The Qatar Blog: The Moorman's Experiences in Qatar

I am now measuring my time in Qatar in "lasts"; last day at AlShaqab School, last day for Eva to clean, last trip to the Old Souq, last trip to Villagio Mall, and most difficult of all, last visits with friends. It is a bittersweet time. I am rejoicing at the prospect of being home with family and friends in North Carolina and seeing the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Yet I am saddened at the thought that I might not ever see some of my wonderful friends and collegues from Qatar again. I just have to lock them in my heart for safekeeping where I can take them out to be examined and cherished as sweet memories. We may find differences in our cultures and religions, but one-to-one human contact is where we find our similarities and our chance for peace. Masalama Qatar. I hope to return one day, enshallah.

Today is my last day at Qatar University. We will fly back to the US on Saturday (31 May). It will be bittersweet. This has been a fantastic experience. I have a new perspective on the the world, an understanding far less American-centric and robust. I've made some fantastic friends and met interesting people from all over the world. I taught a class of incredible students, stretching my teaching skills into a domain I lacked knowledge on. I now have a practical knowledge of second language learning that will be invaluable. The stay was not without it's stressful events (traffic mainly), and I'm definitely ready to be home to see family and friends. Good-by Qatar, America, here I come.

Last week there was a major football (i.e. soccer) game in Al Kalifa stadium, the beautiful stadium built for the 2006 Asian games and, the Qataris are hoping, the 2016 Olympics. We bought tickets, all tickets were general admission. When we arrived shortly before the scheduled start, the gates were already closed, and they were letting no one in. Thousands of people, many perhaps most with tickets, were still outside. We went to the first gate and they sent us to another gate, saying it was open. At that gate, we were sent to another gate, same thing. This happened five times before we gave up. Moving away from the stadium, we watched with some humor as the thousands of excluded fans, went from one gate to the next like cattle after feed. Two cultural observations about this. First, organization is not a strength. Second, there is great difficulty in saying "no." Since we leave in less than two weeks it was a good reminder of how different things are here, and how western expectations of how things should be run can lead to great frustration.

Just catching up: Two weekends ago we went with a group of ex-pats on a desert adventure. We loaded into five SUVs and headed south along the Persian Gulf to the sand dunes. You stop at the edge and let air out of the tires for traction, then head up over the dunes. It is a spectacular area, very desolate and difficult to navigate. Our destination was the inland sea that borders Saudi Arabia; you can actually see across the water to a Saudi border station. We set up camp and grilled food, swam in the sea, generally enjoyed a "day at the beach." Great fun with interesting people. One of the drivers, though, discovered that he could not get his SUV into four wheel drive, very bad news. On the way back we were doing ok until we hit one dune with extraordinarily fine sand. The disabled SUV got stuck. Another tried to pass on the high side of the dune and got stuck. A third ( a Hummer no less) got stuck trying to pull the first one out. So three of the five vehicles are stuck in the sand and it is clear that the other two cannot pull them out. So, we dig out the wheels, push and push, get them a little ways out, they get stuck again. We repeat the procedure over and over. About an hour and a half later (and it's damn hot out there) we finally get all three out. There were a lot of tired people that night, but what a great time.

This is my first day back in the office sincee attending IRA in Atlanta. Tough travel, but a great and very rewarding trip. Did two presentations, one a keynote to the Technology Committee's all day Institute last Sunday and one on the Qatar project, with Kendra Sisserson and Julie Horton who have been involved here as consultants, and Ahmed Selim and Anita Ghajar-Selim who teach here at Qatar University. The Institute presentation included the PowerPoint and MovieMaker projects my students here created. The Qatar presentation covered the project from the beginning and showed how we influenced the faculty here to engage in more interactive teaching, and how then the faculty assisted me in creating projects for my English class here. A truly collaborative effort. We were all pleased with the way things turned out. I spoke at some length with the editors of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy; they are interested in an article based on the presentation that would be designed for the online version of the journal. It would utilize internet based resources to enhance the article, and we could show student work and actual videos of classes. We are very excited about the project.

I too found Egypt fascinating. The pyramids at Giza were truly awe inspiring, but the crowd of tourists and the people hawking trinkets detracted some from the feeling of mystery. The next day we went to the pyramids at Saqaara. It was a more spiritual experience as there were fewer tourists and the carnival atmosphere was absent. The Egyptian museum was full of statues, sarcophoguses, and other antiquities from 3000-5000 years ago. The King Tut exhibit was stunning especially considering that he was not a very important pharoah. However his tomb was the only one that had been found intact. During our tours we went to shops where we saw how papyrus was made, how rugs were made, and how perfume was made. Of course we were given the opportunity to buy at all of these places. One evening we had a dinner cruise on the Nile. The entertainment included Egyptian music, whirling dervishes, and a belly dancer.

Though the tours were fascinating, Cairo was overwhelming. When we flew in we could see tall buildings packed tightly together from horizon to horizon. The traffic on the ground was packed together just as tightly. Our driver Mohamad had nerves of steele. Cairo will not be my retirement home of choice though all of the people we met were incredibly friendly and hospitable.

One of the best experiences so far: During our spring break here last week Kathy and I went to Cairo. A life-long dream for me has been to visit the pyramids. They are even more spectacular than I thought. A couple of years ago I was in Rome and was in awe of the Collesium, 2000 years old. At that time the Romans would travel to Egypt to see the pyramids, which were 3000 years old. In other words, they were looking at artifacts that were the equivelent of us viewing artifacts from 1000 BC. The pyramids themselves are so massive that it's hard to imagine how they could be built without modern technology. And as a reading professional, to view the hyrogliphic texts, so spiritual and rich with meaning (if a bit obsessed with death) was humbling. In addition, there is far more than I thought, just around Cairo. And from what I now know, the better antiquities are in Luxor and Aswan. More to see, I'll just have to take some additional trips.

Yesterday our friend Nancy said she was feeling a little homesick so we went to T.G.I.Friday's for burgers and fries. After our American dinner we went to the Iranian Souqs to look at fabrics. It was a seamstresses dream...shop after shop with shelves stacked to the ceiling with a rainbow of materials. I wish I sewed. Nancy is getting fabric to have a mother-of-the bride dress tailored for her son's wedding. We never did find the Bombay Silk shop she wanted so we went to an Indian store that sold carpets from India, Pakistan, and Iran. The shop owner was so interesting telling us about the tribes that made each carpet and the meanings of the various symbols. Nancy bought a carpet for her son's wedding gift. The shop owner gave us each a beautifully painted little box as a thankyou. I'll have to take Gary there. The shop also carried beautiful carved boxes and Silk and Pashmina shawls.

Yesterday I introduced my students to this blog. There is now a link to the blog from the Appalachain State RCOE homepage (http://www.ced.appstate.edu/) that includes a picture of our class in the media lab at Qatar University. They are thrilled. I have invited them to post messages and I really hope they do. They have a lot to say and interesting perspectives. So, Eman, Enass, Hwaida, Kamila, Majida, Nada, Ranya, Siham and Sumaia, I hope you will add to our conversation.

Andy Fishman's response to the Arabic statement I posted on March 19 makes me want to talk a little more about Islam. The very conservative highly modest values reflected in women covering and in being highly protected is not universal in the Arab world. It actually appears to be more recent, probably in the last 200 years according to a friend here. Certainly the predominantly black abayas (robes) and shalas (head coverings) are recent in Qatar. And it is much less conservative here than in other Islamic countries, notably Saudia Arabia and Iran. Many women here, both Muslims and others, never cover or wear traditional robes.

The prophet Muhammed lived from 570 to 632 AD. Islam traces its roots through both Judaeism and Christianity. Most Muslims are familiar with both old and new testament writings, and both the nativity and crucifixition from Christianity. Most will follow the spoken word "Jesus" with "blessed be his name." He is considered a prophet. I've found most Muslims peace loving and highly hospitable, a part of Islamic teachings and tradition they say. They are also extemely devout; they pray five times a day. Islamic communities are marked by the "call to prayer", a chant or song that comes (in modern times through loudspeakers) from the mosque. The first call is around 4 a.m. and is sometimes not well received by non-believers.

For those of you who are really into literacy, the first word in the Qu'ran, the Islamic holy text, is READ, a command to Muhammed from Allah, delivered through the Angel Gabriel. Interestingly, he never learned to read and write.