Turns out I would be horrible as a journalist; it's all I can do to come up with a new idea for a post every three days. I would be awful if I had to make a daily deadline!
And yet...I've still got something to say! Imagine that? Last week I visited the Silver Jubilee 25th Doha International Book Fair and the Doha Cultural Festival. With names like that, you would expect the events to have gotten major publicity, would you not? But no, in typical Doha style, I found out about them only via word-of-mouth and when I made my way there this week, I saw few WesternersEnglish speakers in attendance, though many, many Arabic speakers, even at 10am when I made it there, which is crazy, because no one goes anywhere before 4pm around here usually.
I was going to go over first on Wednesday morning, after a quick run to Toys-R-Us and an art store in search of planets or anything having to do with space or anything I can turn into something having to do with space (J is having an Angry Birds Space party for his birthday coming up and I am getting desperate!). Wednesday was the first day of the fair/festival, so I had low expectations: timeliness or punctuality are not really prized here, so the first day of things is always a bit rocky. As it was, I ended up taking a bit longer with my errands than I had anticipated (the real story of my life here), so I made it over on Thursday morning instead. I was actually happy with that turn of events, since I had read somewhere that the Qatar National Library would be at the fair signing people up for library cards, but they weren't planning on starting until the second day of the festival...because of course they were!
**A word about the Qatar National Library: at the moment, this library only exists online. There is a huge new building underway across the street from the husband's hospital-to-be, but there are virtual collections and digital resources you can access...if only you can get a library card. I have been trying to get a card for over a year, since before we even moved here, because that's what I do, get library cards and visit libraries, even if those visits can only happen in cyberspace! But the official rigamarole surrounding getting a card has proved impenetrable. I did learn that you could cut thorough all the beuqacratic red-tape if you could be signed up in person at some event where QNL was represented, but I kept finding out about these events after the fact. So here was my best chance to get a card, and I was not about to miss it!**
Anyway, off I went. And it was HUGE! Over 500 vendors, including giant, elaborate spaces for luminaries like the library and the national tourist agency were housed in just one giant exhibition hall of the enormous Qatar National Convention Centre. I found the library booth right away and, miracle of miracles, got signed up for a library card! Do you hear the choir of angels?? Then I decided to browse, which meant walking...and walking...and walking some more. Did I mention this place was gigantic? Disappointingly, about 80% of the merchandise was in Arabic, and most of what there was being offered in English were materials to teach people English as a second language. It wasn't really a place that was good for browsing unless you were looking for something very specific. They did have lots of Usborne books (no Scholastic books--we get British imports far more often than American around here) and all sorts of leveled workbooks and many classroom supplies that would have been great if I were homeschooling or an elementary school teacher, which I'm not.
But while I was there, I did make one discovery. Did you know the American Department of State has its own publishing arm (my sister and brother-in-law are nodding "duh!" right now)? I found out about this at the American embassy's booth. They create all sorts of nifty publications with names like "USA Literature in Brief" (women profiled? Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison, Louise Gluck, Annie Proulx, and Amy Tan--interesting choices) and "USA Government in Brief" and "Muslims in America." They also produce CDs with titles like Sing Out Loud: Traditional Songs and Sing Out Loud: American Rhythms. They even have their own eJournal, EJ/USA (available in print as well) covering topics like cricket in the US, Thanksgiving, and American higher education. Unexpectedly, the best prices for English books came from the embassy booth as well. They must have some kind of relationship with a few American presses since they were selling an eclectic mix of children's and adult books for rock bottom prices (especially here were books cost so so much money). I left the embassy's booth with three CDs, three hardcover kids' books, and Joshua Foer's Moonwalking with Einstein. Woot!
And yet...I've still got something to say! Imagine that? Last week I visited the Silver Jubilee 25th Doha International Book Fair and the Doha Cultural Festival. With names like that, you would expect the events to have gotten major publicity, would you not? But no, in typical Doha style, I found out about them only via word-of-mouth and when I made my way there this week, I saw few WesternersEnglish speakers in attendance, though many, many Arabic speakers, even at 10am when I made it there, which is crazy, because no one goes anywhere before 4pm around here usually.
I was going to go over first on Wednesday morning, after a quick run to Toys-R-Us and an art store in search of planets or anything having to do with space or anything I can turn into something having to do with space (J is having an Angry Birds Space party for his birthday coming up and I am getting desperate!). Wednesday was the first day of the fair/festival, so I had low expectations: timeliness or punctuality are not really prized here, so the first day of things is always a bit rocky. As it was, I ended up taking a bit longer with my errands than I had anticipated (the real story of my life here), so I made it over on Thursday morning instead. I was actually happy with that turn of events, since I had read somewhere that the Qatar National Library would be at the fair signing people up for library cards, but they weren't planning on starting until the second day of the festival...because of course they were!
**A word about the Qatar National Library: at the moment, this library only exists online. There is a huge new building underway across the street from the husband's hospital-to-be, but there are virtual collections and digital resources you can access...if only you can get a library card. I have been trying to get a card for over a year, since before we even moved here, because that's what I do, get library cards and visit libraries, even if those visits can only happen in cyberspace! But the official rigamarole surrounding getting a card has proved impenetrable. I did learn that you could cut thorough all the beuqacratic red-tape if you could be signed up in person at some event where QNL was represented, but I kept finding out about these events after the fact. So here was my best chance to get a card, and I was not about to miss it!**
Anyway, off I went. And it was HUGE! Over 500 vendors, including giant, elaborate spaces for luminaries like the library and the national tourist agency were housed in just one giant exhibition hall of the enormous Qatar National Convention Centre. I found the library booth right away and, miracle of miracles, got signed up for a library card! Do you hear the choir of angels?? Then I decided to browse, which meant walking...and walking...and walking some more. Did I mention this place was gigantic? Disappointingly, about 80% of the merchandise was in Arabic, and most of what there was being offered in English were materials to teach people English as a second language. It wasn't really a place that was good for browsing unless you were looking for something very specific. They did have lots of Usborne books (no Scholastic books--we get British imports far more often than American around here) and all sorts of leveled workbooks and many classroom supplies that would have been great if I were homeschooling or an elementary school teacher, which I'm not.
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| A picture of the Convention Center. I love how it looks like tree branches, though I'm pretty sure that sky was photo-shopped! And this photo is at least two years old, so there are now huge structures on either side. (Photo found at qatarisbooming.com) |
Loved going there this week. I brought home a pile of books and.... get ready, puppets!
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