we had curry chicken, pad thai, sticky rice, dumplings, and I had a Thai Iced Tea, which was fabulous. Every time I try something new I think to myself... "mom and dad would be so proud!" I always have a great time hanging out with my friends/colleagues here, they're awesome company!
Today I slept in, which was so nice. Around noon, Katie and I went grocery shopping. First we stopped by a more local Qatari supermarket that was close by. I hadn't been to anything besides the LuLu, Carrefour, and MegaMart, so it was nice to see something a little more local. There was an isle of huge sacks of rice and an entire isle of oils. It was really interesting to see a different kind of grocery store, probably one more frequented by the locals. Afterwards, we went to the LuLu Express that is right next to campus and I stocked up on food for the next few weeks. Thankfully I didn't have to buy too much since I will be helping out with training for the CDAs (equivalent of RAs) next week and dinner will be provided for us. After that, I came home and relaxed for a couple of hours until I met up with Lauren (the girl that I met during my medical screening that is from Magnolia, TX) and headed to the souq for a fun night.
Lauren and I went for dinner at La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant at the souq that was suggested to us by Katie. When I heard there was an Italian restaurant at the souq, I was honestly a little worried about what the food would be like... who gets Italian food in the middle east, right? But I'd heard good reviews and we decided to give it a try- and it was great! The only thing that could have made it better was a glass of wine, but alas, it is Ramadan and no alcohol is served/sold during Ramadan in Qatar (and even when it's not Ramadan, the only places you can get alcohol is inside hotel restaurants or at the store that sells all of the haram things- pork and alcohol).
After that, Lauren and I walked around the souq exploring different souvenir options. This place is awesome and I could walk around for hours! We found the pet souq again and saw lots of little kittens and this time I picked one up to play with, it was adorable! It was one of those "control yourself Jen, you can't buy a cat" moments. I also took Lauren by the jewelry place where my friend gave me a necklace, he was really nice once again, offering us tea and water. We didn't buy anything tonight, but I know that I will be returning soon to pick up souvenirs for everyone before I fly back home. I've got quite a list of people to buy for, hah! After walking around for about an hour we settled down at a restaurant on the main strip and smoked shisha. We got grape-mint and strawberry flavored and we shared. It was yummy and I got to share in Lauren's first shisha experience.
We had an interesting experience while we were smoking shisha... Earlier when we were in the jewelry store there was a group of three American men that were also in there. When they left they said goodbye to us in passing and when I said goodbye back, he turned around and was like, "y'all are American!" and we were both like... haha, yes we are. They asked why we were there and I jokingly replied, "shopping." Which they got a laugh out of. We asked why they were there and they said they couldn't tell us- that it was a secret. From the look of them my guess is that they were in the military or some kind of government organization, but I didn't push for information because we were just being friendly. Flash back to when we were smoking shisha about an hour later- one of the guys comes up to our table and is like "I hate to be forward, but can I sit down for a minute with you two?" We say sure, it's always good to be nice, right? We talk for a few minutes. Turns out he's from Oklahoma and he said it was nice to hear that "southern twang" in the middle east and he knew we'd be "good people." He was still secretive about what his job was but said something of the sort that him and his buddies weren't allowed to socialize outside of work, which is interesting. They had just gotten into town this week and since we had been there for a while they wanted to know what there was to do in town. We exchanged information and said that he'd call us when he wanted to get some more info about things to do in the area. This is definitely not something that I would have done in the States, give my number out to some random 40 year old man, but I guess that's how you meet other expats over here. And to my parents, who I know will read this- I promise that I won't let myself get "Taken."
Then about ten minutes later another guy came up to our table and tried to start talking to us. He seemed a little more sketchy and he said he wanted to be our friend, but Lauren and I pulled the "we're only in town for the weekend" card because we didn't get a great vibe from him. Then Lauren and I were joking that we didn't run into him in a few weeks! Hah!
After we were done smoking shisha, we headed back to our places and made plans to go out dune bashing and camel riding in the future. I'm really glad I've met another fellow Texan over here and someone outside of work to hang out with. She's a really nice girl and she plans to got to A&M when she gets back to the states. I'm slowly trying to get her to drink the kool-aid! Hah! I know some people think it's brave/adventurous of me to come over here alone at 23, but she's only 18!! So I have a lot of respect for her being here alone as a nanny for an American family. I'm looking forward to hanging out with her again.
Tomorrow I am going to dinner at Katie's for macaroni dinner and "people of the book" night, when we're going to incorporate a little bit of religion from all of the different people who partially or wholly base their religion on the first testament: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It should be a fun night!
Until next time... masalama!
I'm working for the Qatar Foundation at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, which is the umbrella university for the six branch campuses over here (Texas A&M University, Cornell Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northwestern, and Georgetown). You can learn more about HBKU here: http://www.hbku.com/en/index.html. I work in Faculty and Student Services in the Housing and Residence Life department. The new student orientation program is run through this department. My main job while I am working here is with new student orientation. I have created a training for the Orientation Peer Advisors (OPAs, or orientation leaders) and will be facilitating the training for them in two weeks. I am also helping facilitate the actual orientation, which will be on August 26th. There are also lead-up events to orientation from August 23rd-25th while the new students are arriving from all over the world. These events have been planned to ensure they have fun and exciting things to do while they are also learning about their new community that they will be living in/going to school in.
As I've said many times in blog posts before, I absolutely love the work that I am doing here and the people that I work with are great. I can't imagine having spent the summer elsewhere! I am currently half-way through my internship and I am already sad about the prospect of leaving. This place is really amazing. I hope to be able to return to Qatar some day and work in Education City in this amazing educational environment. I learn new things everyday, whether it is in the office with my colleagues or out and about running around Doha. The culture here is fantastic and I love being emerged in and and really learning what Qatar is all about. It's nice to see how similar and how different it is from the United States and to really push past all the misconceived notions that people have of countries in the middle east. I feel like I'm learning at every moment of the day and the people I am with are always having really intellectual conversations and candid conversations that get to the truth of matters. I can't wait to share my newfound knowledge with people when I return to the States.
 |
| Approaching sunset in Qatar. Aspire Tower on the horizon. |
So what have I been doing since I last posted?
Last night was the half-way point for Ramadan (cue the "ooooooooh we're half-way there...." music!). In Qatar the night of the half-way mark there is a celebration called Garangao. Garangao may look like Halloween to an American, but there are some key differences. There is some debate over whether it is a religious or cultural tradition, but it dates back a long time. After iftar (the dinner meal that is eaten to break the fast, pronounced just like it is spelled) children dress up in their traditional Qatari clothing and go around to homes in their neighborhood singing the Garangoa song and receiving candy and sweets from their neighbors. The Garangao song translated to English is:
"Garangaou gargaa'ou,
Give us and Allah will give you,
To the House of Mecca He will take you,
Oh Mecca, Oh Ma'moura,Oh mother of gold and chains oh Noura,
Give us good weight in candy,
Azizaan greets you,Give us from Allah's wealth, Abdullah greets you…
Give us, give us,
Give us and Allah will give you,
To the House of Mecca He will take you"
The song loses the beauty in translation, but I guess that goes with most language translations. Nothing sounds quite as beautiful in English. The celebration is to celebrate the cultural past, children, and gets young children in the spirit for Ramadan. Unlike Halloween, there is no "trick-or-treat or basis in which craft, but more in the religious cultural beliefs of generosity.
Last night, Katie went to Katara, the cultural village with lots of restaurants and art galleries, to experience Ganangao firsthand. There were hundreds of children walking around in mini-thobes and tiny traditional Qatari dresses- it was precious. If you've ever seen a child in a thobe, they're stinkin' adorable! I didn't take pictures at Katara because it's not really a picture-taking society or it would have been rude for me to take pictures of them without their permission. So if you want to see some adorable little Qatari children dressed up, google "Garangao" or look here.
Before we went to Garangao we went to dinner at Thai Snack, which I've been hearing about since my arrival. It was about time I made it over there for some yummy Thai food. It's kind of a throw-together building and the service isn't that great, but the food is phenomenal! Best Thai food I've ever had... I think I've only had it once before... but still the best, and relatively cheap! Dinner was fabulous- we had curry chicken, pad thai, sticky rice, dumplings, and I had a Thai Iced Tea, which was fabulous. Every time I try something new I think to myself... "mom and dad would be so proud!" I always have a great time hanging out with my friends/colleagues here, they're awesome company!
 |
| On the menu at Thai Snack- I'm really hoping this is a translation error... |
Lauren and I went for dinner at La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant at the souq that was suggested to us by Katie. When I heard there was an Italian restaurant at the souq, I was honestly a little worried about what the food would be like... who gets Italian food in the middle east, right? But I'd heard good reviews and we decided to give it a try- and it was great! The only thing that could have made it better was a glass of wine, but alas, it is Ramadan and no alcohol is served/sold during Ramadan in Qatar (and even when it's not Ramadan, the only places you can get alcohol is inside hotel restaurants or at the store that sells all of the haram things- pork and alcohol).
After that, Lauren and I walked around the souq exploring different souvenir options. This place is awesome and I could walk around for hours! We found the pet souq again and saw lots of little kittens and this time I picked one up to play with, it was adorable! It was one of those "control yourself Jen, you can't buy a cat" moments. I also took Lauren by the jewelry place where my friend gave me a necklace, he was really nice once again, offering us tea and water. We didn't buy anything tonight, but I know that I will be returning soon to pick up souvenirs for everyone before I fly back home. I've got quite a list of people to buy for, hah! After walking around for about an hour we settled down at a restaurant on the main strip and smoked shisha. We got grape-mint and strawberry flavored and we shared. It was yummy and I got to share in Lauren's first shisha experience.
 |
| Baby chicks in the souq that had been dyed different colors- kind of like when ducklings and chicks are dyed different colors for Easter in the US. |
We had an interesting experience while we were smoking shisha... Earlier when we were in the jewelry store there was a group of three American men that were also in there. When they left they said goodbye to us in passing and when I said goodbye back, he turned around and was like, "y'all are American!" and we were both like... haha, yes we are. They asked why we were there and I jokingly replied, "shopping." Which they got a laugh out of. We asked why they were there and they said they couldn't tell us- that it was a secret. From the look of them my guess is that they were in the military or some kind of government organization, but I didn't push for information because we were just being friendly. Flash back to when we were smoking shisha about an hour later- one of the guys comes up to our table and is like "I hate to be forward, but can I sit down for a minute with you two?" We say sure, it's always good to be nice, right? We talk for a few minutes. Turns out he's from Oklahoma and he said it was nice to hear that "southern twang" in the middle east and he knew we'd be "good people." He was still secretive about what his job was but said something of the sort that him and his buddies weren't allowed to socialize outside of work, which is interesting. They had just gotten into town this week and since we had been there for a while they wanted to know what there was to do in town. We exchanged information and said that he'd call us when he wanted to get some more info about things to do in the area. This is definitely not something that I would have done in the States, give my number out to some random 40 year old man, but I guess that's how you meet other expats over here. And to my parents, who I know will read this- I promise that I won't let myself get "Taken."
Then about ten minutes later another guy came up to our table and tried to start talking to us. He seemed a little more sketchy and he said he wanted to be our friend, but Lauren and I pulled the "we're only in town for the weekend" card because we didn't get a great vibe from him. Then Lauren and I were joking that we didn't run into him in a few weeks! Hah!
After we were done smoking shisha, we headed back to our places and made plans to go out dune bashing and camel riding in the future. I'm really glad I've met another fellow Texan over here and someone outside of work to hang out with. She's a really nice girl and she plans to got to A&M when she gets back to the states. I'm slowly trying to get her to drink the kool-aid! Hah! I know some people think it's brave/adventurous of me to come over here alone at 23, but she's only 18!! So I have a lot of respect for her being here alone as a nanny for an American family. I'm looking forward to hanging out with her again.
Tomorrow I am going to dinner at Katie's for macaroni dinner and "people of the book" night, when we're going to incorporate a little bit of religion from all of the different people who partially or wholly base their religion on the first testament: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It should be a fun night!
Until next time... masalama!
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