Another week another post

       It has been about a week so I figured I'd update this blog. I always have so much to say on here until I actually come to write and then I forget what I want to talk about. To start though I'm going to show a few pictures of the downtown skyline, which I said I was going to do about a week ago, but never ended up doing it!

         This is called Aspire Tower, and is the tallest building in Doha, Qatar. The Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, built it for the 2006 Asian games (very similar to the Olympics, but only Asian nations participate), which Qatar hosted. It was built to be the focal point for these games during which a large flame came out of the top continuously for the entirety of the games. I haven't personally seen the flame lit on the top, but from what I hear it is lit during important Qatari holidays. The tower is 984 feet tall, in comparison the Transamerica building in San Francisco (the one with the pyramid top) is only 850 feet tall. This means that the Aspire tower would be the tallest building in San Francisco, and second tallest in the entire state of California, and the Emir built it solely for the Asian games. This shows the amount of wealth and power the Emir has, being capable of building such a massive structure to serve as the focal point of an event that lasts a mere 15 days. The nation as a whole is actually quite wealthy as the average GDP per capita in Qatar is 91,379 dollars according to the world bank, which is the highest of any nation in the world. That means the average Qatari national is making 91,379 dollars, in comparison the average American citizen makes 45,989 dollars per year, the average British citizen 36,496, and the average Chinese citizen makes 6,828 dollars per year. It is amazing the wealth the people of Qatar have. This is why they have modernized their society so quickly. Fifteen years ago there wasn't a single skyscraper in the nation, now the country is full of them and you see cranes all over downtown building more it is quite amazing how quickly they have put this altogether!
         The city center of Doha is a fascinating place, on one side of the downtown area there is a desert as this picture kind of shows. On the other side of the city center is the Persian gulf. With all of the buildings being less than two decades old the whole downtown has a very futuristic look to it. It is an interesting part of the town because it mixes the Western idea of skyscrapers with the traditional aspects of the region, which creates a very distinct look and culture.

        This is a building that I wanted to spend a minute talking about as it fits the description of what I was just mentioning about taking a western idea, and making it into a distinct look that fits the culture. When first looking at this building it quite obviously has a different style to its architecture but there is a reason this building is designed this way. In Qatar the hawk plays an important role in the life of the people in this area. For generations hunting has been a very popular sport to the inhabitants of the peninsula that makes up the nation of Qatar, and here people hunt by using hawks. In traditional Qatari families hawks are passed down from parents to children. This means after many generations hawks being passed down from generation to generation became more than just about sports, and more about familial tradition. It has become such an important part of

Qatar that the hawk now has its portrait on the 500 Qatari Riyal, which is the highest denomination of currency in the country. The photo to the left is a birdhouse. You can find these throughout the city and what they are, are houses for wild birds which can come and go as they please. The most common birds to find in these houses are pigeons and hawks. The birdhouse looks very similar to the skyscraper above, which was designed to look like a traditional Qatari birdhouse.
    Beyond that my week has been pretty interesting. It has still been hot averaging about 110 degrees everyday. While I was taking the photos of the downtown area it was so hot that I actually got a sunburn while wearing a shirt! On Wednesday I went down to one of the local colleges and sat in on two of the classes, which was interesting to see the differences and similarities in regards to how a course would be taught and handled in Qatar in comparison to the US.

     I also rode a camel out in the desert for the first time this week. Riding camels out there made me feel like I should be in Indiana Jones or something haha. It was a fun experience, and being out there while the wind was whipping the sand around helped me to appreciate why the men in the region traditionally wear Keffiyehs.
         I think that is about all I have to say for now. I've been going down to the Souq quite frequently and swimming in the gulf on occasion, and I'm sure I'm forgetting other things, but I can't think of them right now. As far as the future goes I might be going to a traditional Qatari wedding next week, which takes place in tents in the desert. It should be a great experience if I get to go, and I'll keep you all posted if I do. Below I'll put some random photos up like I did last week.

Salam everyone!!
                                           Random Photos

Favorite building