Asia

Q is for Ten in Qatar

Roughly one out of ten residents of Qatar is a citizen. The rest of the population are temporary workers from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. For five years, I was one of them. This post is one in a series of short posts including the number 10 in the first sentence, a requirement ofContinue reading “Q is for Ten in Qatar”

U is for United Arab Emirates

“Homeward bound” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by gordontour We moved to the United Arab Emirates in 1996. Abu Dhabi was my second Foreign Service assignment in the Middle East, and my third living experience in the region. When Ramadan came around our first year in Abu Dhabi, I thought I knew what it was all about, having lived moreContinue reading “U is for United Arab Emirates”

Q is for Qatar

“Doha, Qatar” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by . Shell The summer of 1987, before I arrived in Doha in October of that year, the governments of Qatar and Bahrain adopted threatening postures towards one another, the result of a dispute about the Hawar islands off the coast of Qatar. Both countries claimed the islands, which can be seen from theContinue reading “Q is for Qatar”

O is for Oman

“Al Dhalam Souq IV” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by andryn2006 Oman sparkles. In the three years, from 1996 to 1999, that we lived in Abu Dhabi, we drove to Oman several times. And every time, we felt a difference when we crossed the border. The streets looked as though they had just been swept for our arrival. The rocksContinue reading “O is for Oman”

J is for Japan

“Daisho in Temple, Miyajima, Japan” (CC BY 2.0) by Imahinasyon Photography A plain wooden trunk in the basement of the house of my childhood was off limits. Its contents included my parents’ mementos from the days before we children arrived. The kewpie doll my dad won for my mom at the fair, some dish towels mom had embroideredContinue reading “J is for Japan”

I is for Iran

“Music Room” (CC BY 2.0) by D-Stanley I loved it and I hated it on the same day every day for 882 days. It was Iran, and my love-hate relationship began on April 2, 1975, at the start of what I referred to as the world’s most elaborate April Fool’s gag. Two years before, I hadn’t thought suchContinue reading “I is for Iran”

D is for Doha

“Doha skyline” (CC BY 2.0) by Francisco Anzola When I got off the plane late one October evening in 1987 in Doha, my first thought was Who left the oven door open? The heat assaulted me at the top of the stairs set up on the tarmac to facilitate passengers getting off the plane. I had never feltContinue reading “D is for Doha”