Addendum

One thing I forgot to mention about last night.

There is a HUGE, really killer awesome-looking soccer stadium in downtown Doha. Soccer is a huge sport here and I would LOVE to go to a game! So last night there was a game, and the stadium is actually right next door to the Vellagio. And there were televisions all over the mall so that people could watch the game while they shopped and ate. There were televisions playing the game in the little cafes we went to. One of the things that was so interesting was that every time the cameras panned to the crowds, all you could see was a sea of white. It was such a fascinating sight - no color variation at all. The entire stadium, all 50,000 people in the stadium, consisted of men in crisp white dishdashas screaming their heads off and jumping up and down. You could see a speckling every now and then of someone wearing street clothes, and the only woman we ever saw on the screen was a caucasian woman - probably here on vacation or maybe to study at one of the universities. There were no Qatari women there - no black robes in the crowd. The entire crowd wore white.

The Vellagio was full of them last night, however. And the thing that strikes me the most is how during my second time out in Doha, seeing hundreds and hundreds of women covered completely from head to toe in robes of black, felt somewhat normal to me. How could this ever be normal? There were so many women there last night that do not even show their eyes, they have black scarves covering their entire faces. You do not see them in any of the cafes, sitting around enjoying coffee and conversation like the men do. They are walking around with their friends or their children, shopping and living life as usual, and it still strikes me every once in a while but for the most part last night it didn't give me that gut-wrenching pain like it did the first night. And that bothered me.

One of the interesting things that you notice here is the affection that men show for each other. Fathers and sons, brothers, and friends will walk around holding hands with their fingers interwoven - sometimes three or four in a row. Men kiss each other repeatedly when they greet each other, and they tend to be so loving towards their children. I don't know if I have mentioned it in this blog before, but it is quite refreshing to watch.