We were guests at a TV program prepared by Al-Rayyan TV of Qatar for the Qatari National Day.
The program is about 13 minutes and it is in English with Arabic subtitles. In the program, we talk about Qatar University, our life in Doha, why we like living here and what we have learned from Qatari people.
Click on this Link for the program on the Al-Rayyan TV for the Qatari National Day of December 18, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Impressions of Qatar: From A to Z
Dear friends all around the world,
I would like to extend a warm hello to all of you from the extremely hot and humid Middle Eastern state of Qatar. I hope this e-mail finds you in the best of health.
I arrived in this little country-under-construction on the 5th of September, 2007 after a eight-day stop-over in Turkey, my home country. I am not sure how I should start this long post about Qatar, Doha, the capital city of Qatar, Qatari people, an extremely wide range of expatriates working in this country, Qatar University Foundation Program and the student population at the university, but I will try my best to provide you with a clear and as much objective picture as possible. I will walk you through my experiences from my first step into Doha until now. I hope you like my style of language and enjoy this blog.
The temperature in Doha and the hospitality of people at the airport were way beyond my expectations. I can easily say -especially after listening to reactions of my colleagues and professors and lecturers from other departments- that educators are shown VIP treatment and extreme hospitality in Qatar starting from arriving at Doha International Airport.
Upon arriving at the airport, which is under construction like the rest of the country, I was greeted by a very polite lady from the Philippines holding a sign with my name on it. She told me to follow her and said that my luggage would be cleared through the customs while the passport procedures were being taken care of. A Turkish businessman and I were seated in a cozy room and were provided with refreshments and a rich assortment of nuts. In a short while, we were notified that the passport procedures were completed and that our luggage was waiting for us just outside the room. Remembering the hassle I have going through JFK New York every time I go to the USA, I was extremely pleased with this treatment. I said goodbye to the businessman as he was ushered to a car to head towards the hotel he was going to stay. The Filipina lady -unfortunately I don't remember her name- and another man who carried my luggage and I went outside. The Filipina lady introduced me to a driver from India who was arranged by Qatar University and who was going to give me a ride to my apartment.
The driver, Ahmad, said hello and welcomed me to Doha. Having waited for this very moment for over five months, I was very excited to be in Doha and was trying to understand what Qatar was like from the buildings and roads we were passing. My impressions at the airport were reinforced more as we proceeded into the city center and headed towards Al-Zuhoor -means "flower"- one of the university compounds where I was allotted an apartment.
On the way, I was provided with a cell phone just in case I wanted to call home. Later on I learned that since cell phones appear to be a must in Qatar, Qatar University provides new faculty members with cell phones for more than 2 months, which is a reasonable time period to be able to get a cell phone or land-line phone for one's own. I used that cell-phone for over 2 months and gave it back to the HR. They told me that I could keep the SIM card. I have been buying pre-paid credits ever since. Compared to the USA, my cell-phone bills are 2 to 3 times higher. Thankfully, I was recommended some good internet VOIP programs through which I call my family, friends and relatives in Turkey, my friends in the USA or in Europe almost free!
In addition to the cell-phone, I needed to get a land-line telephone for having access to ADSL internet. Many of my colleagues had lots of difficulties in getting a land-line, but thankfully I did not have any difficulties in getting the line or with the bills. As I will talk about below, banking and telephone services in Qatar are provided with some kind of problems at times.
I was also provided with a welcome packet which included some maps, information about the city, Qatar University and life in Doha in general. As we further went into the heart of the city, I could see many skyscrapers, malls, shops, etc., which were quite impressive. I was expecting a somewhat more Middle-Eastern capital. Doha, as it surprises me every day, turned out to be an extremely modern, lively, safe and friendly city.
After 20-25 minutes we were at the compound. My initial impressions were that it was a new compound and not many people were living there. First, Ahmad took me to the Club House from where we collected another welcome packet and keys to my apartment. When Ahmad welcomed me inside my apartment, I was amazed by how spacious the rooms were. There are 3 bedrooms, one living room, and a kitchen. There are 3 bathrooms, two of them with showers. The university thought about even our breakfast the next morning: they placed water, fruit juice, cheese, bread, jam in the refrigerator as well as coffee, coffee mate, plastic kitchenware, etc. Being given this extremely spacious apartment building, I was happy and sad at the same time. The house was large and I was alone, just on my own. If I was married, life here would be more fun. Or maybe not? What do those people who are married think? :-)
All rooms are furnished in the house. There are a washing/drying machine, a refrigerator and a dishwasher in the kitchen. The kitchen counter extends from one end to the other and the cupboards are nicely installed above and below the counters. There are a dining table with 6 chairs, a TV set with satellite TV, a coffee table, two side tables, a sofa, a love-seat, two armchairs, and a study table with a roller chair which is very comfortable. In addition, there is a nice buffet with a large mirror and spacious drawers and cupboards and an Egyptian carpet in the living room.
The bedrooms come with a bed, two of them single and one of them double, a very spacious wardrobe, an Egyptian carpet, and a buffet with a small chair and smaller drawers. All I needed to buy were some kitchen utensils, an iron, an ironing board, some containers, etc. Because the weather is extremely hot and humid, they installed an air conditioner in each room. There are two in the living room!
Now you think that having air conditioners is a great thing, but let me tell you that until I got used to the AC working day and night, I had a terrible sore throat for quite a while.
When you turn them on it's as if you were at the North Pole, but as soon as you turn them off you feel engulfed by a wild and fierce portion of Hell. A central cooling system would be much better. This is not a problem from late Fall until mid-Spring period as the unbearable temperatures dwindle considerably.
Doubtlessly, the only stark difference from my previous place of residence in the USA -Eugene, Oregon- and in Turkey -Antalya- goes without saying: the weather. I could feel the heat and extreme humidity with all my being from the moment I set foot outside the airport. I wonder how people lived here before air-conditioning was invented. However, as I told you above don't assume that the heat and humidity are here forever. October and onwards, for example, cooler evenings and chillier nights are not rare phenomena. But 'chillier' doesn't mean chillier in the sense that it becomes cold like in Turkey or Oregon. During the day one can feel the nice breeze coming from the Arab Gulf. Thanks to this somewhat cooler weather conditions especially at the campus flowers, all kinds of trees and tropical plants seem livelier. Non-stop twittering of different birds with beautiful harmonious voices in the backyard of the building I teach adds to this beauty. I don't know which kind of bird articulates such mesmerizing sounds, but I just love it. I believe when the weather is nicer, teaching and life in general in Doha becomes even more pleasing.
To my experience, you don't need to have blankets to cover yourselves even during the coldest months!
(A nearby Residential Area Development Project. Many parts of Doha are being organized into little residential neighborhoods like this one. Rent is extremely expensive and owning land or property is almost impossible, both legally and financially.)
The first few days the compound I live in seemed to be very quiet, but when the people started arriving from their holidays it became livelier. There are of course other things that add to this lively atmosphere. There is a gym center, a game corner with billiards and fussball,
a playground for kids,
and a swimming pool
and an entertainment center with TV set, DVD, and video. I have been going to the gym almost every evening since I arrived here.
My American friend David, who also teaches English at the Foundation Program, has been motivating me to run even on days I feel tired. We run around the compound neighborhood and try to explore the area in detail. We are very close to an incredibly enormous sports city which hosted 2006 Asian Games.
There are a huge stadium, an elegant tower named the Aspire Tower, many running tracks, bicycle paths, swimming pools, soccer fields, basketball fields, tennis courts, paths for horses, etc. in this little city that it looks like an oasis in the middle of the desert. Another great example of what determination and money can do in the middle of the desert.
All these facilities seem to be overshadowed by a beautiful and elegant tower that accompanies the sport city and Villaggio, a neighborhood which is the home to many mega shopping centers and designer clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.
Villaggio gets its Italian name from its architecture. Inside this huge complex you can take little gondolas to and fro just like in Venice, Italy, under an artificial sky which makes you feel like you are walking outdoors.
After the gym, we usually swim in the swimming pool just outside the gym. Swimming, I have realized, is the most fun and relaxing sport one can ever do here during the day or at night. Especially swimming at night energizes me for the new day.
One of my major goals in coming to Qatar was to learn Arabic, a language that I believe will add a lot to my knowledge base and ability to express myself once I am able to speak it. Turkish has a large amount of loan words from Arabic and I can understand the gist of many of the basic conversations; however, I need some grammar to weave all that know and hear into an intelligible linguistic construction. The university has an intensive 20-hour a week Arabic program for non-native speakers. Teaching 20 hours a week myself, it is impossible for me to be able to audit these classes unless I teach the third shift. The problem is that there are no third shift classes anymore. I have three choices now: first, I can self-study Arabic through some books recommended by some instructors I know at the program; second, I can get private tutoring which might be not very motivating given the fact that many Arabic speakers here wouldn't be happy with the money they would get from tutoring; third, I can opt for free Arabic classes offered through the Islamic Center in downtown Doha which is usually preferred by converts. No matter how late I am, I will make a choice pretty soon depending on my schedule.
My biggest challenge in learning Arabic will be Qatar itself. Everything, from traffic signs to nutrition facts on products, seems to be in English here.
Wherever you go, there are people to help you in English. This makes it quite difficult to find the urge to speak Arabic and above all to resist the temptation to speak English. Especially in the compound although there are many native Arabic speakers from all over the world, English dominates as the language of communication among many people. Perhaps the locals want to practice their English and that's why I always end up talking in English. The high number of expatriates from many Western countries is another reason why English is the lingua franca here.
You can always find something to complain about anywhere you go. The amount of green spaces in Doha is one such issue. There are not YET enough green spaces in many parts of Doha except a few man-made places of extreme green. Let's be honest. These guys are doing a great job in turning Doha into a greener place. Sometimes I pass through roads and neighborhoods that resemble Northwestern American cities.
(A pedestrians- and bikes-only walkway in downtown Doha. These bike paths are very very rare. You will not see people biking when you are driving.)
If the number of these greener places can be increased, Doha will become a much more beautiful city. When it comes to green space, the compound is not an exception. There is a rumor that more trees will be planted soon in the compound, at least at the central point of compound where there is kind of a small park. It rains only "once or twice" in a whole year in Doha, which makes it extremely expensive to maintain greenery. Surprisingly, Qataris even have a nationwide center, Qatar Green, to make the country greener. I find it quite surprising because Qatar acquires its water from the sea through desalination, an extremely expensive process. Similarly, I find it very surprising that we have no water shortages in Qatar!
According to what colleagues who has been here for over 5 years and who saw the condition of Doha just a few years ago say that the attempts to add more green space to the landscape of Doha have been extremely successful.
Qatar's beautiful, extremely clean, and sandy beaches (you can't swim there during the day when it is too hot to stay even in the shade in summer time) make for the lack of green spaces. One of the Turkish professors and I went to a tiny city named Dukhan a month ago. It was the first time I touched the waters of the Arab Gulf which is very warm, placid, clean and considerably salty. Some parts reminded me of Olu Deniz (Dead Sea), a famous lagoon in Southwestern Turkey with extremely transparent water.
Another aspect to criticize about Doha is the way people drive, which is extremely annoying and dangerous at times. It's not uncommon to see at least two, believe me no exaggeration here, car accidents daily on a half-hour-drive to or from the university. The good thing is that with the new traffic regulations, the number of accidents seem to be decrease dramatically.
All these nice people turn into little dragons when they are behind the steering wheel. Unlike the United States and Turkey, there are a lot of roundabouts in Doha which seem very practical for light traffic, but which become a torture during heavy rush hour traffic. A ten-minute drive may take 35 minutes when the main arteries of Doha get clogged with strings of SUVs and huge American style trucks. Thankfully, this problem disappears as soon as the short rush hour period is over. I got my license in the USA and I haven't really driven in real traffic in Turkey, which might be pretty like here. Getting used to the easy traffic and respectful drivers in Oregon, I found it extremely hard to adapt to the Dohan way of driving. I think being aggressive is the key to solving this problem. Well, we have to do like the Romans do when in Rome!
One final word on traffic. I know people who came from non-Western countries and who had many "ordeals" (I literally mean ordeal) to be able to be bestowed the right to drive in Doha. I personally know one guy who almost decided to leave the country because of the difficulties he had in obtaining a driver's license. He failed 3-4 times until today and he doesn't even know if he will be able to get it at all. Therefore, make sure your US, UK, Canadian, Australian or any other Western or GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) driving license is valid, otherwise you will have to go through an extremely hard time. If you have a valid Western or GCC license, obtaining a driving license in Qatar is piece of cake.
The quality and efficiency of services is yet another big problem. Because Doha is in the process of being established in almost every aspect, services people receive from banks (Qatar National Bank),
telephone (there is only one: Q-Tel),
taxi, satellite, automobile companies are all far behind the Western world and Turkey in terms of quality and especially efficiency. You apply for a credit or debit card or a land-line telephone and it might take a month before you can actually get your card or your telephone service connected. They always seem to tell you to come the next week! I know colleagues who were not able to get a credit card for almost 3 months! The main problem behind this, I think, is the lack of competition. For example, there is only one telephone company and it belongs to the government. There are many banks, but although the quality of service is better at private banks, they all suffer from the same sluggishness when it comes to taking customer complaints into account. Having said all these negative aspects, I have to admit that it is very easy to pay telephone, electricity, water and internet bills online.
Now I want to add some facts about Qatar that I got from the CIA Factbook. I guess the following information will help you to contextualize at least some of the things I talk about.
Population: 907,229 (July 2007 est.)
Ethnic groups:Arab 40%, Indian 18%, Pakistani 18%, Iranian 10%, other 14%
Religions: Muslim 77.5%, Christian 8.5%, other 14% (2004 census)
Languages: Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language
GDP - per capita $29,800 (2006 est.)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 89%
Male: 89.1%
Female: 88.6% (2004 census)
Time difference: Same as Turkey, GMT+3. 7 Hours ahead of Eastern US and 10 hours ahead of Western US.
Area: 11,437 square km. Slightly smaller than Connecticut
Qatar is a sky-rocketingly developing country. Although people say that it's 15 years behind Dubai in terms of infrastructure and publicity, I can easily say that Doha is going to well compare to many famous well-established cities in the world in ten years time.
(These are some pictures from 2003 and 2004. This is area is now home to at least 25 skyscrapers. Just a few years ago, there was literally nothing there except a few buildings.)
One of my American colleagues says that when he first came to Qatar 9 years ago, there were only 4 traffic lights in the whole country; there was not a single Western style shopping mall and the skyline of Qatar was non-existent save the Sheraton Hotel. Qatar University is one of places where the famous skyline of Doha can best be seen. More than half of the modern buildings that make up the skyline have cranes on top of them and they seem to become higher and higher.
The gap between social classes in Qatar seems to be much wider than the USA and Turkey, at least the places and situations I have been in. The people from countries like India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and some African countries seem to be the ones on whose shoulders and with whose sweat the whole country is being built. They get paid extremely little. Once I asked a driver from the Philippines whose English was impressively fluent and he told me that they get 800 Riyals a month as a taxi driver and that they need to moonlight. Although they provide housing and all utilities are paid, what they earn is still extremely low compared to educated expatriates. In addition to housing, professors at the university make around QAR 16.000 a month. Whenever I see those people working in the sun in the middle of the day when I can't even stand the heat in the shade, I can't help but think how lucky some people are and how messed the whole world is in terms of sharing the resources.
One surprising fact for me about Qatar and Qatar University is that the majority of students are female students and the percentage of males and females who are literate (see above facts) are almost the same. Especially at the university, many females have high positions. For example, the president of the university is a female.
Given the fact that female students are more hard-working, diligent, and motivated than our male students, it's no wonder why many of the high positions are taken by the female Qataris. Well, of course there others factors behind this reality. Male Qataris are needed for other office jobs or business related positions. Education seems to be one area female Qataris prefer.
Life in Qatar is cheaper compared to the USA and Turkey with the exception of housing. Food, electronics, gas, clothing, cars, etc. come with reasonable prices. It's possible to fill your car tank with about 10 USD. There are a lot of modern shopping malls—Carrefour, Landmark, The Mall, Hyatt Plaza just to name a few—and you can find any brand name and kind of product you want. Surprisingly, just like in the USA, many people in Qatar clean their windows and tables with Windex and they eat Ritz crackers to suppress their hunger and Snickers to boost their energy. You can see Hardee's, Subway, KFC, McDonald's, PizzaHut, Starbucks in many places. Fruits and vegetables come from a wide range of regions in the world. Tomatoes are from the Middle East, bananas are from the Philippines, apples are from the USA, olives are from North Africa, garlic is from China, etc.
When it comes to cars, Japanese cars, especially Toyotas and Hondas seem to frequent the roads of Qatar, and by extension the whole Gulf area, more than any other car makes. People say that Japanese cars depreciate more slowly and are easier to maintain. Like everyone else, I definitely need to buy a car as soon as possible because there is no dependable public transportation. Having finalized my Residence Permit sometime ago, I already started looking for a car. Qatar University gives an interest-free QAR 60.000 (16.000 USD) which can be paid over period of 3 years. By putting a few thousand USD more onto this amount, you can easily buy a nice SUV. If you think that this amount is not enough for a huge car you want to buy, you can rent a car for a few months and buy the car you want or get a loan from the bank with reasonable interest rates.
There are some really nice places worth seeing in Doha. The Corniche, The West Bay, and the Diplomat areas of downtown Doha are just a few such places. It tells a lot about what people can do in the middle of nowhere if there is enough willpower, finances and manpower. As the enormous construction and infrastructure projects come to fruition one by one, the face of the whole city will resemble that of Dubai and partially New York.
Believe me, there is not a single place here that is not under construction. Even half of the university is construction. More buildings, student recreation centers, cafeterias, dorms, conference halls, etc. are on their way in a very near future.
Qataris and many expatriates who have been here for a long time state that the present Emir, meaning prince, and his wife Sheikha Mooza are a very visionary people and thanks to their diligence in reaching their long term educational, economical and financial goals for Qatar, more developments are to follow. I think many of you know the Al-Jazeera TV channel. Al-Jazeera, meaning the island, is one of the most famous achievements of Qatar in the international arena and it enjoys a large number of viewers worldwide. Qatar Airways, which is one of the fastest growing airlines in the region and the world, is another achievement. After the new multi-billion dollar Doha International Airport, to be one of the biggest airports in the world, is completed, Qatar expects to attract a considerable number of tourists.
The impartiality and depth of news on Al-Jazeera seems to be one of the strong indicators to me that the fate of this region will be totally different in a few decades or so. Now some might think that this view is quite simplistic, but believe me I am not uttering this idea without due reflection on what's and what's going on around me.
Unlike getting the entrance visa to Qatar which was sent to me via e-mail, obtaining a work permit is a very cumbersome process and it takes about two weeks. Because of the weather conditions here the concept of public transportation is a weird idea for many people. Therefore, to be able to function in this country you definitely need to have a reliable car. However, although buying or renting a car is way cheaper than the USA and Turkey here, newcomers need to go through a lot of red tape procedures before they can have their cars. Thankfully the university made accommodations to complete necessary procedures for obtaining work permit, buying/renting a car, requesting a landline phone, internet service, etc. easily. There was a bus service from the compound to the university for about 8 weeks, which was in service long enough to complete all procedures and to buy a car. Also, the university provides newcomers with private drivers to go to governmental buildings for certain documents and procedures. Believe me it's a great relief indeed. Thanks to these services, I completed all my paperwork in a reasonable time.
Just like the arrangements the university did on a larger scale, the Foundation Program also made it easier to adapt to Qatar University for newcomers. We were provided with a relatively nice office space and all books and supplementary materials we need. In addition, the university provided every faculty with a brand new IBM lap-top computer.
(You can see the Women's and Men's Foundation Buildings respectively in the pictures below. The names shouldn't mislead you into thinking that men can't enter the women's building and vice versa. It's not the case.)
(Women's Foundation Building. A huge complex of new classes, cafeterias, offices, etc. is being built right next to the WFB. You can the see the construction going on.)
The Foundation Program arranged some very useful workshops aimed at maximizing teaching outcomes in Qatari context one week before the classes started. The Foundation Program gives a lot of attention to extracurricular activities as demonstrated by student clubs, workshops for students, and countless activities. Many teachers complain that the main problem with these activities and clubs is the meager student attendance. I guess all new teachers as well as the returning ones will need to come up with ways to improve student motivation to attend to them as they are there for helping students to improve their English. More and more I come to realize that the Foundation Program, given the huge number of students and teachers, is one of the few programs that seem to be running the best.
The Foundation Program is a relatively new program with around 90 teachers from 25 different countries and more than 2000 students from a range of Middle Eastern countries, the main group (approximately 85 %) being the Qatari students.
(Female students on QU Campus)
There are 4 levels of study and students are assigned to them according to institutional TOEFL scores. Qatar University follows the semester system; each semester is 15 weeks long with a lot of holidays during and between the semesters as well as a paid 2-month summer break. This means that students can complete the 4 levels in the program over a period of 2 years, which I believe is quite a judicious time span for acquiring academic English skills in the Qatari setting. Of course, students with extraordinary English skills as demonstrated in their TOEFL or IELTS scores can jump levels and finish the program in a shorter time.
Many professors from other departments do always complain that they encounter problems, serious and superficial, in different nature every day. Although Qatar University supposedly has a lot of money and is trying to increase the quality of education, it is still in the process of being established in many aspects. Again, the Foundation Program, at least in my opinion, seems to be more established compared to many other programs despite being founded less than a decade ago. We have a Blackboard system, the same system that we used at the University of Oregon, and almost all supplemental material is kept in soft copies. A server for the faculty would solve many problems emanating from sending too many e-mails, organizing and archiving extra materials.
Northstar Reading/Writing and Listening/Speaking course books are adopted for all four levels with supplementary materials and Multimedia classes. We have been piloting some reading, writing, listening and speaking books and some decision have been already made as to replace the NorthStar books. The Foundation Program is trying to be accredited by an international accreditation institution and one change they wanted, as I heard from other colleagues, was the coursebooks we use at the FP. They stated that the NorthStar books did not really fit to student population and their characteristics.
Students receive 10 hours of R/W, 6 hours of L/S, 2 hours of Grammar and 2 hours of MM classes a week. Each new teacher is given a co-teacher who can guide the newcomer and provide him/her with insights into teaching this specific student population. My co-teacher was from India the first term and she has been in Qatar for quite a long time. I taught Level 1 and Level 2 students so far. I had around 25 students in my R/W, L/S and MM classes and they are from a wide variety of Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Syria, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, Iran, etc. I have students even from Senegal, Mauritania, and Djibouti! Second semester I had only 4 students because I was teaching the third shift which is not popular with students. Third shift is mainly intended for working people. It's not uncommon to see many American or European students in the Arabic language program, but I am not sure there are any in other departments.
Although the motivation and study habits of these students run still very low compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, I am still really pleased with their language skills, especially oral ones, their attitude towards learning English and their motivation. They are all very nice and kind.
However, I still believe that the State of Qatar needs to change the way teachers, administrators and students view school, homework, and the seriousness of education as a whole. Having taught students from the Gulf in the USA and being familiar with their lack of motivation and poor study habits, is a strong reason why I take it easy when students are disappointingly irresponsible with their homework assignments.
Some of the classroom buildings at Qatar University look somewhat old, but there are also a lot of new buildings that are going to be ready in a very short while. One great thing about the classrooms is that they have multimedia projectors which you can hook up to your computer. This saves a lot of time and headache in terms of preparing photocopies. Unlike the American English Institute at the University of Oregon, giving hand-outs to students is kept to a minimum.
(A scene from the QU Campus)
Each level has a supervisor who is responsible for making sure that teaching takes place as smoothly as possible and that everyone is on the same page. First semester, my level supervisor was from Britain. He is married to Turkish woman. She is not the only Turk I have met here. There are 4 Turkish professors at Qatar University who started their posts this year. Birol Bey teaches International Relations; Okan Bey teaches Construction Engineering,Ramazan and Mert Bey teach Chemical Engineering. Okan Bey, Ramazan Bey and Mert Bey are here with their families. Moreover, there is another professor, Davud Bey, from Iraq whose wife, according to what I heard, is Turkish. Salih Bey, Oktay Bey, Mustafa Bey, Talha Bey are other Turks that I know. All of them are very nice people and I feel lucky to be neighbors with some of them in the same compound. Especially during Ramadan, it was very nice to have familiar faces and conversations around. Unlike the USA, I felt that it was really Ramadan and I enjoyed it so much. One of the greatest things that made me feel this way is some of the Ramadan traditions that I had a chance to experience here. Some Turkish families and my dear friend Heshmi from Tunisia treated me with some of the most delicious Turkish and Mediterranean food during Iftar, breaking the fast which Muslims observe at sunset. However, I need to admit that Ramadans and Eid celebrations in Turkey, especially in Istanbul and in my town, are far beyond comparison.
(Scene from Doha Marriot Hotel)
It looks like that I have written long and through enough to make feel, taste, and hear Doha. Or, maybe not. Perhaps I shouldn't overestimate what I have written and invite you to Qatar to see and experience most of the things above first hand. If anyone of you happen to come to Doha, please keep in mind that you have a home, not just a house, in here. Take care and stay tuned for my next post from Qatar, the pearl of the Arab Gulf. PLEASE please write your comments in the box below. Let me know what you think about this blog, what you would like to know more about and what else I should include. Thank you in advance!
Best regards,
Ozgur Pala - English Lecturer
English Department - Foundation Program
Qatar University
P.O. Box 2713
Doha, QATAR
(My friend Patrick and I while going to see a Dhow Race this week)
I would like to extend a warm hello to all of you from the extremely hot and humid Middle Eastern state of Qatar. I hope this e-mail finds you in the best of health.
I arrived in this little country-under-construction on the 5th of September, 2007 after a eight-day stop-over in Turkey, my home country. I am not sure how I should start this long post about Qatar, Doha, the capital city of Qatar, Qatari people, an extremely wide range of expatriates working in this country, Qatar University Foundation Program and the student population at the university, but I will try my best to provide you with a clear and as much objective picture as possible. I will walk you through my experiences from my first step into Doha until now. I hope you like my style of language and enjoy this blog.
The temperature in Doha and the hospitality of people at the airport were way beyond my expectations. I can easily say -especially after listening to reactions of my colleagues and professors and lecturers from other departments- that educators are shown VIP treatment and extreme hospitality in Qatar starting from arriving at Doha International Airport.
Upon arriving at the airport, which is under construction like the rest of the country, I was greeted by a very polite lady from the Philippines holding a sign with my name on it. She told me to follow her and said that my luggage would be cleared through the customs while the passport procedures were being taken care of. A Turkish businessman and I were seated in a cozy room and were provided with refreshments and a rich assortment of nuts. In a short while, we were notified that the passport procedures were completed and that our luggage was waiting for us just outside the room. Remembering the hassle I have going through JFK New York every time I go to the USA, I was extremely pleased with this treatment. I said goodbye to the businessman as he was ushered to a car to head towards the hotel he was going to stay. The Filipina lady -unfortunately I don't remember her name- and another man who carried my luggage and I went outside. The Filipina lady introduced me to a driver from India who was arranged by Qatar University and who was going to give me a ride to my apartment.
The driver, Ahmad, said hello and welcomed me to Doha. Having waited for this very moment for over five months, I was very excited to be in Doha and was trying to understand what Qatar was like from the buildings and roads we were passing. My impressions at the airport were reinforced more as we proceeded into the city center and headed towards Al-Zuhoor -means "flower"- one of the university compounds where I was allotted an apartment.
On the way, I was provided with a cell phone just in case I wanted to call home. Later on I learned that since cell phones appear to be a must in Qatar, Qatar University provides new faculty members with cell phones for more than 2 months, which is a reasonable time period to be able to get a cell phone or land-line phone for one's own. I used that cell-phone for over 2 months and gave it back to the HR. They told me that I could keep the SIM card. I have been buying pre-paid credits ever since. Compared to the USA, my cell-phone bills are 2 to 3 times higher. Thankfully, I was recommended some good internet VOIP programs through which I call my family, friends and relatives in Turkey, my friends in the USA or in Europe almost free!
In addition to the cell-phone, I needed to get a land-line telephone for having access to ADSL internet. Many of my colleagues had lots of difficulties in getting a land-line, but thankfully I did not have any difficulties in getting the line or with the bills. As I will talk about below, banking and telephone services in Qatar are provided with some kind of problems at times.
I was also provided with a welcome packet which included some maps, information about the city, Qatar University and life in Doha in general. As we further went into the heart of the city, I could see many skyscrapers, malls, shops, etc., which were quite impressive. I was expecting a somewhat more Middle-Eastern capital. Doha, as it surprises me every day, turned out to be an extremely modern, lively, safe and friendly city.
After 20-25 minutes we were at the compound. My initial impressions were that it was a new compound and not many people were living there. First, Ahmad took me to the Club House from where we collected another welcome packet and keys to my apartment. When Ahmad welcomed me inside my apartment, I was amazed by how spacious the rooms were. There are 3 bedrooms, one living room, and a kitchen. There are 3 bathrooms, two of them with showers. The university thought about even our breakfast the next morning: they placed water, fruit juice, cheese, bread, jam in the refrigerator as well as coffee, coffee mate, plastic kitchenware, etc. Being given this extremely spacious apartment building, I was happy and sad at the same time. The house was large and I was alone, just on my own. If I was married, life here would be more fun. Or maybe not? What do those people who are married think? :-)
All rooms are furnished in the house. There are a washing/drying machine, a refrigerator and a dishwasher in the kitchen. The kitchen counter extends from one end to the other and the cupboards are nicely installed above and below the counters. There are a dining table with 6 chairs, a TV set with satellite TV, a coffee table, two side tables, a sofa, a love-seat, two armchairs, and a study table with a roller chair which is very comfortable. In addition, there is a nice buffet with a large mirror and spacious drawers and cupboards and an Egyptian carpet in the living room.
The bedrooms come with a bed, two of them single and one of them double, a very spacious wardrobe, an Egyptian carpet, and a buffet with a small chair and smaller drawers. All I needed to buy were some kitchen utensils, an iron, an ironing board, some containers, etc. Because the weather is extremely hot and humid, they installed an air conditioner in each room. There are two in the living room!
Now you think that having air conditioners is a great thing, but let me tell you that until I got used to the AC working day and night, I had a terrible sore throat for quite a while.
When you turn them on it's as if you were at the North Pole, but as soon as you turn them off you feel engulfed by a wild and fierce portion of Hell. A central cooling system would be much better. This is not a problem from late Fall until mid-Spring period as the unbearable temperatures dwindle considerably.
Doubtlessly, the only stark difference from my previous place of residence in the USA -Eugene, Oregon- and in Turkey -Antalya- goes without saying: the weather. I could feel the heat and extreme humidity with all my being from the moment I set foot outside the airport. I wonder how people lived here before air-conditioning was invented. However, as I told you above don't assume that the heat and humidity are here forever. October and onwards, for example, cooler evenings and chillier nights are not rare phenomena. But 'chillier' doesn't mean chillier in the sense that it becomes cold like in Turkey or Oregon. During the day one can feel the nice breeze coming from the Arab Gulf. Thanks to this somewhat cooler weather conditions especially at the campus flowers, all kinds of trees and tropical plants seem livelier. Non-stop twittering of different birds with beautiful harmonious voices in the backyard of the building I teach adds to this beauty. I don't know which kind of bird articulates such mesmerizing sounds, but I just love it. I believe when the weather is nicer, teaching and life in general in Doha becomes even more pleasing.
To my experience, you don't need to have blankets to cover yourselves even during the coldest months!
(A nearby Residential Area Development Project. Many parts of Doha are being organized into little residential neighborhoods like this one. Rent is extremely expensive and owning land or property is almost impossible, both legally and financially.)
The first few days the compound I live in seemed to be very quiet, but when the people started arriving from their holidays it became livelier. There are of course other things that add to this lively atmosphere. There is a gym center, a game corner with billiards and fussball,
a playground for kids,
and a swimming pool
and an entertainment center with TV set, DVD, and video. I have been going to the gym almost every evening since I arrived here.
My American friend David, who also teaches English at the Foundation Program, has been motivating me to run even on days I feel tired. We run around the compound neighborhood and try to explore the area in detail. We are very close to an incredibly enormous sports city which hosted 2006 Asian Games.
There are a huge stadium, an elegant tower named the Aspire Tower, many running tracks, bicycle paths, swimming pools, soccer fields, basketball fields, tennis courts, paths for horses, etc. in this little city that it looks like an oasis in the middle of the desert. Another great example of what determination and money can do in the middle of the desert.
All these facilities seem to be overshadowed by a beautiful and elegant tower that accompanies the sport city and Villaggio, a neighborhood which is the home to many mega shopping centers and designer clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.
Villaggio gets its Italian name from its architecture. Inside this huge complex you can take little gondolas to and fro just like in Venice, Italy, under an artificial sky which makes you feel like you are walking outdoors.
After the gym, we usually swim in the swimming pool just outside the gym. Swimming, I have realized, is the most fun and relaxing sport one can ever do here during the day or at night. Especially swimming at night energizes me for the new day.
One of my major goals in coming to Qatar was to learn Arabic, a language that I believe will add a lot to my knowledge base and ability to express myself once I am able to speak it. Turkish has a large amount of loan words from Arabic and I can understand the gist of many of the basic conversations; however, I need some grammar to weave all that know and hear into an intelligible linguistic construction. The university has an intensive 20-hour a week Arabic program for non-native speakers. Teaching 20 hours a week myself, it is impossible for me to be able to audit these classes unless I teach the third shift. The problem is that there are no third shift classes anymore. I have three choices now: first, I can self-study Arabic through some books recommended by some instructors I know at the program; second, I can get private tutoring which might be not very motivating given the fact that many Arabic speakers here wouldn't be happy with the money they would get from tutoring; third, I can opt for free Arabic classes offered through the Islamic Center in downtown Doha which is usually preferred by converts. No matter how late I am, I will make a choice pretty soon depending on my schedule.
My biggest challenge in learning Arabic will be Qatar itself. Everything, from traffic signs to nutrition facts on products, seems to be in English here.
Wherever you go, there are people to help you in English. This makes it quite difficult to find the urge to speak Arabic and above all to resist the temptation to speak English. Especially in the compound although there are many native Arabic speakers from all over the world, English dominates as the language of communication among many people. Perhaps the locals want to practice their English and that's why I always end up talking in English. The high number of expatriates from many Western countries is another reason why English is the lingua franca here.
You can always find something to complain about anywhere you go. The amount of green spaces in Doha is one such issue. There are not YET enough green spaces in many parts of Doha except a few man-made places of extreme green. Let's be honest. These guys are doing a great job in turning Doha into a greener place. Sometimes I pass through roads and neighborhoods that resemble Northwestern American cities.
(A pedestrians- and bikes-only walkway in downtown Doha. These bike paths are very very rare. You will not see people biking when you are driving.)
If the number of these greener places can be increased, Doha will become a much more beautiful city. When it comes to green space, the compound is not an exception. There is a rumor that more trees will be planted soon in the compound, at least at the central point of compound where there is kind of a small park. It rains only "once or twice" in a whole year in Doha, which makes it extremely expensive to maintain greenery. Surprisingly, Qataris even have a nationwide center, Qatar Green, to make the country greener. I find it quite surprising because Qatar acquires its water from the sea through desalination, an extremely expensive process. Similarly, I find it very surprising that we have no water shortages in Qatar!
According to what colleagues who has been here for over 5 years and who saw the condition of Doha just a few years ago say that the attempts to add more green space to the landscape of Doha have been extremely successful.
Qatar's beautiful, extremely clean, and sandy beaches (you can't swim there during the day when it is too hot to stay even in the shade in summer time) make for the lack of green spaces. One of the Turkish professors and I went to a tiny city named Dukhan a month ago. It was the first time I touched the waters of the Arab Gulf which is very warm, placid, clean and considerably salty. Some parts reminded me of Olu Deniz (Dead Sea), a famous lagoon in Southwestern Turkey with extremely transparent water.
Another aspect to criticize about Doha is the way people drive, which is extremely annoying and dangerous at times. It's not uncommon to see at least two, believe me no exaggeration here, car accidents daily on a half-hour-drive to or from the university. The good thing is that with the new traffic regulations, the number of accidents seem to be decrease dramatically.
All these nice people turn into little dragons when they are behind the steering wheel. Unlike the United States and Turkey, there are a lot of roundabouts in Doha which seem very practical for light traffic, but which become a torture during heavy rush hour traffic. A ten-minute drive may take 35 minutes when the main arteries of Doha get clogged with strings of SUVs and huge American style trucks. Thankfully, this problem disappears as soon as the short rush hour period is over. I got my license in the USA and I haven't really driven in real traffic in Turkey, which might be pretty like here. Getting used to the easy traffic and respectful drivers in Oregon, I found it extremely hard to adapt to the Dohan way of driving. I think being aggressive is the key to solving this problem. Well, we have to do like the Romans do when in Rome!
One final word on traffic. I know people who came from non-Western countries and who had many "ordeals" (I literally mean ordeal) to be able to be bestowed the right to drive in Doha. I personally know one guy who almost decided to leave the country because of the difficulties he had in obtaining a driver's license. He failed 3-4 times until today and he doesn't even know if he will be able to get it at all. Therefore, make sure your US, UK, Canadian, Australian or any other Western or GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) driving license is valid, otherwise you will have to go through an extremely hard time. If you have a valid Western or GCC license, obtaining a driving license in Qatar is piece of cake.
The quality and efficiency of services is yet another big problem. Because Doha is in the process of being established in almost every aspect, services people receive from banks (Qatar National Bank),
telephone (there is only one: Q-Tel),
taxi, satellite, automobile companies are all far behind the Western world and Turkey in terms of quality and especially efficiency. You apply for a credit or debit card or a land-line telephone and it might take a month before you can actually get your card or your telephone service connected. They always seem to tell you to come the next week! I know colleagues who were not able to get a credit card for almost 3 months! The main problem behind this, I think, is the lack of competition. For example, there is only one telephone company and it belongs to the government. There are many banks, but although the quality of service is better at private banks, they all suffer from the same sluggishness when it comes to taking customer complaints into account. Having said all these negative aspects, I have to admit that it is very easy to pay telephone, electricity, water and internet bills online.
Now I want to add some facts about Qatar that I got from the CIA Factbook. I guess the following information will help you to contextualize at least some of the things I talk about.
Population: 907,229 (July 2007 est.)
Ethnic groups:Arab 40%, Indian 18%, Pakistani 18%, Iranian 10%, other 14%
Religions: Muslim 77.5%, Christian 8.5%, other 14% (2004 census)
Languages: Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language
GDP - per capita $29,800 (2006 est.)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 89%
Male: 89.1%
Female: 88.6% (2004 census)
Time difference: Same as Turkey, GMT+3. 7 Hours ahead of Eastern US and 10 hours ahead of Western US.
Area: 11,437 square km. Slightly smaller than Connecticut
Qatar is a sky-rocketingly developing country. Although people say that it's 15 years behind Dubai in terms of infrastructure and publicity, I can easily say that Doha is going to well compare to many famous well-established cities in the world in ten years time.
(These are some pictures from 2003 and 2004. This is area is now home to at least 25 skyscrapers. Just a few years ago, there was literally nothing there except a few buildings.)
One of my American colleagues says that when he first came to Qatar 9 years ago, there were only 4 traffic lights in the whole country; there was not a single Western style shopping mall and the skyline of Qatar was non-existent save the Sheraton Hotel. Qatar University is one of places where the famous skyline of Doha can best be seen. More than half of the modern buildings that make up the skyline have cranes on top of them and they seem to become higher and higher.
The gap between social classes in Qatar seems to be much wider than the USA and Turkey, at least the places and situations I have been in. The people from countries like India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and some African countries seem to be the ones on whose shoulders and with whose sweat the whole country is being built. They get paid extremely little. Once I asked a driver from the Philippines whose English was impressively fluent and he told me that they get 800 Riyals a month as a taxi driver and that they need to moonlight. Although they provide housing and all utilities are paid, what they earn is still extremely low compared to educated expatriates. In addition to housing, professors at the university make around QAR 16.000 a month. Whenever I see those people working in the sun in the middle of the day when I can't even stand the heat in the shade, I can't help but think how lucky some people are and how messed the whole world is in terms of sharing the resources.
One surprising fact for me about Qatar and Qatar University is that the majority of students are female students and the percentage of males and females who are literate (see above facts) are almost the same. Especially at the university, many females have high positions. For example, the president of the university is a female.
Given the fact that female students are more hard-working, diligent, and motivated than our male students, it's no wonder why many of the high positions are taken by the female Qataris. Well, of course there others factors behind this reality. Male Qataris are needed for other office jobs or business related positions. Education seems to be one area female Qataris prefer.
Life in Qatar is cheaper compared to the USA and Turkey with the exception of housing. Food, electronics, gas, clothing, cars, etc. come with reasonable prices. It's possible to fill your car tank with about 10 USD. There are a lot of modern shopping malls—Carrefour, Landmark, The Mall, Hyatt Plaza just to name a few—and you can find any brand name and kind of product you want. Surprisingly, just like in the USA, many people in Qatar clean their windows and tables with Windex and they eat Ritz crackers to suppress their hunger and Snickers to boost their energy. You can see Hardee's, Subway, KFC, McDonald's, PizzaHut, Starbucks in many places. Fruits and vegetables come from a wide range of regions in the world. Tomatoes are from the Middle East, bananas are from the Philippines, apples are from the USA, olives are from North Africa, garlic is from China, etc.
When it comes to cars, Japanese cars, especially Toyotas and Hondas seem to frequent the roads of Qatar, and by extension the whole Gulf area, more than any other car makes. People say that Japanese cars depreciate more slowly and are easier to maintain. Like everyone else, I definitely need to buy a car as soon as possible because there is no dependable public transportation. Having finalized my Residence Permit sometime ago, I already started looking for a car. Qatar University gives an interest-free QAR 60.000 (16.000 USD) which can be paid over period of 3 years. By putting a few thousand USD more onto this amount, you can easily buy a nice SUV. If you think that this amount is not enough for a huge car you want to buy, you can rent a car for a few months and buy the car you want or get a loan from the bank with reasonable interest rates.
There are some really nice places worth seeing in Doha. The Corniche, The West Bay, and the Diplomat areas of downtown Doha are just a few such places. It tells a lot about what people can do in the middle of nowhere if there is enough willpower, finances and manpower. As the enormous construction and infrastructure projects come to fruition one by one, the face of the whole city will resemble that of Dubai and partially New York.
Believe me, there is not a single place here that is not under construction. Even half of the university is construction. More buildings, student recreation centers, cafeterias, dorms, conference halls, etc. are on their way in a very near future.
Qataris and many expatriates who have been here for a long time state that the present Emir, meaning prince, and his wife Sheikha Mooza are a very visionary people and thanks to their diligence in reaching their long term educational, economical and financial goals for Qatar, more developments are to follow. I think many of you know the Al-Jazeera TV channel. Al-Jazeera, meaning the island, is one of the most famous achievements of Qatar in the international arena and it enjoys a large number of viewers worldwide. Qatar Airways, which is one of the fastest growing airlines in the region and the world, is another achievement. After the new multi-billion dollar Doha International Airport, to be one of the biggest airports in the world, is completed, Qatar expects to attract a considerable number of tourists.
The impartiality and depth of news on Al-Jazeera seems to be one of the strong indicators to me that the fate of this region will be totally different in a few decades or so. Now some might think that this view is quite simplistic, but believe me I am not uttering this idea without due reflection on what's and what's going on around me.
Unlike getting the entrance visa to Qatar which was sent to me via e-mail, obtaining a work permit is a very cumbersome process and it takes about two weeks. Because of the weather conditions here the concept of public transportation is a weird idea for many people. Therefore, to be able to function in this country you definitely need to have a reliable car. However, although buying or renting a car is way cheaper than the USA and Turkey here, newcomers need to go through a lot of red tape procedures before they can have their cars. Thankfully the university made accommodations to complete necessary procedures for obtaining work permit, buying/renting a car, requesting a landline phone, internet service, etc. easily. There was a bus service from the compound to the university for about 8 weeks, which was in service long enough to complete all procedures and to buy a car. Also, the university provides newcomers with private drivers to go to governmental buildings for certain documents and procedures. Believe me it's a great relief indeed. Thanks to these services, I completed all my paperwork in a reasonable time.
Just like the arrangements the university did on a larger scale, the Foundation Program also made it easier to adapt to Qatar University for newcomers. We were provided with a relatively nice office space and all books and supplementary materials we need. In addition, the university provided every faculty with a brand new IBM lap-top computer.
(You can see the Women's and Men's Foundation Buildings respectively in the pictures below. The names shouldn't mislead you into thinking that men can't enter the women's building and vice versa. It's not the case.)
(Women's Foundation Building. A huge complex of new classes, cafeterias, offices, etc. is being built right next to the WFB. You can the see the construction going on.)
The Foundation Program arranged some very useful workshops aimed at maximizing teaching outcomes in Qatari context one week before the classes started. The Foundation Program gives a lot of attention to extracurricular activities as demonstrated by student clubs, workshops for students, and countless activities. Many teachers complain that the main problem with these activities and clubs is the meager student attendance. I guess all new teachers as well as the returning ones will need to come up with ways to improve student motivation to attend to them as they are there for helping students to improve their English. More and more I come to realize that the Foundation Program, given the huge number of students and teachers, is one of the few programs that seem to be running the best.
The Foundation Program is a relatively new program with around 90 teachers from 25 different countries and more than 2000 students from a range of Middle Eastern countries, the main group (approximately 85 %) being the Qatari students.
(Female students on QU Campus)
There are 4 levels of study and students are assigned to them according to institutional TOEFL scores. Qatar University follows the semester system; each semester is 15 weeks long with a lot of holidays during and between the semesters as well as a paid 2-month summer break. This means that students can complete the 4 levels in the program over a period of 2 years, which I believe is quite a judicious time span for acquiring academic English skills in the Qatari setting. Of course, students with extraordinary English skills as demonstrated in their TOEFL or IELTS scores can jump levels and finish the program in a shorter time.
Many professors from other departments do always complain that they encounter problems, serious and superficial, in different nature every day. Although Qatar University supposedly has a lot of money and is trying to increase the quality of education, it is still in the process of being established in many aspects. Again, the Foundation Program, at least in my opinion, seems to be more established compared to many other programs despite being founded less than a decade ago. We have a Blackboard system, the same system that we used at the University of Oregon, and almost all supplemental material is kept in soft copies. A server for the faculty would solve many problems emanating from sending too many e-mails, organizing and archiving extra materials.
Northstar Reading/Writing and Listening/Speaking course books are adopted for all four levels with supplementary materials and Multimedia classes. We have been piloting some reading, writing, listening and speaking books and some decision have been already made as to replace the NorthStar books. The Foundation Program is trying to be accredited by an international accreditation institution and one change they wanted, as I heard from other colleagues, was the coursebooks we use at the FP. They stated that the NorthStar books did not really fit to student population and their characteristics.
Students receive 10 hours of R/W, 6 hours of L/S, 2 hours of Grammar and 2 hours of MM classes a week. Each new teacher is given a co-teacher who can guide the newcomer and provide him/her with insights into teaching this specific student population. My co-teacher was from India the first term and she has been in Qatar for quite a long time. I taught Level 1 and Level 2 students so far. I had around 25 students in my R/W, L/S and MM classes and they are from a wide variety of Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Syria, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, Iran, etc. I have students even from Senegal, Mauritania, and Djibouti! Second semester I had only 4 students because I was teaching the third shift which is not popular with students. Third shift is mainly intended for working people. It's not uncommon to see many American or European students in the Arabic language program, but I am not sure there are any in other departments.
Although the motivation and study habits of these students run still very low compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, I am still really pleased with their language skills, especially oral ones, their attitude towards learning English and their motivation. They are all very nice and kind.
However, I still believe that the State of Qatar needs to change the way teachers, administrators and students view school, homework, and the seriousness of education as a whole. Having taught students from the Gulf in the USA and being familiar with their lack of motivation and poor study habits, is a strong reason why I take it easy when students are disappointingly irresponsible with their homework assignments.
Some of the classroom buildings at Qatar University look somewhat old, but there are also a lot of new buildings that are going to be ready in a very short while. One great thing about the classrooms is that they have multimedia projectors which you can hook up to your computer. This saves a lot of time and headache in terms of preparing photocopies. Unlike the American English Institute at the University of Oregon, giving hand-outs to students is kept to a minimum.
(A scene from the QU Campus)
Each level has a supervisor who is responsible for making sure that teaching takes place as smoothly as possible and that everyone is on the same page. First semester, my level supervisor was from Britain. He is married to Turkish woman. She is not the only Turk I have met here. There are 4 Turkish professors at Qatar University who started their posts this year. Birol Bey teaches International Relations; Okan Bey teaches Construction Engineering,Ramazan and Mert Bey teach Chemical Engineering. Okan Bey, Ramazan Bey and Mert Bey are here with their families. Moreover, there is another professor, Davud Bey, from Iraq whose wife, according to what I heard, is Turkish. Salih Bey, Oktay Bey, Mustafa Bey, Talha Bey are other Turks that I know. All of them are very nice people and I feel lucky to be neighbors with some of them in the same compound. Especially during Ramadan, it was very nice to have familiar faces and conversations around. Unlike the USA, I felt that it was really Ramadan and I enjoyed it so much. One of the greatest things that made me feel this way is some of the Ramadan traditions that I had a chance to experience here. Some Turkish families and my dear friend Heshmi from Tunisia treated me with some of the most delicious Turkish and Mediterranean food during Iftar, breaking the fast which Muslims observe at sunset. However, I need to admit that Ramadans and Eid celebrations in Turkey, especially in Istanbul and in my town, are far beyond comparison.
(Scene from Doha Marriot Hotel)
It looks like that I have written long and through enough to make feel, taste, and hear Doha. Or, maybe not. Perhaps I shouldn't overestimate what I have written and invite you to Qatar to see and experience most of the things above first hand. If anyone of you happen to come to Doha, please keep in mind that you have a home, not just a house, in here. Take care and stay tuned for my next post from Qatar, the pearl of the Arab Gulf. PLEASE please write your comments in the box below. Let me know what you think about this blog, what you would like to know more about and what else I should include. Thank you in advance!
Best regards,
Ozgur Pala - English Lecturer
English Department - Foundation Program
Qatar University
P.O. Box 2713
Doha, QATAR
(My friend Patrick and I while going to see a Dhow Race this week)
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