Front Page News

RAIN IN DOHA!!!!

It rained on Friday for about three hours. The event drove the world recession off the front page of the Qatar Tribune.
The paper reported the event in breathless prose and a photo of a woman wheeling her groceries from a supermarket in the rain.
The report said that: "Rain in the capital all but spoilt yet another weekend on Friday. Smart showers forced many people indoors and caused water-logging in several areas. However the situation eased later when the clouds dissapated and the sun shone, though feebly, even as icy winds blew lowering the day temperature. However, with the sky clearing, flocks of people families as well as bachelors came out of their houses to throng the Corniche, Al Bida Park, the malls and hyper markets.
Children, who had lost all hopes of a pleasant outing on the weekend after five days of schooling, got bibbly with the first ray of sun emerging from behind the dispersing clouds. Their joy was, however, short-lived as they found the parks wet."

The paper also gave a quarter page to a report of an urdu poetry session held to support victims of floods in India. The reporter quoted lines from the best poems and commented on the poetic style of each poet.

This is the second big story I've read about poetry in the Gulf.. the first was about the Poet Millions competition held in the UAE which has a poetry competion dedicated to traditional arabic poetry with a prize purse of several million Drhms.

Semester End

We are now settled into Apartment 12 and enjoying the light and room the apartment offers. We now have a view.. admittedly it is over a dusty, empty section and into the car park of the shopping centre at the back of Jarir Bookshop but it is a view and not just the bonnets of cars our first apartment gave us.

Relaxing with the Gulf Times.

Joy has hung the walls with some of her Doha paintings and a silk embroidered wall hanging so the feeling of familiarity and "own-ness" has been established for us.

We can now park the communal car in a covered parking bay at the entrance to the block which means we can be assured of a park each evening and a lot more ease in unloading from the car after any trip into town or from work.

This week was wind-down week for school. While there are similarities to N.Z. students regarding study and post exam attitudes (i.e. The big question dominant in their minds being "once the school exams are over do we really have to come to school?") the dominant attitude here was "Now the exams are over school has finished until next semester." This meant we didn't see any students at all this week although a good few came in to collect their reports on Wednesday.

This hiatus has meant that we have been able to get on to fuller analysis of issues in the Departments and to explore the resource cupboards around the school. Dave discovered that the school has been equipped in the science subjects quite lavishly.. 6 or 12 pieces of equipment which, in a NZ school would be represented with a single piece or having a permanent place of the Departmental senior studies wish list. He has been swooning with envy every day as he unearthed unopened boxes of materials and demonstrated to the science technician and teachers how the equipment works.
The Library - Reading Area.
The library - Arabic section.
I managed to get into the Library and explore the shelves in the "English" section. It became obvious that this section was the repository of textbooks and not of general fiction. There were three shelf sections stacked up, often two deep, of readers and resource-books that should be in the classroom. My mission: To get the books out of the Library and into the classroom so the constant grammar lessons can be broken up and the students encouraged to read and respond to English.

I spent a good deal of the past week writing up a report and set of recommendations on how to improve the teaching of English - on one level to help me formulate my thoughts about how to encourage students to engage with English as a subject and a language they have been encouraged to adopt so that Qatar can even more firmly establish itself on the world stage and on another level to get some debate among the staff about their teaching techniques and how to get around their fixation with the THEY of the Supreme Education Council and the belief that the 100s of Standards at each grade level must be all individually be formally taught and assessed. This could mean an interesting session or two next semester. Although I think there is a willingness to make some serious moves towards being more creative in teaching practice.

Staff in conversation at the MBAW Dinner.

On Wednesday the Principal, Mr.Nasser, shouted the staff and their families to a lunch in celebration of the news that the school had been awarded third place on the Independent Schools rankings this year. The rankings were based on surveys of parents, students and teachers of their satisfaction with the school's performance in many areas. MBAW was ranked highly in most areas the survey covered.

The Lunch began with speeches, readings from the Koran, a poem by one of the teachers' daughters about the suffering of children in Gaza and a presentation entitled "MBAW then and now." The presentation was a graphic description of how far the school has come since it came into the Independent School structures. The slides of pre-independence showed a school that was grafitti covered and battered so that the establishing of the present calm and tidy environment for which all those surveyed praised is a definite success story.

The lunch was generous - salads, hummus, breads, braised lamb and chicken, rice, potatoes, stuffed vine and cabbage leaves and several different selections of dessert. It was interesting to watch how the meal was eaten - the more traditional squatted on carpets and ate with bread and fingers while others favoured the table and a fork along with bread.

One of the Islamic studies teachers receiving his certificate of appreciation from Mr. Nasser.

We all were awarded a certificate in a velvet frame and an embossed gold statement of thanks in arabic on the front by the Principal amid great out bursts of clapping and cheering from the staff.
The certificate of appreciation.

On Thursday Joy went for her driver's licence - a trip to the Traffic Police Station and the ritual of form filling and stamping that now permits her to enter the dodgem tracks of Doha.

The Apartment block is emptying as colleagues head off on travels - the Mazda group are off to Tunisia, England, N.Z & Australia, Egypt and Europe.

Doha Debates & Other Motions

This week has been one of change - I visited the Preparatory School that is behind Mohammed Ben Abdul Wahab to scout out the programmes and developments in the teaching of English there as well as sounding out the Academic Vice Principal and HoD English to share assessment data on their students moving up to Grade 10 later this year. The visit indicated that the Education Reforms are beginning to pay dividends as the students there were far more fluent and confident in using English to converse than many of those we are dealing with at senior school.

I’ve persuaded the staff at school to invite the Preparatory School staff across for a breakfast and a chance to talk about their programmes and future inter-school cooperation and resource development early next semester. If they can carry the connection on it can only help to benefit the students once they enter the senior school system.

On the home front we have moved apartments from 1 to 12 - from the ground floor to the first floor which now means that Joy has more light and room to paint in as our new apartment is larger and roomier than our old one.
The move took us a full day - of moving our clothes and other bits and pieces up a floor while assisting the team member who was vacating 12 to move back to NZ to move her cases down stairs to take temporary possession of apartment 1. Then re-organising our new apartment to suit our activities and interests.
We don’t know ourselves now that we can relax and spread ourselves.

Last week saw the students stressing out over examinations. They sat the papers in the morning then were meant to have revision classes in the afternoon. This was not met with great enthusiasm by the boys who had to be persuaded that doing guided revision was a good idea, especially when faced with doing tests they knew they’d have difficulty with.
This was especially true for the Grade 12 English paper in which the boys struggled with the vocabulary and reading requirements let alone writing passages of some appreciable length.

On Sunday I got to spend the day at the Qatar Academy - an international school that has been set up under the auspices of the Qatar Foundation as an example of the future of education in the Gulf.

The course was aimed at encouraging the Independent schools to develop and promote their libraries and, hopefully, encourage their students to read and develop their literacy skills. We were treated to examinations of the three libraries on the campus - Elementary School (ECE) , Primary - Intermediate and Secondary. Each library had been designed to cater for the target group of students with attractive displays, a huge range of books at all levels of interest and topic. I discovered that all the libraries had copies of Margaret Mahy’s stories and, in the Intermediate and Secondary Libraries novels by David Hill. Both authors were raved over by the respective Librarians who reckoned that the N.Z. novels they had purchased were great reads for the students especially as they spoke to the students without being patronising.

The facilities at the Qatar Academy are such that none of my colleagues would be reluctant about accepting a position there. The resources and programmes offered would make the experience one to be enjoyed. I sat and listened to a little 6 year old read a story about field mice fluently and with solid comprehension and then watched a class of 8-9 year olds utilise the library database to locate books in their library with confidence and ease. I must remember to take my camera with me the next time we are asked to attend a course as the Academy does reflect the direction the Emir wants his country to go in.

On Sunday night Dave and I went to the Doha Debate, at the Qatar Foundation HQ in Education City. The debate series are televised by the BBC World Service and screened the weekend after the debate.
The topic, “That this House Believes that Political Islam is a threat to the West” was certainly controversial and, with the calibre of the debaters, Yahya Pallavicini, Maajid Nawaz, Shadi Hamid and Sarah Joseph, guaranteed to be fiery.

Although the debaters failed to sufficiently define the term “political Islam” the debate opened up some interesting insights into the beliefs that underpin Islam as well as demonstrating the tensions that exist within the religion as the different societies and groups struggle to come to grips with the demands of modern social and political movements while keeping faith with the conservative social and legal frameworks that underpin the faith. This was particularly pointed up from the tone and direction of the comments and questions from the floor. In the end the decision was a narrow 51 - 49% victory for the negative.

School is winding down in readiness for the end of the semester. Next week we’re off to Egypt.

Camel Riding in Qatar

Riding the Camels

This week has been quiet, at least in relative terms. Dave and I started driving ourselves to work through the dodgem track that is Doha’s morning rush hour. The trick is, we decided, to stop listening to the horns of the locals whose idea of entry into the swirl around a roundabout appears to be “see a hole about half the size that a sane driver would aim for, drive into it at speed.” and drive as if we were confident, but cautious, Qatari. It seems to work.

Our trip home each day is marked by us meeting a seemingly endless convoy of trucks coming in from the KSA along the highway. The convoy creeps along at 10 kph if its lucky with its head some 2 ks down the road into Doha and its tail somewhere in the distance towards Saudi.

Meeting the convoy on a round about makes us feel as if our car should be designed to concertina sideways so that we are not crushed by the trucks that circle us on either side before diving off at various exit points to deliver whatever is hidden under the canvas to the building site that is The Pearl or Losail on the West Bay side of Doha.

The convoy is apparently bringing in building materials for the developments like The Pearl that are springing up all around the city. The Pearl is a luxury city within the city.. massive apartment blocks over looking an artificial marina and shopping complex that runs along the waterfront. The whole complex is designed to resemble Venice and is being sold to the public with the tag line: “Venice has come to Qatar” and photos of women with Venetian masks held provocatively in front of their faces.
The Pearl Complex

The whole complex has cost the developers QR50 Billion. They hope to make their profit from the sale of apartments which start at QR1.5 million for a one bedroom complex and then step up in QR million increments.

Somewhat out of our league I think.

Back at work it has been the beginning of exam week. This is not an exercise the boys seem to appreciate because immediately the first paper was over at 9.30 a.m and, despite there being normal classes for the rest of the day, the boys were out of the hall and sprinting to emulate the prisoners at Colditz as they scaled the walls and gates to make a get away in the 4x4s and utes that screamed up along the road, bucked to a momentary halt in a screen of burning rubber, spun 180 degrees and, with their cargo on board, headed out across the desert or back the way they’d come.

We can, apparently, expect to see the scene repeated all this coming week as well and not just at our school!!

On Friday Dave, his wife Shirley, Joy & I drove to Mesaieed and the SeaLine Resort area to see what weekend entertainment was on offer at the beach and sand dunes.

The dunes attract every 4x4 in the area along with hundreds of quad bike rental firms all catering for the thrill seekers who roar up the dunes then slide down in convoys of BMWs, Range Rovers, Toyotas and other high end wagons in clouds of dust, sand and exhaust smoke.

We saw a tent with half a dozen camels tied up alongside so headed for them looking for photo opportunities. The owners appeared and offered us rides on the beasts. So for QR20.00 each we mounted up and were lead along the dunes for about 100 metres then back to the site where we took turns in photographing our respective spouses perched on the camels.

Joy clings on. Alan trying to look camel ready.

The ride was a strange experience as the gait of a camel is combination of sway and lurch so that one has the sense that one is not firmly seated, as one would feel on a horse, and under threat of sliding off. As well the camel rises from it kneeling position by lifting first its hind quarters then its forequarters so one leans forward then slides back into the saddle before lurching off into the desert.
Dave Parry & Me ready to hit the dunes

Next week - planning for Egypt.

The Sounds of School

This video clip lets you see and hear the sounds of school mid-morning break.

One of the students was playing his lute and the others joined in singing a traditional men's song.

NEW YEAR IN DOHA

Doha New Year

Quiz Night - Joy & Neville share possible answers.

We began New Year with a grand Mazda group entry to the Ramada Hotel Pub Quiz night. We entered two teams - Mazda Mafia and Mighty Mazda - to compete against “Doha’s finest minds”.
The bar was packed with expats and Qatari either keying themselves up for the quiz or simply watching the action. The atmosphere was thick not just with excitement but with cigarette smoke and the thrill of passive smoking, a sensation we’ve not had for many years at home.
The quiz was a challenge, especially when it came to identifying the logos of various nationalities sporting teams, Qatar history and the characters in Soap Operas and Sitcoms from 1970 to the present. (Surprisingly, the Mafia did well in this last section - an indication of the number of evenings spent slumped in front of the TV screen perhaps? )
It was a fun night stretching into the recesses of our collective minds to answer the questions. In the end Mazda Mafia ended up 10 points behind the winning team with Mighty Mazda trailing a good eight points further back.
Coming in from training.
Joy is busy painting both a camel and scenes of camels as well as some of the characters we see around the souqs.

Man at the Souq

She's also painted one entitled "The Four Wise men of Mazda".... no prizes for recognising anyone portrayed. Her paintings have aroused quite a bit of interest among the teachers here... especially those wanting an original and different souvenir of their time here.

The Four Wise Men

New Year’s evening, N.Z. time, was spent getting my Qatar driver’s licence. This involved going to the Traffic Department with a letter from my employer certifying that I had permission to drive in Qatar, copies of my passport, Qatar identity card and two passport photos.
At the office the documents were shown to the clerk who then passed over an application form to which my first photograph was attached and personal details added. Then on to the eye test where a simple read the minimal required line on the chart was done. Back to the first office where I was issued a number and told to wait until one of the abaya clad women on the desk was free.
She then checked my NZ driver’s licence against my Qatar application form, scrutinised my photographs, took QR.250.00 from me,told me to sit for a few minutes then passed over a licence with my photograph and medical details from my earlier residency medical tests printed on it.
Total time taken - 45 minutes.

Licensed to drive I was now able to lease a car and enter the traffic lanes of Doha. Dave Parry and I decided that as we live in the same block and go to the same work place it would be a good idea to co-lease.
Leasing the car, a 2006 Nissan Sunny, was surprisingly easy. We walked up C Ring Road to find Al Saad Motors, the recommended leasing firm. We were reassured on discovering that we’d be safe with any car from Al Saad as the firm was right next door to a busy mosque.
Inside, we told the agent what we wanted, filled in the form and were given the keys to our car which we drove home ready for our first driving efforts on Friday morning when the streets of Doha are relatively empty.

New Year’s Day was a normal work day so any celebrations to mark the change of years were confined to wishing each other “Happy New Year” and heading off to work at 6.00 am.
Thankfully, we were still eligible for our driver as the day dawned shrouded in the thickest mist I’ve seen in years. Visibility was down to 50 metres and, at times, less. As we drove past Villagio and the Aspire Tower the only clue that both existed was a mist shrouded glimpse of the giant shopping cart that marks the entrance of the neighbouring Hyatt Plaza shopping complex.
We were reassured to see that Doha traffic had compensated for the changed conditions and slowed down from their usual 80-140 kph to 40-50 kph and flashing hazard lights. However, this still didn’t stop a car slamming into the back of a truck at the intersection before school and stopping the traffic that chose to stay on the road for 20 minutes or so. The more adventurous drivers simply followed the local road code - “If the road is blocked drive across country” - so we watched cars, trucks and buses veer off road and head off across the dust of the building sites that surround the school and vanish into the mist to rejoin the road somewhere nearer their destinations.

Support being given to a staff member.

The local newspapers and TV channels are full of the issues around Palestine & Israel and present to us a far, far different picture of the scenario than that which we would otherwise receive at home. The immediacy of the situation certainly becomes more obvious when one sees a colleague, whose family is in Gaza, crying silently to himself in the staff-room before school starts.

Friday: Dave, Joy and I headed off onto the roads of Doha and into a wind blowing in off the desert and swirling clouds of dust and sand as we drove out to school and then back to Villagio to do some grocery shopping and browsing in a non dust filled atmosphere. Our driving venture was surprisingly uneventful although I felt as if I was venturing onto the road as a newly licensed 16 year old driver at home..... constantly aware of the other drivers and establishing new spatial relationships both in the car and on the right hand side of the road.
Our next venture will be to head into the traffic flow on Sunday morning when everyone and his heavy truck is doing the same.

In the meantime Joy and I are working out where we’ll travel to during the January semester break. We’re tossing up between Egypt and Jordan - both dependent on us being able to book into a tour so that we’re assured of both accommodation and knowledge of the places to see and experience. At present, we’re frustrated by a lack of internet access as the router for our apartment block is unable to cope with the demands placed on it and needs to be replaced... God willing....but it appears to be “mushkilah kabeer” even for him. So we wait on getting our replies for information on the vagaries of the repairman.
EVENTUALLY!! at around 3.00pm Saturday we're connected again.... merely a week to sort out the problem.