Today (it being Tuesday) was coffee morning at the Tuesday International Ladies Group and since my daughter arrived on Friday morning – I dragged her along today. The fact that we both have an evil side to our sense of humor made that a dangerous decision. There is always a table of donated books (5QAR - $1.37) and magazines (3QAR $.82) that are sold to raise money. As we poked through the stacks, we both saw “Men Are From Mars and Women are From Venus” at the same time and cracked up – loudly. As she so succinctly put it – who would buy that book and move to the Middle East? This afternoon, we were at the local Virgin bookstore and I actually saw that they sell it here – so maybe someone didn’t bring it – they bought it here, realized they had moved to a place that no one cared if they thought differently from their spouse and so donated it to the ITG so that someone else struggling with a relationship here might for a minute think there was a glimmer of hope. Mars rules in the desert!
We proceeded with our sweets and coffee to the ballroom to see a program, I thought, about Murano glass and a local glass artist. Before we got to meet the artist, we watched a thirty minute video about her life, her family, her husband, her work with glass, her work with wood, her work with three very famous glass blowers who helped turn her jewelry designs into much larger pieces, her fascination with the feminine figure in all of its forms, and the talent that lay buried in her soul that was released by her leap into creativity. My first thought while watching the video was how in the world did this pass the ministry that censors and regulates art objects brought into Qatar? There were paintings of actual bare female figures and since Islamic art doesn’t usually even show faces, I was quite surprised that these were allowed here – and will be shown at her exhibit in the Souk Woqif Art Center. Most are torsos but some are very explicit torsos.
The verbiage in the film was priceless – There was a reference to the figurines being based on the ancient theory that man is the key and woman is …………. the lock. Then after showing a “Betty Boop” statue that seemed to have breasts, the issue of losing a breast was addressed – but the word breast was never used – only the word ‘tit’ - the concept that one can lose one tit and still have one tit and still be beautiful with one tit almost had me on the floor. I don’t think I have ever heard tit used five times in a row in a room of middle-aged women. Apparently it is not a colorful word in Australia and maybe not in the UK but it still had a bit of humor value for the Americans!
When the narrator made the statement, “Well…….. it is even deeper when one is discussing art”; I thought people were going to have to leave the room, the snorting while trying to not laugh was so bad. I hoped the artist was really not there and we were only going to see the video but afterwards, she got up and made a quick joke about the young videographer who helped make the film and talked a little bit about her art and then explained she was branching out AGAIN with her feminine shapes into the world of chocolate – nudes made of semi sweet chocolate – by the end of the presentation I decided that she must have had a huge inheritance.
I also learned today – a million miles from Mississippi and in the middle of my genealogy project that there is actually a periodical published about the United States Civil War – can’t yet tell which side they are on – there were two on the donation table and I had to buy them! I am not sure how often it comes out but it is still current as I bought the November 2008 and the September 2009 issues and am hoping to find some mention of one cousin or another.
Even after all my sunsets on the beach, our balcony in Singapore, various layovers and back porches, I had never heard of a “Sundowner” which is a gin and tonic that celebrates the setting of the sun. I sat with a woman who has lived here for thirty years, written and published a beautiful book about the history of Qatar through the narrative lens of medicinal treatments, and ‘condo-sits’ these days, as she can’t afford the current rents. We discussed how much this city has changed, where to buy black linen (I have found an Afghani tailor who copies stitch by stitch), how her skin has stayed so perfect after all of this time in the desert (hormones and hats) and how nice a Sundowner is at the end of the day.
The weather is perfect here right now – we may have to have a ‘Sundowner’ on our roof this afternoon as the sun sets – although it sets so early here I will have to work under the assumption that it really is five o’clock somewhere in the world!
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