Water conservation in Doha

Sadly, the post title is a bit of an oxymoron. I regularly see people washing the street in front of their house with a hose, or washing their car with a hose that they leave running as they scrub, or just plain leaving a hose running for no apparent reason. Considering that it's illegal to use potable water for any purpose other than drinking, bathing, or washing indoors, and it's rumored to take the energy of 7 gallons of oil to produce one gallon of desalinated water, these are pretty blatant abuses of the system and the environment. But one of the most irritating ones that hit really close to home for me is our neighborhood's automatic water tank cleaning system.
Once a month, each villa in our compound gets a waterfall off its roof as a pump (at least partially) empties its rooftop water tank of between 100 and 200 gallons of potable water. Supposedly this is to prevent buildup of sediment in the tank, which is believable--but also wasteful. So I went on my roof one day while we had our monthly waterfall and found the hose out of which the water was spraying. I put a 30-gallon storage tub under it, and then another, and then another, and I'm sure if I had gotten there just as it started, I could have filled four of them easily. As it was, I still caught some water as it flowed off our roof, and that's when my neighbor drove by and got this shot:

So then I bought 10 meters of hose, a hose connector, and two hose clamps, and now we have the drain hose leading down our house into these tubs, and we can water our garden and wash our car all month with this saved water!

Packing and shipping advice if you're moving to Qatar

This is mostly from an email exchange Rachel and I had with one of the new recruits coming to my school next year:

What type of items should I ship? Food? Toiletries? Dvd's? Sheets? It would be great to get a list like for summer camp.

Don’t worry about whether you can find most things. I think the only things Rachel hasn’t found are certain ingredients for baking and certain medicines she prefers to the local alternatives. If you’re okay with switching your diet to a more local diet, you can avoid buying the more expensive imported foods. But if you’re going to want your breakfast cereal (or insert other comfort food here) every day, shelling out $8 a box will just be an expense you have to live with unless you want to devote shipping allowance to a whole crate of that. The same sort of goes for toiletries, but it’s easier to find the same brands of toiletries here as in the US without as much increase in price.

Generally, first choose things with sentimental value that you want to have with you instead of in storage. That includes wall art, framed photos, etc. to make your house a home. You might bring certain bedding if you’re particular about sheets or pillows or mattress toppers, but you can buy pretty much anything here. There aren’t libraries, so DVDs might be a good choice, and DVDs purchased here can’t be viewed on DVD players from the US, so don't bring one, but plan to buy a universal-region one here instead. You’ll be able to access any online subscription services (like Netflix, Amazon Streaming, etc.) via VPN with no trouble. If you have kids, bring their favorite toys. You can find most familiar toys here, but they’ll all be full-price. There’s basically no such thing as bargain shopping here.

I eat dairy free and gluten free. Will it be difficult to find special flours?

Not difficult to find necessarily, but probably relatively expensive. You’re probably used to that issue in the US, too, but it’s even more of a price difference here. And many items are not consistently available even if you do find a store that carries them, so buy all you can whenever you see it on the shelf.

What type of items can you ship? What type of items are not allowed?

Pretty much everything that isn’t explosive or corrosive. They said no batteries. Don’t try to bring in pork or alcohol or multiple copies of religious material that they might think you’re using to proselytize. Some people said not to bring even a nativity scene (if you’re Christian), but we know plenty of people who had no trouble with that. You can buy every other kind of Christmas decoration here but those.

How do you ship? UPS? Or airline?

We shipped through a logistics company called Experts Logistics Services. http://www.expertslogistic.com Our HR person will send you a list of other companies people have used. This company's rate was relatively low when if you shipped by boat, but we shipped by air, and it was more expensive than we expected. They calculate the price based on some combination of weight and volume. I’d say ship by air, whatever company you choose. We've been told horror stories of shipping containers being washed off boats by big waves, or plastic items melting in the heat while the container sits in customs for possibly weeks. You’ll make up the cost of shipping by air pretty soon if you live somewhat frugally for a while here, and the peace of mind alone is probably worth the price difference.

Rachel had a few things to add, too:

I do have a few things to add...

Items to ship- If you use chili powder, bring a few with you as that is a spice blend and I haven't found it here.  And what is labeled chili powder here is actually dried chilies ground into a powder, not the same.  We found that out the hard way. :) But you can find most everything.  If there is a specific item you're wondering about, I can see if it's here.  But the store near us is good about getting items requested, at least so I've been told by people who have requested things.  I haven't done it myself. You can find deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, in brands that you'll recognize (Herbal Essence, Tresseme, Colgate, Crest, etc), along with others.  Be careful with sheets as the bed sizes aren't always the same to the ones at home.  I know of some people who brought sheets with them in the size they were told the bed would be and they don't fit.  But you'll be provided sheets, and like Steve said, if you don't like the ones in your apt/villa, there are plenty of options to buy different ones.  

Gluten Free/Dairy Free- There are a number of dairy free milks here such as soy and sometimes I see Almond milk.  And of course, there's plenty of coconut milk. I watch a girl after school who is allergic to dairy and she's doing just fine here. 

Shipping company- we shipped by air, not boat.  The shipment came about 3-4 weeks after we got here. Our neighbors shipped mostly by boat and they didn't get their shipment until close to Christmas. Air shipment costs more but is quicker, by boat is cheaper but takes much longer. 

A Qatari Wedding Party

My school's assistant principal invited me and some other western guys from work to his nephew's wedding party. The wedding ceremony itself probably happened in the Sharia Court with just a few members of the family present to witness the signing of the marriage contract, without much pomp. So around 7:30 I drove to a gigantic empty field of crushed rock and dust (the native state of most of Qatar's wildlands) where 4 separate wedding parties were being held. Each party had a big sign announcing the family name of the groom in front of a greeting area of about a quarter acre of persian rugs with upholstered chairs facing inward around the perimeter, along with flood lights. The smell of burning incense was strong. This was in front of the enormous white tent (about the size of a soccer field, and two stories high) with a transparent plastic front and chandeliers hanging from the top. Inside, a queue led directly to the groom and his receiving line. The bride and her invited guests were elsewhere at an invitation-only party at a hotel that I assume was something like this. But this party, like most grooms' parties in Qatar, was open to anyone who felt like coming in, as long as they were dressed in traditional Qatari dress or at least semi-formal western dress (slacks and a button-up shirt, plus nice shoes and maybe a tie or jacket). The tent, like the outside greeting area, had persian rugs with upholstered chairs around the entire perimeter. For every few chairs, there was a coffee table with dates, nuts, tissues, and water on it. Live musicians provided entertainment and a chance for anyone interested to come dance (someone else's video) with a sword in hand. The singers (all men) faced one another in two parallel lines about 20 feet apart, with a circle of drummers in the middle. They sang songs of battle and glory in Arabic. Party guests grabbed a sword from a pile and stepped in rhythm slowly around the circle hoisting or shaking or twisting or bobbing the sword, each in his own unique style. A crane camera recorded their performance while the rest of a full camera crew recorded the receiving line and fed it to a projector that showed the view from alternating cameras on screen near the entrance. After greeting the groom, guests usually mingled and found other friends, then made their rounds along the perimeter, touching noses or kissing foreheads (for especially honored friends). Around 8:30, everyone rushed to the adjacent tent, perpendicular and connected to the first, where 80 round banquet tables sat laden with roasted goats on trays of saffron rice with white raisins and boiled eggs, surrounded by small bowls of salad, pitas, and hummus, as well as sodas and bottles of water. Seating was a free-for-all, almost like musical chairs when the music stops, with only the groom's table--with its roasted camel--off limits to most visitors. At each table, the person of highest social standing or most closely connected to the groom ripped off hunks of meat with his bare hands and distributed them to the other guests, who helped themselves to the rest of the food and ate just as often with the silverware as with their right hands.

Before entering the eating area, I talked with the performers. They were from Saudi Arabia. The only thing they asked me about America is whether we keep falcons as they do!

It was a great night, and I'm very grateful to my host for inviting me. Now that I know I could go into any wedding party here and receive the same treatment, I think I might go out driving on weekend evenings all dressed up more often! I didn't take any pictures, but this post from a stranger has some that look just like what I saw. And here is an interesting Al Jazeera article with commentary on the current state of Qatari wedding traditions.

Second ultrasound for new baby

Our insurance pays for one ultrasound every month, including the cool 3D ones. So today was the second one, and here are some pictures. Still too early to tell the sex yet, but fun to see anyway.

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The coolest part, though, was that on the CD with the photos was a file that turned out to be a 3D snapshot. I found the ultrasound terminal's program here and installed it on my PC, and pretty soon I could look at any slice of this 3D scan I wanted to! Now, granted, they're still not all that detailed because the baby is so small, but what excites me is that I now know I'll be getting this same file each time we visit. I'm pretty sure this is the exact file that people can send off to have their babies 3D-printed before they're even born. So now the only question is: does anybody have access to a 3D printer they'd like to try this with? (Yes, that's a link to the 3D file, so you can view it yourself if you want to download that program linked above)

A bit of advice on getting a car in Doha

This advice is intended primarily for other people who work for QF, since you'll be in generally the same financial situation as we are.
American cars aren't unheard of in Doha, but they are more rare than Asian brands like Toyotas, Nissans, Kias, Mitsubishis, etc. BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis are common, but naturally more expensive than their Asian counterparts in general. For American cars, that means spare parts are harder to come by, and you'll have to get most of your service at the dealer, which can mean a lot more expense and a long trip down to the industrial area. But a mechanic who knows where to look could find you parts for pretty much any Asian make of car without much trouble.
If you're into leasing cars, that's a viable option since your monthly travel allowance is high enough to lease a small sedan during your two-year contract. Selling cars isn't hard, though, so you could buy one at the same monthly rate and likely earn at least half of it back when you leave. If you want a bigger car than just a sedan, you could combine the travel allowance for a working couple and afford a used SUV from the last few model years. Or, if you really prefer to get a used car and deal with the risks that involves, you can get one for far less than the travel allowance and still sell it later. But the headaches (and unexpectedly high costs) of getting your car serviced are probably not worth getting a car as well-used as you might consider in the states.
We bought a used minivan for pretty cheap and have since regretted it due to the many trips we've had to take to get it serviced. We've replaced the fuel pump, some fuses, the radiator, the shifter/transmission cable, all four tires, both front wheel bearings, the windshield wiper sprayer pump, and had to have the engine tuned up. We've also had trouble getting its registration renewed because of the repairs it has needed, as they won't renew a car that has anything significant wrong with it.
So if we could travel back in time a year and a half and give ourselves some advice, we'd tell ourselves to buy a used car that would use close to our whole travel allowance for the next two years rather than one that uses less than half of it.
A few good sites for finding new and used cars, in order from best interface to worst (in my opinion):
http://www.carsemsar.com/en/qatar
http://www.qatarsale.com
http://www.qatarliving.com

Camel Racing

I've been hearing about the camel races for about a year, but nobody seemed to be able to tell me when they would be, where to get a schedule, or what I was supposed to do when I got there. Qatar has a long way to go in promoting its tourism.
I eventually harassed my Qatari assistant principal to the point that he contacted someone who could provide accurate information, and he brought me a program printed from a website. The program was in Arabic, and though it had dates of races, it didn't say what time the races would start, just "morning" and "afternoon." My assistant principal told me the morning races were around 6:30 and the afternoon races were around 3:30. Hoping for more precise information, I searched Google in Arabic for some of the phrases from the program until I identified the site it came from, here. I also found the local TV station that broadcasts the races on TV and online here. Unfortunately, I still had no way of knowing the race times, though I knew the channel broadcasts them live.
So finally, one weekend we agreed to just try it with some friends around 3:30 PM, and just before leaving I checked the TV listings online to see what time the race started broadcasting. It had started at 2:00! We almost decided not to go, since it would mean a half hour drive with no guarantee of seeing a race when we got there. But we chanced it anyway, and were glad we did. You can read Rachel's account here.
As we approached the race track, we saw camels leaving, and our spirits dropped a little, but the kids were still excited to see some camels up close.

 There were no signs showing where to go, so we just kept driving around through the racing complex until we found our friends who had come ahead of us. They had befriended the ambulance drivers stationed there and got some information out of them. Apparently, we were in the right place, exactly where the race would start. There were no bleachers, no seats of any kind, just this starting gate made of a curtain and a crane camera pointed at it. But then we started hearing horns.

 We rushed to cross the street back into the parking lot where our car was just as a whole fleet of about 30 cars came zooming up on both sides of the track. Half the cars were on the inside of the oval track with us, and half of the cars were on the outside. They had just finished following one race, and they were all lined up waiting for the next one to start. We hopped in our car and said, "Let's go with them!" And you can watch the video below to see what happened next.

 At one point, we drove across a part of the race track that clearly was used for shorter races, as it curved inward while the part the camels were on continued straight. They'd simply taken down the rails along the sides of the track and spread dirt down the cement ramps on the sides so that we could drive up and over it at racing speeds!

 Big E and Miss A enjoyed driving with the windows down and watching the camels run. They insisted we go around at least 3 times, which we did. It was a lot of fun. And on the way back out, we waved goodbye to some more camels going home to rest.

Here's a video about camel racing in Saudi Arabia, and it's pretty much the same here. If you want to see our particular track, you can watch one of the races from our local track on 4 Nov here. It includes the great running commentary from a guy in one of the cars. And the cameras recording those shots are operated by guys sitting in chairs strapped to the tops of SUVs driving around the track with the rest of us!

P.S. Here are some bonus videos to show you how Big E has been teaching us Arabic at home:

And also how I've been teaching him to dance:

Happy Halloween!

We were very happy this year to do most of our regular Halloween traditions. We got and carved pumpkins.

The kids made Halloween crafts with Rachel all week.

Big E got to dress up as the mouse from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..." for school, and he actually liked the costume I made for him (this is a new development for him). Mom, note that I copied your design for my 4th grade play.

He also liked the accessories I made and picked for his Woody costume for trick-or-treating (the hat, the match, and the leather shoes).

Miss A was Little Bo Peep. She collected candy in her purse, and Rachel ended up carrying the sheep.

And then we got to go to our neighbor's birthday party after trick or treating. The kids had a great time all night long, and so did we.
Happy Halloween!

Scary story

Today, Big E and I were "camping" under the blanket on my bed. I asked him to tell me a scary story. Big E: "One day, a monster went out hunting... for DINOSAURS! He found one, but it was dead. So he tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy. Because it was dead. So he prayed to Heavenly Father to help him, but Heavenly Father couldn't hear him because he was talking in monster language! The end."
Me: "What language does Heavenly Father speak?"
Big E: "English. And all the other languages."
Me: "But not monster?"
Big E: "No, not monster. Dad, do dinosaurs make meat in their stomachs?"
Me: "No, but they make it in their muscles. That's where all meat comes from: muscles."
Big E: "Mmmm... I love meat."

Settled in

Rachel and the kids came back safely a week ago in the evening, so yesterday was our first time back to church together as a family. One of the members of the Stake Presidency called and asked me and Rachel to meet him in the morning before church started. And as a result, now I'm the Elders Quorum President. For those of you who don't know what that is, I'm the head of the men's organization (well, men between 18 and, say, 45) in the ward, responsible for arranging monthly visits to every member's home to check on their welfare, and supporting the spiritual and economic well-being of all their families. You've got to watch out for those pre-meeting meetings!

Big E starts school tomorrow. He seems a little nervous, but he doesn't really express emotion about upcoming events in general, so it's hard to tell. It's weird to think of him going off to school already. I hope he likes it and makes some more friends who are boys. Seriously, until the new family moved in next door with 4-year-old twin boys, girls were practically all he ever played with.

Miss A has had some trouble adjusting to the jet lag. She fell asleep in nursery yesterday, for example, around 11:30, not her regular nap time. Right now, Big E and Miss A are having a playful shouting match at the table, seeing who can shout "Noooooo!" the loudest while they eat their lunches.

We had a student expelled from school at the very end of school last year because he brought a knife and stabbed another kid "accidentally" in the arm with it. I believe his story, and he's a nice kid, so I called him up to see how he's doing, and we ended up going to dinner with one of his cousins and one of the new teachers. He took us to a restaurant called Afghan Brothers, where we all sat barefooted on cushions on the floor and ate mutton and chicken and rice with our hands from a common platter. That was a fun cultural experience! I plan on taking Rachel and the kids there some time soon. Then we had our high school staff retreat to build camaraderie and plan for the year at our assistant principal's house. He's Qatari and quite well off, so his house was beautiful. We asked a student to bring his pet falcons for our new staff to pose with. The student is the son of the prime minister. But the student didn't come, so the assistant principal called his dad. His dad said, "That's not okay, he should have come. I'll just send his older brother." So we got the falcons after all, with the help of the prime minister!

From the time Rachel got home last week until Thursday evening, she hadn't gone any further from our house than Big E's school, which is right by where I work, and not really very far away at all. So I took her out Thursday to an Indian food place at the Pearl, which is a man-made series of bays along a manmade peninsula, lined with yachts in the water, shops that people with yachts shop at all along the piers, and big towers of empty apartments where the rich people were supposed to live, but apparently decided not to. Two other couples and a single teacher from school came along, and we had a really good, rather expensive time. Next date will probably be for fast food or something.

I've been recording myself reading the Book of Mormon aloud as Elder Scott or maybe Elder Nelson said he did in the last General Conference, as a gift to my kids and grandkids. I'm up to Alma Chapter 8 now. It takes a lot longer to read aloud than in my head!

One of the Nigerian investigators who has been attending our church since about April has gotten permission to be baptized, which is a wonderful thing to be a part of, especially here in the Middle East.

We saw these guys trucking along at about 30 mph in this vehicle as we approached a busy intersection at 7:45 PM last night. I don't even feel safe driving in our car, let alone a suped up Power Wheels Jeep!

The second half of summer

This is another post in place of a journal entry / photo dump about our time in the US. Only read on if you're into that sort of thing.

Miss A really became attached to her new hat and a little purse she found in the house. She'd put a ball inside the purse and walk around in her hat with the purse dangling awkwardly until she found the right spot, then she'd throw the ball and get it and put it back in her purse. She's a funny little girl.

 One of the summer's exciting developments was the installation of a tornado shelter in Nana and Papa's garage floor. We all decided to go inside once it was finished.

 We fit, but it wasn't what I'd call comfortable.

Still, uncomfortable is better than dead in a tornado.

We also went back to the Children's Museum to see more of the exhibits. Big E and Miss A both wanted a turn on the rising and falling bed of nails.

 Even Rachel took a turn!

 Though we didn't have any tornados while we were there, we did have quite a windstorm one night that took down a 15 foot maple next to the driveway, and an even bigger branch from the bradford pear in front of the house. So I spent two mornings cutting up those fallen branches and limbs, and bundling them for collection.

We visited Carthage for one weekend to see a bunch of our old friends. We had kind hosts who let us stay at their home and avoid a hotel charge, and lots of people came to a potluck we had at Oak St. park. It was nice and nostalgic being back. Rachel said she really loved it there and wouldn't mind moving back if this Qatar thing doesn't work out. My old assistant principal even offered to let me buy her lake house if I'd agree to come back and work for her now that she's principal!

This was back in Broken Arrow again: 

We went to the Tulsa zoo.

Big E got sick the next day and threw up a few times, so he just had a nice, long, restful day on the couch watching Shaun the Sheep on Netflix the whole time. I think Rachel went somewhere out that day, so I had the kids.

Even after he felt better, Big E was still a little more worn out than usual. He told me he was going to go upstairs to read one evening, and never made it past the first step!

Rachel took the kids to pick some Porter peaches, and we enjoyed a nice half bushel for a week or two.

Miss A really loved to go swimming. All I had to do was hold up her swimsuit, and she'd shout "SIMMING!" and run to put it on.

She was also very pleased with her new socks and shoes, and she wore her very first barrette with pride. She checked to make sure it was there all day long.

We spent a rather chilly morning at a splash pad. Both kids were hesitant to play in any of the really powerful jets or water dumps, but they had fun anyway.

Rachel made (is still making, actually) a felt advent calendar, with figures and scenery for a nativity in each pouch. She also made herself a dress and a skirt. I love her work ethic and creativity.

We all worked together to make homemade ice cream, and though it was good, we pretty unanimously agreed that you can get pretty good ice cream for a lot less work these days!

 Soon after that, we flew to Utah where we stayed with my oldest brother's family (thanks, Mike and Miriam!) and spent a fun week doing all sorts of activities with him and my two sisters' families. We also got to see the zoo and have lunch there courtesy of our great aunt Shirley. Thank you, Shirley!

The kids played for hours and hours in my brother's back yard, which has a trampoline, a tree house, a dog, a big swing, a littler swing set, and a bunch of chickens. They were in heaven! One evening, the sprinklers came on, so they all just stripped naked and kept on playing.

All the fun made for some very tired kids. Here they are on our drive up to Kamas to stay at Rachel's family's cabin for the night.

We rented this car, which turned out to be a really nice one to drive, a Hyundi Sonata hybrid. Very quiet and smooth with plenty of power, and it saved us loads on gas.

The next day, we visited Rachel's grandparents, and after some time spent warming up to them, the kids finally became good friends with them.

One of our most memorable mornings was spent with cousins chasing butterflies at Big Spring park in the Provo South Fork canyon. Thanks for planning that day, Karen and Peter!

We went to church with Heather's family.

We also had a family gathering for our relatives on Mom's side. We really appreciated everyone bringing the party to us at Mike's house.

We had a lovely time every day we spent in Utah, and we enjoyed the cool evening breezes and beautiful wildfire sunsets.

We had a nice short hike up a small canyon in Pleasant Grove. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the stream.

And we found some nice bargains at the American Fork DI, including some free helium balloons!

My sister, Karen, had all of us over for dinner at her pretty house, and all the kids love playing in the backyard and toy-filled basement. Thanks, Karen!

We spent our last night in Utah at aunt Shirley's house, then I flew back to Doha, and Rachel and the kids returned to Oklahoma for another two weeks. Again, Miss A loved the fresh fruit.

She also loves looking at family photos and videos on the computer and calling out the names of anyone she recognizes.

Bedtime is a lot more fun when Grandma and Grandpa are in charge, i.e., let's go get ice cream and fall asleep on the way home!

Now I'm back in Doha and frankly quite lonely while I wait for Rachel and the kids to return in a week. All's well here.