COP 18 Doha Day One

            This was my first Thanksgiving away from the states. It was definitely not filled with Turkey, the Macy’s day parade, or warm stove fires, but it was memorable for the 4 hours that I was not on the plane. We entered the airport and immediately I felt like I was in another world. People here act, walk and talk differently, which is not a bad thing. So far everyone I have encountered has been incredibly friendly and helpful. We were picked up by the hotel shuttle and brought to the Al-Ghazal Hotel. The hotel is in the middle of sky rises and is camouflaged in an alley. Needless to say it is an adventurous place to stay.

            The lobby was innocent enough. It was when Heather and I stepped in the elevator, which can fit a maximum of 4 people in it while being quite snuggly. After going up seven floors we were immediately greeted by room 702, my home for the next two weeks. It has several quirks such as: no lightbulbs in the multiple lamps that are scattered throughout the rooms, a sink in the kitchen that has a faucet the shakes when it is on, a TV that does not work with remotes void of batteries, a shower without a shower curtain, a sink in the bathroom that showers your feet when it is turned on, several appliances that do not like to work but still exist like a blow dryer, and a door that you have to lock to stay in or out with a key. I like the hotel it has character, and you can know this when you think that a dead cockroach on the wall looks like it is part of the paint job. The cockroaches I anticipate will try to befriend us.

            After exploring the place where I will be staying for awhile, Jahdiel and I decided to take to the streets and see what was around us. We walked out, and found out that we were on the street where apparently Dohaians go to buy furniture. I have never seen as many furniture stores in one single location as I have seen here. I know where to go now to get furniture. We went to several supermarkets, and surveyed them to see which ones would be good to go to for the next several weeks. While out we acquired bread, Nutella, bananas, apples, and Mr. Potato Heads sour cream and onion chips (staple foods of a college student, sort of).

             We then tried to find a restaurant for our Thanksgiving feast. This was interesting. I had not noticed it before we started entering restaurants, but I was one of the only women out at that hour. We tried three places in a row and not a single woman was in any of them. I have never felt so out of place because of my gender. No one criticized me or was mean to me about it, but I have never been in a place where norms for gender roles were in my face as much as they were here. It might have been stranger actually that no one had said anything to me about it, but I just felt like what I was doing was wrong by being in those places. Eventually we found a restaurant that had a section upstairs for family. Downstairs was still filled with men, but at least here I felt like I had a place to be. Jahdiel and I had fun fresh fruit drinks at EastWest Restaurant, and I had fish tikka masala for my Thanksgiving dinner. I have no doubt that this will be an excellent and interesting experience. Tomorrow I go to the Conference of the Youth to establish connections with youth around the world working on climate change policy. I am excited and nervous to meet everyone at this conference.