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| West Bay skyline |
I have attempted to drive, finally, even if it was just 2 roundabouts home. While there are stoplights here, like at regular intersections, there is an abundance of roundabouts big and small. And sometimes roundabouts with stoplights, to further the confusion. Kev seems to greatly enjoy speeding/slinging the rental car through these. Often times a 3 lane roundabout will break off into 2 lanes with all 3 lanes of cars attempt to consolidate. It's quite a ballet and a little scary. You can also hit a quick red in these and apparently running a red is one of the most heinous traffic violations here - around $1800 and you could potentially lose your license. Kev said that being a one car couple is not an option, so I'll eventually learn how to conquer the driving here. I typed "Doha roundabout" into Google and this video came up... it's not too far from the actual experience! Of note is that we live near the "Burger King roundabout" which is one away from the "TV roundabout" where Al Jazeera, the major Arab news station, is located.
Eating
We've finally had our first shawarma here which ran us about QR19 ($5.21) for 2 chicken shawarmas, fries, waters and a falafel patty. It was delicious. We've also been to one of Kev's favorite restaurants, Turkey Central, twice now. They have a fab mixed grill plate and great chicken kabobs. I also learned that baba ghanoush, when ordered at Turkey Central, is a mix of eggplant/pepper/tomato. Instead, I should have ordered mutabbal, which is more like a traditional baba ghanoush.
A note for all you hummus lovers out there... enjoy your fabulous selection of hummus at your local grocery, because here pre-packaged hummus just doesn't exist. And if you find it, it's generally imported. So far we've seen one UK variety and some US Athenos. Most groceries have one "local" version sold in the deli case with other dips. One thing that is a-plenty is labneh which from what I can tell is like Greek yogurt or some kind of yogurt cheese. We've had this once at a Turkish restaurant in The Woodlands sprinkled with walnuts and served as something to dip bread in. I'm not exactly sure yet what to do with it at my house, but it's plentiful in the grocery and looks interesting. I also grabbed some zaatar bread at the grocery today and it was great - zaatar is a blend of herbs (usually thyme, sumac) with sesame seeds. It is green and it is awesome. Slather some olive oil onto a pita, sprinkle with zaatar and you have a real treat.
Sorry to blab on about food! I won't be looking for work until Oct. when we return from a 2-wk vacation, so until then my days so far have been filled with grocery shopping and restaurants. :)
Kevin's co-worker Ahmed threw our compound an Iftar potluck this past Thursday. Iftar breaks the daily fast for Ramadan. He brought this delicious lamb and our neighbors brought dishes from home. I contributed my Chicken Tamale Casserole (see previous post for our fab shopping excursion for ingredients) and it tasted pretty much the same as at home.
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Friday is the holy day around these parts, therefore instead of having a Sat./Sun. weekend like in the States, we have a Fri./Sat. weekend. And Fri. is more like Sun. in the States if that makes sense (shops have different hours). Needless to say, it is very strange to having your Monday on a Sunday.
It is not nearly as easy to upload photos here as I was expecting... head over to our Facebook page to see photos of our adventure so far.
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