Suq Waqif

Having been here for three weeks and not yet having visited the suq, I suggested we head out for the evening on Thursday and see what the suq had to offer for dinner (Andrew was also in the middle of having an argument with Phoebe about whether or not dinner at McDonald's was a good idea—I'll let you guess whose argument was which). 

Our hotel apartment has a kitchen, but the stove is highly inefficient and the oven is (as a friend put it) EasyBake oven-sized. Our washing machine (which we are very grateful to have, but which is running nearly constantly) also seems to have been made for elves. 

Hotel life is great but...perhaps not suited for a family of seven. 

It's hard to make a full meal with the limited space and dishes that we have and we have laundry hanging to dry everywhere all the time. 

It's fairly glamorous. 

I mean, we love the view. We love that we have beds for everyone. We even enjoy having housekeeping come by three times a week (though I also like they days they don't come by). But we still feel a little bit like we're just camping out...still.

It's been a long time of feeling displaced, first living in our own house for six weeks with little to no furniture, and then living here in our temporary—wonderful but less-than-ideal—apartment. 

Anyway, all that is to say that we've gone to McDonald's three times since moving here and Phoebe thinks it's the absolute best (we used to only get McDonald's on our way home from the beach and whenever the power went out and we couldn't cook any food). She's always trying to convince Daddy it's a good day for a trip to McDonald's.

But I was like, "Why don't we go to the suq, see what kind of places they have down there..."

Andrew thought that was a great idea, so that's what we did. Even though it was hot.

Gold club lite

Every metro train here has a "gold club" car, followed by a "family" car, followed by however many "standard" cars. We have mostly travelled in the family car, although I don't know why because this isn't Moscow or London or DC or Cairo or Rome—Doha has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. The likelihood of getting harassed or assaulted or pickpocketed on the train in Doha is virtually nil. 

But the first time we rode the metro here everyone directed us down to the family car, so...that's where we sat and then, as creatures of habit, that's where we continued to sit. 

The children—particularly Phoebe—have been staring at the "gold club" car with quite a lot of longing (perhaps even with a tinge of coveting). You see, there are two chairs at the front of the "gold club" car, through which you can see out the window and down the metro tunnel and that is very exciting. 

Sure, there are windows on the side of the train, but it's really so dark that you can't see much of anything through them (so they're a little disappointing—our friends went to a Harry Potter themed restaurant and were telling us that the windows of the train cars were screens that showed scenery passing by...perhaps the metro also needs these windows).

Here are the kids staring into the gold car, wishing they could use those seats. But a ride in the gold club car costs a whopping 10 QAR (while standard fare is 2 QAR...which is only like $2.75 compared to 55 cents...which is still honestly a good price for a metro ride...but you also have to buy a gold club membership and...anyway...we just keep telling Phoebe no):

Look! A diversion!

Last week we were on our way to church, all piled into one large Uber, when we saw a big sign with flashing lights proclaiming: DIVERSION!! →

"Look!" I whispered to Miriam. "A diversion!"

"Where?!" she gasped, playing along.

One of the oldest tropes in the book. Unfortunately, I was too slow to take a picture.

What it really was doing, of course, was pointing out a detour route.

*****

Miriam was called as the ward pianist on Friday morning. She's the first one in the family with a calling! 

And it's pretty good timing, too, because we just got Miriam's organ manuals set up! Her pedalboard will soon be on its way from Germany. We shipped them to our friend's house because...we don't have a permanent address yet...and they brought them along with them when they dropped Zoë and Alexander off after their sleepover (Wednesday to Thursday). They arrived a lot sooner than I thought they would, all things considered.

Here's Phoebe helping to open the box:

Mango Pickle

In 2020, we finally got around to watching the eleventh season of Doctor Who, the sixth episode of which, "Demons of the Punjab," centers around the Partition of India in 1947.

Sometimes people ask me about our homeschool curriculum, and I tell them that we use such and such for math (Singapore Math, Beast Academy, Art of Problem Solving, Khan Academy, CTC Math...) and such and such for science (Mr. Q, Science Mom...) and then I about fall apart at social and language studies because the answer of, "Well, we kind of just do whatever suits our fancy..." doesn't entirely sit well with everyone. 

That is to say, in 2020 we watched "Demons of the Punjab" and then fell into a unit on the history of India...as best we could. We watched things like Lagaan and Bride and Prejudice. We read The Night Diary. We read The History of India for Children. We read Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship: Stories from India—this particular collection of stories was very impactful for the children.

The main character frequently discussed his love for mango pickle and the kids were anxious to try it. 

But...I dunno...it was the middle of COVID...so we weren't spending time looking for mango pickle, I guess. We were more concerned with acquiring, like, toilet paper and hand sanitizer and things like that. 

I don't remember what research we did on mango pickle, all I know is that it was described in such a tantalizing way that the kids have been thinking about it for the past six years. They've brought it up regularly. We have never been able to satisfy their curiosity...until now. 

Well, good

This morning I was doing Phoebe's hair while she was playing Minecraft and she was prattling on and on about everything:

"Mom! Do you want to look at my house? I decorated it so goodly! I mean well. I decorated it well. Did you know that well and good are the same word, but you can only use them sometimes. You can't say that you do anything goodly. You do things well. Not well-ly, either. Just well. Like, I decorated my house well, you do my hair well. But things can be good, I think. Like this is a good house or this is a good hairstyle. You can't say well hairstyle. It's always good."

*****

Miriam and I are watching The Other Bennet Sister, certainly a pleasant watch (which diverts from Austen quite markedly, is drowning in anachronisms, and seems to be at least a little cloying (according to the linked-to review)—not only because our television seems stuck on "soap opera effect"). I'm reading The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion and this series seems like a lovely companion to that. I'm pretty unconcerned with doing Jane Austen justice or perfectly replicating society as it was during the Regency or Victorian eras. I'm simply happy to enjoy a rather wholesome retreat from the world and both serve that purpose. 

Light, fluffy, uplifting, occasionally quite humorous. 

When Mary is talking with Mr. Sparrow at a ball, he mentions something about "less oysters" and Mary quickly says, "Fewer. It's fewer oysters; not less." Miriam and I just about died laughing. I don't know that this was a joke in the series, per se, but it certainly is an ongoing joke at our house.

What's in a name?

In 2013, Qtel (Qatar's leading telecommunications company) decided to rebrand themselves as Ooredo. Ooredo has a very visible presence in Qatar today, being one of their leading telecommunications companies, but there is still evidence of Qtel's existence in utility infrastructure throughout Doha. 

I'm a little obsessed with these covers because in Arabic it phonetically spells out Qtel...like kyoo-tell:

And it just makes me laugh a little every time I see one of these because the Q in Qtel is obviously for Qatar...and in Arabic Qatar starts with a ق (q), not a ك (k). Perhaps I'm just easily amused. 

Ophthalmology, gastroenterology—what's the difference?

Let me begin by stating that I'm feeling much better. So much better that I almost feel silly for having gone to the doctor at all. But, honestly, there were some concerning symptoms so...anyway...

The clinic was on the third floor of the mall across the street. Rather, it was the third floor of the mall. It was a clinic with everything: pediatrics, OB/GYN, dental, vision, surgery, x-ray, lab, pharmacy, family practice, and just about every speciality one could think of. Quite convenient to having everything together, I think.

Andrew asked if I wanted him to come home to go to the clinic with me, or watch the kids, or something...but I told him it was fine. The waiting rooms are gender-segregated anyway. And the big kids could watch the little kids while I was gone. 

I had to head over to make an appointment. And then I had to head back over for my appointment. 

But it was all fairly straightforward, except for my own confusion when the front desk handed me my paperwork and told me to proceed to clinic 3 and take a seat.

Actually, that part wasn't terribly confusing. I understood that perfectly well.

My confusion set in when I got to clinic 3 was it labeled quite clearly—in large capital letters—OPHTHALMOLOGY. 

Huh. 

"It's always a good day for lemonade in the desert!"

This morning Phoebe didn't wake up until 9:00 (which is incredible, considering Alexander and Zoë, who were away at a sleepover, have been claiming it's been she waking them up early in the morning) and Miriam left for the library around 9:15, so it was just Phoebe and me at home for about an hour before the bigger kids came home. 

She stared out of the window for a long time (we are all still charmed by the view) before sighing and saying, "It's always a good day for lemonade in the desert!"

So those are her window-staring thoughts, apparently.

*****

Last night at 10 PM it was 34°C (93°F), with a dew point of 31°C (88°F), and a humidity level of 84%. This meant that at the 40th floor we saw a lot of dew forming—so much that we could almost imagine it was raining!

Croissants, cows, and not loving walls

Milk is rather expensive here (or at least it feels rather expensive here). It is 100% Qatari produced (at Baladna Farm, which is probably worth a visit someday) from a herd of cows flown in from various countries throughout the world (including 6000 cows from Canada) during the 2017 blockade (with more added since then to bolster the herd)—but even though I grew up brainwashed to support the Canadian cattle industry (I ♥ Alberta Beef!) we have been encouraging the kids to expand their breakfast repertoire away from cold cereal + milk. 

They've been enjoying yogurt and eggs and leftover rice (we've been eating a lot of rice-based meals because we bought a rice cooker for our little hotel kitchen) and these prepackaged croissants from Saudi Arabia. They're pretty good, as far as taste goes.  

As far as typography goes—most excellent!

Story time at the library (and our house is under contract!?!)

I signed Phoebe up to attend Arabic story time at the library yesterday and we met up with friends beforehand so they could finish a game they'd been playing.

Phoebe was very excited to ride the metro again. She loves the idea of being on a train, but is perpetually annoyed that we haven't purchased her a "gold club" membership and instead make her ride standard fare. The "gold club" car is much fancier than the ordinary car and there are two seats right at the front of the train so you can see where you're headed (which is very exciting) rather than looking at the windows at the blackness of the passing tunnel.

When we got on the metro, we found the door between the gold club car and the family car had been left open (and the car was empty). The children enjoyed looking through the car out the front of the train...until Benjamin decided that the door was probably supposed to be closed and shut it.