Jon's Blog

Qatar notes 01 Nov 2003

Zach and I had to go to the office this morning to train our five new student workers--Mahmoud, Ali, Elias, Omar, and I still can't remember the fifth guy's name--and we stayed there until early afternoon. These guys all attend Qatar University, and they'll be taking care of the computer lab and doing odds and ends for us.

This afternoon, several of us manly types headed south for the sand dunes and some cardboard sliding. The dunes are some of the tallest natural structures in Qatar; most of them are between 75 and 100 feet high, and they're pretty tough to climb. Think trying to dig a hole in pea gravel. You can climb for a long time and not move an inch. We did manage to make the top of a dune, and the scenery from that vantage point was impressive. The wind was picking up, so we got a little taste of blowing sand...I can only imagine how miserable a full-blown sandstorm could make a person. After determining that the cardboard didn't slide as well as we had hoped, we walked around a bit. Zach spotted a horse camp a little over a quarter mile away from us on the other side of the dune, and I decided to make the trek to get some pictures.

The camp was situated in sort of a horseshoe canyon surrounded on three sides by the sand dunes, which act as a windbreak. It wasn't much to look at, with a handful of makeshift shacks and about ten stand-alone stalls made of various materials, some with roofs, some without. When I reached the camp, one of the grooms directed me to a gentleman named Abdullah, who was apparently the boss. Abdulla told me that they trained the horses for endurance races in the desert. In fact, we had passed one of the horse tracks on our way to the dunes. He showed me around a bit, and told me a little about his operation. They keep the horses out there year-round, and during very hot weather they take them to the seashore, which is 5km away, so they can cool off. Two grooms live out there full time, and Abdullah visits the camp every day to check on things. He said that a couple of his horses came from America. I poked around a bit, took a few pictures, talked to a few horses, and then started to leave. Abdullah came over to me, took my arm, and motioned for me to join him and two of his companions as they broke their fast (the sun had just gone down, which during Ramadan signals the end of the daily fast).

I declined, he insisted, I declined again, and he still insisted, so I kicked off my sandals and joined them (and their cat)--and hoped that Zach and co. weren't searching for me. When someone invites you to share a humble meal, especially during Ramadan, it's best to join them (after declining at least a couple of times to be polite, of course) so you won't dishonor them. Abdullah was the only one who spoke English, so he (occasionally) interpreted for me. They had several different dishes, many of which were special Ramadan recipes. They have special foods for Ramadan in much the same way that we have special foods we eat at Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Everybody got their own spoon, and ate directly from the serving dishes. They had broiled chicken on rice, dates, some sort of spicy soup (I asked Abdullah what was in it, and he said, "Everything"), a sweet pasta, and several different pasty concoctions--they're big on making a spreadable paste out of random things like eggplant, chicken, and other things. I don't know what it all was, but it was good, and the whole experience really drove home the ingrained, and very genuine, hospitality of the Arab culture.

We, as a church, need to consider the issue of hospitality. Romans 12:13, 1 Timothy 5:9-10, 1 Peter 4:9, 3 John 1:8, and many other passages exhort us to be hospitable, to fellowship with one another in our homes, to entertain strangers, to put ourselves out for our fellow man. I often get so wrapped up in my own little private world of work and family that I neglect this Biblical command--and if I don't practice, practice, practice, then I'll never be perfect. I think we do a pretty good job with fellowship meals, birthday parties, hayrides and such, but there's always room for improvement. So, let's keep practicing!

Once it looked like the meal was close to over, I thanked them profusely and said I needed to go find my friends, who were probably getting at least mildly worried by now. My mobile phone rang at that point, and it was Zach and co. wondering what in the world had happened to me. I told him I was eating dinner. Abdullah said to bring them to dinner too, but I said there were four of them, and we were expected back in town for dinner (Danna was fixing spaghetti for all of us). He invited me to come back and visit any day, and I said I would like to. I'll have to take my son out there sometime. I hiked back across the dunes to the highway, where the guys were waiting, and we headed back to town, stopping once to snap some pictures of a refinery with some impressive burn-off fires going.

Danna's spaghetti dinner was great too, by the way. :)

(Don't miss the pictures!)

Posted by jon at November 1, 2003 10:13 PM