WC report .
The public comfort stations -are important things .Once a German tour -guide had told me the story about them .She was just a beginner .She had prepared on the history of Germany - the princes and dukes there so on -to show the tourist around her country .Then when her first American group arrived she got a question that she was not able to answer :" where is the WC ?"
She had planned to write a WC guide in Europe .I do not know if
she realised it or not .
When someone goes to the plazas and the park -like me - the WC-s seem to be all right .OK in the park it is not as much .The cleaning staff is not so hardworking -but still usable .So up to now I thought the toilets were all right here in Qatar . Our kid started to go to kindergarten . We were shocked to see on the third day that the kindergarten which was otherwise clean had a toilet which was simply revolting .WE told them about .They apologised :their cleaner let them down .So the toilet simply was not cleaned .WE gave them a week . After returning the teacher had shown us into a WC apparently nobody use just our kid .It is fine ... just I do not understand the whole thing ..
I read the blog of one of my compatriot in Qatar .She writes about WC horror at her work . It is an agency and there are a lots of shops and offices inside the building and there is one toilet belonging to all of them .And it is not cleaned .
I just wonder how can it be .I noticed for example in the park - that it is not enough to pay the cleaners -but there should be supervision as well .The cleaners are just hanging around all day boring themselves out of their head .
It is shocking to see that they are coming from very poor countries and and I had thought that they will work hard to keep this job - but they do not
do so .I think that they have a relative in a good position a sri lankan auntie or a kerala uncle and they do not afraid
of losing their job at all ...

RAMADAN STORY

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It is still hot . It is still difficult to find a taxi . One gets crazy in the sun - but must go out to arrange this or that .And it is exhausting . There are some illegal taxi drivers . They are able to find your house - too bad that they ask four times the price the legal ones do .

For many schoolers transportation is like the hell . Many Indian school buses are not suitable for kids transportation . Kids get sick during the journey - they get asthmatic attack - they faint .Parents pay more and more for tuition and for transport- but the level is just worse and worse .
Transparency is the thing the angry parents ask for when it is about the school's financial affairs .

Some Islam scholars were holding a talk on the Arabic media . They criticised the boring Islam channels . The lack of courage to talk about the social aspects of Islam .
The housemaid who has been in coma for some years died . She came some years ago to work at a Qatari family - but was admitted to hospital with serious injuries due to a blunt object which hit her head
. The Qatari family has to pay 300 .000 Qatari rial as compensation for the family in Indonesia

Poor woman . Finally , she was able to help her poor relatives in her death .
God will judge about the others .

QATAR HAS BECOME TOO EXPENSIVE even for the Qataris . I read in the daily news that new kind of tourism attracts visitors to Saud Arabia .Shopping tourism .
It is the half price there when it is about clothes and food .Qataris ride to the nearest town 250 km from here and shop for a month and enjoy the different climate -as the daily news claims .
I just wonder what kind of enjoyable climate one can find in Saud Arabia .
it is still hot here and humid .

middle east sunrise
by
almawad

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RAMADAN KARIM ! Happy fasting month! Ramadan is here- it is not allowed to eat and drink during daylight for every Muslims for are physically fit for fasting .It is every body's own decision if fasting or not .
Eating publicly is not tolerated here during this month , however not every Muslim country is like that .I heard that in Malaysia for example the restaurants are open all the day .
Ramadan is the name of a month in the Islamic calendar .It is calculated according to the moon and not according tot he sun .So compared to the sun year this fasting month is coming every year eleven days earlier .It started now the 13 of September it started last year on the 24 th of September and so on .
Souhour is the name of the first meal during Ramadan : it is before four o'clock . After hearing the call for prayer someone should not eat or drink . The working hours are shorter . Basically , the life stops in the afternoon .Most Muslims are at home waiting for the time for eating . It is the best time for cyclists to explore Doha .
The parks are full of fathers playing with their kids-this way enjoying the shorter working hours . As the time for eating is approaching more and more families arrive at the park who plan to have a picnic dinner . The dinner is called during Ramadan "ifthar " . After hearing the call for prayer it is allowed to eat or drink .Some families have only a light meal : a salad or soup or just some dates in the first hour . Other families have a full meal at once .
Overeating is a common problem the staff of the emergency must face during this time at hospital .
One must have self-discipline when it is time for eating . After having the meal it is time for relaxing . Watching TV or just sleeping .TV channels try to give the most attractive programs at this time . Comedy theatres , candy camera , competitions and many other programmes can be found on the Arabic channels .
Around seven or eight o'clock many people return to work . The supermarkets start to be full of customers . They are open usually till midnight . Everything is upside down when it is about timing .
It has happened to us that our kid got appointment for vaccination at 9 pm. .
Kids are given food as usual. They are called " Ramadan rats ".However from age nine -ten they like taking the challenge of fasting for some hours or half day .
Schools timing is also shorter .
Some families live during night and sleep during the fasting hours . I know Arab families where the ladies sleep until noon an stay up late until three at night . The Quran does not encourage this lifestyle-- it says clearly that God has created the night for resting and the day for working .
Ramadan is hard . Not only one or two days but a full month of fasting ! But it can be rewarding emotionally, spiritually ...

Mosque in Cairo
by
hakimakarima

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i

Smiling Dolphin
by
GoltsovPhotography

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Dolphins are wonderful creatures - I have always wished to see them . I have just heard that one of my Hungarian friends is selling trips to Oman " dolphin watching tours" where in certain time of the year there are a lots of them . How wonderful !

WHERE ARE YOU FROM ?
asked me an Arab grandma at the pool .
"Hungary ?" " Hada fi Amerika !"

ASK Me
by

almawad

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FOOD POISONING ON THE RISE IN QATAR

There were more than 1600 reported cases of food poisoning in Qatar this year - while some years ago there were no more than 200 cases the whole year .It seems that eating out is not as safe here as it used to be .Just as we arrived in Qatar five years ago we got a terrible diarrhea - but we had thought that we picked that up in Cairo . Once we recovered -we were very cautious -and very rarely we dared to dine out .But everything seemed just fine - and we opt for food from restaurant quite often nowadays.
In Hungary an ill goat had spread viral meningitis last week . It seems so healthy and cool and trendy to drink fresh goat milk for your breakfast - but it is not ...

FOOD SAFETY FIRST FRIDGE MAGNETS by almawad
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Qatar Flag Mousepad
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FlagAndMap

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SEPTEMBER 3 rd .Until recently Qatar has celebrated its independence on this day .Last week I read in the news that the government has changed its mind about it and this date - gaining independence " is not celebrated anymore but another date is chosen .
It was in 1916 that Qatar became a British protectorate.Later in 1971 Britain left the region.
Just some dates to show the road of Qatar :Oil was discovered in 1939 ,and oil production started only in 1949 .The first school of the country opened in 1952 and
first full hospital opened in 1959 .

Mitchell
by
Merritt_B

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HAVING ICE CREAM ? It is good. It used to be . The flavour of the vanilla would be simple and tender ,free of any exaggeration , No artificial touch in it .The chocolate ice cream would be little bit bitter .The strawberry one used to be sour a bit.These used to be the real ice creams .The ice creams of my early childhood .The smell of the ice cream used to be mixed with the smell of beer as it was at the drink bar where it had been sold .
It used to be in April that the ice cream parlour reopened after winter .Kids of the area would run around the blocks and shout cheerfully : ice cream .
Some years later the flavours changed .They became artificial . It seemed as we had a great variety of them but in fact the flavours became uniform .God save us from that period .That was the time when small shops were encouraged in Hungary to be opened and their was a great demand on colorful ice creams .These terrible things used to be made of imported ice cream powder ...
Nowadays we have a lots of very good ice cream parlor .They cook the ice cream and natural flavours are preferred in my country .If you happen to visit Hungary and you would like to taste some gourmet ice cream then try Szamos brand .
It is a family business with great fantasy !
And if you ask me what is the Qatari ice cream tastes like then I would say that there is no typical Qatari ice cream , but some of the imported creams are good .. Yeah ,if you ask me what it tastes then I would say it taste mocha almond yes it taste mocha almond

tall and ginger qatari expats fellow-blogger 's site is blocked by qatar censors .I wonder why ?
During the last five years I found that they block things which are difficult to explain why .They had blocked a Hungarian page"taltos" which was about the origin of the Hungarians .Then they had blocked our town 's favourite pizza restaurant's site -I have no idea why .I had my first gallery and still I have on a Hungarian page .
It has been blocked for three years . true ,there are some nudes among other artist's pictures - but my page was free of that . It is very difficult to manage a gallery when it is blocked . Then I decided to open a gallery at the biggest international site .Two month later my gallery had opened that was blocked as well .
I do not know why - but some month later they changed their minds and nowadays it is not blocked at all .

Summer holidays at my grandma's village - 1960s ,70s

It is hot here and dull . For some unknown reason the summer festival had been cancelled here in Doha . This period of the year make me homesick .
Strangely , it is not our beautiful little town, Tapolca that I miss - but the village of my grandma - what I did not like much in my childhood .....

______________________________________________
 Every year we  made the same journey - coming from Western Hungary to the Great Plain - I loved grandma and her house  but I found some things  in her  village simply horrifying.
The railway station for example:The village station was a building about to collapse .The rails had finished there . It was the end of the world . There was  some terrible smell due to a rubber factory nearby . This village station would have been a perfect scene for Adams family  as the cemetery was also near.It was thrilling and sad .
In this collage you can see the protestant church , the station building , the meditation chair and some houses .
 In  my hometown Tapolca we had a neat building  for railway station with slot machines , vendors , a cute restaurant and so on. 
We left early in the morning from Tapolca , Western Hungary .Then we arrived late at night to the eastern village or rather the day after -as we spent the night at my uncle 's home . He used to live in a posh area of capital .
I saw very different lifestyles around myself during our journey .

In the real  collage of my  memories there is the veranda of my grandma's house , the garden, the big sorghum among which we used to play hide and seek , the raspberry brushes , the carpenter's workshop , the smell of wood , the baker , the smell of flour and fresh bread , maize , cows going home from the village pastures in the evening and blocking the traffic on the road , my cousins skilled in farming , a nearby lake , simplicity , backwardness , the heritage of glorious past - the rights of a"free town " rights which were given by the great freedom fighter Rakoczi ...
And when I think about all that I feel how lucky I am that I had had a grandma for nearly thirty years ...

 It was really something different to be there . We loved very much her  storage loft . It was full of dried corns on the cob - our favorite activity was to  rub it with our little hands to get the kernel off the cob- we enjoyed it so much !

HOW DO I BEAT THE HEAT IN QATAR ?

I drink a lot . MY favourite ones are : Laban ( some kind of fermented dairy product)

kahwa maa zingibil( ginger coffee) ,jaljeera( cumin water ) karkade( hibiscus flower drink) .

APA
by
visionaryplaces

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Detail from The Birth of Venus by Botticelli Posters by Horsefeathers
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MORE CHEERFUL EVENT was an astronomic one. As we came home in the evening we saw the crescent of the moon with the Venus very near to it . I saw such things only in tales books for kids . It was so much delight to see . Unfortunately my camera was not with me . But you can spot it here .

Link

MURDER AT THE HOSPITAL It was shocking and depressing news . NO details were given ." A man " shot his own wife dead in the woman hospital . She had given birth to a child some days before it happened .
It is especially cruel thing to kill a mother of a newborn - I guess whatever the cause was . A woman who had just given a new life - who is exhausted ,needs protection and support . It is a real coward job .
It reminded me a case in Hungary . Just five years ago - when we left. There was a murder at the maternity ward as well- in the town of Kalocsa .I knew that woman . She was a Gypsy in her forties . Her husband killed her . For she had abortion against his will . She was seriously ill and that pregnancy could have killed her . She had a little baby to bring up . I am against the abortion - but in similar cases I do not know what is the right thing to do .
I knew that woman . Once we visited her with a worker of an American foundation .She was outstanding - soft speaking , intelligent ,poor and full of dignity ...It was really depressing to hear about her death .

A blog claims that this murder in Qatar was from the highest circles . And it was about money ...

Will Gonu cyclone hit Qatar ?

I have just heard that 12 people were killed in Oman by the cyclone .My husband says- he heard at work that the cyclone edges may hit Qatar as well .
I start to get worried .I start to ask myself where is the highest point in Doha- where to escape in case of tidal waves .

Cherry trees are all heavy with their fruits at this time in Hungary . Do not be sad - that you are not at home now . Act as you are there . Go to the supermarket and buy some cherries brought from Lebanon . Sure- there are some left - I mean - not all of them were destroyed by bombs last summer .
You got the cherries and make your own pie .Just get rid of the stones and pour some sugar on the flesh of the fruit s
Do you remember ? As a student you got once a summer job at the local bakery . They used to make cherry strudels and the students were pitting the cherries.What a fun was that to work around yummi cakes and eat as much as you could...
Mix some flour( half a kilo ), butter( quarter of kilo), sugar( a cup ) ,egg yolk ,baking powder and roll the dough into two layers and throw the cherries in between- bake it . During this sing the song "erik a ropogos cseresznye "- and imagine yourself to the cherry harvest into your step grandfather s vineyard where there was a big cherry tree with wonderful big cherries .Smell the nearby lake ,listen to the birds singing .
And do not get sad when you remember that your step grandfather had cut that cherry tree - for its great shade has covered some vine -and gave him less wine ...

horizontal flowers
by

almawad

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Summer dilemma : to go out or not

Summers are hot here . WE have no choice to go out for the most part of the day - but it is possible to bear the sun somehow early morning and half an hour before sunset .
WE may avoid totally to go out- but it may cause very quickly vitamin D deficiency .
It weakens the bone , the teeth , it makes us depressed ,irritated and for the long run it gives one bigger chance for developing any kind of cancer .
So , we must go out . But if we do so - we get wet very quickly - returning to our cooled homes we can get cold easily .Besides, we can get skin cancer when outside .So what to do ?
We must cover our body - look for the shade - drink a lot .What I have learnt about clothing : only cotton and other natural materials are bearable in the heat .Tight jeans are real self-punishment ...

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a city somewhere on the globe. it used to be unnoticed for centuries . until some economical boom which has brought much money and created lots of jobs to that city . foreign workers started to flow into but due to the poor planning there was shortage of accomodation.The suddenly came wealth created crisis in hospitals , and the traffic became chaotic the education simply troubled .

dear reader - you may think i am speaking about our much beloved doha .
oh no . it happened in south argentine in the city of Ushuaia .

WHERE ARE YOU FROM ? - asked me a doctora . She might have been Qatari or something like that .
-From Hungary .
- I am so glad - she told me at the end . This is the first time I meet a Hungarian in person .
You are famous because of your Gypsies !
- Are we ? - I asked back shocked .She nodded .


We are famous for our Gypsies . Not for Irinyi ,not for Kando , not for pick salami , not for cheap nokia made in Hungary - it is for some Gypsie violinists because of what people remember of our existence at all .