Souq Waqif

Today we went to an old traditional trading market called the Souq Waqif.  It is like stepping back in time and is full of restaurants and alleys full of little shops and vendors selling all sorts of stuff.  Since it was Friday (the Muslim holy day), most of the shops weren't open but we enjoyed browsing around anyway.  It was 110 degrees out so we didn't stay very long.  Next to the parking lot were a bunch of camels just in a fenced off area.  What was most odd, the gate was wide open but all the camels stayed in anyway.  

Nasser (the man that Bobby works closely with here) and his family took us to a traditional Moroccan restaurant for a middle eastern brunch.  I tried the Turkish coffee and was surprised that it was pretty good -- if you add sugar that is.  Hassana, Nasser's wife, ordered all the food.  You guys would be so proud of me for actually liking about half of it.  The rest I used my mastered art of pushing it around the plate until it looks like I at least ate most of it.  :)  Chase and Natalie liked the cheese omelet and bread, Avery ate nothing.  Bobby, of course, liked it all.  

I knew ahead of time that people in Qatar would be attracted to Avery because she is young and cute and has blonde hair, but it still surprises her how many people want to touch her.  Not only do people comment on how precious she is everywhere we go, often they reach in to kiss her cheek or touch her cheek.  She is surprisingly a little shy about it and kind of pushes their hand away -- good girl!  At the restaurant, a Qatari woman came to our table and was talking in Arabic about Avery and trying to pick her up out of her chair to take her over to her table to show her to her girlfriends.  Avery was having none of it.  It is so weird how that would NEVER happen in the USA unless someone was trying to abduct your child and yet it is so common here.  The Qataris really do love children and it is all very harmless, but strange all the same.  Our friends with us who speak Arabic said she was saying how Avery was a gift from God and how lucky we are to have her.  We are so very blessed to have her and Chase and Natalie in our lives.  

In the afternoon, we went to meet the head of the British company that is sponsoring Crom to come to Qatar at the local rugby club.  It was like being in a movie with a bunch of drunk british people!  No one was actually playing rugby that day, it was like a happy hour.  The kids swam in the pool and we met several really nice couples there, many of whom have kids around our kids ages.  It was nice to socialize and have a beer.  Most of the people there were from the UK but one family was Canadian (thought Bill and Nancy would want to know that!)