Reverse culture shock

[qatarperegrine]

OK, here's the list of things that struck me as weird or at least un-Qatari when I flew back in last night. However, I now have to preface it by saying that the MOST un-Qatari thing to happen since I got back was that I got HIT ON on the way home from church. That would never happen in Qatar. Although the dude's name was Omar.....

So, here are the observations I wrote down about being back in the West after 10 months in the Gulf.

People:

• The first American I encountered outside Qatar was screaming at a Lufthansa employee for not being polite enough, and for being too fat. (Yes, she said that.) Not a representative sample, I know, but I didn't hear any non-Americans screaming at airport employees.


• All the attendants in the Chicago business class lounge were black. I remembered when I first visited Pittsburgh and was horrified that black people were doing all the menial jobs. Then I realized that, in California, Hispanics do all the menial jobs. In Qatar, south Asians do all the menial jobs. But somehow the versions you're not used to seem more shocking.


• Things I’m no longer used to: People making out in public. Blue eyeshadow. Mullets. Tattoos. Seeing strangers’ belly buttons.


• There are joggers everywhere! In Doha, 9 times out of 10 when I see a jogger it’s our neighbor John.

Transportation:

• I wrote this list on a bus, which I wouldn’t have been able to do in Qatar as there is no public transportation.


• Cars come in so many colors! In the Gulf white and beige predominate. Some people have colorful cars, but they stand out.


• We had to come to SO MANY UNNECESSARY STOPS on the way in to Pittsburgh -- and I'm not talking about bus stops, I'm talking about traffic lights. Come on, people! Adopt the roundabout! It’s the intersection that’s sweeping the nation!


• $2.45 a gallon? For real?

Landscape:

• I expected to be blown away by the greenery, since there is next to none in Qatar. What I’d forgotten about is weeds. In Doha there are lots of lawns, but they’re all carefully maintained and there are really no native plants to invade. I’d forgotten that in the U.S. you can’t STOP things from growing. God bless the grass that grows through the cracks!


• The hills are so… three-dimensional!


• Sitting outside Morewood Gardens waiting for the shuttle, I could hear birds chirping all around me. In Doha there’s often a mynah bird sitting on our ledge chirping, but you seldom have the experience of hearing a whole bunch of birds chirping away at once.


• I saw a squirrel in the back yard this morning and just about had a heart attack! Yay for non-cockroach wildlife.

Culture:

• I knew for sure I was back in the US when a loudspeaker informed me that I should not stand backwards on a moving walkway. And, later, that I should not put my fingers in the machinery of the baggage carousel. Seriously, does anybody need to be told these things? Does the airport do this for our benefit, or to avoid lawsuits? Because there’s nowhere else in the galaxy where you can sue an establishment for allowing idiots to use their facilities. (On the other hand, yay for requiring people to seatbelt their children!)


• There are billboards and advertisements EVERYWHERE. You can’t look out the window of the bus in peace without being assaulted by advertising, much of which is for alcohol and cigarettes. I’d gotten used to virtually ad-free Doha.


• Churches everywhere! And I’d forgotten how many Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholic churches there are in Pittsburgh. The architecture is stunning. In Qatar there are mosques everywhere, of course, but Wahhabist mosques tend to avoid ornateness. And there are churches in Qatar, but they can’t advertise their presence, so there’s no church architecture.


• You don’t see political bumper stickers in Qatar. You rarely see bumper stickers at all, except for Alhamdu lillah (praise God) and masha' Allah (what God wills). It’s nice to be somewhere where people can be in-your-face about their political views. For example, I can say OUR PRESIDENT HAS THE IQ OF A SHRIVELLED BRAZIL NUT and not be carted away. Alhamdu lillah for that.