Accidents Happen, Especially in Doha

As a friend said when he heard of this, I can now go home. I have done everything there is to do in Doha. I got in a car accident. Around 2 o'clock, Tuesday 26 June, 2007.

Not my fault and fortunately the ticket agrees with that fact. I didn't get the ticket. I was rear ended. My car was the bigger of the two and so won the collision. No one was hurt.

I was getting ready to turn right onto a very busy road. Most turns here are right turns. There are islands running down the middle of most roads to prevent cars from travelling in the lane for oncoming traffic. The drivers here are truly that aggressive. I have had cars heading directly for me on roads without barriers down the middle. And most of the intersections are round abouts. So left turns are rare birds. So are turns onto streets or into round abouts where you are not risking your life. And most people here would rather hit you than yield. And don't get me started about the tailgating here ..... grrrrrrr!!

So I'm stopped waiting to turn right, like any normal person. But apparently I was supposed to just head into the traffic like a crazy Arab driver because that's what the person behind me intended to do, even though I was in front of her.



Collision. She got the worst of it. I felt a jolt in my neck, but nothing serious and it took just a second for the truth to register. I pulled a bit forward and to the side in order to get as much out of the flow of traffic as possible.

The lady who hit me was nice. Not upset or angry. She gets on her mobile phone, I get on mine. Call mom. There's a series of calls. I learn that in order to get my car fixed I have to have a police report. I also learn that I should not move my car at all.

This brings up the only rather odd occurrence. (I mean, besides the accident itself, which isn't all that odd here in Qatar - there's tons of accidents. I don't go a day without seeing a new wreck on the side of the road.) At one point, the lady who hit me says that the police say we should both drive to the police station. She's getting in her car and ready to go. And that strikes me as odd because I was told by two friends I'd called that I shouldn't move. So, a moment of brilliance that should have hit me previously finally does, and I say to the lady, "Ok - I'll follow you, but let me take some pictures first." So I run out to get the pictures you see here, and before I'm even done she says that the police are on their way out to see the accident. I don't know what actually happened. I do not speak Arabic. But it is something that makes me go "hmmm."

See, my dad's been rear ended, and he's the one that ended up with the ticket. In the States there would be no question as to who was at fault. (But then no-fault insurance laws could mess things up--but I digress). But here, I'm a second class citizen because I'm not Qatari. And ideas of "due process" are not exactly fair, at least to American sensibilities. So I was glad that I didn't the ticket.



The lady's husband (I assume) came to help her. There were both very nice. No angry words or even angry looks. In the States, I'd expect angry looks and wouldn't be surprised at angry words, even though it was not my fault. But these Qataris were the definition of civil. I assume they were Qatari by their dress - the abaya and thobe with the head scarf and gutra. My spellings of those words is probably wrong.

Had to go to the police station the next day to get the accident report. A bit of a confusion there because I was told to pay a 300 Qatari Riyal fine. But I had not gotten the ticket, so I couldn't figure out what the fine could be for. After a bit of questioning the policemen there it became clear that the fine was for a speeding ticket my father incurred a few days before I even arrived in the country. But I had to pay the fine anyway. Oh, well.

BTW - that way of collecting on speeding tickets is less effective. The reason for imposing tickets and fines for speeding is to not only punish infractions, but to create safer roads. In order to do that, the imposition of the punishment should be close in time to the commission of the infraction. That way the perpetrator knows when, where and what he or she did wrong and has immediate incentive not to repeat the behavior. The way they do it here is by radar and photographs. But they do not inform the driver of the ticket until he or she gets in an accident or wants to leave the country. A speeding driver could incur thousands in fines and never even know it until months or years later when he finally crashes, maybe even killing someone. It does nothing to immediately improve road safety. It it an effective way to get money. I mean, I had to pay my father's fine.

Rex's Guitar Video

A star is born!

This takes a little bit to load. But Rex is goo-ood. And the end is amusing.

More Pics

By the pool. Shortly after a short exchange with a hairy Turk. See previous post.
A desert rose. According to Wikipedia a "[d]esert rose is the colloquial name given to rosette formations of the minerals gypsum and barite with poikilotopic sand inclusions. The 'petals' are crystals flattened on the c crystallographic axis, fanning open along characteristic gypsum cleavage planes. (See also: Crystallography) The rosette crystal habit tends to occur when the crystals form in arid sandy conditions, such as the evaporation of a shallow salt basin. Gypsum roses usually have better defined, sharper edges than barite roses."

Rex, celebrating being on the honor roll, with good ol' American applie pie and vanilla ice cream. With Old Glory. Wow.
Virgin Mega Store. Sanity. Previously I thought these stores too loud for me. But here, with it's huge English language book section, it is practically Mecca to me.
Unfortunately, not an uncommon sight.

The Dragonfly catcher.

Tim Burton would love the curbs here: they're nearly all black and white striped.

Breaking Employment News

Well - I'm once again randomly employed. As a long term substitute teacher. In ESL.

I should just paper this place with my resume and land a real teaching job.

Paper Dolls

There are some paper dolls sitting here on the desk. Mom printed them up. It's a sweet little girl - late 19th early 20th century looking - with little traditional European dresses. I think Mom and I should color them and have a tea party.

Friday was good - Sacrament meeting about the Sacrament - and I realized something. At the institution of the Sacrament, all of the Gospels have Jesus saying words to the effect of "Take, eat. This is my body." (Italics added) In only one of the gospels, Luke 22:19, he says that the breaking of the bread is to be done in remembrance of him. Three ideas came to mind.

First, thank heavens for the Book of Mormon clarifying that the Sacrament is done in remembrance of the sacrifice, and that transubstantiation is false. In 3 Nephi 18:7 Jesus says clearly, as he does in the one gospel, that the breaking and blessing of the bread is done in "remembrance of [his] body, which [he has] shown unto [the Lamanites and Nephites.]"

But the second thing that hit me is that Jesus is telling us to remember he has a body. It's so painfully obvious that it's hard to explain. We're so used to skipping over the words and going straight for the "doctrinal" stuff that the obvious is missed.

He had a body. And blood. God had a body, with red blood in it.

And more than that - he has a body. We wants us to remember not only the mortal incarnation, but the immortal. Again, the Book of Mormon clarifies this because Jesus says that the Sacrament is to be done in remembrance of the body that he showed to the Nephites and Lamanites, which is his resurrected body. God wants us to remember that he is physical.

The third thing I noticed was that in all of the headings to the LDS edition of the scriptures, the reference to the Lord's instigation of the sacrament is that he "instituted" it. Of course, one man wrote all of those headings (was it B.R. McKonkie? I can't spell his name, and right now I'm a bit bitter at him, so I don't care) so of course there's going to be uniformity in his references to the same act. But it's an interesting word - it implies corporate organization, like an institute. So, at least in all-knowing Brucy's mind, the appropriate administration of the Sacrament implies, nay, requires and organized religion.

Well, that was just deepish. And has nothing to do with paper dolls.

BTW - check out this article on the Mountain Medows Massacre. There's a movie coming out about it, which seems is trying to make Mormons looks bad. Dude, if there's going to any sort of reparations towards descendants of victims, I want my family's land back in Missouri and Illinois! And I want reparations for the psychological harm done to me knowing that, until recently, I could have legally been killed in Missouri just because of my religious beliefs.

Reviewing

Just took a look at my first post on the blog. Funny how life changes things. I had little idea of what I'd write in this thing, and so I wrote that maybe I'd use it "to keep in touch with family as we all spread over the freakin' western United States." I had no idea that the family would spread faaaar beyond the western U.S., much less that I would be one of the farthest flung.

A brief note of today's happenings:

Getting to sleep too late last night. (I'm repeating the same problem at this very moment.)
Hence, waking up too late in the morning and having a generally unproductive morning. I did read the first part of Othello, but that is not one of my life goals. I should have been writing my plays or working on my sewing, or - oh yeah - looking for a job. But no. I read Othello, fell asleep and then watched the last half of Karate Kid 2. Now that's worth my time.

Then, taking Mom to get her trigger point therapy. She sprained her ankle a couple of days ago. It's a not pretty story. So I won't assault you with it. While she was getting that done, I read "Mary Queen of Scots." Had a pleasant and short conversation with a Turkish gentleman. Short made it pleasant. Any longer and I think I would have freaked out. He had given me a flower blossom and he was wrapped in his towel. I was sitting beside the pool.

Then home and a call from a new friend which reminded me about Enrichment tonight. Topic was strengthing marriage and family relationships. I can hardly express the non-excitement I have about that kind of topic. I'm mostly avoiding bitter feelings, which is progress. But certainly not a topic that makes me eager to go. But go I do, because I need to get to know the sisters here. And it turned out to be ok. No major assaults upon my unmarried state. Or maybe I'm just calloused. I think that's more like it. It's a good thing. Then I can actually respond more humanely to people's intentions, instead of their words. And I did get to know several of the sisters. A pleasant evening.

Then home, all alone, in the dark. Yes, I made it home on the dark roads of Doha. That may not sound like much, but it is easy to get turned around in the day, and in the dark roundabouts are even more confusing. Every roundabout looks the same. Got home, and watched the last half of Wayne's World. Wow. My cinema satisfaction today is supreme. I like esses.

The biggest news is that before going to Enrichment, we had a dinner of leftovers, and I was stupid. I was a blunderbuss. In an effort to convince Mom to come to Enrichment, I said all sorts of blunt observations that were in no way calculated to entice anyone, let alone Mom who is stubborn if she feels forced. I wasn't trying to convince her - I was trying to force her. No good. I think I made her feel very badly. I just want her to get out of the house. But I'll have to be more subtle. Of course, she's going to read this and now be on to my more subtle attempts. So I'll have to be sincere too. Subtle and sincere. Anyone know how to do that?

Views of Qatar

Please enjoy some collected pictures of Qatar and Doha.

This is the Arabian, aka Persian, Gulf and the Inland Sea. When you're on the Arabian Peninsula - it's definitely the Arabian Gulf. Persia, aka Iran, is not a favorite thing. It has something to do with the Shia vs. Sunni thing, but I think more to do with nationalism.

Al Zubara Fort. North part of the country. Meant to defend from invading Bahraini's, I believe. Obviously obsolete, but way cool looking. It made me want to run around pretending all sorts of swash buckling and/or pistol popping adventures.


Al Zubara - Manned by Mormons!

Fetche de vache!


A traditional Bedouin tent - at a beach side campground.
The inside surface of a woven tent. Looks pretty darn hairy.

"Welcome to my majlis." A majlis (pronounced mah-zh-lease, the "zh" rhyming with "beige") is an area with cushions used for welcoming and entertaining. It is usually for men. There are female majlis, as well.

Some textures of the place.

These are carvings, though they look like divots.

Sand. There's lots of it.

Water - not so much.

On a dhow. Dhow is the Masai (?) word for boat. If it's not Masai, it's some East African language.
The following photos are from the roof of our house.




The entrance to our "compound."

Our street.


Waqif Souk. Traditional style market. Was actually recently demolished and rebuilt in order to look traditional.



They've got a bunch a truly fun fabric here.
And a lot of spice shops.
Dad has a rug fixation. I think he was rug deprived as a child.


This is at the local gas station/grocery store. Look closely at the upper right. Only found sold in back rooms of seedy places in the States.

Oops - here they are again - at a campground on the beach. Smoking with hookas is the thing here.
Some views of city life in Doha.
TGIF - should be TAIT. Thank Allah it's Thursday.

Ahh - do the dew, in any language.



Not a common sign in the city - but out in the country.
Some more pics from Al Zubara.





Some of the flora and fauna.




Falconry is a popular sport here. They sell the birds at the old souks and probably other places I just don't know about. Falcons have their own passports in this country.
Falcon prey!
An old abandoned village.
A mosque - though it may not look like it at first. We call it the port-a-mosque.


Doha at night from a boat, and by day from a car. The amount of construction going on is hard to see from this picture but approxiamately half of the tall buildings are not completed. Maybe even more.


Throne a stone in Doha and you're either going to hit a mosque or a sports stadium. Here's one. The tall thing by it was used as the torch during the Asian Games held in December 2006. I call it Lord Farquad's Tower.
This building is near the airport. The picture on the side is of the emir raising his hand in greeting. It was put up by a prominent Shia family (most of Qatar is Sunni, including the emir). There's just enough absurdity in the picture to tell that it was sponsored by -well- not a good friend of the emir, but not enough to get the sponsor in trouble. If you can't spot the absurdity - just ask my brother Bean.
This is the inside of a new shopping mall - the Villagio. Hmmm. I wonder if the Venetian and Bellagio could sue jointly.