Independence Day

Yesterday was the 34th anniversary of Qatari Independence.

In celebration, the students sponsored a party at school last night called Ana Qatari (I'm Qatari), and even though ana mu Qatari they graciously invited us anyway. There was traditional food, traditional singing and sword dancing, traditional crafts, and of course more henna than you can shake a stick at. Another fun thing was the philatelic club booth, which was displaying memorable stamps through Qatari history -- or at least since 1957, when British stamps of Queen Elizabeth were first overprinted with the word "QATAR" at the top and the price -- in rupees! -- at the bottom. (Click here to see them for yourself.) The nice gentleman staffing the booth explained all about the stamps and how they related to Qatari history, and he also gave us free postcards and lapel pins.

Here's my friend Lanny and me, dressed in traditional Qatari clothes (sorta), just before we got hennaed.

Qatar and Katrina

I'm always surprised how often Qatar is on the front page of CNN.

Qatar offers $100m to relief fund

It wasn't nearly as fun a read as Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses', but you take what you can get.

In other news, I only just heard that Rehnquist died. He's not a guy I'm likely to mourn, but I'm bummed W. gets another Supreme Court justice. Le sigh.