Thanksgiving
The weekend is over, and another week of early rising and office-squatting has begun. Strangely, I am happy that the work week is here. Not because I intend to work (as in the work they pay me to do), but because this is another week that I have eight hours of potential me-time. I can write, read news articles, or research some financial opportunities, all while collecting a decent paycheck. Now of course there will be times that I actually have to work, and work hard probably, but this end of the year timeframe is about as lax as it can get. This is good for the blog, because it gives me some time to catch everyone up.
It was another good weekend in Doha. My shipment arrived yesterday which was pretty much the last box to check in my official move. Also, Thanksgiving was pretty great as well, and I was fortunate enough to have had three days of celebrating the event. Seeing as how I have no real food in my apartment, I am very happy to have a fridge full of leftovers.
The first Thanksgiving Dinner I attended was pretty much the black folks of Doha, and needless to say, that food was by far the best of all the meals. They had fried turkey, candy yams, stuffing, PORK, and all kinds of other goodness. It was about twenty folks, including some loud arse children, and there was no shortage of anything. I was having a good time chatting it up with the older and increasingly drunker black folks of Qatar, but I had some partying to do with the young crowd. That night, they had a ‘famous’ DJ named Benny Benasi come into town and that was the place to be in Doha. It was much more fun than I thought it was going to be, the DJ played some pretty good house and electronica music that made me realize how dance deprived I have been lately. We had a good group of people and all was well, for a while. To protect the innocent, I will leave out details, but the night ended with me having to convince a heavily inebriated woman that I would not take her home with me. This involved a test “If you can stand up straight, I will consider it”… fail; and eventually only succeeded by me passing her off to some lady friends that would take better care of her. Surprisingly, being the good guy was very difficult in this case. The girl is smart, attractive, and unique, which in a place like Doha is a one in a million opportunity. But I passed, and I beat my head against the elevator door until I reached my floor, alone. Who knows what will become of the situation now. You would think I would get some points for such integrity, but drunk people forget things and the whole chivalry is likely only remembered in my mind now.
The next day I went to a Thanksgiving dinner that was organized by the folks from the ‘camel-sandwich’ dinner. It was put on by the entire villa complex and it was a pretty good time. The guy who invited me was super-hung over from some ridiculous partying the night before, so he pretty much was absent from his own event 90% of the time. It has dawned on me that Westerners drink entirely too much in this country, but now that I think about it, Westerners drink entirely too much in any country. Here they have the rare combination of bigger salaries and less things to do, solution, drink. The food was so so, but it was plentiful. The biggest plus was meeting some new people. The highlight being a guy who does car customizations here in Doha. He had just finished putting 26”s on a Rolls Royce Phantom, and had changed out the exhaust on a Lamborghini Murcielago before that. Not only am I excited to have found someone to put a sound system in the Jeep I am going to get, but I intend to hopefully get invited to his shop when awesome cars come in. It is for opportunities like this that I recommend being an event whore whenever you go to a new place. Do everything that you can and meet as many people as possible, and then you can whittle down from the masses the people that actually suit your interests and needs. I also met another young black guy who is pretty cool, but who might be gay… not that there is anything wrong with that. Out of two younger African American guys I have met here (from outside the company), one was flaming, and the other is suspect. Either I am paranoid about homosexuals (which I am), or we have an increasingly high population of black men who are on the other side of the fence. Surprisingly, I hear that this is not a bad part of the world to be in if you are homosexual. Openly it is both condemned and punishable, but behind closed doors it is rumored to be a thriving community. I have come to terms with the fact that I am uncomfortable around gay men, but that will be an entry for another time. That night, I ended up watching Body of Lies (Grade: B), and taking it easy.
Saturday came around and yet another thanksgiving dinner was in order. This time it was with the old guard, hosted by my friend Cory, and turned out to be a very good time. The food was good, and since we all were fairly familiar with each other, it made the day feel as much like a family event as Thanksgiving in Doha could. It was long though and by the end of the day I was ready to crash.
Well I ought to do some real ‘work’ so I will continue my ramblings later.
It was another good weekend in Doha. My shipment arrived yesterday which was pretty much the last box to check in my official move. Also, Thanksgiving was pretty great as well, and I was fortunate enough to have had three days of celebrating the event. Seeing as how I have no real food in my apartment, I am very happy to have a fridge full of leftovers.
The first Thanksgiving Dinner I attended was pretty much the black folks of Doha, and needless to say, that food was by far the best of all the meals. They had fried turkey, candy yams, stuffing, PORK, and all kinds of other goodness. It was about twenty folks, including some loud arse children, and there was no shortage of anything. I was having a good time chatting it up with the older and increasingly drunker black folks of Qatar, but I had some partying to do with the young crowd. That night, they had a ‘famous’ DJ named Benny Benasi come into town and that was the place to be in Doha. It was much more fun than I thought it was going to be, the DJ played some pretty good house and electronica music that made me realize how dance deprived I have been lately. We had a good group of people and all was well, for a while. To protect the innocent, I will leave out details, but the night ended with me having to convince a heavily inebriated woman that I would not take her home with me. This involved a test “If you can stand up straight, I will consider it”… fail; and eventually only succeeded by me passing her off to some lady friends that would take better care of her. Surprisingly, being the good guy was very difficult in this case. The girl is smart, attractive, and unique, which in a place like Doha is a one in a million opportunity. But I passed, and I beat my head against the elevator door until I reached my floor, alone. Who knows what will become of the situation now. You would think I would get some points for such integrity, but drunk people forget things and the whole chivalry is likely only remembered in my mind now.
The next day I went to a Thanksgiving dinner that was organized by the folks from the ‘camel-sandwich’ dinner. It was put on by the entire villa complex and it was a pretty good time. The guy who invited me was super-hung over from some ridiculous partying the night before, so he pretty much was absent from his own event 90% of the time. It has dawned on me that Westerners drink entirely too much in this country, but now that I think about it, Westerners drink entirely too much in any country. Here they have the rare combination of bigger salaries and less things to do, solution, drink. The food was so so, but it was plentiful. The biggest plus was meeting some new people. The highlight being a guy who does car customizations here in Doha. He had just finished putting 26”s on a Rolls Royce Phantom, and had changed out the exhaust on a Lamborghini Murcielago before that. Not only am I excited to have found someone to put a sound system in the Jeep I am going to get, but I intend to hopefully get invited to his shop when awesome cars come in. It is for opportunities like this that I recommend being an event whore whenever you go to a new place. Do everything that you can and meet as many people as possible, and then you can whittle down from the masses the people that actually suit your interests and needs. I also met another young black guy who is pretty cool, but who might be gay… not that there is anything wrong with that. Out of two younger African American guys I have met here (from outside the company), one was flaming, and the other is suspect. Either I am paranoid about homosexuals (which I am), or we have an increasingly high population of black men who are on the other side of the fence. Surprisingly, I hear that this is not a bad part of the world to be in if you are homosexual. Openly it is both condemned and punishable, but behind closed doors it is rumored to be a thriving community. I have come to terms with the fact that I am uncomfortable around gay men, but that will be an entry for another time. That night, I ended up watching Body of Lies (Grade: B), and taking it easy.
Saturday came around and yet another thanksgiving dinner was in order. This time it was with the old guard, hosted by my friend Cory, and turned out to be a very good time. The food was good, and since we all were fairly familiar with each other, it made the day feel as much like a family event as Thanksgiving in Doha could. It was long though and by the end of the day I was ready to crash.
Well I ought to do some real ‘work’ so I will continue my ramblings later.
posted by Anthony Jackson at 10:27 PM
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