Searching For Blamericans

At the hospital for the first time. My wife is very sick and has been for weeks so off we went halfway through the school day. We went to a place where men are allowed and lo and behold - I finally saw another black (American) dude! 7 months in and it took me going to the hospital to see one. Now, there were other times I thought I saw one, but I didn't hear him speak so I couldn't confirm. My wife said she did but that's secondhand. I've heard of others who've been at ex-pat community gatherings, but like I said, none of that was first hand. Now of course, just because he sounded black, wore yellow...wait, hold up. I never told you what the "black American dude test" was. Here, many dudes look black American for the most part, but, as ignorant as this may sound, you can look closely and see some African features and tell they aren't. When their features and demeanour seem black American, there is always a test - the feet. The dudes here don't really wear sneakers. None of them. It's sandals if they aren't at work or stepping out, shoes otherwise. If they are engaged in an athletic endeavour, then you'll see sneakers, but nothing crazy at all, like you see back home. This test has never failed us. So, as I'm trained to look straight at the feet, I looked down at dude's shoes and I see YELLOW CONSTRUCTION TIMS. In the desert. Gotta be a brotha. Jeans and tims. Haircut and outfit checked out, as did the facial features and most importantly, the voice. Now of course, he could've been Canadian, born in Africa (or ANYWHERE else) and grew up in America, or just SOUND pretty American. But the 2 white chicks he was with also sounded American. So I drew a conclusion. Still, I can't really definitively say I've met another's here.

Not like I'm trying too hard though, haha.

Now, this next dude just came through with shorts, ankle socks and sneakers. Very blamerican, But for some reason, the choice in sneakers, the clarity of the skin (I've noticed that non-American blacks usually have better skin the black Americans - I have my theories), the way the clothes matched, I just don't think he's black American. But I could be dead wrong, of course.

I'm sorry for generalising, but Qataris can be SO RUDE. And the Filipino service people have this cold efficiency, so it makes a trip to a municipal building a tough time - if you're not white or Qatari. The white women get treated with care and attention here, while my wife has to get in everyone's face every step of the health care process. She is as sick as she's been since I've known her (there's a virus spreading throughout the school) and this can't be making her any better. Btw, it was a BLACK Qatari who first gave her rude service. They seem to think "coming to work" and "doing your job" are two separate things.

They give free tea and coffee at the hospital. Lots of tea in this country. Always with milk, which I never liked until coming here, but now I love it.

That's the kind of boring minutiae I hate people spending long amounts of time talking to me about.


Check out these BOSS-ass seats they got at the hospital.

WWE In Doha!

Y'alk know I'm a huge WWE fan so I had to get tix. WWE was great. Some things:

Antonio Cesaro is bigger and more muscular in person and has some fresh foreign (French?) hip-hop theme music I never noticed. R-Truth is entertaining with his dancing and crowd-pleasing. He's also really entertaining in the ring. These guys are big. I was high up but the place has no bad or far seats (although my phone couldn't take good pics bc of lighting). Punk may be a "small" wrestler but he isn't a small guy (6'1" 220ish), has a great look and a lotta physical presence. Big E isn't tall but is ridiculously built. Henry is enormous and I couldn't believe he was a legit 6'4" bc he was eye to eye with Zack Ryder who is quite tall. Henry is huge but Tensai is GIGANTIC in every way, Ryback is abnormal and Kane looks like a cartoon, truly freakish. John Cena keeps an impeccable physique even with all of the traveling. My hat goes off to these guys. It's such a punishing job, they have to love it and he dedicated.

Can't BELIEVE there was a McGillicudy-Riley match. Never seen a lack of reaction like Hennig got (didn't get). They ain't kno if he was heel or face. Riley's new look is cool.

Many wrestled in t-shirts. Maybe bc it was cold, or to hawk the merch.

Biggest surprise was John Laurinitus! He ordered dance-off bet. Otunga and Tensai. Tensai was very entertaining.

Otunga danced like Carlton from "Fresh Prince," to Tom Jones. Doubt that many got the joke.

I realize I'm a huge Mark Henry fan. I marked out biggest for him and amused the girls next to me, singin' "Somebody gonna get they ass kicked/ somebody gonna get they wig split!"

Ryback was CRAZY over, as was Kane and Bryan. Kane says NOTHING and he's mad over. DB is great at crowd interaction.

Saw The Shield wrestle for the first time, live or on TV. Very impressed. Reigns isn't bad in the ring and I think he breaks out first. But Ambrose is the guy. As soon as he gets in one feud he might take over the place. He's magnetic.

Dolph and Kofi was blah. Big E. provides NOTHING live and there was no AJ (boo).

Left during Main Event to beat traffic, but CM Punk was SO FRIGGIN good on the mic, dissing Qatar, ripping posters and being superior. Mega-heat. Of course they adore Cena.

Place was full of kids and adults but only a little more than half full. No food served inside and toilets were incredibly far away, outside of stadium. The steps to the seats were awkward and dangerous. They had more checkpoints than anyplace I've ever seen, no exaggeration. We sat behind these kids who were really loud and obnoxious. Most of them were western and they were with a white guy. She turned around to look at them twice. Then I turned around and gave them that look. They thought they were cute, banging chairs. Everyone would look at them but not with the disdain we had, and Arabs and Indians and Africans and such who were there were too reserved to say something, so I knew I'd have to. These kids were being like the most obnoxious wrestling fans, if you've ever been to a live event. Like drunk frat boys. One sounded autistic, yelling out "John Cena" repeatedly before any superstars came out. I wanted to turn around and say "Try to pace yourselves, kid." She stopped me from speaking to their chaperone and causing a scene. After I gave them one death look, he told them to save some for the match. Once, he told them to calm down because a lady was right under them and one little white kid says "So." You know what I would've done. Not hit him in public. But calmly whisper something in his ear that would've made his night a lot colder. Btw, NEVER ever joke about a spoiled white kid again, because spoiled Qatari kids make them look like angels. You ain't seem nothing until you've seen a Qatari kid demand a snack in a supermarket, get rejected, knock down a row of boxes while throwing it in the cart anyway, then say to his nanny "Now pick it up!" Anyway, thankfully, those kids left for a good portion of the middle matches, and came back much quieter and sicker. One was vomiting. Guess they blew their loads to early.

Our section actually was majority adults. Didn't see any of my students because they weren't in the cheap seats, haha. Plus, some went yesterday.

It was COOLLLDDD. I know you don't wanna hear 71 degrees was cold, but I had on a hoodie and a cap and was mad cold. Dry desert air man.

It wasn't crowded to do anything at any point, which makes a place that is just emerging as far as bringing entertainment (Chris Tucker's coming in 3 weeks) a great place to see a generally hassle-free show, but the crowd, maybe because of a cultural thing, was so subdued and dead. That gets corny.

I'm sure Cena spoke at the end. Didn't have the patience or desire for that. I would've probably sounded like the autistic kid, yelling "TURN HEEL!" over and over again.

Still can't believe they gave us a Hennig-Riley match, haha. Entertaining just for how boring it was and how much the crowd didn't care, I don't care how good Hennig is in the ring. I do hope he succeeds though, even though he can't use his pop's gimmick at all and his look is bad. Maybe Rock's word will help him. He should feud with Dolph over copying dad's gimmick. Ha, yeah right. Riley will make it; great look (slightly changed), good entertainment style of wrestling, has a bit of story already. Should be a heel though (says every smark). Team him with Cesaro in an anti-slob-American faction and you have regurgitated gold.

Mark Henry was super boring in the ring. I realize he carries a great storyline through TV tapings, but isn't so good for ring work. Six man tag with Shield was the best match. No divas.

Overall, great experience and I'd love to do it again.

Have I Become A Snob?

A difficult part of living here is the snobbery I feel like we've adopted in Qatar. Actually, it's not difficult, it's conflicting. Service positions are filled by other foreigners (non-westerners/kiwis/Australians/south Africans) who came here for the job opportunities. I feel guilty for slightly getting used to the culture of convenience. I don't feel as self-conscious being waited on by brown maids, driven around by brown drivers and just paying for conveniences I always associated with some measure of wealth back home. I mean, it's crazy, if we have a child here, we'll probably hire a nanny. This is a taste of the change in lifestyle that really is just a result of being an ex-pat, lower prices on many things, and the way of life here:

We have a driver. We share him with 3 others, but we have a driver.
We have a washer in the crib but I get all of my clothes washed and pressed at the dry cleaners because it's mad cheaper than NY and I wake up too early to iron.
As an administrator, my wife has a person to bring her tea and coffee and such throughout the day. Not like a secretary, like a maid at work.
They will stand at your table and crack open your lobster at Red Lobster, BUT we don't do that. Plus, we go to RL for the biscuits and chocolate wave.
Many teachers have cleaners clean their apartments. We don't, but are considering a maid service for next year.
Even at McDonalds, food can be brought to you and many don't dare think of throwing their trash away themselves.

There is a greater irony though. As a teacher, you kinda fall into the class system somewhere between the servants and the monied. Nationality plays a big part though. Being an American makes me highly desirable as a tutor. And although I am compensated well, as a tutor, I am hired help, just a little higher in the pecking order. So the parents treat me like someone they pay a decent amount of money to provide a valuable service. But it's clear that I work for them and they have expectations. So even though we have drivers and cleaners, when we are tutoring at the homes, we are...well, not the same, but...I mean, we are contracting out our services for much more than the nannies, maids and drivers and we are being serviced by them while we are at the homes, but to the family, we are an expense. It's just that we provide something they couldn't on their own. Qataris are as willing to pay for their enlightenment as they are for their Bentleys. But make no mistake, they know the going rate. I can actually get more as a tutor in certain situations in the states, but no tax, utilities or rent, plus a much lower cost of living means I clean up much better here. I'm interested in seeing how I'll adjust to life back in America after all of this.