OMG What a place for LeaderShape!

After a 40 minute drive from Doha, we arrived at the Al Sultan Beach Resort where we will stay for the next 6 days. The place is beyond description...marble, gold, flowers, and beautiful tapestry everywhere! Also the food is amazing..I am not always sure what I am eating but thus far it has all been good. I cannot believe we are here for the Institute. Not that I am complaining about this but when we host LeaderShape in the US, we are typically at a religious or state camp and there is no marble, gold, or amazing food! (The LeaderShape staff have really spoiled me with this assignment!) :)

Camera pictures really do not do this place justice, it is an amazing facility with incredible staff and there is nothing we need or want that is not provided for us. Given all this, the students should be able to fully focus on the Institute and not be sidelined by other issues.

The students are amazing and I am enjoying learning their names and their stories. They represent so many different countries and so many different persepectives --I have no doubt this will only add to the depth of the Institute. We had great conversations today about community and leadership and I know tommorrow will be equally fulfilling!

As usual a few students decided not to attend. That is always a missed opportunity but certainly does not dampen the spirits of those who did attend.

Tomorrow is the challenge course and it will be interesting to see how it is adapted to manage the expected cultural separation of the students by gender.

I will let you know what happens tomorrow.

Training and a Visit to the Souk

Today I met the entire LeaderShape Faculty. If today's interactions are an indication of what the week will be like -- I know it will be a success!

Even though the Institute is being held in Qatar there are still many similarities to those held in the US. For instance, we still had to find a way to get marker ink off the tables! (If this happens to you, use hand sanitizer to remove those unwanted stains!) See the movie below and picture above -- you should be a good laugh!

Another similarity is the LeaderShape snack grazing table! It arrived in Doha just as the training started and was full of the usual chips, apples, candy, drinks, and the like. Albeit some of the writing on the cans and bags was in arabic...it was the same!

Also, I really believe I am going to love working with Dave. He is very easy going and has an incredible passion about leadership and a globalized society! I have enclosed some pictures of him showing off the student affairs suite in the Carnegie Mellon University Building.

One of the things I have been struck with since I have been here is the amount of building that is taking place and the unique and ornate structures that are being erected. It is not unusual to see neon lights, slanted architecture in the skylines, multi-colored glass, and metal work on the buildings. This is not just limited to the city, Education City in Doha is also very beautiful. We hosted the LeaderShape training in the Carnegie Mellon building today and the best way I can describe the facility is AMAZING! It is built with beautiful water features in the building as well as wood, stained glass, traverstine tiles, and is absolutely huge. There are incredible places for programming, state-of-the art classrooms with incredible technology access, and beautiful offices and general spaces. I have enclosed some pictures and only wish we had a portion of the money to build such facilities. The Texas A & M Building is in this area as well. I only got to see the outside of this building but will get a full tour after LeaderShape of this building and the others in the Education City.

After training and the tour Lindsay took me to the Souka for some shopping and dinner. It is a old open market that sells everything from clothing to shoes to material, food, and trinkets. It is amazing and comprised of a series of narrow alleyways that wind around through the entire area. It also has a number of restaurants and other local flavor. Tonight we watched them lift an inflated magic carpet type thing (It was huge and was lifted by a crane) for what we can only assume was a promotion for the Men's Qatar Open. (We are going to attend the last day of the finals and closing ceremony after LeaderShape.). We also saw a falcon market where the birds were tied to little artifical turf perches with little "hats" over their eyes. Apparently owning a falcon in this country is considered a status symbol. I also attached a picture of the Al Famar Mosque. It is located right outside the Souka.

Tomorrow morning we leave for the LeaderShape location -- about 40 minutes outside of Doha. The site is supposed to be magnificant. You can view it online at http://alsultanbeachresort.com/. I have not seen it in person yet but I look forward to it. The learning community and cluster rooms are supposed to be amazing!

As I close the blog today I thought I would share with you a few things I have learned so far about Qatar.

1. Driving -- it is a sport here! People do not make left hand turns but instead they use roundabouts to turn around and head the opposite direction. Also, if you are in a 3 lane roundabout on the INSIDE lane and put your right turn signal on you have the right away to make a right hand turn through 3 lanes of traffic! YIKES!

2. Cars -- there are many different kinds here. (Rolls to Mercedes to Toyotas to Chevys). Many people have SUV-type vehicles too. I learned that leaving plastic on your car seats symbolizes the newness and is also a status symbol. I cannot imagine sitting on plastic in the summer!?

3. Mail -- Mail is not delivered to homes but is sent to PO Boxes. This is largely due to the fact that street signs did not exist until recently. In the past locations were give by directing people to turn at buildings or other structures.

4. Money -- The Qatar Riyal (QR) is the official currency. There are bills and coins but it is rare to receive coins as change. If you are owed change you typically receive a pack of gum instead of a coin. Also one QR is worth 3.64 US dollars.

5. Integrity -- If you find that you have forgotten your wallet or do not have enough money to pay for something it is not unusual to hear the shopkeeper tell you to come back later and pay. Imagine doing that in the US!?

6. Service Charge -- Local restaurants charge a service charge but it does not go to the wait staff, it goes to the owners. You are often reminded this so you do not forget to tip the waitstaff!

7. Toliets -- Everywhere you go you have to learn how the toliet works...Qatar was no exception. After searching for awhile, I realized you had to push the large silver box over the toliet to get it to flush! (see the picture above) Who knew!?

This is probably a good place to stop for tonight! Hope you are all doing well.

No camel races today!

Today was a fun day -- I met Dave (Co-Lead) for the first time today and we spent some time getting-to-know each other and talking about the curriculum for LeaderShape. We had lunch on the Pearl -- which is "reclaimed" land -- basically the country has filled in the water and built an island in the shape of a clam with a pearl sticking out of it. It is beautiful and full of yachts, cafes, shopping areas, and apartments like I have never seen before.

After our meeting, Lindsay took me to what we thought was going to be the camel races but alas...I learned that what is scheduled does not always occur here in Qatar. Nonetheless I did get to see some baby camels in training...see the pictures above. Apparently the camels used to be raced by children and it was quite unsafe. Since that time the practice of using children has been outlawed. Now they use robots that are about 1-2 feet high and the owners ride along side the track controlling the robot and their camel. Wished I could have seen that!

Tonight we are off to dinner at a local restraurant. Then tomorrow starts our LeaderShape training. I cannot wait to meet all of the faculty.

*I am trying to catch typos in this blog but it is a little difficult as some of the directions and typed words display on the screen in arabic letters -- for example --- this is what you see (partially) when you log into Google!

تسجيل الدخول

بحث متقدم خيارات أدوات اللغة
البحث: في الويب صفحات باللغة العربية صفحات من ‏قطر
النطاق Google.com.qa متوفر باللغات: English
البرنامج الإعلاني‏ - كل ما تحب معرفته عن Google‏ هنا‏ - Google.com in English
اجعل Google صفحتي الرئيسية

...it is also quite an interesting process to blog here. When you sign-in on the computer part of the input process goes from right to left (the same as when you read Arabic)... I really am learning so much!

Last thing....I took some video of the camels crossing -- you can hear the wind and see them a little closer in the video below....enjoy!

Arrived in Qatar

I woke up this morning to the CBS news anchor (Katie was off today) talking about Bobby Bowden retiring after winning the Gator Bowl...even here in Qatar this is news!

Once the plane landed in Qatar I was met by staff from a service who took me to a nice lounge where I enjoyed some of the local flavor (amazing dates, yummy little cookies, and assorted teas and coffee) while they took care of all of my customs paperwork and escorted me out of the airport. I was then met by Ameena and her husband and while driving from the airport to the hotel they provided me with a delightful tour of the city. For instance...did you know that an entire castle-like facility was built for Charles and Diana when they made their first official visit here? Ameena works with the Qatar Foundation who is sponsoring the LeaderShape Institute here in Qatar.

Also, even though it was past 11:00 p.m. local time I noticed many children out playing in a playground and lots of activitiy.

The weather was a little cool and quite breezy. From my understanding while I am here the weather should vary between 50 at night and 75 or so during the day.

...But let me go back to yesterday morning for a minute...have you ever had an English breakfast? Really this one isn't even a real one (no beans or tomato) Nonetheless, I took a picture of mine yesterday and have to ask...what's the deal with English sausage? Although I am sure there are many who really like it I have to say it is not my favorite. I've enclosed a picture for you so you can create your own opinion....

Ok, back to Qatar. This is a beautiful city and I have attached several pictures from my hotel window for your viewing pleasure. This is not where the Institue will be held -- we are travelling about 35 miles or so outside of Doha to the Al Sutan Beach Resort <http://www.alsultanbeachresort.com/>. The resort is located right on the Gulf. I realize that the locations for LeaderShape Institutes in the US vary a great deal but this one looks like it is absolutely beautiful....

Today I am meeting David (co-lead for LeaderShape) as well as Lindsay (another person from the Qatar Foundation). I am looking forward to reviewing the curriculumn with David and learning more about the students who will attend the institute. Also I am going to view more of the city today... I even get to see some camel racing.

Here in Doha I am 8 hours ahead of the US (EST time) -- with the stop in London I have actually adjusted quite well to the time so far....we'll see how that goes! Time to get the day started. More later

Fun in London

**Could not post for the past day as the Internet was not working in my London hotel...I will make up for it tonight!

It is now January 1, 2010 in London and what fun I have had the last 2 days. My journey began with a drive from Tallahassee to Atlanta (thanks Mark!) and then a delayed flight to Heathrow. The silver lining was I was upgraded to business class so my 8.5 hour flight was much more comfortable. This allowed me to eat well and get some good sleep so when I finally arrived in London I hit the ground running.

Before I ventured into the city I did have an unscheduled tour of Heathrow airport. Apparently we were so late getting into the airport they did not have a gate for us…so we parked somewhere far away (it felt like Gatwick!) from the gate and they brought stairs up to the plane so we could deplane then be driven to terminal 5. Customs was a breeze – seriously there was no one there and I was through the process and had my bags within 30 minutes! Kindof hard to believe in Heathrow! Luckily my hotel was in terminal 4 so my journey there was short.

I arrived in London to cold weather with no sun in sight but at least it was not raining or snowing. After I put my belongings in the room and freshened up, I bought a day pass on the Underground and started exploring the city. First stop was Lesicester Square where I scoped out the theatres and found a play to watch later – Avenue Q was my choice -- it was the only one with tickets still available. More about that later. (see picture 1 is of Lesicester Square and 2 of the Underground). After purchasing my ticket, I then got back on the underground and made my way to Harrods. Believe it or not they had great sales and I picked up a cute Christmas ornament. I made my way to the food halls in Harrods and enjoyed a margarita (cheese) pizza then explored the rest of the store. It is absolutely amazing all they have in there! Then it was back to the Underground to explore more of London. There was some festive Christmas decorations up (see the pictures) especially in Leicester Square --they even had a fun carnival type event there (pictures 3 and 4).

After wandering around town, I made my way to the Gielgud theatre and enjoyed a great performance of Avenue Q. (see pictures 5 & 6). The actors were amazingly talented and really put on a great show! The entire cast was 6 people and a bunch of puppets.

I wanted to try to stay out for the fireworks around Big Ben (You can see them on the following link http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4282) but I found my energy fading after my travels of the day before and over night and as I attempted to negotiate the crowds of very happy (some very drunk) people. All reports said there were about 200,000 people there. I think I would have felt better about staying for the fireworks if it was not so cold, if I did not have to get up at 5:30 a.m. for my flight the next day, and if travel back to the hotel was a little easier (the predictions were that it would take until 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. to get back to the hotel). As it was all of the underground stations around the area were closed to out bound passengers and I had to walk quite a way to find a stop that would get me out of town. Really the Underground was the only way to travel as all of the streets were blocked off the any traffic except police on horses and foot traffic.

After an hour and one-half on the Underground I found myself back at the hotel with 5 minutes to spare till the new year! I did watch the fireworks on tv in the lobby and they were amazing! I even toasted in the new year with a lobby full of people on holiday.

It was a great day and I look forward to my journey tomorrow to Qatar. Although I am there to lead a LeaderShape session the Qatar Foundation staff have built in some unique experiences as well!

I arrived in Qatar and it is now 12:45 a.m. here. After a full day of traveling I am ready to call it a night. More later!

Santa helped me pack!

Before I left Bakerville took a break from his Santa duties to help me pack!