When are you...? Where are you...?

When are you leaving for the summer?
Where are you going for Ramadan?
Where are you going for Eid?
Where are you going for Second Eid?

Spend a few minutes catching up with any friends in Doha and you're bound to hear one or all of these questions. 

When are you leaving for the summer?
As soon as school's out, a ton of moms pack up the bags and kids and get the heck outta dodge for the summer months, leaving their husbands behind to navigate steamy weather and takeout menus.  But why?  I think there are a lot of reasons.  Some folks kept their house back home, some spend the time letting kids catch up with grandparents, some go on extended vacations to exotic destinations, and so on and so on.  For kids that are used to playing outdoors, apparently there just isn't much fun outdoorsy stuff to do once the mercury creeps up.  And indoor air-conditioned options?  Limited - a few indoor amusement parks, play areas and movie theatres.  Plus, once your kid's friends leave then there are less kids to play with and it ends up being a cycle that pretty much forces you away.  Or at least this is how one outsider sees it! 

Where are you going for Ramadan?
If you're still in Doha in July, this is the question you're likely to hear.  Per Wikipedia, Ramadan "is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating and drinking [from sun up to sun down] and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, humility, and spirituality."  Ramadan lasts around a month (this year starting around August 1).  In Qatar, most restaurants are closed when the sun is out and shops operate on reduced hours (even though you can buy groceries almost all day).  There's only one actual restaurant I can think of that stays open (American Grill) and several hotels have limited food service.  Even the cafeteria at Kev's building will shut down.  Expats are discouraged from eating or drinking in public during the daytime.  Discouraged probably isn't the right word - you just don't do it.  Expats are also expected to wear more modest clothing during Ramadan (not a problem for me - no short shorts or spaghetti straps, here!).  The restrictions make Doha not the funnest place to spend your August so folks that didn't intend to spend the entire summer somewhere else often pop out for Ramadan.  We arrived in the middle of Ramadan 2010, and quite frankly it was all a blur to me.  Not really sure what the heck I did all day, what I ate at home behind closed curtains... just one big blur!

Ramadan isn't all tough for expats.  The fast each day is broken with a huge meal called Iftar, followed by a later meal called Suhoor.  The hotels here go nuts for these meals with lavish (and pricey) buffets and tents.  Suhoor at the hotels seems to be the "plus'd up" version of Iftar, with dancers, henna tattooists, shisha, musicians... basically a more festive event.  I'm looking forward to iftar this year... we enjoyed the two dinners we went to last year.  Plus, Ramadan and Eid bring on the sales to end all sales... think big holiday sales back in the States.

Where are you going for Eid?
Eid Al-Fitr (aka First Eid) is the three day holiday marking the end of Ramadan.  Kev loses Memorial Day, Forth of July, Thanksgiving, etc. here but he does get the Qatari holidays... Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha and Qatar National Day.  If you've still hanging around here during Ramadan, everyone wants to know where you're going for Eid.  Our first year here the darn holiday snuck up on us too quickly and we didn't have our stuff together enough to make plans.  Miss first Eid?  There's always...

Where are you going for Second Eid?
Eid Al-Adha (aka Second Eid) is around 70 days after the end of Ramadan (this year in November). Back to Wikipedia again... Eid Al-Adha is "an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead." Kev also gets another 3 days off here.

So without further adieu...
When are you leaving for the summer? August 11!
Where are you going for Ramadan? Atlanta!
Where are you going for Eid? Oman! (we think?)
Where are you going for Second Eid? Not sure, but we're open to suggestions! Maybe Sri Lanka?