Apartment Update

As it's the Eid vacation for the College (though not the Muslim world yet!), I have some time to make some updates to this blog.

For example, Mark Hartt, one of my new buddies, came on the first day of the holidays to install the shower rod in my bathroom, so I can now take proper showers. The problem was that I needed an L-shaped rod, which wasn't easy to obtain. In the end, I bought three different shower rod kits and we made something workable out of two of them. For those of you who'd been to my apartment in Montreal, you'll recognize the shower curtain :-)

To give the rod extra support, Mark looped a cord around the light fixture, adding a dash of colour ;-) Thanks for your handyman experise, Mark! 

The other update to tell you about is that I had a roommate until this afternoon. Meet Jorge the Gecko!

Jorge and I had been startling each other in the various rooms of the apartment since I moved in. One afternoon after work, I found him in the kitchen sink, so I took the opportunity to snap some pix of him. Then I realized that he couldn't climb the stainless steel walls and was trapped. So I put one of the shower rod kits into the sink and hoped he'd use it as a ladder to find his way out...

He did, but then seemed to like the kitchen alot and was hiding under the stove (which was okay with me) and the coffeemaker (which really wasn't!) So this afternoon, I got Hilary, another of my new buddies, to remove him from my apartment using a plastic container. So now she's Hilary, Gecko Buster! Who're ya gonna call - Gecko Buster ;-)

The Ramadan Tent

Welcome to my third blog entry, in which you'll finally be able to see something that you might have expected to see when I told you I was going to the Middle East.

As you're no doubt aware, I arrived in Doha during Ramadan, Islam's month-long religious ritual of daytime fasting and nighttime celebration. Here in Qatar, it's against the law for anyone to eat, drink or smoke in public during the fasting hours, which run from sun-up to sun-down. Once the sun goes down, Muslims break their fast with a few dates and some water, then go to the mosque to pray. After that, the family celebrations begin and can last until sunrise the next morning.

The college arranged for all the new staff to experience what the celebrations can be like by taking us to the Ramadan tent in the Ritz Carlton. To give you an idea of how beautiful this hotel is, go to:

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Doha/PhotoTourPop.htm?p19=DOHRZ

I took a few photos in the lobby, as I was astonished by the beauty of just that area. This is the chandelier that hangs over the lobby and some of the gorgeous flower arrangements there:

The "tent" was set up in the ballroom and was decorated in what I can only describe as Arabian Fantasy style. This was the VIP area, but nobody in attendance that evening was VIP enough ;-)

The rest of us ate at tables like these:

Sorry there aren't any photos of the HUGE buffet that filled the outer room attached to the ballroom... I was too busy stuffing my face with all the delicious European and Middle Eastern food!! My favourite offering was dessert: white chocolate and dark chocolate fountains with marshmallows to dip into the rich flowing decadence!!
 At the entrance to the ballroom anteroom was an exhibtion of Middle Eastern handicrafts. I loved the pashminas and this tea?coffee? set: