May 2, 2009
Remember that huge canvas that has been intimidating me for over a year? I started it!
May 4, 2009
Just got an e-mail from my friend Juri (German guy, who lives in Spain, who was my bodyguard in Indonesia when I had the stalker) and he got a job selling cactus to the Middle East! He has a big show in Dubai the end of this month and is going to fly up to Doha to visit! I’m so excited! Our first guest in Doha! Anyone else want to see the Middle East?
May 5, 2009
Well, this morning’s riding lesson went better. It was a private lesson, partly on a lunge line and partly just doing diagonals to practice changing lead. It became very apparent that I have a left leg weakness that is causing some of my problems. (I always lose my left stirrup because when I push through that leg I go up on my toes…so much for keeping my heels down while posting). The good news is that I am actually doing something right…I have a good seat, no not a nice butt, a good seat. My shoulders, elbows, hips and heels are all in a straight line like they are supposed to be! Thank God this apparently comes naturally because I’m certainly not thinking about it. The other thing they have said is that I “don’t hang on the horse’s mouth” as another balancing point (I’m sure this comes from riding two horses with soft mouths). We both agreed that I do better in a private lesson so I will keep my next two scheduled lessons and just drink plenty of water before, during, and after (it was 100° by the time the lesson was over at 9:30).
On the way back from the lesson I saw something I couldn’t believe…this was even strange for Doha. There is a huge parking lot that runs from the hospital all the way around the soccer stadium. The outer ring is about 20 – 30 meters of astro-turf…we’re talking acres here. Although that sounds weird, that is not the weird part. There were two guys with push brooms sweeping the sand out of the astro-turf! Talk about a losing proposition…every morning when I get in the car I have to turn on the windshield wipers to get the dust off!
May 8, 2009
Tonight we went down to Souq Waqif for dinner. We were celebrating Elisa’s 33rd birthday (her husband is one of the doc’s at the hospital). It was probably the last time we will be able to eat outside until next fall, it was quite warm. Sitting outside and watching is the best part (food is no better than at the hotel restaurants and there is no alcohol, so there needs to be some upside). Before going we stopped and bought an indoor grill (can’t grill outside because the sand gets in everything) so we got there about an hour early. After walking around for a bit RD ended up buying a full-on “Arab” outfit…should be great for Halloween in the states.
May 10, 2009
It’s 108° today! Thank God for air conditioning. RD came home from running an errand all excited like a little kid on Christmas morning…he had found rhubarb at the grocery store
May 12, 2009
Riding lesson was cancelled this morning, wind was howling and the sand was thick in the air. When I finally went out to the car to go run an errand there was so much sand on the window I couldn’t see through it at all!
First errand was to run down to the Four Seasons Spa and get shampoo. I use a specific shampoo and I’m lucky I found it here in Doha. The salon is too expensive for me, $200 for a haircut, so I have no idea what they would do with my hair. I then ran across the street to the Movenpick Hotel to sign up for an Indian cooking class. I’ve heard that some of the hotels in town do this but this is the first time I’ve ever got enough information ahead of time to actually get signed up!
Since I was downtown…very erie by the way, from a block away you couldn’t see the high rises because of all the sand in the air…I popped into the mall and spent the afternoon window shopping…I go to the Arab section and drool over expensive jewelry and evening gowns since there’s nothing worth buying anyway.
May 14, 2009
Had a riding lesson at 7:30 this morning (OMG) and still had to quit 15 minutes early because of the heat! I forgot my water in the car and after posting for 45 minutes everything started to get wavery and realizing it was me, not heat waves, decided it was best to get off before I fell off. However, the lesson itself was great. She put me on a different horse, “Tara”, and she was extremely responsive. Almost everything that I was struggling with came easily. I know if I was a better rider I would be able to ride any horse, but I’m not, so it was nice to feel it all come together and to pick up on very specific problems. Like losing my stirrups, I thought it was random, it’s not, I am most likely to lose my inside stirrup just after changing leads! What a revelation! I was doing brilliantly if I do say so myself…a great way to end the season (I won’t be riding here again until October or November when it starts to cool down).
May 15, 2009
Dinner party at Jim’s tonight. RD found rhubarb at the store so he made two pies to take for dessert. Everyone was duly impressed with his pie making skills.
May 18, 2009
I went to an Indian cooking class at one of the big hotels in town today. For 170 QR (about $46) it started with a continental breakfast, 3 hours of class, and a buffet lunch at the end…not a bad deal. It wasn’t “hand’s on” but we learned how to make Chicken Tikka, Curried Chicken, Dal Tadka (lentils with vegetables), and Dhakai Paratha (a type of bread). I doubt I’ll ever make the bread, and RD says lentils affect him the same as beans (that rules out the Dal Tadka), so I think the only thing I’ll be making is the chicken but both recipes looked entirely “do-able” and were delicious.
May 20, 2009
My friend Juri flew in this afternoon at about 3:30. I went to pick him and his boss up at the airport and ended up parking in the wrong parking area (having never had a visitor I didn’t know where the arrivals parking lot was…I now know where it is...hint, hint…anyone want to come visit?) It was so good to see him! We dropped his boss off at the Ramada and went back to the villa so he could start calling local nurseries and landscape architects to set up meetings for tomorrow. Sure enough he got one who said, “Can you come right now?” So we jumped back in the car, raced back to the Ramada to get his bass and finally found the building (remember, no addresses in Qatar). I sat out in the waiting room while they had their meeting then we went back to the Ramada and had Indian food for dinner (RD is working a 24 hour shift so it was just me, Juri and Norbert…that’s his name, I kid you not, and he looks just like you would expect a Norbert to look).
May 21, 2009
I called a Limo for Juri and Norbert and ran over to the hospital to pick up RD. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon running around doing last minute errands before we leave on the 23rd for the States. Juri came back about mid-afternoon but had one more meeting scheduled for 5:30 so I played chauffer one more time then went back to the villa to pick up RD.
We took them down to Souq Waqif for dinner and a bit of local color. Both Juri and I were looking for Iranian Saffron. As we were walking through the narrow corridors of the oldest, inner part of the Souq Juri got too close to a BMO (Qatari woman in an Obaya better known to ex-pats as black moving objects) and stepped on the back of her Obaya as it was dragging on the ground behind her. The poor girl was nearly pulled over backwards and definitely got choked, Juri threw up his hands and apologized about 3 or 4 times, for my part I was trying desperately not to laugh. I giggled the rest of the evening every time I saw a BMO.
We did a traditional “Arab” dinner…whatever that means and ended up eating way too much. As we drove Norbert back to the Ramada he talked non-stop, he made me so nervous my shoulders were clear up at my ears. As soon as he got out of the car and walked away I let out a sigh of relief and turned around to Juri in the backseat and asked if he ever shuts up!
May 22, 2009
No meetings for Juri today so we left his boss to fend for himself (didn’t want to listen to him talk all day) and just spent the day relaxing. Had a facial (by Juri) in the morning (he’s a distributor for something called NuSkin) and then in the afternoon I played tour guide and drove him all over Doha so he could take photo’s. I cooked Osso Bucco and Saffron Risotto for dinner and then we stayed up late talking even though we knew we both had to be up at 5 in the morning. 
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