Journey North Mystery Class Spring 2006

Greetings from Doha, Qatar!

We are students at Al Duhail Independent Girl's Preparatory School in Doha, Qatar.

Our School
Our school was a ministry school, but now it is an independent school. This is our first year as an independent school. In the new system we can study more English and even Math and Science are taught in English. Our other classes are in Arabic. We wear a uniform that is a long grey skirt and a pink shirt. Most of us live near the school.

Entrance to Al Duhail Independent
Girl's Preparatory School in Doha, Qatar

Some of us selected this school to follow the scientific development in our country and to be part of the future generation. There are many changes in the school system here as well as changes in the country. Our region Al Duhail wasn't that big a few years ago, it was just gulf water, but out country is trying to enlarge the land by filling a part of the sea gulf and adding to the land area. So imagine our school is
built on the sea bed. The land is desert but if you walk around you can see sea shells.

We have many elective subjects to select from, and that is good. We had some sports competitions recently and we won all of them and got many cups. We made a nice garden at our school with our teachers. We have two labs and we can do experiments. We can make researches on the computer and chat with friends in other countries.

We had a very strong storm and heavy rain in our country and that damaged the ceiling of our school, but they fixed that as we were studying.

The Country
Qatar is a peninsula which reaches out into the Persian Gulf.

We are located along the eastern coastline of Saudi Arabia, near the southern end on that coast line.

Geographically speaking, our country is about 25% desert, and 75% ocean.

Most people live along the coasts near the sea.

At the southern end of our country, there is a beautiful inland sea.

The Inland Sea

There are forts and castles dotted around the countryside here too.

Traditionally, our country made its living from the sea, from fishing, pearling and trading. But now, oil and gas are the economic base.

The Emir of Oman

Our country is ruled by an Emir. The main language in the country is Arabic, and the main religion is Islam.

The climate here is very hot in the summer and warm in the winter.

Both wild and domestic camels are a common aninmal here.

The City
Our city of Doha is the capital of our country. It is a port city, located half way up the eastern side of the Qatar peninsula. It is a beautiful city with a long walkway along a bay, and this monument of an oyster sits along the bay too.

Oyster sculpture along the water	This is a picture of our Downtown

The Asian Games will be held here next December. Our country is getting ready by building many new buildings and making statues of "Orry", the mascot for the Games. There will be many visitors and we will not have school for two weeks!

"Orry", the mascot the Asian Games coming to Doha.

Will you be visiting?