WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? PART 2

Ok, now we're rocking again...two posts in as many weeks.  I think we're back on pace, at least for this month.

So I left off with my adventure to Kenya.  It would be tough to top that trip.  Manya and her family were great hosts, the animals welcomed me into their kingdom (ok, not really, but it sounds good), and I checked-off Sub-Saharan Africa as a place I have visited.  Yep, this would be tough to top...and I wouldn't succeed.  Sorry, the road ahead provided some fun, but nothing comparable.

On December 2nd and 3rd, the old faithful Ras Tanura Water Polo Team made a trip to Qatar for an open tournament.  Day 1 would consist of matches in their world class facilities.  Qatar has made huge investments in their children - future generations.  They have built world class sports facilities all over the country and brought some of the top universities in to Doha.  Qatar may now be the wealthiest country in the world on a GDP per person basis.  Huge offshore gas fields provide a seemingly endless stream of money for the country.  Instead of fancy buildings and hotels, they have invested in sports and education.  A great combination.

Qatar juts off the Arabian peninsula in a defiant way.  You can see it below on the ride side.

Yours truly lives about 10 miles south of the city Dammam, also on the right side of the Arabian Peninsula.  Qatar is a 4 hour drive from my home, as well as the Ras Tanura guys.  Abdi organized carpools and on December 2nd I drove off with Abdi and two other teammates towards Qatar.  That wasn't before a 5am wake-up call.

"Abdi, why are meeting so early at your house?"
"Well it's good to get down there early and relax a little bit.  We'll have breakfast and then head out by 7am.  That way we can be ready to go when we play."
"But Abdi, we don't play until 5pm.  We're going to arrive in Doha at noon.  That's a lot of R&R time."
"It's just better to leave early."

So that was that.  We were off to Qatar.  About an hour into our drive, Abdi decided to call the rest of the guys to see where they were at; they had all left at 8am (imagine that).

"Anthony, where are you guys at?  What do you mean you don't know where Jim and Austin are?  Well...No...I'll call Jim."  Abdi was not happy.  Apparently Anthony, our goalie and MVP, was still in bed.

"Hi Cora, is Jim there.  He left already?  He's going to pick-up Austin and Anthony...great.  Thanks."  Abdi was feeling a little bit better now.  He paused for about 5 minutes before calling Anthony to confirm everyone was meeting up now.

"Anthony, Jim has made it to your house?  No?  Cora said he left 10 minutes ago...but he should be there.  Maybe he's picking-up Austin first.  I'll call Austin."  More skittish again.

"Austin, hi, it's Abdi.  Is Jim on his way?  You haven't heard from him?  I sent out an email and everyone agreed to their rides and now nobody has heard from Jim.  Can you call him?  Ok, thanks...call me back."  Abdi was back in panic mode now.

"Hi Austin.  You can't get a hold of Jim?  I'll try him."  Ring, ring, ring.  No pick-up.  Now there is visual worry.

"Cora, it's Abdi.  Have you heard from Jim.  No?  How long ago did he leave?  25 minutes!  You live 3 minutes from Anthony and Austin and they haven't heard from Jim.  Let me try them again."

Abdi turns to me, "These guys are crazy.  Why can't they organize a simple pick-up.  Anthony sounds like he stayed up all night, Austin is waiting for Jim in the street, and Jim won't pick-up his phone."  Just then the phone rings.

"Anthony, where are you at?!  What do you mean?  Kostas is flying down...no you can't use his ticket...wait, Kostas isn't going?  That won't work Anthony.  Jim should be picking you up.  I'll try Jim again."  Ring, ring, ring.  Jim doesn't pick-up. 

Abdi's phone then rings.  "Anthony, what is going on...you can't trade for Kostas' ticket...that won't work...What...you jerks.  You've been driving along for 15 minutes together.  Oh, you just thought you'd give me a panic attack.  Very funny."  Abdi hangs up.  "They were all ready; they thought it would be funny to play a joke on me and act like they weren't coming."

So that was the laugh of the day as we careened towards Qatar.  The drive was very peaceful.  The customs process took a little time, but no troubles.  We drove into Doha at around 12pm, right in time to pick-up Kostas at the airport.  We had a little wait, but really no problems as we headed to the hotel.

By 1:30pm we were lounging by the pool.  That day we were scheduled to play the Qatari National Team, The Ex-Qatari National Team, and the 17-U Junior National Team.

At 4pm we climbed into hotel vans and headed towards the facilities.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of these, but I can tell you that they were world class - the nicest pool I have ever played in.  Qatar had hosted the Asian Games earlier in the year, and these facilities were nothing short of Olympic.  Full stadium seating, separate diving tank, bulkhead, the works.

We played 3 games, winning our first 2, but eventually losing to the Qatari National Team 7-4.  They were much more fit and well coached.  It turns out the Qatari coach was the goalie for 3 Holland Olympic Teams  in the past 20 years.  He stands at a cool 6'7" and still has all of his muscle.  He was tough on his guys, but they were appreciative of him.  It was a quite a cool site to see. 

The next day we were scheduled to play a beach water polo tournament, with real rules, not the crap we played in Dubai.  But before we could sleep on that fear, we had to get from the pool back to the hotel.  See, while we were playing that first day, Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup - the first Arab country awarded the tournament.  The entire country of Qatar was between us and our hotel.  It took 1-1/2 hours to crawl back to our hotel, but to see the traffic jams with the Qatar flags waving and the people ecstatic was something else.  I will remember the pure excitement for my entire life.

On Friday morning we crawled out of bed and made our way to the beach.  The field was set-up and ready to go.  In real beach water polo, you play 3 on 3, so the field is only 20 yards long and 15 yards wide. 

Sounds easy right?  Not at all.  Instead of lining-up after a goal, the goalie just puts the ball in play.  The goalie can actually shoot at the opposing goal right after being scored on!  The referee sits on a kayak and calls the game. 

Because there is no line-up, and only 2 other people on the team, the game is constant.  You are either shooting or defending someone who is shooting.  On top of that, the water was freezing.  I thought we were in the Middle East.  It was numbing, so that only a lot of swimming got you warm.

I played in the first game and the second game.  We won the first against the 17-U group, but got smacked in the noggin when we played the Senior Team, losing 11-5.  The game is non-stop!  A great workout, but totally new to me.  I have to say though, I'm looking forward to future tournaments.

You can see the referee and the action pretty clearly in this photo

At the end of the morning the spirits were really high.  We took a photo with the entire group.  Most of the Qatari guys were still overwhelmed with joy from the night before and the announcement of the 2022 World Cup award.



I had lost some of that glorious sun in this picture.  I look like Casper the Ghost.  The Qatar coach is looming over me in the background.  Check out the Qatar 2022 shirt that Austin is holding-up though.

So we headed back to Saudi that afternoon and got home safely at around 8pm.  I stopped and grabbed a shwarma along the way.  Mmmmm good.  It was 2 weeks before I headed back to the US for the holidays...