The Qatar Blog: The Moorman's Experiences in Qatar

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.