Winter Break 2009-2010

Erbil:
Winter break started in Erbil this year with lovely librarian L's guests arriving to spend Christmas and New Year's right here! There was also a party with white elephant gift exchange at C and M's place. Perhaps the best part of the party however, was not the gift exchange, but rather a game in which we were given a list of song titles to decipher: songs such as Approach Everyone Who is Steadfast. Do you know this song? (answer at bottom).

Vienna: This year I was lucky enough to have a stopover in Vienna on the way to Canada. Fr and family were on a similar itinerary so together we headed (just before it started to snow) to the Christmas market in front of Vienna's impressive City Hall. I bought my mother one of Vienna's famous snow globes.
In the evening, I headed downtown for a piece of Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel (the lit up building on the right in below photo) and then to the Vienna State Opera (behind me) for a performance of Verdi's La Forza Del Destino. However, I recommend that if you visit Vienna during the winter holiday season, you skip this opera and opt instead for a performance either here or at Volksopera of Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
Saint John:
After a long journey (including a nearly 30 minute run through the Frankfurt Airport and some frantic and slightly acrobatic queue-jumping: Do NOT transfer through this airport if you don't have at least 2 hours), I arrived in the Atlantic harbor city of Saint John, New Brunswick. I was met there by my mother and her little dog. Shitzu's don't deal with the cold very well, but mom's dog was clearly more prepared for winter than me!
This year, Mom had two boarders from the nearby university. We did our best to introduce them to some Christmas traditions... like eggnog and Christmas crackers, putting out milk & cookies Santa and hanging a sock. (Thanks to L & visitors for introducing Mu to the same back in Erbil).

(Answer: Approach Everyone Who is Steadfast = Oh, Come All Ye Faithful).

Doha by Night

One of the highlights of Doha (for me) was the "nightlife". Not the dancing in nightclubs and bars (if they exist), but rather the wandering around the city, through little side streets flanking the old bazaar. The entire city looks a lot more attractive bathed in the glow of a variety of illuminations.

The picture to the left is the Qatar Islamic Culture Center. Too bad it wasn't open as it aims its message at non-locals: to "motivate Non-Muslims to become more informed about Islam" and to "enlighten non-Arab Muslims about all matters in relation to their faith." I suppose I need both informing and enlightening... but on all varieties of things beyond Islam.

The photo above is of the Museum of Islamic Art designed by architect I.M. Pei. Unfortunately, it was closed each of the several times we attempted to go. Over Eid, it seems there was only one brief window of opportunity and we missed it.
Above is the silvery skyline as seen from a dock near the museum.
And finally, welcome to my favorite of all the places we visited in Doha - Souk Waqif. It has been most pleasantly renovated and is now a hang out for locals, expats and tourists; men and women...

Below is a strange performance, presumably put on by non-Qataris where pale ethereal (with the exception of the red yarn-like wigs) figures danced inside of giant bubbles... As for my group, we didn't stop to watch, in our desperate search for culinary satisfaction.
Finally, after edging past a few stray giraffes near the Bismillah Hotel, we decided on a fragrantly enticing Indian restaurant, although options included Moroccan, Indonesian, French, and even Iraqi.

I even did a little shopping in the bazaar (mostly books and postcards). Finally, I went into a shop to buy someone a souvenir, a string of amber prayer beads (tesbi) and was shocked at the prices. Then the guy in the shop rolled out a special pouch containing what he claimed to be the very best... Iraqi tesbi!!! Well, now I know that for Middle Eastern souvenirs, Iraq is as good as anywhere else. I have to scour the bazaars in Kurdistan a little more carefully.
And finally, when leaving the bazaar, we heard music and realized that some sort of event was about to begin. We wandered over to check it out and were greeted with the sight below. Seems local Qataris, while they can completely turn a blind eye to scantily clad foreign female joggers, they are still very much traditional when it comes to the dress and behavior of their own.

(In case you can't see the figures clearly, the women are the ones in black on the left).

Exploring Doha - Eid Qurban

Last year over Nawruz (the shared Kurdish/Persian New Year) , a few colleagues and I traveled to Lebanon and had an absolutely fantastic time. Now when there is a week off approaching, we quickly start planning where the next trip will be. For Eid Qurban, 2009 (yes, I am posting VERY late), the decision was Doha, Qatar and/or Manama, Bahrain. I know that these may not strike everyone as the Middle Eastern destinations topping everyone's travel must-do list; however, with less than a week off, practicalities must come into play. In the case of Doha, the decision was largely decided by the fact that Gulf Air had just starting offering DIRECT FLIGHT from ERBIL to BAHRAIN!
Having just come from land-locked Erbil, the first sight of Doha was rather refreshing... Even before reaching the bay, I could feel the ocean breeze and (here I must admit that I have an inexplicable fondness for palm trees) couldn't help myself from smiling just at the sight of the gently waving palms.
Doha was equipped with many modern amenities and for us, the first stop was to avail ourselves of the shopping facilities, restaurants and cinemas on offer in one of the many many bland, but convenient shopping centers. In fact, all three of our traveling trio had brought extra bags packed inside our bags to fill with those items as yet unavailable in Kurdistan - brown rice, exotic cereals (like flavored instant oatmeal), English Christmas sweets, puddings & preserves... English-language novels, non-pirated DVDs, and more (most of all this at Marks & Spencer's... although the picture above was taken of the staff at Lush).
We were then ready to explore the bay. The corniche was a little over 5km long and made me more than a little envious. Not only can expats enjoy relatively beautiful nice scenery while getting in a little exercise, but they (including expat women) can run in shorts and tank tops. I am stuck in full length sweats staring at the road along the inside of a drab wall in the complex I live in going around and around like a hamster in a cage.
Although kind of cheesy, we also went for a little ride in a kind of motorized dhow-ferry. (There wasn't much to do as many culture venues were closed for Eid). The water was lovely, but the music was loud and the other passengers confirmed that the shorts and tank-top outfits visible on the cornichewere NOT de rigeur for all women in Doha (see below)!

Thanksgiving -text to come