Let's get one thing straight. Doha. It isn't pretty. Fortunately for me, despite the best efforts of my parents, I'm not a big scenery girl so this lackluster vista is working out just fine... for now. Sure, there are things I miss: trees, stars, fresh air. But the way I see it, even in Oregon, I wouldn't really be enjoying those aspects of life right now. Right now I'd be working somewhere full time. I'd be getting in my car, driving to work, working, coming home, existing for the night indoors, getting up, repeating. See, not a lot of outdoor enjoyment. That's what I tell myself to get by. I think Steve is missing those aspects of Oregon far more than I am. He was a much more compliant child than I was and actually enjoyed being out of doors with his parents. He misses the green most of all. He also misses being cold. I'm absolutely fine with never being cold again. For as long as I live. I'd take a toasty 116 degrees any day over a frigid 28. Any. Day.
I say this all now - but, go ahead and brace yourselves for the emotional meltdown that may take shape in form of a blog post toward the end of October when I come to terms with the fact that we will not be partaking in pumpkin patch fun this year.
I'm in denial right now. It'll come. Wait for it.
The dirty underbelly of Doha, as I like to call it. It's a funny thing. Here in Doha they are very much about appearances. I'm sure it's like short man syndrome. They know their country isn't pretty, so they're trying, with all their little Doozer might, to make it pretty with breathtaking architecture.
Do you remember the Doozers? From Fraggle Rock? Yanked straight from Wikipedia if you're too young to know what I'm talking about or too old to remember...
"Doozers spend much of their time busily constructing all manner of scaffolding throughout Fraggle Rock using miniature construction equipment and wearing hard-hats and work boots. No one but the Doozers themselves seem to understand the actual purpose of their intricate and beautiful constructions. To ensure that they always have a steady stream of work to do, Doozers build their constructions out of an edible candy-like substance (manufactured from radishes) which is greatly enjoyed by Fraggles. They actually want the Fraggles to eat their constructions because "architecture's supposed to be enjoyed" and also so they can go on to build again. This is essentially the only interaction between Doozers and Fraggles; Doozers spend most of their time building, and Fraggles spend much of their time eating Doozer buildings."
That pretty much sums up construction in Doha. Only, no one eats the buildings. What they do love to do is improve on the old. By old I mean - the building has been standing for a year, maybe. If they figure out a way to make an existing structure prettier, they'll build a new one. And leave the old one behind. Vacant. Beautiful. Just sitting there. What they need here are some Fraggles to eat their leftovers.
So, yes, some areas of Doha are just plain ugly. While in stark contrast, others are ridiculously stunning. The former is thanks to nature, or lack thereof, and the latter is thanks to man, or Doozer.
For your entertainment I'll share a couple contrasting collages. My iphone is my only source of photographic documentation. Don't judge. Yes, I did bring my good cameras, but I haven't had a chance to bust those out yet. Plus, they aren't big on being photographed here, so people get super skittish if they think you are taking a photo of them. I like to pretend I'm texting a lot.
To stick with the Jim Henson theme I seem to be going with today, sing it with me...
One of these things is not like the other
One of these things doesn't belong
Can you guess which thing is not like the other
Before we finish this song?
(This is the Gen X version - they friendlied that up for the kinder, gentler generation that followed us by saying "One of these things just isn't the same". I like our version better. No need to sugar coat.)
And...that's Doha. Well, that's one aspect of Doha. Nope. Not pretty. But we still love it here, in spite of it's dirty underbelly.
