Not in Kansas Any More, Toto!

It was wonderful to get home, I was even comfortable with the Karwa cabdriver taking the long way home probably both to avoid traffic (it was a Friday night) and to boost the fare - it turned out to be an expensive ride although he did take my bag to the front door. This was before I realized that it was not my bag - who would have thought another person would have the same type of suitcase with a huge red 'fragile' sticker on the side? Fred, our one-eyed semi-feral cat was incredibly glad to see me. My husband was out of town but had left lots of food in the refrigerator and after a hot shower and a glass of wine, I was really glad to be in my own little home!

The comfort was short lived. I tried to open a link from my daughter that was supposed to be really funny and the website was blocked! While I was gone, the Qatari government apparently signed on to "Google Safe" or some other selective search blocker. The new page is a more lighthearted way to say no than the earlier page but it is clearly a "NO", nonetheless. I understand that students who tried to Google Dick Whittington for an English project were told that "dick" cannot be googled even as a proper name. I am trying to get my nerve up to try "Tricky Dick".

We went to the grocery with my prediabetic shopping list in hand - I already knew that reading labels here would be an issue but it was a huge hilarious adventure. We both spent more time putting on and taking off our reading glasses as every bit of information we needed was in tiny print. I am going to have to carry a cheat sheet with Arabic, Hindi and French words for protein, carbohydrates and sugars. Daily there are predictions of a diabetic epidemic here and yet they still show afternoon commercials touting cocoa puffs as an energizing after school snack! I have to think that soon there will be entire sections of the grocery stores devoted to "diabetic options". It will interesting to see how long it takes to see fat-free humus, whole wheat Arab bread and 'lean' lamb koftas on the shelves.

A few days after returning to Doha, a friend of ours from Houma who has lived here almost a year, had visitors in the middle of the night searching for a runaway 'maid thief'. Their doorbell rang at 1:00 AM - and rang and rang - at first they thought it might be a mistake but that hope was quicky put to rest when someone began pounding on the front door. Our friend's husband went downstairs in his 'drawers' and was astonished to find three men in national dress and two veiled women standing on his doorstep. They demanded to come in and when he argued, they became more determined and forceful. When he said he needed to at least put on his robe (we would have really been in trouble at this point as my husband doesn't even have a robe here), they said okay but he could not close the door.

My friend's husband is a big guy and as she was peeking from the stairs, she said one of the Qataris was a giant next to Dave. He had to duck to even come in their front door. The men were very intimidating - not so much physically as in attitude. They had a piece of paper all in Arabic except the words "Villa #11" and refused to show any type of identification. They repeatedly said "CIA". Eventually, after much loud discussion, the two veiled women searched upstairs and the men searched downstairs finally accepting the fact that there was no maid on the premises. They drove off in Land Cruisers with tinted windows and bright lights with very little explanation although there was much talk about maids who rob people.

The next morning when she went to the management office of the compound, she was told that when the secret police showed up - all of their paperwork was in order and there were enough of them to search 6-7 villas. They knew the villa number that they were looking for but not the street address. So they decided to search every single Villa #11 in the entire compound. The compound is large - more like a neighborhood in the states. They did find one of the maids that they were looking for!

There were only three guards at the compound gate and only two could leave at a time so only two tenants had a compound guard present when the searches took place. One woman spoke no English and no Arabic and was home alone - how scary was that? How mad was her husband who was on a trip and on the phone with the manager at six o'clock in the morning!

The manager's story was that there was a clique of Philipino maids that cruised Doha looking for houses to clean in the off time. They would knock at the door and ask for work for very little money, they apparently paid a lot of attention to what was in each house and later all of these houses were robbed. The manager also said that part of their racket was to 'ingratiate' themselves with the master and then when they stole things, no one could report them or the master would be in trouble as well as whoever agreed to pay them under the table. Maids are only supposed to work for their sponsors - this was the same in Singapore and it seems that in both places, people have learned to circumvent the rules.

When I went for a haircut and mentioned it - no one was surprised - my hairdresser (European) wanted to now if the husband had ticked anyone off at work! She also said the girls that are arrested for things like this may not be deported; they may never be allowed to go home again. Rumor has it that they often disappear into the system. Apparently it doesn't happen often but it does happen - new appreciation for my little compound with only 18 villas. We may all know too much about each other but we all know there is only one maid here! Lesson learned is if the Qatari Secret Police arrive at your door and request entry - the correct response is, "Of course, please come in!"

On April 20th we received a notice under our front door notifying us that LG teams would be here beginning April 20th to 'summer service' the air conditioners - they would begin at Villa #1 and do one unit per day beginning at 8AM and finishing by 5PM. As I am counting the days to put Villa #10 on the calendar (wondering if they work Fridays) - there is a knock at the door and ten uniformed (everyone wears a uniform here) LG team members are on my front porch! It is difficult to ask a smiling young Hindi why they are ten days early to service the air conditioners! There is always at least one bearded devout you Muslim on these teams and their expressions always make me question my decision to wear shorts even when I am in my own home.

Our cat Fred used to have two bushy tailed brothers (they looked just like him except they had TWO green eyes) that periodically prowled through our compound. We had already made plans to keep water out during the summer for them in hopes that they would monitor the mouse population. No one has seen them for weeks. Well, I was going to lunch with a friend who drives here and we passed an Arab man (he looked Egyptian) with two Davy Crockett coon-skin-hat type tails hanging from the rear view window blowing in the wind. Nowhere else in the world would I have instantly decided that they used to belong to Fred's brothers!

This is an interesting magic place - this small country we call home. It is growing steadily and in reading the daily newspaper, it is obviously taking a strong interest in both the development of the Middle East and events in the world at large.

Eight Cities in Thirteen Days!!

My favorite alone moment during my three week trip to the US was in Bay Saint Louis and included six spicy boiled crabs, a cold beer, a great book and watching the ducks forage across the bayou - What could be better?

Our whirlwind trip around the southeastern US was wonderful if a little hectic. We had an amazing meal prepared by my son - including my all time favorite - his Gorgonzola mushroom cream sauce on top of perfectly prepared beef tenderloin. We got to spend two nights in a hotel with the cutest four year old girl in the world who loved her "couchbed" and reading with PopPop until neither one could keep their eyes open. I learned to make waffles in a hotel lobby - who knew they had invented a countertop machine that dispenses batter by the tiny cupful and a waffle maker that requires only the push of a button - all to make a more extensive continental breakfast that doesn't require a cook?

The grandboys are hilarious - sitting next to a two year old in a car seat who sees a semi and all of a sudden yells "HONK" at the top of his 'outside' voice was way more fun as a grandparent that it ever would have been as a parent - especially to the parent driving who looked really startled even from where I was sitting in the back seat. The elder grandson and I had a great time doing puzzles - I swear I do not remember my children figuring out "puzzling by the shapes" at such a young age - it could be a gene from my late mother-in-law who thought I wasted a lot of time going by color and straight edges! We got to see the beautifully decorated pink and green bedroom that will be welcoming our next granddaughter, Maggie, home soon. I am sure my daughter-in-law is hoping for very very soon.

We got to spend a weekend in New Orleans - two dozen oysters with Dixie beer, a rehearsal dinner on a riverboat, lunch with special longtime friends (requisite fried shrimp po'boy) and a slightly damp garden wedding on St. Charles Avenue. The moment that made me smile was when the bride, dressed in an off-white, strapless satin gown, lifted her skirt to come down the stairs into the garden revealing hot pink peek-a-boo heels. She was a gorgeous bride and the winner of the middle-aged women group was her stunning mother. I think she is the same size she was when we met twenty-five years ago and she obviously enjoyed every minute of the party.

The city of New Orleans looks so much healthier than the last time I was there. We rode the streetcar out Saint Charles Avenue to visit friends and it was crammed with people who had been told to take the streetcar tour - somehow I got the distinct impression that no one mentioned it would take several hours to ride to the end of the line - get out, cross over and get back on and pass through the same area of town again all while packed in like sardines with other people - all clutching their purple streetcar "tour ticket". I never did find out if they paid more than the standard streetcar $2.50 (roundtrip) price.

There is a much stronger feel in the city - it might have something to do with 'dem Saints' winning the Super Bowl. We saw a faded sign in the window of a store that declared "Hell Froze Over Last Night" and then we saw the statue of Joan of Arc on horseback in the French Quarter was waving a Saints flag! We finally got to celebrate the win by buying t-shirts, golf caps, kids shirts, coozies and even a priceless shirt for my son-in-law (a huge Colts fan) that pointed out that - Yes, the Saints won.

On the way out of the country I spent a few educational days with an adventurous friend in Greenville where we had a spectacular meal at Doe's Restaurant, a local phenomena. It has been there almost forever, has survived the collapse of the neighborhood (we chatted with armed guard wearing a bulletproof vest, who escorted us to our car) and has won many national awards in the meantime, most of which any native can check off on their fingers. It is wonderful to see an establishment that has lasted so long and one that engenders such pride in the local folk. My father-in-laws friend, Dollye, grew up in Greenville and still fondly remembers eating there as a child. It reminded me of Annie's Restaurant in Pass Christian.

There is a wonderful story that the original owner would let people leave their unseasoned wooden salad bowls at the restaurant where they would be used daily until she deemed them 'seasoned' and returned them to their owners.

Everyone ordered the steaks but I had to try the grilled shrimp. I am so glad I did - they were incredible! I would love the recipe for the butter sauce - there is something special in it and I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Next time I am ordering an entire order of garlic bread to go with the shrimp (and the sauce). Doe's has won most of their awards for their spectacular steaks but they are also well known for their tamales, which are delicious but spicy in a different way than my neighbors 'true Mexican tamales'. Beer is a must with the 'true Mexican' version! Doe's require wine.

We decided to take a bottle of wine for the table the night we had dinner there. We were directed to a local liquor store where after we told them we were going to Doe's - they actually recommended a bottle of zinfandel that was "perfect with the tamales at Does"! I didn't realize exactly how funny this was until we got in the truck and were driving away and I realized that I had been talking so much with the wine seller who actually knew where Qatar was, I paid $37.99 for a bottle of wine to pair with tamales! I think the intent was truly to have a wine that was wonderful with the tamales. The owner of the liquor store had dinner at the next table and I think I caught him checking to be sure we had the proper wine as they had just served the tamales when he and his family sat down. The wine was good; we could have sworn it got better with each glass - maybe it just needed to breathe.

The trip back to Doha was not so bad, just long. I actually was given an invitation to the business lounge in Houston - made me feel that changing my clothes in the tiniest restroom in the airport was worth the trouble. The seventeen hour flight brought a great movie, a good meal, a nap and was almost perfect until my seat mate, a Belgian, proceeded to trim and file his nails just before landing, and ended the flight by cleaning his ears with his hot towel.