If you build it, they will come!
Wakrah Stadium Exterior
I miss American Baseball. I miss pre-game ball tosses in the parking lot over a small grill and some really great picnic food. I miss $2 Hot Dog Tuesday. I miss sitting with my family at our local minor league park, in our season seats, held through the decades and three different team names and two different major league affiliates. There's a rock we always used for family photos and I wonder if anyone has done that this year.I miss the fireworks on Friday evenings. I miss the local heckler chants. I miss sharing a beer with my brother and my dad. I miss my mom yelling "LOOK OUT" at every foul ball. I miss being in a Stadium with a recorded organ track and 12 bar clip of random songs for each player on the roster. I miss the color of the uniforms, the relaxed but anticipated time between pitches... the really handsome, strong, American-Plains, Corn-Fed-Farm-Boy-Players. While I am loving the globe, I miss the element of "Small Town America" found in a baseball game.
Don't even get me started on my attempts to understand "Cricket" - it's not like baseball but it is - and my dear friend Saleem explained it quite well one day, as well as my neighbor Hashem on several occasions... the more I watch it, the clearer the game begins to be, but still, I have no idea what I'm seeing on the screen.
I miss Baseball.
So, I was thrilled to participate in another #oneteam school community event and gather with my friends, building workmates, and students and their families, at the grand opening event at the first completed 2022 World Cup Stadium! The Stadium at Al Wakrah!
The Al Wakrah Stadium hosted The Amir Cup Final tonight between my neighborhood club Al Sadd (white jersey) and Al Duhail (red jersey). Apparently (I'm not a sports person) Al Sadd has won the last 16 years in a row of the 47 years of the games. It became a very, very, very memorable evening with my beautiful school community. It is really nice to gather together - cleaners, office staff, facility management, drivers, teachers, families and students - as one community, in Section 317.
Not a flattering photo of me, but you can see my friend Saleem in the back on the left,
holding up the sticks, and my neighbor Zach doing what he does best,
which is being "My Neighbor Zach".
For the last 9 months, I have been treated to insider views of the construction of one of the 2022 World Cup Stadiums, because the Wakrah Stadium is directly across the street from my school.
Each morning I've gone to work, we pass by the stadium and it is a physical wonder to have seen it grow so much in this (short?) time. Did you read my "decorating your space" blog and how I've been studying the buildings here? Well, from half finished clamshell shape to sitting in Section 317, Row R with some (not exorbitantly stadiumly priced) nachos and cheese was really an industrial feat, considering they changed the road access four times since returning from Christmas Break as they physically build the infrastructure here.
Featured on "Ramirez On The Run" Instagram! Daniel and MacKenzie Ramirez (fellow teachers) can be found on Instagram with their own travel experiences! Find them!
The stadium is designed as a clamshell, having dips and curves on the exterior sides like waves, with an opening at the top looking into the field. The late Zaha Hadid attributed her design (yes, designed by a woman!) to the Dhow boats, our traditional pearl diving boats. The interior seats have a blue and white design, also representing waves, which weaves through the various seating sections on two levels. My friend Nair sat in the lower level (fancy seats, hahha) and the photos he sent from there were remarkable as well. There doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the stadium.
Opening Ceremony Setup, a "pearl" in the center field.
We were treated to an Iftar box of sorts with some snack foods, juice, and water once we received our tickets. It is Ramadan here, the month of fasting, and Iftar is the first evening meal after the day of fasting ends at sunset. I was happy to have the water as we waited in security lines, listening to Fan Zone entertainment. Dancers and singers in ethnic groups and dress from all over the world pre-gaming (sans alcohol) in the parking lot. Buses of laborers arriving, and men in street clothes, instead of labor uniforms, lining up for tickets. Young children playing and dancing outside the security queue. I was so happy to see so many work friends there. It was really a community event with everyone in the Wakrah neighborhood there!
After clearing security, through the families and ladies line, we entered the stadium, went to concessions, and then headed up to our seats. We arrived early to avoid some traffic, which gave us a chance to sit and hang out. Antics within ridiculous conversation topics. Simply enjoying the company. It was really cool to see so many of my students there and to dance and sing with them to the piped in music. My students make me laugh so very much. Remember when I told you time, karma, and patience sort everything out? Well, my student named Karma sat in the row behind me tonight with her family, and after the last few weeks, I will tell you that Karma really does take care of everything.
(right) Warm ups from each team before the show.
SWAG at the seats were two inflatable blow up smacky sticks, with these little lights in them that blink when you hit them hard enough, and a #SeeYouInAlWakrah #RoadTo2022 Qatar scarf. (search the 'tags, you'll see lots of photos!) At one point, Karma brought over the little light ball her mother pulled out of the stick as a gift for me. She and I had been singing along to the beat of the African Drummers two sections to our right. I told my friend Sam, "you know they've adopted you into their tribe when they gift you trinkets". I am one really lucky girl.
The Emir arrived in a very proud and proper display of country pride. He is always elegant and poised and in such polished appearance. It was delightful to be in his presence, the playing of the Qatar National Anthem by the Military Band and singing by a men's choir and children's choir brought tingles to my spine!
National Anthem and Singers
The opening ceremony show was based on the theme of "Pearls as Dreams" - and the show presented the idea of the children of Wakrah setting out on Dhows to collect the dreams and ideas of children all over the world, bringing them back to Qatar, and having them realized, because together we are stronger and there is nothing we cannot achieve. One of the show quotes went something like "go out and seek your dreams, dive for them, and remember that everything is possible". The show ended with the pearl turning into a World Cup icon and some really neat fireworks.
The music and script reminded me of a Disney fireworks display and the show was designed as a DCI drum corps showcase. It was simply beautiful. I have always wanted to see the opening ceremonies of the Olympics - the 2008 Summer Olympics was the reason I applied for my very first passport, not making it to the Olympics but going to Greece is the beginning point of this blog idea - and tonight I feel I got to cross that item off my list. I am really excited for Qatar in 2022 hosting The World Cup.
The game was incredible to see, cheering all decked out in my SWAG - (my apartment buddies did not want to wear the letters of
A-M-I-R C-U-P
on their shirts, even though there were 7 of us in our group and it would have been perfect... #disappointed #nofun).
10 minutes in I realized it was my first professional football game ever! Among new friends from all over the world was the most perfect place to take in this game! Guys in white jerseys and guys red jerseys and lots of neon color shoes running back and forth on the field, with a ref apparently missing some really important things he should have seen, two red cards issued, teams kicking both each other and the ball, knocking each other down, tripping over feet, bumping heads and legs and needing medics, and one guy in a net missing the ball 4 times it was kicked to him and the other guy only missing the ball 1 time it was kicked to him, it was a really fun game! (For you sports people, Duhail wins 4 -1 over Al Sadd.)
We left a bit early to try and beat the traffic and wound up being able to see the fireworks outside of the stadium clearly. It took forever to get home with traffic and waiting for Uber navigating road closures designed to funnel traffic into a flow pattern.
I'm one lucky girl, and there isn't a day I forget it. It was another really, really, really, really great experience here in Qatar. While Al Sadd didn't win this year, it was still fun to cheer on my "home team", with a $4 plate of nachos (not $24), and some good laughs.
Lots of exciting things on the horizon in the next few weeks and months. Lots of emotions to sort out as I make some mega decisions about some mega things coming up - but tonight, it was lots of fun, sitting alongside friends I've only known 9 months but almost cannot remember a time I didn't know them, among people who are so wonderful and loving and kind and caring and super energetic and funny, in a situation in a country that has carried my heart into a much deserved and long overdue happy place.
It is almost 4am here, so I am heading to bed. If anyone is up for a RailRiders Game and wants to send me a photo or two from behind 3rd or in the outfield looking into home plate, I'd be grateful.
Karma and I were dancing to the stadium drums and singing one of the songs we play in class. The lyrics say, Fanga Alafia - "Welcome Dance".
Welcome to my happy place.
Slainte.