Cole Comments on Qatar

Doha was awesome. An ever mixing melting-pot of islamic tradition and
oil-funded innovation, the city holds surprises around every corner. As we were only there for a short time, we only got to experience the
tip of this city's cultural iceberg. That said, the sites we visited were nonetheless intriguing and inspiring.

As much as it shocks me to say it, my favorite place we visited
in Doha was the Museum of Islamic Art (and yes, you read it right, I
did actually love the museum). The building itself was an
architectural wonder, with high domed ceilings, and sweeping
sandstone/marble supports, all in a uniform geometric pattern. I was
most surprised, however, at the exhibits. When I heard that we would
be going to the 'Islamic Art' museum, I had envisioned in my head long
halls filled with identical-looking scrolls covered in arabic
calligraphy ('you seen one, you seen them all'). Instead, what we
found were interesting, versatile exhibits, with artifacts ranging
from huge royal rugs to ornate glass lamps from up to a thousand years
ago! After walking through the three floors of displays, we ate at
the French-style cafe, and enjoyed coffee and croissants with a view
of the Doha skyline.

I had never been a big fan of museums, but this one was a breath
of fresh air. The museum was refined and modern; a great example of
oil money put to good use. I'd definitely recommend a visit there if
you are ever in the Doha area.
--Cole

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Riding the Bus often

From 201010 Saudi scenes It is ironic that this land of cheap gasoline has so much group transport -- buses. From 201010 Saudi scenes Our housing compound has a Toyota-Coaster bus that takes some to/from school (we usually go earlier and return later, on a similar bus that the school provides). Driver Yahya takes residents on the 90-minute trip down to the Big City shopping every Thursday morning. The above picture shows our group one Thursday, usually going to Ikea or the new Lulu's Hypermarket , or the Dhahran Mall. Coleman rides a different bus every day to and from school -- usually 100 minutes there, 80 minutes back. His bus is evidently an old tourist bus, usually comfortable but a bit dusty. The air-conditioning usually works too well. I've ridden it with him several times, to attend business meetings at the district office. From 201010 Saudi scenes There he is, at 5:45am every morning, at the start of the bus run. Fortunately only about 20 stu...

String Quartet Broken String

We attended a marvelous concert last night, at the Porto Museum of Casa do Infante , a beautifully-renovated 1325 building near the river. At one point it served as a customs house. The government sponsors Portuguese musicians to return from other European orchestras to perform in their homeland. We heard and saw this group play a traditional piece – Haydn string quartet Opus 20 #2. Then the modern Benjamin Britten's Three Divertimenti – the stunning last movement of which they performed as an encore. They performed (and I recorded) the Shostakovich Quartet #9, during which the first-violinist broke a string (it features several strongly-plucked chords!) and had to retreat&repeat!

Música Tunas e Boémia

We attended an unusual concert last night: Música Tunas e Boémia (bands and parties) University student folk-music groups — big groups of 40 and more each! put on a great show of singing, playing, flag-twirling, tambourine-swinging, all at the major (private) concert hall. The most unusual thing about it was that nobody used any electronic device (except for microphone amplification)—no electric guitar or keyboard, no big drum set…every instrument and prop was hand-held. The singing was quite good, given the effort to synchronize 40 voices.

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