Photos from Doha

This area will be full of residential compounds within 2 months. Work happens 24/7 and
the construction crews come from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Egypt, and other countries.
It's the call to prayer from this minaret on the left that awakens me every morning at 5 AM. I like the sound of the live voice--it's plaintive and haunting. There are three in hearing range.
This is the view out the front of my apartment building. Come visit me in my lavish quarters--three bedrooms, three baths, huge plush couches, 2,000 tv channels and, uh,
lots of them, well, not for children or prudes. I'm watching Al Jazeera's coverage of the primaries. Fascinating.
The view out one of my bedroom's windows.
This is the entrance to my gated compound, taken from a fast-moving car. Almost everyone living here works at Qatar University--we're a mix of Arabs from other countries and Ex-pats.

Hi Again:
Everything here is fab except for my computer access.
The Chinese would call it a broken day, at least in terms
of cyberactivity. Otherwise, a super day. Had the first
student meeting and they are wonderful young women.

An ex-pat American and an Egyptian boyfriend took me
to an Arab fair late this afternoon (we're 8 hours ahead here).
We drove over with a fully-covered woman (nikab) and her four-year-
old son. He took one look at me and burst into tears. I terrified
him.

I learned a bit about some deeper aspects of life in Doha.
Fascinating and just the tip. I'm in love with the relief patterns
on the stucco walls and with everything here. Maybe I was a
bedouin in a former life. 9:30 PM and I'm off to meet some of my
compound mates who have wireless! Yes. It's the first night
of the weekend here.


Keep in touch.