Of Mice and Men
I can’t help but love Qataris. As maddening as this country can be at times, the people here really make it a great place. There is a major cultural hurdle to get over of course, but once you cross it you’ll find the people here amazingly friendly and sincere. It’s common enough for them to drop by, unannounced of course, bearing gifts and food. We reciprocate, then they in turn strive to outdo us. It’s almost a contest of sorts, to see who can be the most generous. Other Arab ex-pats do this as well, but none so much as the Qataris.
They have come a long way fast… too fast perhaps. Just 50 short years ago this place had more in common with Chad than the west. In some ways it still does. The tribal traditions are strong, yet the universal exposure to western culture has indelibly changed things. It’s anybody’s guess where things will go from here. I hope that Qataris can find a way to “modernize” without losing those essential things that make them who they are.
Traditional life was simple here. A family possessed very little, and needed very little. While poor, they would give you the last morsel of their food if you were passing through. They had deep faith and not much else. Homes were constructed of mudbrick and palm thatch, if they weren’t simply tents. Food was cooked outdoors, often by men, while women handled the set up and break down of tents. Rice, meat, dates and camel milk were the staples, plus fish in the coastal towns like Doha. The elderly people here all grew up this way. Illiteracy was widespread.
Contrast that to the modern city we see today. It’s as if Qatar has crossed a thousand years in fifty. The stress of this change is evident too. Among young people you can sense that there are often conflicted views about roles and responsibilities. The image of the independent desert warrior looms large, but the need for a good education and a career is widely appreciated as well (not to mention “free”…Qatar pays for it’s youth to attend any University that they can get into). The compromise that many strike is to go ahead and get that great job… but not work!
Stress is low here. The pace is slow, and few things are ever urgent. Drinking tea with friends ranks higher than most deadlines… and there is a reason for this.… for a Qatari, friends are far more important than anything work-related. Society here values piety and character over money and position.
The stress that exists here for ex-pats is of a sort that most aren’t used to. It’s situational stress that results from a system that seems not to work. Few things here will ever get done the way you think you want them to. You can be fluent in Arabic and have long experience with the culture, and still things will typically not happen according to plan. The trick is to be very flexible. In the end, everything does get done.
We learned this early on, whether it was dealing with immigration officials, or trying to get our flight tickets for last summer’s trip, things are difficult to accomplish on your own. “Wasda” is what works here…roughly translated to “influence”. It’s a small country, and very gregarious at that, so pretty much everyone knows some official in the proper Bureau to help get your process kick-started. Typically the bureaucratic brick wall will frustrate your plans, so you call someone who has a brother-in-law who knows a guy that can get you what you need. In the end it all works.
They have come a long way fast… too fast perhaps. Just 50 short years ago this place had more in common with Chad than the west. In some ways it still does. The tribal traditions are strong, yet the universal exposure to western culture has indelibly changed things. It’s anybody’s guess where things will go from here. I hope that Qataris can find a way to “modernize” without losing those essential things that make them who they are.
Traditional life was simple here. A family possessed very little, and needed very little. While poor, they would give you the last morsel of their food if you were passing through. They had deep faith and not much else. Homes were constructed of mudbrick and palm thatch, if they weren’t simply tents. Food was cooked outdoors, often by men, while women handled the set up and break down of tents. Rice, meat, dates and camel milk were the staples, plus fish in the coastal towns like Doha. The elderly people here all grew up this way. Illiteracy was widespread.
Contrast that to the modern city we see today. It’s as if Qatar has crossed a thousand years in fifty. The stress of this change is evident too. Among young people you can sense that there are often conflicted views about roles and responsibilities. The image of the independent desert warrior looms large, but the need for a good education and a career is widely appreciated as well (not to mention “free”…Qatar pays for it’s youth to attend any University that they can get into). The compromise that many strike is to go ahead and get that great job… but not work!
Stress is low here. The pace is slow, and few things are ever urgent. Drinking tea with friends ranks higher than most deadlines… and there is a reason for this.… for a Qatari, friends are far more important than anything work-related. Society here values piety and character over money and position.
The stress that exists here for ex-pats is of a sort that most aren’t used to. It’s situational stress that results from a system that seems not to work. Few things here will ever get done the way you think you want them to. You can be fluent in Arabic and have long experience with the culture, and still things will typically not happen according to plan. The trick is to be very flexible. In the end, everything does get done.
We learned this early on, whether it was dealing with immigration officials, or trying to get our flight tickets for last summer’s trip, things are difficult to accomplish on your own. “Wasda” is what works here…roughly translated to “influence”. It’s a small country, and very gregarious at that, so pretty much everyone knows some official in the proper Bureau to help get your process kick-started. Typically the bureaucratic brick wall will frustrate your plans, so you call someone who has a brother-in-law who knows a guy that can get you what you need. In the end it all works.
posted by dervish at Tuesday, March 29, 2005
1 Comments:
paragraphs!
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