In a sea of men

As with most Middle Eastern countries, there aren't a whole lot of women out and about. Then again, it's possible I just haven't been where the women are. The most women I have seen here was at an expat mall and only 3 women there were locals, the rest, expats. But even if I go where there are a lot of people, most will be men. And I have discovered that I am reluctant to begin any casual conversations with the men from Muslim countries. By nature and practice, I am fairly shy anyway and have little to no ability to participate in "small talk" at parties and such. And yet oddly enough by curiosity and travel, I will strike up a short conversation with just about anyone to: ask a question regarding the local customs, ask for directions, ask for a shop, etc. etc. Yesterday I was in a shop with my driver and the shopkeeper. A Qatari man entered with his son who was wearing a white hat. I was so curious about that white hat that I found myself hissing quietly to the shop owner "Is it ok to talk to him?" With Muslim tradition being strong here I didn't want to stomp on any toes by accosting this stranger in traditional robed garb and so I hesitated whereas in another country I would have just waded into shallow waters and hope for the best. Here, I am standing at the edge of the sea and wishing I could swim, so to speak. In the end, it turned out ok, my question was answered, and if the men were shaking their heads at the brazenness of a stranger, it was after I left and I'll never know. But it did show me that I am much more hesitant than I thought and much more cautious than I like. A foreigner can usually get away with a lot more than a local can but it's possible also to be a bit too "foreign" and I do want to avoid that. Somewhere is a happy medium and I'm still looking for it.

5 daily calls to prayer

I know the 5 pilars of Islam and I know that 5 times to pray daily is one of the pilars. I heard the first call to prayer this morning, sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. I am in my hotel now, working on my computer with the very slow connection and I heard a call to prayer. About 1/2 hour later, at a little bit before 3 p.m., I heard another call to prayer from a different sounding muzzein (I think that's the right term). My knowledge of Islam is limited but I thought that the times for calls to prayer were pretty universal throughout a country and maybe even throughout the Muslim world. So how is it that there were two calls only about 1/2 hour apart? Possibly one of them wasn't a call to prayer but was something else, an announcement or pronouncement? As it is all in Arabic, I haven't a clue of every figuring out what the two calls were but if someone knows for sure about the timing, I'd sure like to know. Can't look it up here, computer is tooooo slow.

Foreign Worker Contact Mode

I've visited the U.A.E. (all emirates except Abu Dhabi), Oman, and now Doha in the Middle East. In each, it has been difficult to meet someone actually born in and from that particular country. These countries all possess what I call "foreign worker full contact". Oman was really more like "foreign worker 3/4's contact".

modern buildings
Foreign Worker Full Contact means that the country has hired so many foreign workers to do the day to day tourist types of activities. In these countries, it seems that Filipinos are most often the ones working in the hotels. They are the housekeeping staff, the bellmen, the desk managers. Often most of the shopkeepers are also Filipino and beauty shop people are Thai or Filipino. Restaurants have a mix and that might be the best shot of meeting a local. In Doha, the taxi drivers seem to be all Indians. Granted I have only had experience with 3 so far but that's 100% so far. These areas (taxi, hotel, shop, restaurant) are the most common tourist hits so foreign worker full contact means that tourists are meeting expats, not locals. In Oman, I did have a tour service arranged before I got there and my guide and driver there was an Omani so I was able to meet a local and get some good information on the local life and cities and country and ruler. In Dubai, never met a local except a few shop owners in the souqs.

construction
I haven't been to the souq here yet so I still have hope to meet some local Qataris. It is nice to talk to the Indian taxi drivers though and see where they are from and it's quite hilarious to tell them about Canadian winters and listen to them talk about December in Qatar when it is "so cold we can't stand outside the taxi. We must sit inside in our coats with the heater running."
There is a lot of construction happening now in Qatar. The construction workers are also foreign and look to be either Indian, Pakistani, or Bengladashi. Such was also the case in Dubai and Sharjah. There are so many of these foreign workers from the same countries that it is difficult to imagine how there is anyone left back at home. My taxi driver today said the living here was good though so I am happy that he has landed somewhere he likes and can make a good wage. That isn't always the case in some of the Middle Eastern countries that hire foreign workers and since I don't have facts and figures in front of me, I'll just leave it alone for now.

new building on the way
All of this just really goes to show there isn't anything as isolation any longer and the world is getting smaller all the time. Even North Korea, possibly still the most isolated country in the world, has tourists. I've been three times. So I travel and travel and travel to meet locals and learn cultures and see and discover history. More and more there are "regions" of the world that are becoming so very alike that they may lose their identity as a separte people. I hope to arrive before that happens.