CHILDREN'S ART COMPETITION

 "Airplanes flying to the moon? Spaceships floating acrosss the universe? Flying cars? Let your imagination fly and make a drawing that reflects the theme "The Future of Travel"

For children between age five and twelve 

 DEADLINE  15TH DECEMBER  2012

Prizes   -  five kids will be chosen with their parents to travel to Zurich Kindercity



Learn more about this exciting competition here /

Hydronic Dirigible #1 Futuristic Art Poster by digitalrealms
Browse for more artwork prints

It was a security guard who murdered a woman in Qatar

I was astonished to read in the local daily that a forty year old American teacher was killed . Jennifer
Brown was teaching at Al Wakra Campus of English Modern School . What is more disturbing that the killer was a
security guard .... He is from Kenya .Ten days ago it happened - this is the first time I hear about it ...

Is Qatar a green-minded country ?

 YES    -  22 % of the country's land is a protected area by the ministry of environment
           - it protects and reintroduces rare fish species and their coral habitat
          - seasonal sea turtle grounds are protected
          - protecting dugongs -sea animals


NOT so much  - the nationals of Qatar use the water and electricity free  and the per person usage is the largest in the world

Qatar does not have a plan to reduce its  emissions

  Cars are used extensively  - and only little effort was made to turn the city buses into a family friendly mean of transportation

So the festival is over

 The last Day of the film festival was the best one for us . The festival's family programs started early on Saturday  at two  in the afternoon .We were sitting in the terrace of an affordable place and we were having our lunch while the weather was just perfect and the jazz groups were preparing  for their performances . The kids repeated all the quest again and  collected all the stamps they needed just to get some very little prize .... some kind of plastic bracelet with florescent liquid in  ....
 But all in all   that afternoon was very nice . We need more festivals like that . Doha really went multicultural  and we saw performing many different nations living here ....my favorite was  an Indonesian pop group .They were all so innocent looking teenagers and they  played wonderfully .. The singer was wearing hijab   - in Qatar anything is possible....
I have only one request to the organizers   -please arrange some school holidays during the festival to be able to join the screenings during weekdays as well !

Family Day at DTFF 2012

It was quite crowdy at the Katara on Friday .There was a huge selection of programs ...glowing kites were dancing over the sea - huge stilt walker butterflies were walking among us  -the smell of the kebab and  shawarma filled the area  - two stages with different performers - drummers/jazz /Arabic jazz or something like that (wonderful ) classical Indian dance and Bollywood dance / acrobats .school kids performing / local talents / or just sitting in the sand of the beach and watching ET .It was a real fiesta where    Doha residents and the visitors could relax and celebrate  the   wonderful end of the November  ...

My kids were playing in the sand /playing golf /doing different craft projects /making up the  a story for a film and giving a real interview about that :) dancing  in a group spontaneously ... they were photographed and they were made feel that they were  real stars ...

However not everything went wonderfully . The eighty percent of the volunteers  were very ignorant and uninterested in their job . We tried to find out at the information desk which films were on  for kids that day /"I really do not know" -try to find it in this booklet was the answer ...another thing that made me very upset was the stamp collecting game ...  kids had to go from place to place to  do different things and get a stamp...now my   eight-year-old wanted to collect those stamps ... but we did not know where to go exactly ... during two hours we kept asking  different volunteers about the  places where  she could get her missing two stamps - but no one could answer ... finally we returned to the first station with the kites and there two guys were better informed than the former ones and they told us that it was at the beach football field . That made me very angry  because we had been there before and asking about the stamps but nobody  knew anything about that .So finally she got all her stamps  -it was around nine o'clock - she ran to the prizes kiosk to collect her prize then she got two balloons only because  "sorry  - we ran out of the real prizes = you came too late "  it was very upsetting as we were informed that the festival was on until midnight ...

 The food  -  there were some small stalls by the beach selling kebab /fish and chips /crepe /chapati  and that is it .. There was a huge crowd and  I can't afford standing there with two little kids half an hour ... so we were starving there . . I think that they should be better prepared next year for feeding so many people ...

A Hungarian make up artist in Doha

 Blanca Paloma Montenegro - a Hungarian  make up artist just started 

 the other day  a 5 days Masterclass  Course on the protestic Cinema Makeup.It is right here in Doha . How exciting !You can see her with a well-fed zombie  -her creation ...

Indian Films at Doha Tribeca Film festival

Till I breath this life   -Yas Chopra romance

Venue :Souq Waqif -Al Rayyan theatre
Tuesday , 20 November
from 7 pm  175 minutes


The Brave hearted will take the bride -Aditya Chopra romantic comedy

Venue : Katara -Sony Open Air Cinema
Wednesday ,21 November
from 8 pm  189 minutes

Bollywood Goes To Budapest

Bollywood goes to Budapest to shoot films ... the Hero is thrown into the Danube but survives  and one can see the beautiful sights of the city and the less attractive ones ... all of it was made to advertise a motorbike
 Enjoy the video - it is a full story  - told  in less than four minutes ...

  Robert de Niro was the  VIP guest of  the opening ceremony at Doha Tribeca Film Festival.It did not cheer me up . I do not like him . Last year it was Banderas who came .It is difficult to find someone more popular than Antonio . But the film festival should be  about films and not  only about the stars .

So far I did not see any trailers which would attract me  to any film .

When a sport woman turns out to be someone else

Pinki Pramanik   is an Indian woman who  won women's relay gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha .
After that she had gone to a number of international events . What so special about her ? It turned out she is a man .She/he happened to rape her/his room mate . Well ,well I can not even  imagine how these gender tests  take place . They must be quite embarrassing ...and now it is

Military Exercise in Qatar

Do not panic if you stumble upon troops in the streets of Doha in the coming days .It is only a three day military exercise . Do not get shocked to see if you see soldiers of other GCC countries  - it is only part of all that .Do cooperate and let the troops pass  was the advice of the local daily today .

 I could not believe my eyes when reading that . But I did not stumble upon any soldiers so far .

Hungarian Film at DTFF 2012

Just the Wind (Csak a Szél)

This Hungarian film drama is about a series of shocking acts of racially motivated violence in 2008 -09 .It will be Hungarian speaking with English and Arabic subtitles .

The screening is :Mon, Nov 19, 09:30 The Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
Wed, Nov 21, 09:30 PM,

When I read this I was less happy than before . The screenings are too late .No way for me to go out and watch a film on a week day . The film is about the suffering of the Roma people in Hungary .And while it was true that there was a merciless criminal group murdering six innocent Roma people in 2008-09 - I guess it got already prizes in Berlin because it shows all the Hungarians as heartless racist people . The Roma appear in the film only as innocent victims . This is what internationally expected when speaking about the topic . This is the way to get prizes - and the director got what he wanted .

The only question remains in me who and when will be brave enough to make a film on the truth showing the life in Hungary from this and that point of view . When a film maker will be brave enough to show how much  for example the teachers struggle with their Roma students to rise them up and what they get in return many times only violence ( yes beaten teachers became commonplace  - I know personally teachers) . When the filmmaker will be brave enough to show how the Roma people's leaders misslead their own people -and instead of encouraging them to study and work they are encouraged to shout and scream on TV showing themselves as victims and they make them believe that it will be enough to survive in the 21th century .

This film did not touch any taboo question - just tells a story in a manner that it is expected . It must be politically correct otherwise it won't be screened .

Numbers and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival

87 films

176 screenings

Be part of the story !

The Film festival is coming

It makes me so excited .. the most awaited festival in Qatar . At least for me .This year it comes nearly a month later than last year .  I think it is fine this way as last year in October it was just too hot .
The trailers .. they are  made so wonderfully that I can not resist and post them here  ... I know it might cause that  every video opens itself when someone  comes to my blog ...:)

Now the first  trailer . It is called Made in Qatar . Films made right here  by the Qatari/Philippinos /expat Arabs  etc ... total of 19 films ... It makes me very happy - this is a way to get closer to each other . We need it very much  -we live next to each other here without knowing each other .

people and their life in Qatar

An American English teacher living in Qatar is not able to fly home and visit his own mom .When he wanted to fly he learned that he was  put on no-fly list by his own country's government  . He is not allowed to fly home . He has never visited  countries like Afghanistan , Pakisthan , Somalia . He had spent the last ten years of his life in  Egypt ,UAE ,Qatar .

 He has no idea why he was put on that list  and when . He is  not accused of anything .He has been  serving in the US army for ten years .

 A  cracking article  about the   life of many Amercian Muslims in the post 911 world .

Omani tour operators on study tour in Hungary

Omani tour operators were  on study tour in Hungary  last month  - in cooperation  with  Qatar Airways  - I read here . They were interested in thermal baths with special medical services ,luxury hotels , Hungarian culture of   horse riding .Hunting opportunities have seized their attention as well because in Oman Hunting  has not been allowed  for ten years .

Will the    khaleeji tourists discover Hungary ? This is an exciting question .So far  they know and prefer Austria and the Check republic   in the area .

Erzsebet Bridge I heart Budapest Luggage Tags by almawad
Browse other I heart budapest Luggage Tags

17,000 visitors to Qatar - Numbers

 There will be a huge UN conference in Qatar between Nov 26 and Dec 7 . Be prepared for that  - you who are living here . The topic of the conference will be the Climate Change .17,000 people would participate ...and there will be 400 buses just for them to go around Doha .

Palm trees in Doha Tags For Bags by almawad
See other Sunset Luggage Tags

My childhood memories - my brother never got sick

 I must always smile whenever I remember this story . It started in a winter afternoon ...we expected the form teacher of my   big  brother  to visit   us .  He was a five grader at that time .It was/is the custom   in Hungary that  the  form teachers visit once a year the family of every student to  have better  idea about the surroundings of the student and have a friendly chat with the parents .

Well, she was a very nice lady - she was sitting in the kids room  and drinking coffee with my mum . She told many good things about my brother  - he is smart , helpful  and very popular . My mother was very proud .

Then the teacher added and "what is really  exceptional  - he did not miss a single day from school last year . He seems very healthy child as well ".... Then my mother went overconfident and she told  her "  I do not intend to brag  but ... he has not been down with any illness for one and a half year ."

The teacher praised him and added that only the art teacher  is complaining about my brother that his level is not good enough  for his age ..Perhaps if my mother encouraged  him he would  show more talent .

When the form teacher left our home  my mother was disturbed by this art teacher's remark . It turned out that they had  homework - they had to paint  something colorful   around their  home . My mother looked out the kitchen window and told to my brother   : Look  there  !  The fence which is hiding the garbage  cans !   it is a nice topic ... I remember him drawing that colorful fence   it  had large orange/yellow triangles  and really there was not many other colorful things to choose that winter day ....  my mother was cooking and encouraged him  "   be brave  - do not be afraid to paint it large .... "  everybody loved the result


 So my brother was  waiting very much to go to the school the next day - he wanted to tell  the other students about the teacher's visit and he expected some nice words  from the art teacher .  . But when  he woke up he was very unwell : high temperature , sore throat .... My mother felt miserable .... She was nearly  crying  'I am so much ashamed  now .... I  was too proud yesterday that you are never ill .  They will laugh  when they hear you are down with flu "

In Mum's Bed 1908 Photograph by dianegaddis
Print photos at Zazzle

 Luckily , nobody teased him  for this  ... then this story  always reminds me not to take the good health of our child as a personal victory  .  Some kids gets sick more often than others  .

And what happened to the painting ?  My brother could show it to the teacher after a week !  The only thing she could tell him  was " this is not your work - somebody else has made it "  and deterred him for life from the career as an artist .