New sign

After being in an environment for a time, things start to become "normal" that used to be "unusual". That is why we love to have visitors to remind us again of the unique aspects of where we live. This week a new sign appeared in Max and Simon's school foyer. The  3 meter by 5 meter sign changes every 6 months or so, but this one made us stop and look. The verse from the Quran is appropriate for a school but also a reminder that we are not in Canada any more.

Swim Meet in Qatar

Last weekend Qatar Academy hosted its first International Swim Meet. It was a small event with just 120 swimmers from four countries. The school has a 50 meter indoor pool with seats for 1000 spectators. In past years Max and Simon have traveled to Egypt and Oman to compete with their Swim Team in this ISAC tournament. It was very nice for us to be able to stay at home and host two swimmers from the New Cairo British International School.

Simon broke two ISAC records on the weekend. His most exciting swim was to win a Gold medal in the 50m Backstroke with a time of 33.93 seconds ( a full 2 seconds faster than his seed time). This has always been Simon`s best event. He broke his first international record in Nairobi at his first swim meet ever, when he was 8 years old (50m backstroke in 52 seconds). Simon also took home the Gold medal in 100m Backstroke but no records broken.
The meet organizers asked different QA administrators to present medals and it just happened that Tim presented Simon with his first Gold.

Max`s swims were no less exciting even though he didn't break any records. Max is a joy to watch swim the butterfly -- he slips through the water with ease and grace. He won the Bronze medal for 50m Fly. Max also won a Silver medal in the 400m Freestyle. This is a distance swim and Max enjoys the endurance challenge.

In total Max brought home three Silver and one Bronze and Simon won three Gold and two Silver medals. We are very proud of them, especially since they were asked to "swim up" for this Meet. That means that they competed in an older category than their age. Simon, age 13, competed as a Junior Varsity swimmer against boys who were 15. Max, age 15, competed as a Varsity swimmer against boys who were 18.

Simon with Coach Ruthie

Vergie was very excited to hear about Max and Simon's success!
     Vergie: "Ma'm Lis your boys have made you rich!"
     Lisa: "No Vergie. There is no money for winning."
     Vergie: "But there are medals!"
     Lisa: "Yes they win medals."
     Vergie: "And some are gold!"
     Lisa: "But it's not real gold Vergie!"
     Vergie: "It's not?"
This might seem far-fetched but in Qatar it might also be a reasonable assumption that the gold medals would be real!

Not Familiar

When we returned to Doha this fall we were all keen to add more fish to our diet. After a summer in Nova Scotia eating fish and chips, pan-fried haddock, fish chowder, and grilled salmon we looked forward to making these simple meals like home. So I purchased tarter sauce -- even the Heinz brand like home -- and began the search. Salmon from Norway is readily available and we have a BBQ so it was an easy start.

Parrot fish from Oman

But then the challenge was to find the right white fish. Tuna, haddock, halibut are not available here. Instead there is Hammour, Kingfish, Milkfish. The fish market in every grocery store has the fish whole and on ice display. The fish markers tell the type of fish and the country where it was caught. Sherri, Travally, and Yanam are caught on the shores of Qatar. Pomfret comes from Kuwait. Mullet comes from Egypt. We have tried a couple of these but none have the same colour or texture that we are familiar with. And Lisa still does not enjoy filleting. And sometimes it is just too embarrassing to ask the clerks to do it......

Familiar

This week I was surprised and excited to see Cheez Whiz on the shelf at Lulu grocery store! Living away from Canada, we have learned to adapt our tastes and our cooking to accommodate foods that are found "locally". Qatar imports foods from all over the world. Most of the produce comes from Lebanon. Most of the cheese comes from Europe. Most of the meat comes from Australia. We do usually have a number of Kraft products on the shelf but Cheez Whiz is rare. Sometimes we just want a taste of something familiar -- even if it costs $3 for a tiny little bottle........