Greetings,
I am now in month number five. By the original plan of January to June, I would have been home by now. By the first adjusted plan of February to August, I would have less than a month left. Now I am looking at October 1st. Or maybe home for the holidays.
There are a few things I am missing back home. Particularly family and friends. But life is good here.
In my last letter, I wrote about Ramadan. Ramadan ended in mid-June, and immediately after, the World Cup began. I’m not the biggest soccer fan, but watching the World Cup among an international audience is awesome. It is great to see people from different countries cheer on their country. And soccer is so global, everyone knows the teams and players.
That said, Qatar is hosting the World Cup in 2022. Qatar is way too small of a country and if traffic is bad now, it will be downright immobile with thousands of soccer tourists.
Speaking of driving, I recently got my Qatari driver’s license. I am now eligible to partake in the chaos.
Of course, my travels also continued this month. I visited the Qatar National Library. It is part library and part literature and culture museum. I was very impressed.
Pictures of the library and all my other photos are here. PLEASE start at the bottom.
Finally, I want to share a link with all of you about living in Qatar. This is a really good article about the different sides of Qatar. My experience is a little different as I work on a military base and live in a working middle class international neighborhood, but I see the class division and the social privilege of the rich and powerful. Behind the beautiful buildings and shiny veneer is the Qatar they don’t put in the travel brochures.
The Moral Conflict of Living and Working in Qatar
I might write more about that someday when I get home. Whenever that may be.
Anyway, again thank you for reading.
Take care. Until next month.
