perpetual august

so it has been at once a quiet and a booming week. work has been fairly busy, and i feel as though i have not been studying arabic as diligently as i would like. instead i find myself studying the sounds and rhythms of doha - or the various peoples somehow caught in this city.... and it does feel as though people are sort of caught in this place, which paints itself as the epicenter of the region, suspended here before they return to the storm of reality. for there is some sense of "amost" that permeates the air here, not so much with a scent exactly, but with a feeling... or perhaps i only say this because i feel as though i'm living in perpetual august. and being in perpetual august somehow brings all the associations of august as the "almost month" - the month on the edge of things, the calmhazyswinging days before some storm, the month before school and responsibility begins, the month after the fourth and the full-swing fanfare of july, the month before labor day weekend and changing fashions, the month without universal holidays, the month before summer ends and after her excitement tastes fresh, the month when watermelon gives way to peaches, and the month when even puppies calm down. it always feels like august here. and i find myself waiting for life to begin again, in the way one does in august, and sometimes have to remind myself that this IS my life, that i live here and that it is mid-october.....

as for sounds, this week i have noted: stray kittens fighting at dusk (they are always kittens, endless kittens (but i have yet to see a cat)), the subtle ranges of feeling in the call to prayer - sometimes almost melancholy, or urgent, or blissful, or joyous, or secretive (but this may be my imagination), choruses of invisible exotic birds in dense trees in a garden, the gentle lapping of the gulf at the beach, grunts of exertion from foreign ice hockey players on a too-small rink in the middle of a shopping mall and grunts of confusion from a diverse collection of observers.

ramadan has its own rhythms - and adds to the almost / waiting feeling in a way - the days are spent waiting for sundown and for life to begin... this is true even for those of us not fasting - though we wait for a few hours thereafter - nothing is open until 7:30 pm, so even simple errands - like grocery shopping - or offhand fancies - like a vanilla latte or an ice cream - must wait until evening..... but then once evening comes, everything is a circus! ... sometimes literally - on a recent evening trip to one of the most popular malls here, a friend and i wandered into "Circusland" - the food court & general amusement area for kids. i think i burst out laughing at the sight of the larger than life elephants supporting the colourful banner. [my friend was quick to point out that i needn’t worry (in case i had been), the elephants did not have sexual organs and she lead me underneath one to prove it "see? no balls!"] ... the real circus was of course braving the traffic outside the mall, which is like being caught in a poorly-lit parade of luxury beasts of burden (in the 4WD family, species SUV) pawing the ground, growling, and pushing along a narrow dirt path with a thin film of sand dust accumulated on your eyes.

monday night was a mid-ramadan holiday only celebrated in the gulf where children go door to door to get sweets and little presents.... sort of like halloween except the costumes are snazzy versions of traditional local dress.... the university arranged for the foreign students to observe sweet qatari children dressed in dazzling local garb go door to door in the "hertitage village" - a fake village - collecting sweets. it was quite a gathering - complete with an oversized tweety bird being mobbed by swarms of children, a man singing too loudly into a microphone, uncertain music, chanting, men sitting on carpets and eating nuts, and general tidings of candy and joy, candy and joy. it was a curious scene. i'm attaching a picture from said scene (a more general set of pics to follow sometime soon, i promise). the event gave us an opportunity for a partial class photo..... i am standing between ali (very sweet philippino who i almost didn't recognize at the heritage village - he usually wears a white thube gown, but was hanging tough that night) and lil' kim (one of the north koreans); kim kabir (big) is seated (the other north korean, mildly insane and definitely a spy), marouf (nigerian in white pointing) is bossing everyone around as usual; farrid (the fellow from benin who tried to convert me on day one) is behind kim kabir; second from the end (& in pink shoes) is mohammed from ghana [affectionately nicknamed 'the machete' because he's so intense] surrounded by a group of his "brothers" who seemed to multiply daily after his arrival and who all showed up in our class the day after this event (much to the surprise of the professor!) though i am not sure if they will all stay in our class.... i'll send a picture of the sweet children collecting sweets with a general upload, but i thought this one was more illustrative of my daily routine. ;-)

in other news, i had my first occasion to come in contact with the qatari censor recently. i was trying to open an amusing link sent by a friend, when i was denied. a screen appeared saying 'this site has been blocked' with a polite little note in english & arabic that read:

The webpage you are trying to access has been blocked by Internet Qatar as the content contains materials which are prohibited in the State of Qatar. If you feel this is an error then please email us at censor@qatar.net.qa or contact our Help Desk at 125.

Regards,
Internet Qatar

.... i loved how polite it is! ("regards") & at the qataris are so honest about it - the chinese would just throw up firewalls.... i also find it quite sweet that you can email the censor & make your case for seeing a particular site. [though a friend who works at q-tel tells me don't hold your breath if you email or call the help desk - it's no leisurely stroll along the corniche to get a response from the censor!]

i'm escaping the censor and the candy and joy this weekend and taking an ever so impractical but ever so enchanting long weekend in paris!!

tremendous pink sunset,
mattie