Doha in the daylight was not what I expected. My vision of a third world country with developing infrastructure was inaccurate. This place is rocking! The construction is impressive and they are serious about competing for international sporting events. I understand why the World Cup chose this city for its 2022 event. They will be ready and if their Aspire Center is any indication, it will be amazing. Aspire is their Olympic training center with residences. It will be fun to watch future Olympics to see how this investment pays off. It is different to see no grass and the sand/rock rubble look but I’ve gotten used to it. There are lawns and beautiful landscaping around the villa where Dennis and Christy live and at key areas of the city.

My day started with a tour of the Texas A&M building within Education City. The craftsmanship and materials used in construction here get A+ grades. I’m proud of Dennis and Christy for taking this risky step in 2003 and being part of spreading America’s wonderful higher education here. It was great to meet many of my brother and sister-in-law’s friends. And everyone was generally pleasant when I answered the question “where are you from” with Norman, Oklahoma. I even got some scoop that former TAMU basketball coach Billy Gillespie is OU’s choice to replace Jeff Capel – time will tell.

Next up was the new Student Center, the project my brother has been working on for the last three years for the Qatar Foundation. I posted some photos on Facebook so you’ll have to check them out to see the grandeur of this facility. Separate prayer rooms and fitness centers for men and women caught me a bit by surprise. It’s easy to see America here and forget it’s a Muslim country, but only for a few minutes. Then a woman walks by wearing a floor length black abaya with a shayla covering her entire face, but sheer enough so she can see through it. Of course none of those women are students here. The students from Qatar are dressed more progressively with “bedazzled” head coverings and full make-up. You also see students from Jordan, Oman, Yemen and other countries dressed like us. We also visited the Carnegie Mellon building and enjoyed lunch with friends in the food court. I enjoyed studying the art of shoes and purses – these women know how to accessorize! It is Education City after all and it’s important to study.

The time difference isn’t too tough, although we did have a short power nap this afternoon before heading out to Vilaggio, one of Doha’s upscale shopping malls complete with Tiffany’s and Cartier. Lots of fun to people watch and see American store signs in English and Arabic. Next stop was The Pearl – an even more upscale retail development on a man-made island in the shape of a clam in the bay of the Arabian gulf. We had dinner at Pompano’s, a restaurant concept developed by Placido Domingo. We shared smoked swordfish, guacamole, mini tacos with tenderloin beef, and rib eye steak on flatbread with black beans and carmelized onions. If there is an official drink of Qatar, it’s what I enjoyed during dinner – fresh mint lemonade. May not sound that weird but it’s green, not yellow. If you like mint, you’ll like this. After dinner, we strolled by the Lancel, Vera Wang and Maserati stores. (I’m not sure how to break the news to Sarah that she won’t be able to attend the University of Tulsa, but I have a sweet new purse she can borrow.)

You should know I am a self-proclaimed foodie – and our tour through two grocery stores today called Lulu’s and CarreFour was really cool. Lots of American products with labels in English and Arabic. I was surprised by the selection and quality of fruits and vegetables, including about a dozen things I couldn’t identify without reading the little signs. Speaking of signs – prices here are in Qatar ryals, which are 3.65 to a dollar. Thanks goodness my iPhone has a calculator. And I’ve discovered an easy way to convert celsius to fahrenheit.

I’m signing off from today’s post with something very important – toilet flushing devices in Qatar have two buttons to choose from after you take care of business – there is a large button and a small button. I’m leaving it up to you to do the math and figure out which one to push.

Good night and sweet dreams!