It’s been quite a while since I’ve felt so mentally exhausted. The week in Qatar was an invigorating fight to be aware. In hindsight, it was an interesting education on how to survive alone in a foreign place. Here in Iraq I’ve always had the people in my unit to rely on; familiar people who are experiencing the same thing as myself. Even though I traveled with another person in my unit there and back, he is ironically the one person I have nothing in common with nor do I particularly like. We exchanged polite hellos when we saw each other in Qatar but other than that, I was on my own.

Twice I was able to break free of the prison they put all the American military folk in. The first time was an organized event I signed up for to downtown Doha. The next day I found a sponsor who signed me out of post like a piece of property. Both times I was dumped off at the huge shopping mall downtown. Upon arrival they gave us enough time to blink a few times at the huge glass monstrosity, synchronize our watches, pat us on the head, and then disappeared into the shopping maze. On the first day I was literally left there standing alone while everyone else disappeared in a sea of black and white robed Arabs.

Prior to leaving post for the big city, they warn us of things not to do. It mostly relates to clothing as the Qatarians are a very conservative bunch. But its also for our own safety. They strongly suggested that we wear long pants and shirts preferably without any American logos. We had to be careful not to make any indication that we’re in the American military (no military IDs, dog tags, Army backpacks, etc.) But honestly, upon arrival I think you would be an idiot not to identify us as military people. All the guys had the “high and tight” haircuts and I was one of the few women not wearing a long black robe with my face covered.

I wandered the mall and pretended to care about all the fancy jewelry shops and shoe stores. I was amazed that a mall so big (it had 5 floors!) could have so little in it. After an hour of wandering, I bought a couple of shirts mainly because I was curious about the money conversion and how that all worked. At that point I still wasn’t too clear about the money conversion. Back on post they never told us what the rate was. The only clue I had was when they announced a golf trip that cost 150 Riyals or $45-$50. So, I just assumed the rate was about 3 Riyals per $1. At the ATM in the mall, I withdrew 100 Riyals just to be safe.

My second big purchase in Qatar?? McDonalds baby! And yes, they have the Quarter Pounder with cheese. I got the 2 cheeseburger meal for 14 Riyals and sat down to enjoy it next to 4 veiled ladies. They all got these HUGE meals with super sized fries and drinks. It was dying with anticipation to see if they would take off their veils to eat or not. I’m eating my burger and looking out of the corner of my eye as I see them slip their food gracefully underneath their veil. I was amazed! Not once did I see a hint of skin. No chin.. No cheek. Theyre experts. They ate everything without once revealing any part of their faces.

My first trip out to this shopping center was fairly uneventful. It was mostly just a culture shock as I had to get used to all the men staring at me and making cooing noises behind me on the elevator. I spent the last hour reading at a café with some of the most wonderful cup of coffee I’ve ever had. And apparently they dont use milk or creamer in their coffee. When I asked for cream I got the most unusual confused look. And when the waitress finally understood what I wanted, she struggled to poor the cream as it kept overflowing with too much coffee in the cup.

On post, I was adopted by two guys who are also stationed in Anaconda. During my second trip into the city one of them managed to get on the same group with myself. J and I were dumped off again at the same shopping mall while our sponsors went to eat dinner and watch a movie. This time around everything seemed a lot easier as I was already familiar with the building. The groups of black veiled women didn’t disturb me as much as the day before. We wandered around and looked at a few things. He was determined to buy a nice pair of sunglass but when the salesman finally revealed the price (about 900 Riyals or $260) we scooted out of there as politely as possible. We enjoyed a nice meal at Applebees (can you believe they have all the American restaurants there too?!). He asked the waitress how good their Philly Cheese Steak was. We both had to choke down a laugh when she looked at him and said, “It’s about this long…” and indicated with her hands the length of the sandwich.

Driving back to the post, I fell in love with the city. The Persian Gulf is the most beautiful body of water I’ve ever seen. I can’t possibly describe the colors of blue it revealed. It felt like 90% of the city was under construction, but it still held amazing potential. The sky scrapers are being built by some of the most genius architects and all of the houses are solid stucco white. We passed by slums and palaces alike. There were shiny black Hummers and old run down jalopies. Men in pure white wearing Dulce & Gabana sunglasses next to tired laboring workers trying to hitchhike a ride home.

Unfortunately, we were forbidden to take any photographs (the authorities threaten to confiscate our cameras and throw us in prison). But a few brave souls did a few hip shots of the area and maybe I can scrounge up a few shots for you soon.