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Thursday was garangao; there's now a good article about it here.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a great beach in northern Qatar and then, in the evening, went to the biggest party I've ever attended. It was called Umseya, a word which nobody seems to want to translate. It was held at the Arabian horse stud farm & riding academy at Education City, and it was absolutely beautiful.
In the midst of all that, there is some sort of terrorist threat going on. Thursday evening the U.S. Embassy activated the warden system, which is a phone tree of all the Americans working in Qatar. We got a call from one of our coworkers, informing us that we should avoid hotels until given the go-ahead. Yesterday afternoon we got the go-ahead, but in the evening they decided to extend the warning for another week. So, parental types, yes we are avoiding hotels. We weren't sure we were going to mention it, since it doesn't seem fruitful to worry people unnecessarily and since we weren't sure the embassy warnings are public information, but since Dad sent me a CNN article about it, I guess you already know! So, the good news is that the warden system is effective; we were given very clear and timely instructions and feel quite safe.
Tonight we're hosting a Halloween party for some folks in our building, so I have to go -- we still have to tidy the house, finish cooking, and more importantly decide on costumes!! Keep your fingers crossed the power will stay on for our scary movie night; we've been losing power daily all week, and less frequently for almost a month.
More tomorrow when I have the pictures! Umseya was quite a treat, and I can't wait to write more about it. I think yesterday was the most fun day I've had since we moved here.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a great beach in northern Qatar and then, in the evening, went to the biggest party I've ever attended. It was called Umseya, a word which nobody seems to want to translate. It was held at the Arabian horse stud farm & riding academy at Education City, and it was absolutely beautiful.
In the midst of all that, there is some sort of terrorist threat going on. Thursday evening the U.S. Embassy activated the warden system, which is a phone tree of all the Americans working in Qatar. We got a call from one of our coworkers, informing us that we should avoid hotels until given the go-ahead. Yesterday afternoon we got the go-ahead, but in the evening they decided to extend the warning for another week. So, parental types, yes we are avoiding hotels. We weren't sure we were going to mention it, since it doesn't seem fruitful to worry people unnecessarily and since we weren't sure the embassy warnings are public information, but since Dad sent me a CNN article about it, I guess you already know! So, the good news is that the warden system is effective; we were given very clear and timely instructions and feel quite safe.
Tonight we're hosting a Halloween party for some folks in our building, so I have to go -- we still have to tidy the house, finish cooking, and more importantly decide on costumes!! Keep your fingers crossed the power will stay on for our scary movie night; we've been losing power daily all week, and less frequently for almost a month.
More tomorrow when I have the pictures! Umseya was quite a treat, and I can't wait to write more about it. I think yesterday was the most fun day I've had since we moved here.
