Opening of Ezdan Mall

[the most up-to-date information I have on Ezdan Mall is from August 21st and can be found here]


The new mall had a soft opening today so I went to check it out.





A lot of people had the same idea, traffic was pretty heavy getting into the mall.






Here's some interior shots






There were no restaurants or cafés open yet. The food court was a decent size though. It will even have a SushiMinto, not a restaurant that I expected to open In a food court.






Sorry Canadians -- Tim Hortons isn't open yet.




Some stores were open, but not a lot. Here's pictures of some where I'm not sure if that brand of store is available anywhere else.











As for what isn't open, here's some examples . . .










According to the newspapers about 80% of the stores should be open by the end of May.


And as I was leaving I got stuck in a traffic jam, not a good impression for opening day. Hopefully they have this sorted out soon because what will they do when the mall is fully open?

Issues Surrounding Qataris and Employment

There was an article a while ago on Dohanews about statements a Labour Ministry official said to an Arabic newspaper. Amongst the criticisms from the official was that companies were not following the employment law and setting aside at least 20% of jobs for Qatari nationals (which was a bit surprising, I was aware that there was a minimum requirement for having Qatari staff but for some reason I thought it was around 10%).

Shortly after that there was news from other countries in the Gulf. Kuwait announced it was going to reduce the number of ex-pat visas by 100,000 a year for the next 10 years, and Saudi Arabia is moving to a system (called “Nitaqat”) where companies that do not meet minimum requirements for employing Saudis will face penalties such as fines or not having any new ex-pat visas issued.

Not surprisingly the articles generated a lot of discussion and it got me thinking about the overall issues surrounding hiring Qataris and the views of ex-pats in hiring Qataris.

I've worked with many Qataris, and trained many Qataris, and feel that when it comes to public discussion of Qataris in the workforce a lot of rhetoric and finger-pointing seems to occur, which takes away from critically looking at the issue.

A common remark made by foreigners is around the issue of how Qataris would never be waiters, construction laborers, etc. I don't feel this is a valid point. I will go out on a limb and say that the Qatari Government’s intention for protectionist employment laws is for its citizens to acquire meaningful, well-paid employment, not that they will be waiters or taxi drivers. Does anyone honestly think the Labour Ministry will be calling Karwa and asking why 20% of their drivers are not Qatari? Or why a mall isn't employing Qataris to clean tables at the food court? Of course not.

The Government spends a lot of money providing its citizens with free or heavily-subsidized education. It's not doing this so that Qataris can go on to be car-washers. It does this in the hopes that they will be able to use that education to find gainful employment, something that would allow a Qatari to earn enough money to provide a decent life for themselves and their family. I don't see anything wrong with that vision. Qatari parents have expectations that their children will do more with their lives than become store clerks or landscapers. They are fortunate to be citizens of a country where that is a more-than-reasonable expectation, in many parts of the world parents are grateful if their children manage to have a steady job that keeps them out of poverty.

Despite the occasional comment on the Internet along the lines of “all foreigners should go home” I can't imagine that people who say such remarks meant every foreigner. Qataris know full well that foreigners are needed to do most of the blue-collar and service-sector work. They are not going to do it themselves nor does the Government expect them to. Qataris make up around 15% of the country’s population and have accepted that they will be a minority in their country. No, I think this malevolence is directed at the foreigners who are in middle or senior positions and making good money, leaving Qataris to ask why hasn't a Qatari been hired in that position. Unfortunately such inflamed Internet postings rarely go on to analyze why, perhaps, a foreigner instead of a Qatari is in that position.

Which brings up a criticism commonly thrown about – that Qataris/Saudis/Kuwaitis/[insert Arab nationality] are not hard workers, don't want to work long hours, etc. In my experience this stereotype is not entirely deserved. I have met Qataris who have a good work ethic, come in on time, have worked overtime when needed, and have worked jobs that are “9 to 5”. I sometimes think there is an element of confirmation bias in the stereotype, maybe foreigners see lots of Qataris kicking back and having coffee with their friends at the malls during the workday, or they met an ambivalent Qatari worker at a Government office, and project that to the populace as a whole. The Qataris who are actually working hard won't usually be seen or noticed in those circumstances.

With that said I will state I have also seen Qataris who do fit the stereotype: come in late, appear to put minimal effort to their work, take long breaks or leave early. And while I have heard stories of young Qataris coming into an interview expecting to be senior management even though they don't have appropriate qualifications I have not experienced that myself. Qataris with a poor work ethic do their countrymen no favours because of the negative impression they give to others. And negative impressions spread faster and are more remembered than positive ones.

I suppose I just want to say that the work ethic for Qataris runs the whole range, from the hard-working to the hardly-working so, yes, there are Qataris who could work at that managerial job just as hard as the ex-pat. They do exist. So why does there seem many who are ambivalent about their jobs? I don't know for sure but I'll get back to that point a bit later.

One commentator wondered why there is this issue of not hiring enough Qataris if the private businesses are owned by Qataris (by law a minimum of 51% of a business should be owned by Qataris, though there are some exceptions). Firstly -- and this section is entirely speculation on my part -- in some of these businesses the Qatari does not have an active role in running it, he is the owner who gets his share of the profits but leaves it to the people running the business to handle hiring. Secondly, I assume it's in part because the difference in wages is an extra expense impacting the profits of the owner. If you would have to pay QAR 25,000 a month for a Qatari for a job that you can pay an expat QAR 15,000 it becomes big money over time, the owner is looking at a difference of QAR 120,000 a year (~US$33,000). If you had 25 staff you’d need five Qataris, which in my example would be an extra $165,000 in wages a year. A Qatari business owner can do the math. The difference in salaries could be a significant factor in why private businesses would be reluctant to hire Qataris.

It could also be an issue of the strict employment laws here in Qatar for ex-pats. For example, in most sectors an employee cannot change jobs without a “no objection letter” from his previous employer. If a person wants to leave his current employment and cannot acquire the letter from his employer then he has to leave Qatar. This of course does not apply to Qataris who are free to switch jobs. This creates an incentive for an employer to hire ex-pats as there is some security that the employee will not leave your company for another one.

As for the Government, it also finds itself in a bit of a bind. By providing quality employment for its citizens the Government has provided thousands of jobs in the various Ministries, with good wages, working hours and benefits. This has set the bar of expectation for Qataris looking for work. Private-sector jobs have to compete with that, which is not easy. It would be hard for a Qatari to stay motivated to start a 9-to-5 job with four weeks vacation if they knew that their sibling/cousin/friend is working for the Government for the same money (maybe even more money), working 7-2, and receiving more vacation.

Sometimes the best intentions can have unintended consequences, by trying to help its citizens by providing good Government jobs the Government has had an impact on the employment of citizens in the private sector.

I sometimes wonder how many Qataris have entered the workforce ambitious and with drive, only to find they are in a Government job where they are shuffling some paper back and forth, and realize there isn’t much career advancement barring retirement of senior people, yet if they leave they will probably find a lower paying job with more hours and far less benefits (like the very generous Government pension). They may find themselves stuck, perhaps they strive to do more but are then risking the secure job they have. I wonder if many Qataris in such a situation eventually become disheartened, leading to ambivalence about their job or their performance. It's not unique to Qatar, I think this happens to civil servants in the West as well. You want to go to another job but the risk can be too great. In the West this can be offset by the private sector offering better money and benefits, in Qatar I don't know how easy that is for the private sector, especially if they can hire an ex-pat for less.

So what is the solution for Qatar’s job issues? Well, I'm not sure what would be the best way to deal with it, but I would like to note how things were handled in my previous job, also in a small country with a resident population who were worried about jobs – Bermuda.

Bermuda is a very small island, much smaller than even Bahrain, and of the approximately 60,000 people living on the island around 50,000 are Bermudian. This is not a country where if you can't find a job you can move to another city to search for a job there. There are no other cities. If a Bermudian can't find a job, they're pretty much stuck, so the Government has a strong incentive to find employment for Bermudians.

So in Bermuda all vacant jobs have to be posted in the newspaper for, I think, a minimum of 3 days. This means in the jobs section of the paper you see all sorts of jobs listed, ranging from minimum wage positions all the way up to management of billion-dollar companies.

If a qualified Bermudian or spouse of a Bermudian applies then they must receive the job. Qualified being the key word here. A company is not forced to take just anyone who applies.

Now my understanding was if a Bermudian applied and did not get the job, and it was given to a foreigner, they could contact the Immigration Ministry who will then investigate. At least that was what I was told, some Bermudians have a different view of that process but I think it would be a great thing if it worked well.

Also, my understanding was businesses tended to be questioned by the Government if you appear to hire a lot of foreigners and aren’t training Bermudians to replace them. It is easier to get a work visa for a foreigner if you can show the Government that you are training Bermudians.

It’s not a perfect system (see the article a couple of paragraphs above) and there are ways for an unscrupulous company to get around it, for example by inflating the requirements to ensure no Bermudian could qualify for the position, but at least the Government is trying to secure jobs for its citizens.

While training citizens is also a step in the right direction there is the issue, in both Qatar and Bermuda, that foreigners do have an incentive to keep their well-paying jobs. This means they might not put in a full effort to train Qataris to replace them thus keep their jobs secure. I’m not saying this is always how it works, many ex-pats plan to be here for only a few years anyway so would not be concerned about being replaced by Qatari, but you have to admit the potential for a conflict-of-interest exists.

But what to do about it? It's likely there are not enough Qataris in senior HR positions to oversee training. Then again I don't think there could possibly be enough experienced Qatari HR staff to oversee every company in the country. Would initiatives like what is done in Bermuda work? Hard to say, it would certainly have to be tailored in some way -- you don't want the newspaper filled with hundreds of ads for waiters, laborers, or other positions that Qataris would not be interested in. But what would be the criteria for job ads? Above a certain salary? Above a certain level of hierarchy in the company? These are issues that the Government would need to look at.

What about the proposed Saudi method? Qatar is not Saudi Arabia and there are different factors at play -- Saudi Arabia has a much bigger percentage of citizens compared to the ex-pat population so employment for Saudi citizens must be aimed at positions that are lower-level than the expectations Qatar has for Qatari citizens. It wouldn't work to arbitrarily penalize a company for not meeting the Qatarization percentage, many companies in the construction, transport or industrial sectors may have thousands of low-level jobs so it would just not be practical to demand 20% of the staff be Qatari (and as I’ve said above I don't think it's the Government's intention for its citizens to be working in such jobs).

The Government is finding itself in a tough situation. It wants to help its people so provides an abundance of Government jobs but by doing so it makes it difficult for the private sector to compete, and because of the over-employment in Government many of those who work for Government are probably in jobs that are not very meaningful but they can’t risk losing the benefits the Government provides by leaving their job. It tries to create laws to help its citizens to find employment in the private sector but they those laws don’t appear to adequately tackle the incentives for employers to hire ex-pats instead. A bolder plan is needed, one more complex and better tailored to address the issues.

Tremor in Qatar April 9, 2013 – What Happened

So I was sitting in a conference room talking to a colleague when suddenly I felt a little light-headed and dizzy. I thought was a bit odd when my colleague said something like, “I feel a bit dizzy.” When we realized it was happening to both of us we immediately both thought it was an earthquake.

Outside the conference room everyone was standing up looking a bit confused and confirming that their neighbor felt something as well.

Since it only caused a slight feeling of disorientation it certainly wasn't a powerful tremor, not enough to cause buildings to collapse, but I had two concerns, either:

1) it could have been a powerful earthquake far away (hopefully not from a populated area like Dubai); or
2) it was localized to the building, i.e. the building was somehow moving, maybe sinking on its foundation.

Anyway I wasn't too concerned, the shaking wasn't even enough to knock over small items, but I went outside with some coworkers to catch some air.

Once I got outside and saw that other buildings were evacuating so it was clear it was not anything to do with just the office building I work in.

Which then meant it was a general earthquake. But Qatar does not lie on any known faults and is actually very seismically stable. I was chatting with other colleagues and hoped that what we were feeling was not a big earthquake further away. Meanwhile the entire office building was evacuated and we all stood around chatting and wondering what was going on.

For monitoring my twitter account I discovered that it was due to a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in southern Iran, which is unfortunate as earthquakes in that country can cause thousands of deaths. News reports now say it was near their nuclear power plant as well -- here's hoping nothing goes wrong. Current weather reports have a light wind from the east so if there is some kind of complication from the nuclear power plant at this point in time nothing should reach here.

I’m at home now, everyone was told to not go back to the office. Even if there are further aftershocks in Iran they will not cause much more here than the slight tremor we felt earlier.

Tremor in Qatar - April 9, 2013

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake in southern Iran caused a tremor which was felt throughout Qatar, causing people to evacuate office towers and buildings. It was not a strong tremor so it is unlikely there was any damage in Doha.

More updates shortly.

Bicycles in MIA Park

Just a quick update. While I was in the park of the Museum of Islamic Art I noticed that they had bikes for rent. Costs QAR 25 for an hour. The rental place is near the Café at the far end of the park.



I guess that means it's okay to ride bicycles in the park, unlike the Corniche where bicycles aren't allowed.

Qatar International Food Festival

Tonight was the first night of the Food Festival, held at the park of the Museum of Islamic Art. Essentially, a lot of hotels and restaurants set up tents so you can purchase a wide variety of food and watch the free entertainment.

To my surprise there were fairly big crowds.







I think the crowds were greater than the organizers anticipated. You can't use cash to buy the food, you have to purchase vouchers. This meant that at some voucher booths the lineups were fairly long. Some of the voucher booths weren't even open, I'm not sure why. The festival started at 6pm tonight and I didn't get there till around 8:30 so maybe those booths had sold out of vouchers or something. [Note: Going forward the festival starts at 1 or 2pm depending on the day, check the website for timings.]



I’m trying to lose weight so I started off with a chicken breast sandwich from Diet House Restaurant. It was pretty good. Then I went to a place a couple of tents down that sold salads and had a salad with pomegranates.

Nice view with dinner!




I still had vouchers left so I then went to the Thai Corner tent for some ginger chicken, and finished it off with a mini chocolate cupcake from the Kempinski. I'd say there were over two dozen tents offering various cuisines. Prices were decent with most food around QAR 15-20 and plenty of tents offering smaller snacks for QAR 5-10.

While there were lots of guys running around taking away the trash and placing new garbage bags in the bins I think the unexpected turnout was such that while they were able to keep up with the bins around the tents a few bins on the outskirts weren’t getting tidied as often so trash started to build up.



In between meals I watched the entertainment. There was a jazz band.




And later some electric violinists.



All in all it was worth while. I believe the festival is on for three more nights so I might go again on Saturday night with some friends.

Here's my tips if you're interested in attending:


1) Parking will NOT be available at the museum! Qatari security guards were at the MIA gate turning the cars away. I think you can only drive in if you're working with one of the restaurants or you’re a VIP. There are apparently parking zones with shuttle buses to take you to the park but I have no idea where they are (I walked to the park from home) and the website doesn't appear to show where they are. Ask around where the parking is, maybe qatarliving.com forums has it, or arrange for drop-off and pick-up with a car service. Be careful about drop-off though -- the security guards were even yelling at drivers who are trying to stop at the gate to drop people off (TONS of cars were driving up to the gate so stopping to drop people off would start to cause gridlock).

2) Scout around first and get an idea of the prices and about how much you are going to be spending. Vouchers are sold in books of QAR 40, separated into eight 5-riyal tickets. Since the lineups can be long to get the vouchers it is better that you have a good idea of how many vouchers you'll need and purchase them all at once. Also, you have to pay a service fee of QAR 10 for your first voucher purchase, which is fine (I consider it like an entry fee), but if you go back to purchase more voucher books they might try to charge the QAR 10 fee again because it’s difficult to determine if you've purchased vouchers before.

3) Voucher booths are scattered around the area but the ones at the back, near the health food section, seem to have shorter queues than the ones near the main stage. Hopefully over the weekend they'll have more booths open.

4) There are plenty of options for 5 riyal if you looking to get rid of that last voucher or two so don’t worry about being left with vouchers.

5) Keep some 1 riyal bills with you. Many of the stalls sell water or soda for 1 or 2 riyal and will accept cash for it so you don't have to waste a 5 riyal ticket.

6) There are many benches and tables scattered around but consider bringing a picnic blanket and sitting on the grass. Another possibility is to sit by the seawall with a view of the museum.

Enjoy!

Canadian Soccer

Today I was out doing a few errands when I remembered that someone told me Canada was playing Japan tonight in a friendly match. Leaving aside the mystery of why the Canadian team was here in the first place I had nothing else to do this evening so I headed off to Khalifa Stadium for the match. Doing this as a spur-of-the-moment thing had its drawbacks -- I had no Canadian gear on and didn't have my camera with me so, alas, there are no pictures.

Another mystery was why it was held in Khalifa Stadium (seating about 20,000) as opposed to Al Sadd Stadium (seating about 7,000) since I figured maybe 500 people would show up. Turns out I was too pessimistic, I figure there was over 1,000 people, with possibly more Japanese than Canadians. Seating was only available at one portion of the stadium so at least everyone was together.

Anyway in soccer Japan is typically ranked in the top 25 in the world while Canada is ranked, umm, far lower. Canada's already failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup while Japan is expected to be there. It's not too surprising that Canada has not qualified, as far as I recall they’ve only ever qualified for the World Cup once, in 1986. Because the Japanese are a top team there were tons of sports photographers from Japan parked behind the Canadian goal to get photos. I think there was one cameraman behind the Japanese goal, and it was probably a local photographer for the sports page. I'd be surprised if any Canadian sports media were there. That's just the way it is -- soccer's just not a huge sport in Canada.

So with that in mind I went to the game with an expectation that Japan would completely dominate and win by probably three or four goals. I wasn't fooling myself that Canada would win.

The first half was as expected, Japan was clearly dominant and produced tons of chances while Canada looked lackluster. But Canada definitely had a lot of luck with them as Japan only scored once and I could think of at least three times that Japan should have scored but for some reason missed (two of those were real “how the heck did they not score?” kind of chances). So the score at halftime was 1-0 for Japan. Tell you the truth I was impressed Canada had only kept them to one goal.

But in the second half a good rest and a couple of key substitutions by Canada really seemed to bring some life to the team. The offense was playing a lot more confidently and Canada was getting some chances, while defensively things were also improving. A solid corner kick into the crowd in front of the goal found a Canadian player and suddenly it was 1-1! Japan later scored a great goal to make it 2-1 but Canada had a couple more excellent chances and were definitely giving the Japanese a run for their money. Japan also had one more “how did they not score?” moment but when all was said and done the score remained 2-1.

Given my expectations going in I was definitely impressed with how Canada did, especially in the second half when I think they were equal to the much higher-ranked Japanese. If Canada could have consistently played like that I'm sure they would still be in the hunt for qualifying for the World Cup.

Great job Canada!

More Traffic Woes

This week I attended the recent MultaQa conference at the Ritz-Carlton. This meant that for the first time in, probably years, I was heading out to that area on a weekday morning and returning in the early afternoon to the office.

I could not believe the amount of traffic on Arch Roundabout! Each day I was stuck at that roundabout for 15 minutes, both going to the Ritz and coming back. Man, have I been out of touch, a few years ago that roundabout was easy to get through and didn't have much traffic. Now I'd say it's almost as bad as the infamous Sports Roundabout (which I consider the worst roundabout in Qatar). I spoke to a colleague who lives nearby and he confirmed that the heavy gridlock at key times is pretty much standard now for Arch Roundabout.

Coincidentally at the conference there was a presentation on the new Lusail City project. When finished it will house something like 200,000 people and have tons of office towers etc. the video promoted how you'd be able to both live and work there, and there would be wide streets which would ensure good traffic flow. Call me a bit cynical but I don't think the intention is that the low or middle workers will be living in Lusail, the luxury amenities available in the new project will surely be priced out of their range, leaving the bulk of the workers commuting in from the older parts of Doha. Which will of course mean tens of thousands of workers driving through Arch Roundabout! Already some buildings on Lusail are completed and this is already adding to the traffic woes from the people going to and from the Pearl.

In truth it is unfair of me to predict tens of thousands going through Arch Roundabout. There is already a lot of construction going on to improve the road, and I'm assuming within the next 2 to 3 years Arch Roundabout will be replaced by an intersection or cloverleaf, and the Metro will go to Lusail once it is finished sometime around 2019 or 2020. But in the meantime the traffic is just going to get worse. Backups of 20-25 minutes seem likely in the next couple of years before there is a solution.

Camping and Falconry

Recently a Qatari friend of mine called and invited me out to the desert with some friends. I'm always up for that, I like hanging out and learning about doing things the Qatari way. First we headed out to the northwestern desert to meet up with some other Qataris.






They had something special with them:





So we spent some time watching the falcons chase pigeons.






Some hunts were successful.





Some weren’t. This one pigeon wisely flew under one of the parked Land Cruisers (it also wisely refused to come out).







Another pigeon immediately flew away as fast as it could. We followed the pigeon and the falcon in the Land Cruisers for a couple of kilometers until we came to a small ruined wall.






The falcon was sitting on the wall, exhausted, and with no pigeon.






That’s because the pigeon had spotted a hole in the wall and flown into it.





We eventually left the falconers and about 10 km away set up camp for dinner. We weren't staying overnight, just dinner and chatting for a while.





First we had Arabic coffee.





Then another Qatari friend came by in his Land Cruiser with dinner.




Now that's delivery! Out in the middle of the desert and still the delivery finds us. ;-)

After we ate we were sitting around chatting and drinking coffee when suddenly a thick fog came in.





Now we were stuck! You could barely see 40 feet so there was no way anyone was going to drive through the desert under these conditions. We had no choice but to build up the fire and wait it out (we were burning wood that the Qataris brought with them in large bags). Thanks to the dampness of the fog it soon got pretty cold and without the fire we’d have been freezing.





It was possible that we would have to sleep in the Land Cruisers until the morning but luckily the fog cleared by around 1:00am so we were able to go home.

All in all an eventful day and I was glad to have been invited along.


If you would like to see more picutres of falconry here is a post from a year ago when I went out to the desert to watch it.

Post Vacation Catch Up

Now that I'm back from vacation I figured I would catch up on a few things.

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I was angered to hear the recent announcement that the IOC was considering dropping wrestling from the Olympics. What kind of decision-making process came up with that? About four years ago I had a blog post where I touched on this topic:


In fact the Olympic events that annoy me are those that basically exclude the Developing World because of the costs involved to either participate in it, or to train people to excel at it. Could someone explain to me how most developing nations could have even a chance of competing in something like equestrian events? Or sailing? As far as I'm concerned the IOC should consider getting rid of most of these high-tech, high-expense events and focus on those that countries of any economic level have a realistic chance to participate in.


And here the IOC is going the opposite direction, removing sports that any country could potentially compete in yet keeping those sports that the Developing World really has no chance to participate in. How is this in any way fair and keeping with the spirit of the Olympics?

I really hope the IOC changes its mind.

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While a lot of flights had been canceled at Calgary airport due to the snowstorm thankfully mine wasn't. I landed in Doha fine but my luggage didn't make it with me. Guess that two-hour layover in Heathrow wasn't long enough for the bag to transfer across terminals. Finally got home at 2am after sorting things out with the lost baggage department at the airport, only to receive a text at 7am that my bag was now at the airport.

There are advantages to Qatar Airways flying to Heathrow at least four times a day. This is one of them. That's why I usually fly to London en route to Canada.

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Man was it hot in Qatar for the few days after I landed. I went from -5° in Calgary to 34° in Doha. I don't think I was acclimatized well to the change, I even had to put the AC on in my bedroom, something I don't normally do until around May. Nice to see it’s recently cooled down again though.

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Brought maple candies for people in the office to try and people appeared to enjoy them. It's surprising how many people have never actually tried maple before, it's one of my favorite flavors. Even better, maple syrup and other maple products (maple sugar, maple butter etc) are halal so Muslims can enjoy it as well.

Oh well, vacation is over, time to put the winter coats away and get back to the grind.

Snow Storm

I just woke up to this:



A snow storm, almost a blizzard, and I'm flying out in 8 hours. I hope. I looked online at the airport website and some flights have made it out. With luck the storm will blow over and I`ll fly out tonight.

Tim Hortons

[If you are looking for information on the Tim Hortons in Doha click here, it opened May 9, 2013]

There is a coffee-and-donut chain that dominates the Canadian landscape, with thousands of stores coast to coast. No, not Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, it’s called Tim Hortons.

I wish I could tell you what it is about Tim Hortons that makes it so popular amongst Canadians. Its coffee and donuts are decent but not amazing (though Timbits are really nice), it doesn’t have the atmosphere of a more upscale coffee shop, and it doesn’t offer anything in particular that you couldn’t get from other places. But we love it anyway.

In honour of Tim Hortons opening stores in the Middle East (with a Doha branch coming soon!) below is a medley of Tim Hortons’ photos from my current trip, including views from the drive-thru and people "rolling up the rim". Enjoy.