Happenings

The most significant happening this week was Errol's departure ... he's gone back to Canada! Well, he should be arriving in London in about 30 minutes:-) I hope he had a safe and comfortable (albeit very long) trip. I know he will be happy to be back in London (he was packed on Sunday) and see Cait and friends ... not to mention Mr Bill, Max, and sweet Molly ... but I think he will miss some parts of being in Doha. Well, he can just come back next year!
Errol's last week was a busy (and maybe memorable) one. We had a good-bye dinner with folks who arrived at the same time as I did and that was very nice. A Chinese restaurant ... not too bad. And it certainly was a welcomed change of pace from my own boring cooking!
We went on a very interesting birding trip on the grounds of Qatar University with the Qatar Natural History Group. The campus is large and the buildings are beautifully done ... very coordinated and seem to suit the desert surroundings very well. We had a modest goal of sighting 10 species but I think we saw 12 or so. I personally saw 10. I had been hoping to see a hoopoe, as I have never seen one. But the most spectacular sighting was a group of rose-ringed parakeets ... just lovely with the sun shining through their wing feathers. The grey francolins were very cute and reminded me a lot of quail in Arizona. But my favourite is the white wagtail ... so cheery and optimistic! I got the images of the birds from commons.wikimedia.org. QU has started some environmental initiatives that will see some of the stoney desert left natural, which is important as so much of Doha's natural state will be beautified/landscaped/meddled with ... therefore, indigenous plants and animals will be increasingly stressed. It was very interesting to note that several of the birds species we saw were either migratory (from Siberia or Lapland .. brrr) or imorted from India. One man in the group told us about Crawford Market, a very famous bird and pet market in Mumbai where people from the Arabian Peninsula would buy caged birds when they were on holiday ... once they arrived back in what is now Qatar, they often were released (accidentally or intentionally) and have become part of the local fauna ... or would that be feathera?
Another very interesting thing we did was to attend the opening night of the Doha Jazz Festival. I am not a huge jazz fan, but the performances were great and the whole evening was really enjoyable. At first, I thought it would be a bit weird because members of the Qatar Philharmonic (strings and flute) were playing behind five jazz musicans, but it was a kind of mild jazz and it all worked out. The music was all by Charles Trenet and Michel Legrand and it was at the Qatar National Theatre , so I was very glad Errol had a chance to see that. The leader of the jazz quintet was a very charming guy by the name of Alain Brunet ... he was very cute. One of the highlights for me was the intermission ... as the Movenpick was a major sponsor, they did put on a bit of a spread ... appetizers, sweets, juice, water, Arabic coffee ... yummy! It was a great evening and especially nice because we went with our friends, Dave and Lois Thornton, and their daughter Caitlin, who is visiting from Toronto.
Well, Lois and I didn't make it to our early morning workout the next day, but Errol went with Dave and Caitlin T (as opposed to Caitie C-C) to see the camel race track (which has now become a must-see event on any visit to Qatar). It started out as a beautiful sunny day and by the time they got to Shahaniya it was a full-fledged sandstorm ... almost whiteout (beigeout) conditions and very tricky driving. Errol said it was very neat seeing the camels coming right out of the sand. And the riders/trainers were glad to see folks (especially Caitlin, I think) and jumped off their camels and shook hands and offered rides and all the rest. The sandstorm lasted for 2 days ... the winds were not too bad when I was outside, but a very fine dust just hovered in the air. Everything inside our houses was pretty much covered with the very fine sand and the poor folks with asthmatic kids ... even a mask wouldn't trap all those particles. However, it is fine now ... people say warmer weather will come. Errol got out just in time, because it can get very warm here!
Thursday, which is the last day of the work week was an interesting one this week. During the Christmas holiday, the Gaza War took place and I have been wondering what UC-Q would do. While the university cannot become involved in political issues, the student council arranged a very interesting event ... it was a souq and food with some music and dancing. We have several Palestinian students, a couple of whom had lived in Gaza, and so most of the staff showed up to support the event. It was a bit disorganized (apparently there was someone doing henna tattoos but I never saw that or heard where it was), but you could tell an enormous amount of effort went into the event ... In the end, they raised some money for displaced and injured persons in Gaza and more importantly, felt they had done something to support a situation that is so painful for them ... especially the Palestinian students who are far away from family and friends in Gaza.

Errol came and had a chance to meet some of my students and they were all happy to say hello. I was happy he had a chance to get to see some of the students because I doubt that I would ever be able to invite people over for lunch and that sort of stuff like I did in Canada; he met so many students over the years when they came for lunch or dinner or Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Also, several people from UC-Q came over to wish Errol 'bon voyage' and so that was very nice.
Back at home we had tea with friends and tried to go to bed early as we needed to be at the airport at 5 a.m. And we got there! No traffic. No lineups at the airport. Quite different from when Cait went home ... guess you can never tell.
So ... Errol should be in London now ... exhausted I am sure. In fact they just called and his 24-hour journey (almost 28 if you consider arriving at the airport 3 hours early and driving home), so alhumdulillah! He will be around London for a while but will continue his travelling ways and go to Oklahoma at some point. You might have to be quick to catch him at home:-)
As for me ... midterm exams to prepare, marking, marking, marking, and a presentation, so I can immerse myself in work. But I'll keep my eye out for white wagtails, bulbuls, and even the hoopoe .... never fear, I will make the most of my time here:-)