Friday, January 2, 2009

A lot of little things

I am quite tired tonight. I woke up at 3am last night and could have sworn it was time to get up. Perhaps the jet lag is hitting me. It's going to be straight to bed for me after this entry.

Dust in the Wind
Would you like to know the weather? I do love the weather. It was a windy day in Doha today. This meant lots of dust. I saw one quick glimpse of the sun when I woke up and then not at all for the rest of the day. It was cool by Qatar standards (about 70) and most people were bundled up.

Go, Speed Racer, Go!
Let's talk about driving in Doha. It seems the practice is to drive as quickly as possible on the straightaways and then just as quickly slow down when entering a round-about. There are a LOT of round-abouts so this process is repeated over and over and over again. Hoorah for sea-bands as they are helping me to not get too terribly ill on the drives. There are also almost no stop lights. There are 2-3 lanes in each round-about. There are rules for each lane, but I don't think people really stick to the rules.

LeaderShape, Day 0
I spent the day at EC with my fellow faculty members for The LeaderShape Institute. We spent the morning getting to know one another. Each member of the faculty is so interesting. I am eager to work with them this week. We had an awesome lunch with falafel and a wrap filled with potatoes and peas. YUM-O!

I do worry a bit that the afternoon wasn't as inspiring or engaging as I would have liked it to be. I was reviewing the curriculum with everyone and I have not found a lot of different ways to go through it. I think it's important to focus on the information. The curriculum really does come to life during the session though, so I am confident that they will feel more connected throughout the week.

Tomorrow we travel to the session site for Day 1. I hear it is lavish and will be sure to post pics. The participants will be arriving in the afternoon and we will be starting at 4pm! The students are from 26 different countries and from the 6 universities in EC. It will be unlike any experience I have ever had. I am both eager and nervous about the week.

A continuation from yesterday...
In my post yesterday I mentioned a meeting going on in the soccer stadium near where I had dinner. It was front page news in Qatar's Daily Newspaper, The Peninsula. It was reported that 15, 000 people were in attendance. The pictures showed people holding signs saying "End the Occupation" and "Stop Killing Our Children." The group was addressed by members of Qatar Univeristy, Qatar Charity, a Qatari poet, and more. Just thought I would share with you what the news was saying since I mentioned it yesterday.


Until tomorrow, I hope you all are doing well.

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