Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Qatar Photo Gifts



Browse other personalized gifts from Zazzle.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Qatar Airways flew home around 500 passengers to Europe landing in Lyon instead of Paris and in Edinburgh instead of London .
If Paris is not allowed how can Edinburgh be a legal destination these days ?
marine festival 2010 doha
 

we visited yesterday the event .it is a bit far .Somewhere near the hotel intercontinental -but at my greatest surprise the karwa driver knew the place and we arrived there smoothly . it was around half past four still very hot ...
the children were welcomed by a character called Bahoor - a seahorse - they were given buttons ,flags ,sheets to color and pencils .It was a nice beginning . Then there was at the beach this bouncing castle and beautiful sand sculptures and some of the designers were still working on them . I liked all of them - but I found the girl singing with an oud in her lap the best.I also liked a group of camel having rest .
Someone got the idea to sprinkle water on the sand thus our kids were making happily their own sand sculpture . I wish there was someone who does it in the public parks -as the sand is always dry in this country and playing in it is not great joy for the children .


There was a huge screen for movies by the seaside with comfortable sofas and chairs and beanbags to make you feel like home .I like that but the movie that was on was not very special some old Disney movie ...


WE saw kids drawings and painting and also from more professional artists on the
at the exhibition area . There was a tent full of special kind of sea creatures : mostly fishes and crabs . They were nice .I liked the lion fish with its stripes and an orange fish with blue dots .Like they made a fashion statement .:)


The food court was not very special . Everything was reasonably priced - but just the usual fast food meals .There was a small tent on which it was written "seafood cooking competition" -but who was competing with who -and who were the lucky ones who could taste the food -all of these details were not clear ..


It was a nice event without big surprises .Unfortunately the family's camera was not available . Tonight there will be a big parade a carnival on the Corniche.I just wonder the timing from 8 - 10 pm ... It is school tomorrow .. my kids can not get up the next day of they stay up late . Who for this timing was set?

Monday, April 19, 2010

Shopping guide for Hungarians living in the Gulf

It is not possible to find everything we miss -but there are some delicacy that are not well known here .

Sauer Kraut alias  savanyu kaposzta you will find them in 500 g packs in the Megamart
made in Holland by krautboy ...it is at the vegetables counter well hidden among salads and other ready cut veggies - it is very good

Ile Flottant alias madartej it is exactly the same taste  and it is made in France  it is a Carrefour product available at Carrefour supermarkets ...


Raspberry  alias malna at affordable price - nowadays I saw some among the frozen fruits  at Carrefour


Chestnut preserve  -gesztenye pure fele  - I saw sweet chestnut preserves in the Carrefour which is far from our  gesztenye massza but still  tastes to be good for filling cakes ,pancakes  - I saw around Xmas some natural flavored chestnut pure in big yellow tins at  Megamart but the price was putting me off ..

TURO  - if you wish to make something salty then  Almarai labneh will do .Perfect for korozott ,turos retes ,turos pogacs .Yocca cottage cheese tastes like sour cream with turo ...For sweet filling one must buy ricotta ( very expensive ) or you can make at home some turo  within half an hour ... I learned it here how to make turo fast way ....

SOUR CREAM  - alias tejfol . There is  sour cream here . I just write about it because I met some Hungarian housewives here who claimed that there is no sour cream around here ...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Qatar Marine Festival

It seems to be an exciting event full of great programs for kids and adults .
It will close on the 21st of April and events are scheduled in the afternoons at the Cultural Village  .
Sailing demonstration , sand art sculptures , sea food cooking contest , bossa ball and movie night for families ....

find out more

Numbers

500 is the number of transit passengers who must stay  in Qatar due to their canceled flights ....

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Kurt Vonnegut : Slaughterhouse Five - book review

I do not usually read books on WWII . It is the hobby of my father .I grew up surrounded by those books -photo albums and for years i believed that I knew everything about the horror of that era .
Only when before graduating at secondary school I learned that my father nearly frozen to death in a basement where he had to spend days during the cold winter of 1945 while his village was cluster bombed by the Royal British Air Force .He was six years old then .From that story I knew that not only Jews and Russians were the victims during the war but also Hungarian civilian people died .Somehow they forgot to teach that at school .
We were massively brainwashed and we did not care much about the German civilian victim's stories .They started the war after all .
Only lately I heard some hints about the unfair attack on Dresden .I thought that it was like my father's village -a simple carpet bombing .
So I read the book of Kurt Vonnegut because I wished to know what it was like . Kurt Vonnegut was there .He was an American soldier a prisoner of war . Humiliated and forced to work by the Germans nearly bombed to death by his own people .His personal account interested me much.
It was an interesting reading . It told the story of Billy Pilgrim the young optimetrist student who was captured by the Germans within the first week he landed in Europe .
Billy was dying though survived and through his visions and dreams we could learn more about his past and his future .The tragedy of that beautiful city wounded his soul for life .He escaped to the aliens for comfort . Just to know that time is our four dimension and death is not so terrible if we understand the different time perception of those little green men .
Otherwise the truth about Dresden bombing is too horrible with our Earthling perception of time to be able to live with its memory .It was an open city . Strategically nothing important .Under the protection of Red Cross .Undefended .Full of refugees -as it seemed to be the only safe place in Germany .The war was about its end .
Then out of the blue sky came the planes and attacked the city .Allied forces .First the traditional cluster bombing .Which was bad but most people would have survived that if there was not a second bombing of burning materials which turned the shallow shelters into burning catacombs .Those people who managed to get out from there were rushing to the river which was burning as well .Those who escaped to the squares or public parks got special bombs .Fire tornadoes lifted up people .They burnt into ashes or melted into liquid substance .
Out of 35 thousand buildings only 7000 remain .Nobody knows exactly how many people died as the town was full of refugees . They estimate that more than a million people were residing there .
The author survived only because he was accommodated at a slaughterhouse which had a really deep meat cellar .
They day after the bombing when they came out of their shelters to get some food and water the allied forces were flying so low that they were able to see that some people still alive and were shooting on them by machine guns or dropped on them smaller bombs .
After all the author does not think that all this attack was designed by evil people -just ignorant .They just wanted to hasten the end of the war .
These remarks made me feel that the book was censored . Kurt Vonnegut had a letter published after his death in which he called the Dresden attack obscene brutality
Kurt Vonnegut is easy to read .Humanism is radiating from every page.
He claims that 135 thousand people died .Some claims 25 thousand only . The Russians used to speak about 500 thousand victims. If we see that how big percentage of the buildings were destroyed we have to suppose that similar percentage of people perished as well . The city was home to 600 thousand people and jammed with refugees .But nobody knows how many were there at that inferno .
This was the biggest massacre in Europe .
And it is still not taught at schools .It is not commemorated widely .
Dropping bombs on civilians and refugees is still in fashion not so far from Europe . . .
So it goes .

Slaughterhouse Art Poster print
Slaughterhouse Art Poster by curious_inkling
Browse the other posters from zazzle.com
expat Qatar