Happy Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving is coming to an end while others are just beginning. Here it's obviously not a holiday but a group of people from VCUQ got together for a large dinner at the home of the head of the fashion department. They hosted this dinner for VCUQ faculty and staff and a couple American airmen from the local base here. The great thing about this dinner was the diversity among the group. Most were expats but not from America. I had the opportunity to talk with several people, all of whom knew I was "the daughter". There was a couple that were fun to talk with, Rehab is Egyptian and a film producer who is married to a guy from Texas who is a photography professor. Another woman I met is a film professor who is American and a Muslim and used to be married to a Kuwaiti. Just a great group of people and wonderful conversation.

Earlier in the day we went shopping at one of the malls (the new Souq). They did a wonderful job on the interior, each shop had a store front like you would see on the streets and the ceiling was painted (rather realistically) like the sky. There was an ice skating rink in the food court and a river running through some of the mall with gondolas you could ride. Most stores were European, a couple I knew like Monsoon and L'occtaine but others I've never seen before, all with the newest fashions. They also had American stores like Gap, Banana Republic, and Sephora. 

Oh and a Starbucks. Completely different over here than back in the states. First they have different holiday specials, here is was Toffee Nut. And for the holiday season, meat pie. Seriously, they had meat pie.

One thing Qatar has that is better than the states is sunsets. Granted they are at 4:30 in the afternoon but still beautiful:

Side note: We were responsible for picking up some beverages for the gathering tonight and so we went to a grocery store. My dad got excited over A&W Root Beer and Squirt. I thought it was weird mainly because I'm used to seeing it. We get to the house and he tells another person who got very excited, especially over the A&W Root Beer. I guess when you don't have something, especially something that used to be a common thing, you get excited when it's discovered... like water in a desert.