Jon's Blog

Qatar notes 11 Nov 2003

Yesterday, Zach and I went looking for a few specialty items. First, we sought out the Qatar International Nursery looking for a 1"-to-3/4" faucet adapter. The garden hose faucets at our villa are 1" for some reason. There's a frustrating standardization issue over here with plumbing and electrical systems--I don't expect them to match US standards; I just wish they had a standard. I had pieced an adapter together out of miscellaneous plumbing parts, but I wanted a "real" one--plus, I'd told my next-door neighbor that I'd pick one up for him.

We had to create a road here and there (quite easy to do when everything is sand and rocks) in order to compensate for a wrong turn, but we made it to the nursery, which was unassuming on the outside but a veritable jungle on the inside. It would seem that just about anything will grow here, given regular water. I may pick up some planter boxes for our back yard, assuming I can get them to come off of the price a bit.

Zach and I were hungry after our jungle adventure, so we looked around to see if we could find someplace that was breaking the Ramadan rules and selling food during the day. Sure enough, we managed to discover that Pizza Hut would sell us a "take away" pizza, so we bought a large stuffed-crust supreme and a couple of drinks. The trouble with take-away during Ramadan is that you're not supposed to eat or drink in public (it's actually illegal, as far as that goes around here), so we had to find a hiding place to eat our catch. After some searching, we found a shady parking spot to the side of a bus toward the back of a large parking lot, and we ate "in haste" (Zach's observation, sort of like Exodus 12:11), casting furtive glances around us to be sure nobody was looking. The worst that would have happened to us would likely have been dirty looks, but fasting folks tend to be a bit more surly than normal, so we try not to take any chances.

After lunch--and a grand lunch it was, in haste or otherwise--we were off in search of a piece of plywood to use as a base for a portable antenna mast. My contact at the hardware store (imagine taking about a fourth of Lowe's and cramming it into your garage) at the slope roundabout (so named because it's on a slope) directed us down the street to a furniture maker, whose shop was next door to a tire shop. The furniture guy spoke no English, and we spoke no Arabic, but I managed to explain what I was looking for using hand gestures, a drawing of what I wanted to build, and by pointing to his nice furniture-class hardwood laminate and saying, "Like that, but cheap." He had one word for us: "Najma."

With me driving and Zach navigating, we managed to find the Najma district downtown, which is the home of a large outdoor market...very much like a gigantic multi-family garage sale, or a flea market. We poked around and managed to find a piece of plywood, and a fellow from the neighboring stall acted as a mediator between me and the owner of the board, who was out of sight, probably lying down for a nap in a loft area. He wanted 20 riyals, I offered 7, and the salesman acted offended (as if it were his board!). I ended up paying 15 riyals. I'll have to work on my bargaining skills. We got the board, anyway.

After work, I went back to the slope roundabout hardware store and, after about 30 minutes of discussion, managed to convince them that I wanted six feet, not six meters, of pipe. During that time, I visited another hardware store just around the corner, and the fellow there took me to their storage area...around the back of the strip of shops, in the dark, through a door-within-a-gate, where they keep their stock of pipe, toilets, wire, cisterns, and various other things. He wanted to sell me a six-meter pipe as well, so I told him I'd have to get back with him if the other shop wouldn't cut one for me. At least, I think I managed to communicate that to him. It's hard to tell sometimes, because most of these people are too nice to let on that they don't understand you. They don't want to hurt your feelings.

I finally got my six-foot pipe, some nuts and bolts, and more wire, and headed for the house. I hadn't allotted enough time for the obtain-a-pipe event, so I was a bit late making it to the church for playing music. Kendall had a couple of guys sitting in on guitar, and Sven on the new bass guitar. We sounded fairly decent, and downright worshipful on a couple of songs. I knew a couple of the songs, but most of them were new to me.

We are now able to use the washing machine as a dryer, thanks to a photocopy of the manual and a serendipitous visit with the head of Mannai Trading Co., who supplied all of the appliances for our housing complex. I had my doubts as to whether the "combo washer/dryer" was a reality or not, but the case is now closed. The thing washes and dries. I'm glad these fancy new clotheslines I installed are retractable....

Posted by jon at November 11, 2003 06:16 AM