I guess I should have posted this a while ago but I’m currently away for a bit of a vacation. Chilaxing in Japan at the moment. So far I’ve been to Osaka’s Universal Studios for the New Year count down, Gifu for snowboarding and now I’m hanging out in Nagoya. In a few days I’m going to be heading off to Tokyo!

I’ve decided to try out Vlogging and hopefully you’ll like it! If you do, I’ll keep going! Oh and don’t forget to visit the ILQ YouTube channel as well as Facebook page. The team and I have added some great stuff!

Oh! Almost forgot, yes the rumors are true the Intercontinental, Alive and ILQ are partnering up to bring over James Blunt on February!
There’s loads more to share but I need to cut it short!

Ma3asalama!

This great video was but together by Abdulla Al Ansari. This comes at a great time (around National Day). These students put together this great look at how Qatar has changed (for better or worse).
Visit his site at http://www.qatarthefuture.com

For the past three years (well this is the third year) we’ve put together a very special National Day event site. It started in the end of 2008 (when we officially started working on iLoveQatar) and then we got the support from Vodafone to turn the experience into something prettier. I didn’t want to simply give people an events listing page and figured that with all the traffic going to the site (last year we had around 20,000 unique visitors in around 10 days) we should be doing something helpful!

So we started promoting Qatari talent. In 2009 we promoted Rayana, an amazingly talented singer. A small girl with a big voice. In 2010 we promoted Moh’d Kamal, Qatar’s first Qatari stand up comedian. This year we’re promoting a bunch of Qatari cartoonists, each with their own style! So far we’ve got @fatoomworld @wse7en @iba7r and @mana_qtr . Many of them contribute to www.qartoon.org

So if you’re looking for some quick info on what National Day is all about, a great events guide, and want to check out some great Qatari talent, then check out www.qatarnationalday.qa (yep we’ll be using that domain from now on so bookmark it!). Oh and guess what? You’ve got a chance to also win 10,000 QR from Vodafone! Head on over to the National Day and click on the competition tab to find out more

A day to be proud of

Qatar National Day 2010 is coming!

I had to share this.. Al Sadd is doing so well! As many may know, Al Sadd won the AFC Champions League. That’s kind of a big deal. They won it in time to get in the latest editions of football video games like FIFA 2011 and Winning Eleven! Check this picture out.

Al Sadd Sports Club Profile:

The past
One of the oldest football clubs in Qatar, Al Sadd is the only team from the small Gulf nation to have won the AFC Champions League, a feat it first achieved in 1989 when the competition was known as the Asian Club Championship. The Doha-based giants have a local pedigree to match, with over 30 domestic titles to their name.

The present
Some 22 years after their first continental triumph, Al Sadd made a dramatic return to the top of Asian football when they were crowned 2011 AFC Champions League victors courtesy of a skilfully selected blend of experienced veterans and talented youngsters.

So whether you know the team or not, I hope you can show some support!

 Update: We lost against them in the match in Japan, but we’re all still proud that a small team could get so far

This isn’t really a topic that’s of super importance. It’s not like there aren’t better things to talk about, but I just wanted to share my views on the new license plates.

The reason we’re told that the plates have changed is because of an agreement that the GCC had to unify the look of the plates. Sadly, I don’t really see that because the only thing that’s similar is that they’re now in English. The overall design varies greatly from GCC country to country.

Now let’s get the first thing out of the way. Yes I know that the number system that the west uses is actually Arabic and that us Arabs decided to shift over to using Hindi numerals. I still don’t understand why we did that, but that’s the way it goes. You could argue that shifting over our license plate numbers back to the original numbering system is our way of claiming back what’s rightfully ours in a passive agressive sort of way, but trust me, you’d be thinking too much.

Back to the topic, here’s a quick image of how the licnese plates in Qatar have evolved. Check out www.worldlicenseplates.com for more.

In 1983, the license plates were actually quite similar to the ones in Bahrain.

Then we changed them in 1997 to what we all became accustomed to. It was quite special because the plate looked organized and used Arabic (Hindi) numbers.

On our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/iloveqtr) we asked “Which GCC country do you think has the best looking car license plates?” to our 18,000+ page on Nov 9. We actually didn’t know the plates were going to change. What a coincidence! It was a 50-50 split between people voting for Qatar and UAE. Click here to see a dubai plate

Qatar then changed the new plates to look like this:

It kind of makes me feel uncomfortable… It’s like an inverted Qatari flag, the numbers are not centered, there’s a tiny hologram on the side (why… were people making fake plates or something?), and ‘Qatar’ is written in two styles.

I feel like it’s not organized anymore. It’s also sad that we don’t have the Arabic (hindi) numerals, it was a way of possibly educating a predominantly expat population. It probably wasn’t that easy to put together a design (perhaps one of the readers can show us how it’s done ), but I feel like UAE’s one now look’s much nicer

What do you guys think of the new plates?

One of the most popular sections of iLoveQatar.net is our events listings and we’ve been growing! In fact, we’ve listed over 1,000 events to date! That means that since the site started, we’ve listed enough events to keep you occupied every single day! You can visit our event section here: http://iloveqatar.net/forum/list.php?27 (btw you can post your own events there) and soon the link will change to www.iloveqatar.net/events

We then decided to launch a twitter channel called @Qatarevents which has been keeping everyone on twitter in the know. We’ve got thousands of visitors too!

Next up was a monthly newsletter. Some of you might know it by now. It’s called ‘The Buzz’. We figured that some people might want a monthly dose of what’s going on, articles, hot topics, and fun stuff rather than daily info. (I recommend signing up to it of course, I think it’s pretty cool.)

Now although people visit our ILQ facebook page for an awesome community, we thought that some people may JUST want an events feed on Facebook too, so we just recently launched Qatar Events on Facebook.

So we took a breather, took a sip of our gahwa (that’s Arabic for coffee btw), looked around the room and then felt like we hadn’t done enough. So we started working on the new events section. We wanted it to look simple, be easy to search, and easy to submit events too. So we came up with this! (See the two screenshots). We like it, and we’re sure you’ll like it too. It’s going to go live VERY soon and what’s better is that you can sign in with Twitter and Facebook if you want to leave a comment or ‘favourite’ your events.

It’s great to know that our hard work was appreciated because we’ve now got a regular spot every Thursday at 6pm with @FinnertyLaura on her show. Tune in and you’ll hear about the upcoming events for the weekend and the next 7 days.  You’ll be able to hear either myself Khalifa (a.k.a Mr. Q), Bassam, or Zhan!

It’s easier than ever to tune into QF Radio. Got an iPhone? Download their app here. On a computer? Visit their site here for a live stream. In your car, then tune into 93.7 FM

Anyway! If you’ve got an event, please do share it with us by emailing events@iloveqatar.net

I know I’ve been posting loads of videos, but that’s what I want see more of! Would love to see more Vloggers here in Qatar!
Alex Klim (@alexklim) is an ILQ user and he’s been making some great YouTube videos and inshallah many more for the iLoveQatar community too!

This vid was shot on a single Canon 7D, Editing, Color Grading & SoundFX done in FCPX.

It features Nina Heidenreich, Principal Second Violinist at Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. The short movie is a modern fairy tale about a young girl passing by a Music Store, getting attracted by a violin and falling into a dream, seeing herself as a talented violinist. Shot at several locations in and around Doha, State of Qatar, including the Cultural Village, The Pearl-Qatar, The Villagio Mall, Inland Sea and the Steinway Piano Gallery Qatar. Jules Massenet’s ‘Meditation’ from the Opera Thais serves as the main theme.

Nice? Think you can do better? Send your videos to contact@iloveqatar.net

One Week at the Museum | MIA Doha, Qatar | eL Seed from eL Seed on Vimeo.

Quite a few people asked me “Didn’t we already have an Eid?” and it dawned on me that this might be a good time to explain the two Eids (Eid means celebration) that we have a year. The first one happens right after Ramadan. It’s called Eid Al Fitr which is translated as the Celebration of Breaking Fast. It’s a national holiday, shops will usually decorate for Eid, and family and friends gather together. Everyone dresses up in their best clothes and the kids go out singing songs and getting Eidiya (candy or money).

The second Eid is Eid Al Adha. Translated, it means the Celebration of Sacrafice. It’s also known as the Big Eid. The reason why this is such an important Eid is because this is the one that began the construction of Kaaba (the Black Square in Mecca). This is celebrated in the same way as Eid Al Fitr.

Here’s an interesting fact, in Malta, Easter is called Eid. (I thought that was quite cool).

Anyway! There’s going to be some great festivities, especially at Katara! Between 7:30pm and 10pm you’ll be able to enjoy Fireworks, Dancing Fountains, a light show, and laser show! Be sure to take your family and friends

So, now that you know that we’ve got two Eids, here are other blog posts which you might be interested in

A Qatari’s Eid

It’s almost Eid

Merry Eidmas

Oh and remember, in Qatar, a typical greeting is ‘Eidkum Mubarak, wa asakum min awadah’. Would love to hear more people say it

Traditions of Eid from QTV – Qatari song

It’s been an incredibly busy week. So what have I been up to the past weekend? Well I sponsored or partnered up with a number of events.

ILQ was a part of Think Pink (Walk for Life), Woofstock, QSports Leagues and Arab Games Basketball in the mall, ILQ women’s volleyball team entry to semi-finals, and a special Calvin Klein and ILQ joint event at Landmark.

Here are links to some pics if you’re interested!

Pics from CK Shock and ILQ special event

Pics from Think Pink Walk for Life

Pics from Woofstock

So what’s ILQ a part of and that’s coming up? You’ve got Beachfest, ASQAT Beach Clean Up, The Red Carpet 3 (with SISQO), Qatar Investors Window, The League of Extraordinary Comedians Vol. 5, Cool Runnings, and I’m sure there’s something I’ve forgotten.

I love have iLoveQatar has grown to becoming an integral part of helping to make Qatar a better place and a country that’s more vibrant and exciting

So although there’s no room for excuses, that’s why I’ve been silent from blogging for quite a while. There’s just quite a lot going on. All the while, I’ve been focusing on getting the NEW events section on ILQ ready. Still a way to go since I’m very picky about the design and user experience.

If you want to stay up to date with what’s happening, make sure to check out ILQ’s Events section, Qatar Events on Twitter, Qatar Events on Facebook, ILQ on Facebook, Sign up to the ILQ newsletter, or pick up a copy of Qatar Happening