I'll take the local breakfast...

Photo above is 6 pm view outside the front of my hotel in Dhaka.

No updates on the project, as we haven't actually discussed my work. Today was figuring out the shower, discovering breakfast (local breakfast equals roti-like bread with turmeric potatoes and peas, fried egg, and milk/sugar chai), ATM, getting to Grameen Bank main office, meeting folks & the GCC team, experiencing power outages*, walking outside the office for lunch, crossing the street (no easy feat and they drive on the British side of the road), walking home, purchasing a shalwar kameez (3 piece Indian sub-continent suit), working out in the USSR-era workout room and discovering Bangladeshi censorship of YouTube (I can't even Google the word). We discuss my involvement in the GCC project tomorrow.

*I'm staying at the Grand Prince Hotel in Dhaka and while it's no Ritz, it's clean, cheap, safe and works for my needs. The only review I could find prior to arriving in Bangladesh was one disgruntled person who complained that each day, 3 times a day, the power would go off, then on and then the AC couldn't be used for an hour. He thought it was ludicrous and just the hotel trying to save money.

Well...actually- it's not that uncommon. And yes, people are more aware that electricity costs money here. Yesterday as my friend Naumi (well, her driver) drove me to dinner she told me that shops close at 8ish to save power. Today in my meeting with the Managing Director of GC the power went out but after a moment the lights flicked on. As she opened the windows, she explained that the building has a generator for lights and computers (but not for AC) and that the city redistributes the available power throughout the city throughout the day, resulting in periodic power loses. The city can only supply electricity about 70% of the time and in the rural villages electricity is about 30% of the time. I haven't confirmed if the computers stay on or lose data each time. About half an hour later the AC kicked back on and everyone closed their windows. I was in the changing room at the store connected to the hotel with a top over my head when the entire place went dark. We hung out in darkness for about 30 seconds before the generators started up and the lights flicked back on. True to form, my room-AC wasn't working when I got back to my room 30 minutes later and it started up another 20 minutes later. So to Mr./Ms. Reviewer- it's a developing country. Deal. And think about all this next time you flip a switch in the US or Europe or anywhere else power isn't a visible issue...

Welcome to Dhaka

My location and life have changed dramatically since I've last blogged. (I read recently in the >NYTimes of how blogs now fail at a higher rate than restaurants- and I had to agree- that's me). So here's my update of life since then.

I've been to Egypt, UAE and Turkey. I wrapped up teaching 2 courses and completed my time at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. I got into 2 business schools, waitlisted at 1, rejected at 2 and ultimately decided to go to University of Michigan for a Master of Science. A relationship ended and another...? And now I'm in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Why Bangladesh? Why come to apparently one of the least livable cities in the world?* I like the concept of Base of the Pyramid (BoP) business solutions to develop sustainable living and poverty alleviation solutions. And I'd like to get into the Ross School of Business at Michigan when I reapply this fall. Ross' C.K. Prahalad is known for his BoP teaching and I'm currently registered for a fall BoP course.

I started looking into some sort of sustainable development/BoP internship in India and even applied for one at d.light. But then I contacted a connection I made at the ICTD conference at Carnegie Mellon Qatar (where I was 1 metre from Bill Gates) with Global Communication Center (GCC), an NGO relative of Grameen Communications (GC) and Grameen Bank. Grameen is a microfinance bank that won its founder- Dr. Muhammad Yunus- a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

One thing led to another and here I am in Dhaka for one month to consult with GCC. More on the project later after my first day is done.

*My Bangladeshi friend and former colleague Faheem worried about me citing this data-crunching survey from the 'global north' re: Dhaka right from the get-go, as it could color the impressions I give others. I'll have 33 days to make my own conclusion and hope to document those observations here.

Suffering of Students in Gaza

Two months without a post is too long. I apologize and Happy New Year!

I arrived in Doha less than 24 hours ago and I'm currently nursing a coffee to beat back jet lag. Instead of flying my normal O'Hare to Dulles to Doha route, I had purchased a O'Hare to NY to Doha route. Only my itinerary did not make it painfully obvious that I flew into La Guardia and then out of JFK, a detail I discovered when checking in at O'Hare. The United rep was nice enough to get me on an earlier flight to La Guardia (because I originally only had 2 hours and 13 minutes between flights), otherwise I might not be here in Doha right now.

There's apparently a flurry of activity here at Education City over the recent violence in Gaza. I've noticed more Palestinian references on student's away messages and Facebook images. There have also been more references to Naji al-Ali's 40-year old image of 'Handhala' image that represents a child of the Palestinian refugee camps. (One student even used this image in his final design project about recycling last semester).

I just found out that Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned (Chairperson of Qatar Foundation) plans to launch an international initiative aimed at addressing the need to protect education and students in Gaza. There's a planning event in CM-Q's auditorium tomorrow evening and the Education City students are organizing a march on Tuesday to show support with the students in Gaza.

It's weird to be back. I was certainly sad to leave the States and especially my boyfriend James, but it's nice to know it's only one more semester. And yet I'm still conflicted. Much as I know I need to return to States, there is still something alluring about being abroad. My heart warmed to hear Arabic music on my car radio and I felt expanded to witness another side of the Gaza conflict rarely presented in American media. I have a sense in the future I will either need to continue to work internationally in some capacity or save my pennies and travel often.

Doha Debates Videos

Part of the Qatar Foundation's vast network of organizations includes one called 'The Doha Debates'. Modeled after the Oxford debate system and chaired by former BBC interviewer Tim Sebastian, the Doha Debates are meant to spark public dialogue and inquiry into controversial topics. Calling someone out or challenging a stated position is not a cultural norm here. Newspapers fail to cite facts and announcements are accepted at face value. In class, I find that some of my students lack the critical reasoning skills to pick apart an argument or to analyze the supporting evidence. 'But I did exactly what the class told me to do!' Yes, but did you evaluate those statements and consider the source?

It's become extremely difficult to get a ticket to these debates and my goal is to attend one before I leave Doha. However, for all those unlucky to get tickets or living far-away, we can watch the debates at the new Doha Debates website. Enjoy.

Ein Prosit! Oktoberfest in Doha

Wait- Oktoberfest? In a Muslim country? Come again?

Yep- you read right. As far as I can gather, there are two major expat entertainment events here in Doha- Dunestock (an open air music festival and party) and Oktoberfest at the Intercontinetal Hotel. I didn't attend Dunestock last April because of a sand storm and I hadn't arrived in Doha yet for Oktoberfest last year, so I jumped at the chance to attend Oktoberfest this year. Darbi managed to snag the last two tickets for last night's festival. And what a party.

600 expats, crammed into the tent that the Intercontinetal had used for their Ramadan events (little ironic), complete with Bavarian blue and white, an Oompah band, and lots of beer. There was plenty of good German food (all beef sausage of course) to be enjoyed on long communal tables. And when the band and crowd wasn't cheering 'Tony' along to drink 12 litres of beer (we think it was water/beer or apple juice), there was dancing on the benches. And there was a lot of dancing. We partied from 8 pm to around 12:30 am. And for Doha- that's huge. The evening would be considered a lot of fun anywhere in the world, but for it to happen in Doha, where all this was certainly 'haraam' (forbidden), it somehow made it even more fun. Happy October everyone!

My Brother's Visit to Qatar- the abridged version

Feb. 29- Lunch with Dan Boyarski at the City Center Mall. My brother Henry arrives that evening in Doha. We unsuccessfully try to find a BBQ at Qatar Foundation Housing and then pass out.

Mar. 1- Bill Brown Memorial Ride early AM. I bike 46 km in total from Doha Golf Club to Simaisma Bridge. My brother- on the small loaner bike, rides 26 km to Lusail. See some pics from the event. Henry passes out and then goes to see 'Vantage Point' at the City Center Mall. I help LiveGreen (CMU-Q's student environmental group) prepare for the next day. I stay up too late preparing for my own speech.

Mar. 2- I give a ~20 minute presentation ('The Opportunities of Sustainability") 2 times at Qatar University's " Go Green. Change Our Future" كن صديقاً للبيئة. غير مستقبلنا Conference (Women only). I'm in at least 2 English papers and apparently some Arabic papers the next day (See The Gulf Times & The Peninsula). My brother heads back to City Center Mall with a student of mine, only to accidentally have my car keys in his pocket. We sort it out, do some food shopping, cook a veggie dinner and call it another early night.

Mar. 3- I give my presentation twice again (Males Only), teach my communication design class, teach my first section of 'Examining Sustainability in the Gulf', add another section of it, discover CMU-Q accidentally sent my textbooks back and we've now ordered them to arrive with the Pittsburgh students this Saturday. Henry and I play volleyball with the students, faculty, & staff. We then head to the souqs, Henry purchases souvenirs, and we have Iraqi food.

Mar. 4- I go to Arabic class, do some work at school, & swap my sedan with Darbi/Greg's SUV so my brother and I can go find the 'Singing Dunes'. I tell Henry I'm on my way home (we communicated via email, 2 American cell phones, 1 Qatari cell phone with mixed results). I leave Education City and pull into traffic too soon, getting slammed in the back, smashing up a little blue car driven by two Egyptians that don't speak English. We wait ~3 hours for the police to come to file a report. One tank of gas, one traffic department, 2 reports, 12 riyals, and 1.5 hours later and I'm finally back home to my stranded (and ill-informed) brother. In the fading light we attempt to find the Singing Dunes but no luck. Henry and I go with Greg and his visiting girlfriend Sophie to pick up Turkey Central. We eat at Greg's and then they watch movies at Greg's place. I work.

Mar. 5- We plan to get my brother to the Qatar National Museum for the morning and have him join me in the afternoon (after my classes). We have conflicting reports of whether the museum is open, closed, partially-open and can't confirm any details. We find the place deserted and later learn it won't be open to the public until November. After some phone calls- we learn the Weapons Museum is now open to the public and will be open until noon. We call, confirm, and then unsuccessfully try to find the place. Back at campus, we're given exact directions of how to get there- we head back out again and Henry books a cab for the ride back. We arrive- it looks nice- clean- legit. I bid Henry farewell and then he runs back, saying it's closed. I throw my hands up. At this point Henry begins to truly realize what it means to live in Doha and that while a decent place to live, Doha is not primed for tourists yet. I teach 3 classes (my sustainability course now has 20 students in two sections)- Henry relaxes. I secure a GPS from Justin & Marjorie and in the fading light Henry and I set out for the Singing Dunes again. 45 km from the city, we find the dunes and by flashlight we hike towards them on foot (as I have my sedan again and it would have not been happy on the rocks). It was eerie to make the dunes hum and vibrate at our footsteps and even eerier that we only had a flash-light at this point. We did see some fantastic stars.

Mar. 6- I skip out on Arabic class and Henry and I do tourist shopping. We purchase a photo book for Grammy and Henry picks up some foodstuffs at the Carrefour (as well as some helpful new sandals). We head back to City Center and pick up some carmel and stuffed dates at Bateel. We find time running short and Henry cheerfully suggests trying the 'McArabian' chicken pita-sandwich at McDonald's. I agreed because yes- technically it's a cultural experience. Like many McDonald's products- while initially tasty, the meal leaves us feeling disgusting. I'm done with McDonald's in Qatar. We're signed up with 5 others for an 8-hour desert cruise with QIA. Two others not from CMU-Q would also join us. We set up the night before for them to pick the CMU-Q folks up a little later due to other's time conflicts. The driver calls us up 45 minutes early demanding to know where we were. After some semi-heated phone calls and calls to the company, we clear it up and the 2 other tourists don't appear mad at us. We drive off, ride camels (20QAR each), bash dunes, feel like we're about to tip the car (it was our driver's first time- greeeeeeeeeaaat), collect sea shells, attempt to sand board (sounds like a better idea than it actually is) , hear a helicopter air-lifting someone who flipped their quad-bike on the dunes, have a BBQ on the beach, and then drive back in the dark.

Mar. 7- We got Henry to the airport (almost the wrong airport- Qatar is building a new airport and they already have signs up for it. Thanks Qatar.) by 6:30 am. I see him checked in, bid him farewell, drive home, and sleep for another couple hours. I think I plan to use this weekend to recover from his vacation.

Lessons learned:
-Very few of the students have environmental exposure.
-Give your expat host more than a week to plan.
-The tourist experience here leaves something to be desired.
-GPS in the desert is good.
-Wear sunscreen.
-Avoid McDonald's (my stomach still isn't very happy).
-Call. Confirm. But don't be surprised if things change.
-Always check your pockets.
-If you have to teach a difficult/boring/unpopular subject, offer it as a 4th quarter mini course so that students who fail other courses, drop those classes and then desperately need units pack your course.

Oh- did I mention?

...that Dan Boyarski (Head of the Carnegie Mellon-Pittsburgh School of Design) arrives in Doha tonight to participate in VCU-Q's 'Tasmeem' Design Conference next week? And he'll be siting in/TAing 2-3 of my Communication Design classes?

...that my 19-year old brother arrives tomorrow night to spend his first collegiate spring break in a dry-Middle Eastern country with his big sister? It will also be his first time in the Middle East.

...that I've been biking on Friday afternoons with a group of cyclists, through heat, sun, wind, and sand, riding on the loaner bike, which turns out to be the old bike of the renowned and sadly departed Bill Brown (CMU-Pgh and CMU-Q Bio Professor who died last July)? Or that I am signed up to bike 68 km (48 mi) from Doha to Al-Kohr in the
Bill Brown Memorial Bike Ride on his old bike this Saturday morning?

...that I've been taking two Arabic classes in the mornings, each 1 hour, each twice a week- with one class focusing on learning the alphabet (which I already learned at a class last fall in Washington DC) and the other on writing and reading sentences? (It's a little advanced and I would be entirely lost if I hadn't been working on Rosetta Stone)

...that I've been taking Spanish Level 2 classes here at CMU-Q? (The term 'taking' is used loosely here- the class meets 4 times a week and I often show up 2-3 times a week- although I only went once this week... :/ )

...that I'm giving a half hour presentation 4 times this Sunday and Monday at Qatar University's " Go Green. Change Our Future" كن صديقاً للبيئة. غير مستقبلنا Conference, presenting to a minimum total of 2,100 people?

...that the 'Examining Sustainability in the Gulf' mini course starts this Monday, and that I've had numerous inquiries into the course and received enthusiastic interest? I just received an email stating that "Me and my friends want to joing this mini course so badly, but unfortunately the timing is bad since others and I have a class that starts at 2:30". I responded that if the demand was high enough, I'd consider requesting to create another section of the course... Imagine that!

So- yeah. I didn't mention any of that? Sorry- I've been meaning to blog on that for a while now... :)

Sporting Week(end)- Part 2

I thought I'd wrap up my tales of last weekend's/week's sporting events before I embarked on another equally busy weekend (Fitness Festival, Anime Film Show/Demonstration/Lecture, Faculty Lunch, 2 Parties...etc).

On Saturday of last week, I finished up some chores around the house before deciding later in the afternoon to swing by the Qatar Masters tournament at the Doha Golf Club. The event was free and didn't require a ticket, and having never been to that part of town or Doha's golf course (heck, any golf course other than the course my boyfriend's parents live on), or a golf tournament, I thought I'd drop by. Before heading into the club, I snapped a picture of the club gate, marveling that this course existed in the desert at all (Remember, I've never been to Vegas). However, the fact that a police SUV was in front of the sign and the policeman saw me take my photo, prompted him to stop me and very politely tell me that I couldn't take photos of the police. I obliged by deleting the image and showing him so. I won't go into much detail about the tournament itself, as I have no experience with with which to compare it. Let's just say- yes, there was a lot of money walking around (some expat, some Qatari); it was very green; there was alcohol; there were famous players (don't ask, I don't know); I ran into a fellow CM-Q faculty member cheering for his fellow Swedes; I received 5 Doha2016 Applicant City shirts (2 of them polos); and I arrived about 15 minutes before they wrapped up for the day. Ah-well. I was more excited about the shirts than anything. :)




Next day-Sunday- continued my sporting 'firsts' and played my first game of squash with a fellow CM-Q colleague and compound neighbor Greg (the same one who shares an SUV with Darbi). Our compound community center has 1 squash court in the basement (with only one door in/out- we'd be so screwed in a fire). He was kind enough to loan me the better of the 2 racquets, explain the game, and put up my muscle memory blunderings, as I tried to comprehend how this was not tennis or racquetball. We volleyed and traded shots for about an hour. We'll maybe keep score next time.

The following evening-Monday- continuing the sporting variety- as I played 2 hours of friendly competition co-ed volleyball with CM-Q faculty, staff, and students. This was the first time I've played volleyball in years (minus the pool volleyball games last summer with a few drinks and against former-collegiate volleyball scholarship girls and professional hockey players at a reality tv personality's wedding in St. Thomas... but that doesn't count). My forearms and shins were quite sore after all those games but I enjoyed waking up forgotten muscles. At one point we had about 22 people playing volleyball, with at least 6 women (all staff). We had a few Qatari males and they removed their thobes to join the game in normal t-shirts, jeans, or athletic shorts. I plan to continue playing with the group every Monday, guaranteeing me at least one workout a week.

I saw my first bike race the next day-Tuesday- as Stage 3 of Tour of Qatar finished right outside of Gate 3 of Education City (an 8 minute walk from our building). I was in the middle of an environmental chat with CM-Q's Dean Chuck Thorpe when we remembered the race was nearing and we dashed out. We arrived well ahead of the cyclists, and milled around, chatting with fellow cycling enthusiast colleagues, having a free drink from a bottled water supplier or McDonald's with 'orange drink' and chicken sandwiches. (haven't had either of those in years either) We also kept busy watching the hired BMX bike exhibitionists show off their tricks on the mini ramp and trick park they set up- complete with massive tires and balance beams. The blaring hip-hop, the food, the bikers, and three girls with the event walking around in short shorts were in glaring contrast to the nearby Bedouin black tent with Arab men in white thobes enjoying tea and coffee service. After half an hour of waiting- the pace SUV finally appeared and the first pack whizzed by- faster than I've ever seen anyone on a bike. Darbi nearly got clipped by the leader in capturing this picture (my camera was out of battery). It was certainly something to see; make me wish I had my bike here. The Tour wraps up at tomorrow's 'Wheels and Heels' event, a Fitness event on the Corniche sponsored by Reach Out to Asia, another Qatar Foundation organization. How this event reaches out to Asia, I'm not sure...

مع السلام