We spent the morning and afternoon today in Education City, which is a part of Doha that focuses on learning and research. Our first stop was the Education City Mosque, which was absolutely beautiful and full of incredible symbolism. First, it is absolutely massive — able to house 1,800 worshippers in its main prayer hall as well another 1,000 in the courtyard (that becomes part of the prayer hall when the glass doors are opened). The building is supported by five columns, each inscribed with Arabic calligraphy. These symbolize the five pillars of Islam on which the religion stands: Shahada (profession of faith), Salah (prayer), Zakat (giving alms), Sawm (fasting), and Hajj (pilgrimage). There are two minarets — that look very modern compared to the minarets you might be used to. These are like lighthouses, guiding people to the mosque. The pair symbolize a place of worship and a place of learning. There are also four water ways that run throughout the mosque and its gardens, and these symbolize the four rivers of paradise: milk, honey, water, and wine, each denoted with a different colored pebble. (Interestingly, the one representing wine — with red stones — is outside of the building.) The Education City Mosque is all about accessibility: not all Arabs are Muslims, and not all Muslims are Arabs. Thus, the services are offered in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Arabic sign language. There is also the capability to provide up to 12 additional language offerings, based on community need. Because there are no depictions of life forms in Islam, there are four ways to beautify the space, all of which the architects utilized: calligraphy, geometry, light, and color. The prayer niche is lined with gold and silver and a verse that talks about the direction of prayer. Our guide also showed us a cool app that helps Muslims find the direction of Mecca wherever they are at the call to prayer. The verse on the ceiling in the prayer hall talks about people submitting their face in prayer and doing good — that they will receive favor with the lord, that they should not worry, and that they should not grieve. How beautiful?! Next, we headed to Qatar Foundation headquarters. On our way there, we took a tram ride and wandered the area. As you can see (and as I mentioned yesterday), there’s still a lot of World Cup energy. Our presentation at QF was cut short (and our tour of one of the stadiums canceled) because of a VIP visit. After being kindly redirected a couple of times, we discovered that our itinerary coincided with that of the Vice President of Burkina Faso. (Also, Jane Goodall is staying at our hotel.) Briefly, QF encompasses seven universities (six of which, like Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, and Northwestern) are from the United States. These are partner schools, not satellite campuses: students can access courses and degree programs from more than one school at a time since they are just blocks apart. There are also research centers in areas like biomedicine, AI, environmentalism, and technology, as well as policy centers that give recommendations to the government based on the work of the research centers. Additionally, there are 18 schools for younger children, including one that is for autistic students, one for students with special needs, one that is an integrated school with neurotypical and neurodivergent students, one that is Montessori-based, etc. In the school system, there are 134 nationalities represented at the college level and 86 in the “peewee” schools. The demographics range from school to school insofar as the ratio of Qatari to ex-pat is concerned. Qatar Foundation has a total of 58 entities including the aforementioned as well as a theatrical program, centers focused on women’s rights, an equestrian center and horse spa, and more. You can see many of these buildings from the balcony, high above Doha. Our next stop was the Qatar National Library, another super cool building with incredible architecture and so much symbolism. First, the architect designed it to look like two pieces of paper that are pulled apart and folded together — a sort of origami structure. The space is so bright, symbolizing “more light, more knowledge,” and interestingly, all of the light comes from outside; while I did not look too hard, I did not see one lightbulb in the facility. The outskirts of the library are super modern — stainless steel and state-of-the-art technology — while the middle of the library looks like an archaeological site. This is where the heritage collection is located. Our guide told us that they “carry the history of our ancestors in our hearts, which is why it’s at the heart of the library.” This section of the library holds 3500 manuscripts, 1400 maps, 500 calligraphic panels, 80,000 photos, and lots of other things that I couldn’t catch because he talked really fast. The library houses physical books in 17 languages and online resources in more than 70 languages — WOW. It also has “innovation stations” like a computer lab, music studio, 3D printing, a green screen, and more. Our guide told us several times that the library is “unquiet” and a space for all. It was really cool. Throughout the day, we also saw a lot of different animals, and if you know me at all, you know I'm obsessed with animals -- particularly those of the feline variety. I had to respect their boundaries, though, because some did not want to say hi. Here are some more animals, this time at the souq — royal camels + falcons. The guy with the falcons told me he’d sell me my favorite — the one on the left in the eighth picture (wearing the little pants) for only 5,000 Qatari Rial. So now I have to figure out how to get that AND a street cat through customs. Wish me luck. Our last stop of the night was the incredible Souq Waqif. This site has been used as a souq (market) for centuries for Bedouin. Over the years it became run down, but in 2004 was named a historical site and renovated. According to my research, it may be the only traditional souq left in the Gulf region. There were sites to see at every turn, and it’s a-maze-ing (see what I did there?) that we didn’t get lost in the labyrinthine alleyways. We then ate dinner at Parisa, a Persian restaurant in Souq Waqif. We ate family style and enjoyed a variety of appetizers and meat -- and, of course, a mint lemonade. Everything was delicious. Today was a full day of learning, of laughter, of love. I am so excited to see what tomorrow brings.
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