This Might be Wildly Inappropriate ...

... but sometimes you just have to laugh.
Mundane things, such as doing groceries, are never mundane in the Middle East when you come across gems like this.

This photo was taken in the grocery during my first few weeks here in Qatar. The 'octupussy' has been more appropriately labelled since then.
Happy weekend folks.

Mixed seafood? ..

West, East, West Five Times Fast

The Ballad of East and West


Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

[...] 

Mont Blanc, Ialy/France

The world is a much smaller place since Kipling wrote his 1889 poem. 



If there was just one thing I have learned this summer it is that Asia is as sophisticated and as historically and culturally vast as the Europe I have known since I was that little girl traveling 10+ hours in the jumpseat of dads L1011, and as the twenty-something year old that rendezvoused in Italy for a year as an artist. 

This August we flew East, then West, then East then... West.. then East... then West. 

Jet lag? By the time we were done our bodies did not know which way was up.  

The wonderful thing about living in the Middle East is that you're quite literally in "the Middle" (not to be confused with my favorite sitcom).  Six hours west, "bonjour Geneva," and 3 943 miles and eight hours east, "ni how Hong Kong!" We are never too far from any destination, and certainly not far enough for me to not jump at the opportunity (and onto a plane) to head off to anywhere for three days or less. --Bonus if there's champagne!.. and lobster... and a giant seat that reclines into a bed; then there is no question what I won't be doing in the desert heat (staying home watching tv, that's for sure!). 




I sing "It's a small world after all" in my head all the way to the plane... Who would have known the world doesn't fall off at the furtherest Caribbean Airlines shopping destination? 



World here I come! I said I'd get out east one way or another, and with a nice gentle great big shove by my management team at CAL, and a tug from a handsome best friend from flight school and here I am. Thank you team, you're in the right position to kiss my -. 


So here's what my August looked like!

Chanting in the Hundred Dragons Hall, Buddha Relic, Singapore.

Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore's oldest Hindu temple (1827).

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Geneva

United Nations, Geneva

Star Ferry, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Zurich

Homeward bound

Know Your Thobe

Web - Censorship

They block websites that contain unsavory content here.

I say 'They' in my art-school proverbial-status-quo decision-making-powers-that-be kind of way. The 'they' we used to use in our academic writing in University that started with a capital " T ", as we penned our left-wing papers on advertising, education, subject matter in art, propaganda, and political decision-making.

One service provider in Qatar has "a clear policy that aims to prevent damage to the values of the community from harmful material on websites" that they claim is backed strongly by the locals.  

Some of these websites include social-networking sites, celebrity gossip sites, video streaming, and then of course some of the more obvious offenders like those with pornographic content. 

Here's the cute pink page that comes up with these goofy little guys telling you that the content is prohibited.