Skipping ahead to Qatar

Alright, so I know I’m out of order now, but hey, I’ve got internet and so I’m going to take advantage of telling you exactly what we’ve been up to.

Basically we did a short day and a half with one show in Bahrain, flew to Kuwait and spent 5 days, 5 nights (4 shows) in Kuwait; all of which I will tell you about very, very shortly. We really had a great time while out there and met some seriously awesome people.

Today, however, we flew out of Kuwait and into Qatar. We really didn’t have any idea of what the country would be like, and probably knew the least about this place of everywhere else we’d been travelling. Flying in you could see a ton of man-made islands (the middle east loves doing stuff like that – the palm islands in dubai and their up and coming world islands), and then a pretty decent-sized city. We flew over ornate hotels and bright blue swimming pools that screamed “Spring break Doha!” to me. We landed at a quaint airport and were immediately greeted by Erica and Julie after visas, the baggage claim, and customs.

I will note that it’s pretty rad you don’t have to take out your laptop when you go through security, even though it does kind of suck that you end up going through security like 3 times at every airport. But whatever, we’ve been really fortunate to have made great time on both sides of departing/arriving at our locations with all the baggage since UAE and Djibouti.

So, we loaded up everything into a truck and SUV and headed to the base where we got ourselves some serious comfort food. Mind you it was then about 1pm and most of us didn’t have breakfast (every country we travelled to thusfar had a really great currency exchange against the USD except Kuwait. Basically for every $4, it was one Kuwaiti dollar. Shit sucks when you want to buy a bottle of juice and it costs you 6.50). Pizza, nachos, veggie lo mein and quesadillas abound, we then trekked to our new temporary homes (kind of like the CLUs in Djibouti, but instead inside of a giant warehouse-y kind of thing), and then were met by two other guys from the base who were going to show us around the city.

This was huge for us because we never really got to see a whole lot of a lot of the places we’ve been on this tour. Either because of where we were, or our show schedules, we’d really only been able to see Dubai and now Qatar. We drove into the gold souk I believe, and did some shopping. One thing I must say, and it’s absolutely terrible, is that I am noticing my overt Americanism to compare the ‘real’ country to Disney World. Epcot more specifically. But when you’re walking down a cobblestone road without any cars while concrete buildings with ornate lighting fixtures and sticks and camels and donkeys are scattered about, it kind of feels like it’s not real. It also doesn’t help that there are gift shops everywhere, but it’s really been crazy to be really, truly experiencing all of this.

We found a few (bunch) of things we liked (the currency is now 1USD = 3.65 of theirs), and then one of the guys took us to a restaurant that he had been to and knew the owner well. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the owner sat us all down and gave us Arabian coffee (not quite the coffee you’re used to), and kind of some guidelines on manners and how to eat/drink the coffee (you eat a date, then drink the coffee as it’s not very sweet at all). Then we went upstairs and ate outside on the roof of the restaurant. It was absolutely surreal. There was a giant mosque in the background, and we head the call to prayer while we were eating (the Muslim religion has a call to prayer at several points during the day). We ate hummus, spicy potatoes, and pita bread until we couldn’t any longer, and when we were finished the owner gave us the tour of the rest of the restaurant. If I ever come back out to Qatar, I know I’ll be going there again. There is just so much that is fascinating about that culture, and such great food… it’s unbelievable. I know I’m using those words a lot but give me a break, I’m in the middle east.

After dinner we did some last minute shopping and then went out to their mall. I know you’re probably thinking we’re nuts for going to a mall while we’re out here, but it’s actually been our tour guide’s ideas. The malls out here are very similar and yet very different from the ones in the US. Sure, there are your average stores (but a little more wealthy out here—you’ll see a lot of designers and high-end boutiques), but they tend to outdo themselves with extra things like ice rinks and elaborate designs to the structure. It’s really cool to get to see. We got some gelato (sup awesome food), then headed back to base. We grabbed some internet and called it a night. We have a show tomorrow (and also they have some Hollywood people here including one of the women on nip/tuck which made me think of my junior year of college and how my roommates made me get into that show until it became a slightly horrifying addiction, but I think they’ll be proud of me that I remember her and her character… just not her name or her character name). So who knows, maybe we’ll get to meet them. If not, we’ll probably head back downtown and eat some more awesome food. But we do have a busy day of meet and greets and we’re all really stoked to be here.

Sunday

So today we got up and met up with Erica and Julie and grabbed some lunch. Along with us being on base, there are also what is referred to as 'Ambassadors from Hollywood,' and they were doing a meet and greet at the dining hall; they were Kelly Carlson (from Nip/Tuck), Greg Germann (from a whole bunch of stuff), DeAnna Pappas (from The Bachelor), D.W. Moffett (Friday Night Lights), and Vanessa Branch (Oribt gum girl). It was pretty awesome seeing them all out here, and they told us they wouldn't be able to make it to the show but would stop over during our soundcheck.

After lunch we met the commander of the base, and got a tour of the strykers. Basically strykers are like tanks... and we got to ride in them. We pretty much went on a joyride in these things, and the people telling us about them and showing us around do a TON and are really incredible individuals. I have pictures, I just need to grab them from Taryn and Jess soon.

After that we had our soundcheck,grabbed some dinner, and here I am. Full of pesto pasta and pineapple juice, I'll be heading back to my bunk shortly to clean up and get ready for the show. I should note that while in Kuwait I developed some sort of cold/allergy thing that they refer to as the 'Kuwait Crud.' As disgusting as that sounds, it's just sort of an allergy attack to getting used to all the particles in the air, and I have been voiceless for almost 5 days. Here's to hoping tonight's a bit better. I feel fine, just sound like a man. Oh well. Tomorrow we are off to another base, playing a show, then heading to Saudi right afterwards. Going to be a busy day!