I gave up the sweet shower. The other day I had the opportunity to move to a new apartment on the 17th floor of a high rise complex overlooking the Gulf--I took the offer. Size wise, it is a little smaller but I get to wake up to the view on the left. My favorite thing to do now is to sit out on my balcony at night watching the planes take-off and land from Doha International. I'll still be visiting the old complex often because several young staff members live there including my friend Caryl, a Community Advisor at CMU-Q. We've been discovering Doha together for the past few days. One of the highlights was grocery shopping at the local Carrefore (a.k.a, Super Wal-Mart). The currency in Qatar is the Riyal and occasionally the price of something will include a fraction of a riyal. For example, a liter of milk might cost 4.5 riyals. Since .5 riyal is only worth about 15 cents most stores would rather not deal with the coins required to provide change. I guess paper bills are easier to handle. Anyways, Caryl and I discovered at the grocery store that instead of giving coins as change most stores give you gum or candy. So, when we paid for milk the cashier handed us our .5 riyal in change, not as a coin but a small pack of grape bubble gum.

The major development this week was re-learning to drive. The Qataris are crazy drivers. They make Dallas drivers look like an elderly woman driving her Buick on a Sunday afternoon. Extremely aggressive and seeming out-of-control drivers in combination with hundreds of three lane roundabouts makes for a good time. Several CMU staff members hire drivers rather than drive in these circumstances. I decided the only way to learn was to get out there and give’r a try. My rental car is a Chevy Optra, which is not available in the States. I will drive it until next month when my car arrives in Doha from the States.

I visited Doha Fellowship (a non-denominational Christian church) on Friday. Since Friday is holy day for Muslims, Christians go to church on Friday as well. Did I mention that our work week goes Sunday through Thursday? Church was surprisingly similar--it was contemporary worship music and a fairly typical message from the pastor. The main difference was the overwhelming diversity of people in the congregation. The church building is an unmarked (i.e., no signage or crosses) villa in the suburbs of Doha. You have to know someone who attends to find the place. On an average Friday, about 350 people attend. Overall, it was an emotional experience for me watching these diverse people from all over the world worshiping the same God.

On another religious note, it is interesting and inspiring to see how dedicated Muslims are to their faith. When the call to prayer rings out across the city five times a day they offer prayers to Allah. Keep in mind that one of these prayer times is at dawn (between 4 & 5am). That’s dedication.