Friday is the Islamic Sabbath so there is a lot less traffic and the city feels like a Sunday afternoon – a little slower with people getting ready for the workweek. The Shorook (Sunrise) call to prayer was promptly at 5:54 this morning just as the sun was rising. From what I had heard before we moved here, I was expecting a tinny recorded call to prayer but the first time I heard it here – I realized that these are live beautiful baritone voices and they resonate over the sand. Since there are as many mosques here as there are churches in Memphis, the call to prayer comes from every direction. We have a small patio with a ten-foot concrete wall around it and there is a mosque within five hundred yards. Sitting outside and listening to the Maghrib (Sunset) call to prayer just as dusk is settling in and the temperature is dropping – is amazingly serene.
Today the plan was to go to the first Annual Holiday Bazaar hosted by the Emprendedoras (Entrepreneurs) Doha. There was a great photo in the morning paper with lots of hats. I have been seriously looking for a hat that doesn’t elicit a “Digger O’Dell” comment every time I wear it and two of my new neighbors had a table selling Christmas ornaments and clothing from Vietnam. The paper said the bazaar was at Alfarden Gardens Compound 1. We have lived here five months and I have heard many people talk about Alfarden Gardens so that should easy, right? I got out my Marhaba, which is Qatar’s Premier Information Guide, looking for directions – not to be found. I googled Alfarden Garden Compound 1 – nothing helpful. I called an acquaintance that has been here for four years and she said there were four Alfarden Garden Compounds – 1,2,3 and 4. They are all over Doha - #4 is right near us and #2 is near the airport. I made the comment that they should have some new names and she laughed – “These guys here want their names everywhere – they want you to know these are their compounds – we will probably end up with Alfarden Gardens Compound #5 and #6 right down the street.”
I finally had to call my friend who had the booth and ask for directions! I bought a great hat and found out that one of my neighbors has been buying clothes from Vietnam for years and even sold to a large department store in Singapore – the price tag was still on one of the shirts! She said it is so simple, Meg, I found a provider, I design the clothes and they ship them to me – so simple right! The clothes are beautiful colorful slippery silk things.
On the drive to find the compound, we passed a building that seems similar to a men’s club – a place for men to meet and have coffee, smoke shisha and talk. Emerging from the front door was a handsome young Qatari in national dress with the red and white checked headdress. He was attempting to put on his sunglasses with his right hand and on his left arm was perched a hooded falcon. Beautiful bird and much larger than I had thought they would be. He looked as if he was planning to hop in his Land Cruiser and take off with the falcon perched beside him. Falconry is a huge sport here – enormous sums of money are spent both for the birds and their training. They are even allowed in economy class on Qatar Airways.
When it was all said and done, it took hours to find the place, thirty minutes to shop and twenty minutes after we got home to eat the entire jar of eggplant antipasti that we bought. Delicious! The hat is great but the falcon was the coolest.
Every afternoon lately, we have seen flocks of duck and geese flying overhead. In formation, no less and we can’t figure out if they are lost or migrating. I have to think they are ducks as they are very quiet.
The afternoon’s entertainment has been watching the workmen dig through the brick sidewalk into the sand – digging a hole deep enough to plant a tree in front of villa #5. . Our compound has no greenery so we are going to bring in our own. ‘First Tree Grows in 18 Villas!’ Eventually we will all have a tree with a two-meter patch of green (hopefully green). My green thumb will be put to the test – I will be sick if ours is the first to die!
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