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Friday 8 July 2011

Why I Love Doha.....Sometimes

As you know we are expats living in Doha, Qatar. Three years ago Mr D, Lady Sadie and I moved to Abu Dhabi in the UAE and after 18 months and a retrenchment we moved next door to Doha.

We are here for the cash and that's it. Mr D earns a good salary and it's tax free and we are here to set ourselves up for the future.

Somedays I find it hard living here, women can be treated like 2nd class citizens most of the time, we live in the worlds largest sand-pit and there isn't a great deal to do.

BUT...living here does afford us a wonderful lifestyle as far as getting to eat out in great restaurants, being able to go to the Ritz Carlton to swim and work out, having a housekeeper and being close enough to Europe to travel and see the rest of the world. So really I can't complain. I know I'm a very lucky woman to live the life that I do and what I love most is that since Sadie was 2 months old she has been living in different countries and is experiencing a way of life that most of us have to wait years to do if ever.

What does get me down sometimes are the locals. In the three years that I've been living in the Middle East I've had my fair share of run ins with them. I believe that no matter where you come from, how much you earn, what religion you practice, we should all be treated as equals. This is not the case with most locals. So when I see something out of the ordinary, something really beautiful I need to share as this is what makes living here worth it.

Last night we were walking around the Virgin Megastore waiting to go and see a movie. Rhianna was blaring over the speakers, Mr D was looking at new laptops and Lady Sadie had an armful of DVD's begging us to buy them for her. Then out of no where I hear the sound of a piano being played, I turned around to see where it was coming from and I saw a local Qatari sitting at one of the piano's playing beautiful music. A lot of other people in the store heard it to and slowly a small crowd started to gather around him. He played a few songs and I started to well up with tears. You see this is quite strange for a local to do something like this and I was pleasantly surprised. The guy turned to me and saw that I was crying a little bit (I'm such a sap!) and asked me what song I would like to hear. I asked him if he knew the theme to Love Story as it's my favorite movie and favorite piece of music and this is what I saw...



This really made my week, I know to most of you it will just look like some guy playing the piano. But if you knew some of the things that happen in this part of the world, to see something like this really is a treat and something very special.

Have a lovely weekend
Sarah
x

1 comment:

Daisy, Roo and Two said...

I love that he played this for you! I don't know what it's like there but I can totally tell how surprising and heartening this was for you!