birthday convocation...

Hey everyone... First off, thanks for the many birthday wishes! I really appreciated them, since no one here even knew it was my birthday. I went out to an expensive steakhouse and treated myself to calamari, king prawn, and and four-inch-thick fillet. It would have been better served with wine instead of watermelon juice... but still nice.

I played in a poker game last week and lost my ass. Played terrible, absolutely no cards came my way. What made the night worse, though, was that we all lost to someone who brought a poker cheat sheet with him that listed the order of the hands. Damn that hurt...

Speaking of sport, my golf outing a few weeks ago was great. It is beautiful playing a full round of golf at night, but ungodly hard to find your ball if it rolls off the fairway. I even stranded a cart in the sand... not a sand trap, but deep desert sand. Unfortunately, we all decided to make a night of it and went out to a hidden bar in the city, Garvey's. It's not really hidden, people know about it, but there are no signs or listings for it anywhere, and you just have to know where it is to get there. They are allowed to serve liquor due to a grandfather clause back when Qatar was a British protectorate. Anyplace that was serving alcohol then was allowed to continue to serve... that means Garvey's and the Rugby Club. Well, that lasted until about two a.m., then it was club sandwiches at The Hot Chicken, followed by a three a.m. poker game that went for several hours. Somehow, at that point, we decided to break into a South African's home and start making boerswoers sausage... can't really explain the reasoning behind that one. And after that, it was several hours of bowling. All in all, a 36-hour day... with about eighteen hours of sleep afterwards... I'm just not as young as I used to be.

Anyway, it's dead quiet here today. It is the last day of finals, so any prof who finished their class early has taken off on holiday. The building that I work in with Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown University, has already finished up their semesters... meaning that the normal hustle and bustle of students is gone and has left it eerily quiet. You can hear shoes squeaking from 500 meters away...

Tonight is the Education City Convocation. The convocation is a gathering of all the seniors who are graduating this year. This is the first time all the universities on campus all have full graduating classes; so the QF is treating it as the inaugural class. It is a massive event, getting coverage on all the news with signs up everywhere. Just across the street from Education City is a billboard about 300 meters long, congratulating the seniors. The royal family, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa and Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al Missned, will be in attendance along with other dignitaries. Sheikha Mozah will be presenting all the graduating seniors special rings from the Qatar Foundation... solid platinum, encrusted with diamonds. About five grand each. Considering how wealthy some of these students are... makes me want to vomit...

Of course, this comes with a massive contingent of extra security. Besides our normal security guards, we have the armed Internal Security Forces (like our CIA and Secret Service in one) patrolling the campus. Several of our roads are blocked off, and in the main building, everyone is supposed to leave early to have the garage for VVIPs... really... there is a sign up for VVIP (very, very important people).

And we have a performance tonight. It was supposed to be musical icon Sarah Brightman... the original star of Phantom of the Opera and Requiem... the muse of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. But sadly, she had to cancel yesterday. Everyone was stunned! If she cancelled, how is the QF going to get someone to replace her? It's not like this country is packed with high caliber musicians and singers! I don't think they're going to have "The Exiles" play their cover of 1984's Hungry Like the Wolf! But once again, Sheikha Mozah surprised us all. With one day's notice, she got... Andrea Bocelli. Probably the most famous, and most successful opera singer alive... with one day's notice. Not bad... not bad at all.

So tonight, I'll be dressed to the nines, surrounded by sheikhs and sheikhas, sitting outside in sweltering weather, watching very rich kids get even richer, while listening to Italian opera. Either that, or I may go bowling...

later...

ben

dunestock...

Hey everyone... hope you're enjoying your beautiful spring weather. Normally spring means gentle, cleansing rains, the opening of flowers, and a return to enjoying the warm outdoors. Over here, spring means something entirely different... it means "oh shit... here comes summer." We had our first 100+ temperature day here... on April 1st... 103F to be exact. It is consistently in the mid to upper 90's F everyday... all day. Walking across the parking lots to our main building feels like running a marathon uphill carrying jugs of water... and it's not even summer yet!

Everything is going really well. I just turned in my final grades, and can say that I successfully taught my first semester!! Well, at least 83% successful, since that was my average grade. Another instructor thought that was a little low, but my prof praised me for being a hard-ass. All in all, I had a blast teaching the labs. So much so, that I'm having to teach over the summer... ugh. I'm teaching the same lab, but instead of fifteen weeks... we're doing it over five weeks. Plus, I'm doing a recitation for two hours a week, basically doing problem solving sessions with the students. With the 20 hours a week of chemistry these students are going to have, they are going to absolutely hate me this summer... which wouldn't be so bad, except that I'll be surrounded by angry students with access to deadly chemicals and glassware.

Big news... last weekend, Tex and I went out to Dunestock. Dunestock is an all day concert put on by the Doha Players, a British theatre troupe to raise funds. The Doha Players theatre was destroyed in 2005 from the only terrorist act to ever hit Qatar. Some guy, during a performance, walked out of a performance, stood in the lobby, and blew himself up... killing one of the troupe members. Since then, the Players have been slowly rebuilding the theatre with donated funds... and their biggest fundraiser is Dunestock.

Dunestock takes place in an area called the Singing Dunes... in a central area of the country very close to the American air base. The Singing Dunes are a large collection of dunes in the middle of the rocky desert. They look and feel like any other dune, except for one major difference... they sing. No... really... they sing!! When you walk on the dune sand, you can hear a very low rumbling resonance. Actually, you more feel the sound than hear it... and it only happens on these particular dunes! Anyway, the morning of Dunestock a massive sandstorm moved in and, once again, almost blacked out the sun. But nothing was going to stop Tex and I from sitting in foldable chairs and listening to bad cover bands... so we were off.

The concert arena was in the circular area created by a massive sand dune, making the dune itself the perfect amphitheater seating! About four thousand people were there, and almost all of them were western expats! It was really very strange... when you live in a country where you are always the outsider, seeing a massive group of people that, at least on the outside, look like you was eerie. People set up tents and canopies, everyone was staring fires to BBQ and smoking shisha. Hundreds of people were climbing up the dunes and either sledding, snowboarding, or simply falling down the steep, powdery slopes. I tried to climb up the dune after an afternoon of drinking and smoking while in the middle of a sandstorm... got about halfway before my lungs gave out on me. Imagine climbing stairs made out of talcum powder... not as easy as it seems.

Another strange thing. There were no police. None. A private security firm was hired to make sure people bought tickets... and that's about it. Everyone was openly drinking, women were in bikinis, people were making out on blankets... behavior absolutely forbidden in public in this country. But it seems that the government kindly looks the other way during these large gatherings. Maybe they realize that there would be a coup if they didn't. Maybe the government was there without their thobes on... who knows. I did see some of my students there (some with women!)... and I asked them if their parents knew they were out partying. After some odd looks and quick unclasping of hands, most confessed they told their parents they were studying at school... sinners.

As for the bands... Doha isn't exactly up to Austin's "live music capital" status just yet. Only a handful of acts were decent, some were god-awful. One particularly fun act was a duo of older indians who sang acapella... no kidding... folk songs and sea shanties. Exactly the music western people want to hear during an outdoor music festival...

So with the exception of the terrible music, the sand behind my eyeballs and in my drink... it was a blast!

Heading out to play some golf this afternoon. Since the course is lit at night, it should be fun. Also, bowling is going great! I really sucked at first, but have quickly progressed to decent status. I still don't have my shirt... but soon, I promise...

later...

ben

GOT IT!!!

I got it!!Three camels in the back of a truck!! Beat that with a stick!!
By the way, you can click on any photo to enlarge it for more detail...

ben

video killed everyone...

Hope this works OK... enjoy...

sand in funny places...

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I fell into a rut of daily routine for about a month. Nothing really happened for about three weeks... just teaching and lab work. All that changed two weeks ago. I was invited to play in the Education City Golf Tournament, hosted by the Qatar Foundation.

I brought my clubs with me, not ever really expecting that I would have the opportunity to play. So I unwrapped my clubs from their shipping container and took them out back for some test swings. Turns out in this country there is plenty of space to practice your bunker play. I went out to the only golf course in the country, which has a magnificent clubhouse and faculties. Everyone got together and had Arabic coffee with biscuits and prepped for the tourney. Nine-hole scramble, best ball, Texas rules. The course is very nice, and very reminiscent of the golf courses in Arizona... one big exception... you can see the ocean from the tee boxes.

Unfortunately, I was the "A" player on the team. We had a great time, but ended up two-over. But it happens that everyone else was just as shitty. The winning teams were tied at even par. Afterwards we chilled out with lunch on the patio and shared drinks. Best part, there were a ton of door prizes... not just some sleeves of balls or a putter; but video cameras and trips to Bahrain! I won a new digital camera (Sony Cybershot 7.2 megapixel) with photo printer! I didn't take any photos of the tournament, since my camera was on the fritz (omen?). But I'll post some from my playing partners when I get some.

Quick note about the Qatar Foundation. The QF, as it's called, is a quasi-governmental entity here that runs Education City, including TAMU-Q. We've been told to always list the QF as our employer with any local agencies, because they will treat you a lot better.

Last weekend, I finally got out to the southern dunes! I've been dying to get down there. Unlike the other parts of the country where you can drive off-road without much difficulty, the southern dunes are deadly serious. Big rule of thumb... never go to the dunes in only one vehicle. No matter how good a driver you are... you will get marooned. I joined a group of coworkers who go camping in the desert all the time for an early morning trip. Our group included three Texans, three South Africans, and two Germans... quite the international house of travelers. Johan is a very experienced desert outdoorsman, and... he also owns an X-Terra. Turns out he bought the first one in the country, 'cause of how good it handles in sand. He checked my car out, gave me a thumbs up, and we took off. We drove about 45 minutes south of Doha to the Sealine Resort. At that point, the road dead stops at the desert. Unlike the rest of the country, the southern area is covered with massive, powdery sand dunes that can be over 50 meters tall!! I took of tons of photos, but like traveling to the mountains, the photos cannot describe how beautiful and serene the area is.

Driving, or "bashing", the dunes is the favorite pastime of the Qatari youth. Before we got started, we had to let the air out of our tires... down to 1 kPa/cm3. If that unit doesn't make sense, don't worry. Basically, we let the tires down to about 5 psi... almost on the rims. It's very easy to dune bash... just point your 4x4 toward a dune, and drive as fast as you can! And I mean as fast as you can! If you let up on the gas while driving on the soft sand, your tires dig in deep and you come to a screeching halt. You become "thin blooded," as the locals say. It means... "not funny" or "up shit's creek." And I should know... 'cause I did. I rode with Johan on a trial bash up the side of one of the largest dunes in the area. The dunes are gently sloped on one side, and then sharply drop almost straight down! We took off up the side of the dune at full speed, about 150km/hr, then turned a hard left right on the precipice of the dropoff. Suddenly, you find yourself hanging what looks like the edge of a cliff... and you hit the gas. We drove down the lee side of the dune holding on to the handbrake. I swear it seems like your going to start tumbling head over heels down the dune! When I tried a run in my X-Terra, I ended up letting off the gas at the very top, and stranded my car. It took the entire group digging and pushing to get it unstuck. But since I wasn't in the car when it went... I tried to run down the slope. Busted my ass...

We drove across the sand to the inland sea... a small sea that suddenly appears out of nowhere. It's not very big, and you could easily swim across it... but you can't. Because on the other side of the sea is Saudi Arabia. We set up camp, ate, drank, and smoked shisha. I went swimming in the sea, which was only ankle deep about 100 meters from the shore, then quickly dropped off. The sea is so salty, and hence so dense, that I couldn't swim more than five meters down without the water forcing me back to the surface like a rocket.

Everyone who drove by our camp slowed down, honked, and waved. A few even stopped to say hello... everyone from westerners to the local Qatari's. We thought they were being extremely polite... then we realized that they were waving at Tim's wife, Melissa. All six-foot, fair-haired, pro-volleyball playing figure of her. And they were not ashamed to admit they were stopping to meet the beautiful lady sunning herself.

After a few hours, we packed up and started home, bashing the dunes at full speed as we went. One car in our group, a rented Hummer, overheated and got stuck a few times in some easy sand. When we arrived that morning at Sealine, we only saw a few cars on the dunes. But as we were leaving, there were hundreds upon hundreds of Land Cruisers, sand buggies, ATV's, and four-wheelers pulling up to the dunes. The Qatari's prefer to go in the late afternoon and stay out at night... which makes it incredible dangerous for us to be out there. Every week in the paper is a story about cars smashing head-on at the top of a dune, or rolling end-over-end down a dune. Time to get out...

After getting home and inspecting the damage to my car (thankfully only soda, beer, and syrupy melon tobacco spills), I took a shower, then shoveled all the sand out of my shower. But soon, I started to get sick... and then spent the next two days on the floor of my bathroom crying... because obviously I had pissed off God in some way to make me as sick as I was. One other person in our group also got sick... she thinks it was the inland sea... I think it was someone's crab salad...

Well, I still have a bad cough and the aches a full week later, but everything is back on track. I've put all the photos online at http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/benji-of-arabia/, so make sure you check them out!

Oh! One more thing... I bought a video camera right before the trip! I got a good deal, and figured it was the only way to really capture some of my adventures to share with ya'll. Also, I've been dying to make some of those grainy green-eyed sex tapes that's all the rage. Probably not as sexy if I make one by myself, though. I spliced the dune footage together, and will post it online in a day or so. I would have posted it today... but I left the camera in my office.

Tomorrow, I'm heading north to collect some samples for carbon dating, and next week I'm going out to a massive dune bash festival... and will be camping out overnight. Can't wait...

later...

ben

the one that got away...

I had it!! I had the best possible picture to describe Doha, and I let it slip through my fingers! I was coming back from the grocery store yesterday when I pulled up behind a slow moving Toyota truck. The truck was running a little slow because it was carrying THREE FULL SIZE CAMELS in the pickup!! Quickly, I pulled my camera out of the console to take a picture, but the batteries were dead! Dammit!! I'm gonna carry some in my car at all times...

Not much really going on right now. Spring break is next week, and most people are taking the week to travel overseas. I can't just yet, since my vacation time isn't active until May. Large groups of people are traveling to Egypt, Jordan, Oman, and India... and it's killing me that I can't go yet. So instead of traveling to far off lands, I'll be tearing apart my labs and taking stock of all my chemicals. But soon... very soon...

I just came back from buying some houseplants in the nursery district. Nearby they opened the first actual Catholic church in Qatar. Its a huge building, but doesn't look like your everday St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio sunday school. It was purposely made to try and blend into its surroundings. There are no signs, crosses, or bells visible... since publicly advertising any religion other than Islam is against the law. Some of the more conservative clerics have publicly stated that having a catholic church in an islamic country is blasphemous. One even said that his people would die before "bells chime over Doha." So... does he mean church bells, or any bells?? The embassy came out with an alert to all Western ex-pats to use caution when attending the church, and to be cautious in shopping malls and sporting arenas. Thankfully, a royal family member read a message at the christening from Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (the big guy here) saying, "it is a message of the merciful and it is a message to people to accept the good features of every religion for one’s own betterment and also for the improvement of relations between communities and people of different cultures." No worries...

I'm waiting to get my official TAMUQ bowling league shirt. I sent an email asking for a nickname to be stitched on the shirt. A lot of you gave me team names, but I only needed a personal nickname. An aside... three different people came up with "Camel Toes"... don't think that one will play well with this audience. Some were excellent, some were vulgar... I went for a combination of the two. My bowling league nickname... "Kielbasa."

later...

ben

go west, young man...

Hey all...


I had the opportunity to head into the western desert on Friday. Myself and a prof took off early friday morning and headed on the road to Salwah. Not much of a drive... but it was a little more interesting since I was driving in my new car! Finally got it!

The roads out of Doha are... mysterious... at best. Sometimes, they're eight lanes wide and easy to travel. Then suddenly, the road lines start crossing, careening into overpasses, and they drop down to a two-lane partially covered in sand without any warning signs. Best part is the overpasses. They must have built ten or twelve full highway overpasses within 100 km of Doha... but there aren't any roads leading away from the bridges! Just miles of overpasses with nowhere to go...


Anyway, we traveled out to the western highway looking for a set of coordinates someone had given us. That's when we realized that the coordinates were about five clicks off the road. So, we looked for a gate in the fence and headed offroad. The fences aren't to distinguish private property, but to keep the 1,000 pound camels off the road. So, only one day after picking up my brand new SUV (and being forced to drive less than 80kph for the first thousand km), I was dropping into 4-wheel drive and heading off into the desert.


First off, it was relatively flat, just driving over large rocks. But about a km off the road, small pockets of desert sand popped up. You would think these little mounds of smooth, flesh colored dust may seem tame and easily drivable... very wrong. Desert sand is loose, and finer than powdered sugar. The moment your tires hit it, you start sliding like you're on ice. Plus, you don't just punch thru these tufts of sand... they're dense and rock the living hell out of you. I was told my some locals that the only way to drive in desert sand is to keep your wheels moving... never come to a stop and keep turning the front wheels. The biggest reason people get stranded offroading is driving into small patches of sand and stopping. Unfortunately, when they hit the gas again, they just dig into the sand like it's mud.


Once we got thru the loose sand, we came upon some rocky outcroppings that we were looking for. In fact, our coordinates turned out to be the highest point in all of Qatar... about 70 meters above sea level. The southern sand dunes can get up to 130 meters tall, but since they're not permanent... they don't officially count.


I took a ton of pics, all of which are in the photo album at http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/benji-of-arabia/. I really need to stop having my camera set on automated picture... most of the pics are so whited out it looks like I took them on the surface of the sun! But it is bright... the sunlight reflects of the sand both on the ground and in the air... everything looks like it is shimmering.


I did get a few good ones, though... especially the camels! We saw over a hundred, easily. Multiple herds of them wandering aimlessly. One herd was being watched over by a shepherd. Those camels were wearing rugs over them... god only knows why. Another herd was walking close to the fence, so I pulled over to get a closer look. They all looked up, spit, and took off with about ten baby camels in tow.


Out in the middle of the desert, I came up on a nomad compound. It was about ten tents, one big, several small, with some pens made up of old fencing with camels inside. There was nothing... and I mean nothing... not a bush, a tree, or anything within at least 20kms. But here was a group of people, quietly living off the desert somehow. Or at least I thought that, until I saw the two satellite dishes staked behind the largest of the tents. Living off the land... and HBO.


The Doha cultural festival is going on this weekend. Fireworks at night, powerboat racing on the corniche during the day... and poetry. Lots of poetry. Large stages with enough amps to record a double-live album... of guys standing around singing poetry in Arabic. I wonder what the groupies are like??


I've got to start prepping a lab to electoplate some pencils...


later...


ben