Following the race on Saturday, I flew into Frankfurt and drove to Köln in time to get a little sleep and I awoke in the middle of a huge street party. Hours before the German side was to lose to Spain in the finals of the Eur08 football match, things were pretty crazy in the city center with bands of drunken fans dancing and singing. The situation turned edgy after the loss and I retreated to the hotel before the marauding fans began throwing beer bottles and taunting those not wearing the German colors.
I'm off around the world in eleven days, currently in Qatar and staying in the Doha Sheraton (left) where the weather report says, 43 degrees (109 degrees F), widespread dust. This lovely resort and pool is empty during the day, because it is just too hot to go outdoors. The dust storm has limited visibility to about three blocks and this morning, during my run, I could not see the huge hotel until I was about 800 meters down the beach.
I'm running whenever I can as I go, first on Monday morning along the Rhine in Bonn and today along the promenade in Doha in front of the Arabian Sea. Getting in runs is always a bit of a challenge when on the road, but since on this trip I am not traveling with my bicycle, I've learned to either run between plane trips or come home a few kilos heavier than I left.
Doha is a very conservative country with many restrictions regarding clothing. Women almost always wear the hijab and men mostly wear long sleeves, even in this infernal heat. So, I had to check with the hotel staff regarding the local custom regarding what to wear while jogging. They said that shorts were OK if you were involved in a sporting event. However, I did feel a bit under-dressed in shorts and a tank top, particularly while jogging past women covered head to toe in black with even their faces covered. But Doha is an accommodating place that allows women to drive cars and alcohol is served in the nicer hotels. Given that it was 38 degrees at dawn, I can't imagine running in anything that might cover, as Mohammed called them, my "shameful parts" like knees and shoulders!
I am suffering from a bit of bad timing here as I arrived on the day that the Qatar government was reorganized. I'm also discovering that Qatari government officials don't check their email and given the recent shakeup and office reorganization, phones are not working correctly. However, my meetings so far have been productive in Bonn on Monday at the UN offices there and yesterday at the US Embassy in Doha.
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