Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Seriously???

I went grocery shopping this morning. One of the things on my list was ground beef so that I could make a) burgers for the 4th of July, and b) koosa mahshi (stuffed squash). I went to two different stores and neither of them had ground beef. Nor does the other store which is closest to me but I never go to because it's disgusting. And, of course, the somewhat-Western-style grocery store that is nearest to me closed down three days ago for some unknown reason.

Seriously?? Should it really be that hard to find ground beef? (Ok, I have to fess up and admit that there was "ground beef" at one store, but it was LOCAL and I'm not buying that. Who knows what's really in it and it's an odd pale color. Usually we buy beef that is imported from New Zealand which is widely available.)

Oh, in other grocery shopping news this morning, I found pasteurized eggs. Now, back in the States, eggs are all pasteurized so this is no big deal for most of you. But for here, where I've NEVER seen that, and eggs generally come with remants of bird poop and sometimes feathers on them, this is a big deal. In fact, the packaging for the eggs declares it to be "break-through technology!" Of course, there was only one package in the whole store, so I don't expect to see them again any time soon.

This seems like a good time to think about some good points of living in Doha. After all, no place can be ALL bad, right?
  • No hurricanes.
  • No blizzards.
  • Clothes dry very fast in the summer. (Of course, if I were in America I'd have a dryer, but let's stick to the positives, ok?)
  • Men often let women go ahead of them here.
  • Free (basically) healthcare, quality notwithstanding.
  • Cheap gas - I fill up my Chevy Tahoe for just $15
  • I can get cheap falafel. I don't like it, but I can get it cheap if I want it.
  • Um, yeah, that's about it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, Lori, I sympathize with you. I've tried to get along with this place for two and a half years and I've had it now, not pretending any more, I CAN'T STAND IT! Having lived in various places in Europe and USA I know it's not me - hopefully we're off again very soon. Good luck - oh and watch out buying eggs in the summer, they can be half boiled when you break them open!

Leeann said...

((((((((((((((((((((((((LORI)))))))))))))))))))))

Two things:

1) Repeat to yourself over and over:
This is character building. This is character building.

2) When you DO come back here, you are going to be surprised and annoyed by how whiney you perceive Americans to be (and I am one, so fellow commenters, hold your fire!) Going away to a different place really makes you appreciate how ridiculously easy we have things here and how many things we are annoyed or complain about that JUST DON'T MATTER. Believe it or not, that is an amazingly valuable perspective. You will have such a deep appreciation for your country. That has never left me and I was only 13.

Bette said...

Oh, dear NO! All eggs in the U.S. are NOT pasteurized.

Liquid eggs and other egg products are pasteurized.

Haven't you ever noticed the safe food handling warning that the FDA requires on all cartons of shell eggs??

One company here in the states actually pasteurizes them in the shell. And they are hard to find.

Erica said...

It's easy to get down in Doha in the summer when everyone is gone. Just remember how much fun it is in the fall when everyone comes back and Bible study starts again, even more so this fall when you'll welcome back friends.

We kind of have the same thing going on here, but for different reasons. The summer weather is so nice, everyone is out camping and whatnot, so they cancel all the programs for summer. I'm really missing MOPS and storytime at the library.

As far as Doha, I'm missing the dates. I'll send you some Crystal Light if you'll send me some dates. LOL :)

Stacey said...

i will pray for you a cool breeze and a cow! :)

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