Hurry to Collcet Me

On Thursdays, Hank stays after school to practice his French, so Hannah, Jack, and I have an hour to kill before we go pick him up.  His school is close to a fun store called Lu-Lu, which has good food choices plus an upstairs that's like a department store.  A couple of weeks ago, I bought Jack two pairs of shoes and they were running a thing where they gave you an in-store voucher when you spent a certain amount.  So we had the voucher to spend and headed on over to the toy department.

If you want to see a grown American woman looking like she's up to no good, then give her a cell phone with a built in camera and put her in the middle of a toy department in a foreign land.  The guards kept eying me suspiciously, which was of course the right thing to do, since I was looking rather shifty-eyed like I was trying to hide something (which I was...I was trying to hide my camera as I took pictures of the toys).   So here are a few of the fun things from the Lu-Lu Hypermarket toy section in Doha.  This is actually a pretty good toy section in terms of selection and price. 

That top picture is of a baby doll dressed as a belly dancer, sporting a diamond belly button ring.  This is a contradiction is so many terms that I don't even know where to begin...so I'll just leave it at that.

Next is "Um Saloom," which means "Saloom's Sassy Mama."  Actually, I added that Sassy part in there, but you can see behind her veil that her eyes have a glimmer of smarty pants going on.  I do believe she yells things at you in Arabic if you squeeze her tummy.  I have seen Um Saloom in several stores and am a little tempted to bring her home.  She and I look like we might have a few things in common.

Next up is...I have no freakin' idea what this is but it totally creeps me out.  Is it Sasha Baron Cohen (the actor who played Borat in the movie)?  Is it a punked out Grandaddy wearing red lipstick with his hair painted pink?  Check out the belt buckle and dog tags...all that went ringing through my head when I saw this was W.T.H.????  I was scared to touch it for fear that it might start singing or gyrating or something.  That little white bunny thing wearing the blue plaid skirt and standing in front of our man-dude looks like she may be getting ready to file molestation charges...

Maybe he's Um Saloom's crazy husband?

Let's just leave that whole cannerwerms right where it is.

Next up is our Barbie fest.
Hannah thinks she wants Barbie dolls, but once she has them, she ignores them.  This makes me, as her mother, happy. Hannah isn't ready to keep up with tiny little shoes and accessories, and she has enough princess in her to not need a big-busted role model any time soon.  However, she swoons over the Barbies at the store.  Whenever she sees one, she commands me to "put on the list." 

The list is a never-ending wish list which is not written down anywhere but which includes the entire Waco Walmart toy department as well as about 10,362 other things...when Hannah wants something I tell her we'll "put it on the list" and then when it comes time for Christmas or birthday, I have selective memory about what is on the list or not...this has worked like a dream since she was less than 3 years old. :) 

So the Sleeping Beauty Barbie that just got added to "the list" costs 145 QR. That translates to $39.72.  Compare that to $21.00 in the US.
Fulla is the Middle Eastern Barbie doll.  She comes with her hijab (head scarf) and reasonably modest clothes, along with Barbie's totally whack measurements, estimated to be 36" bust, 18" waist, and 33" hips (5' 9", 110 pounds).  Fulla isn't made by the Barbie people, and I don't think she comes with a NASA moon walking suit option.

Barbie and Fulla need to come to my house for some Tres Leches Cake.

Moving on again, we come to the plentify fake Barbie's whose arms fall off (never to be reattached) within one hour of opening.  This "Style Vogue Barbie" (immediately put on "the list") says "Hurry to Collcet Me" on the side.  Got to love the translated-into-English packaging.  More on that in a minute.

Compared to our "real" Barbie above, this Style Vogue Barbie was (I think) 37 Riyale--about $10.  So think "Dollar Store Barbie."  Bless her heart.

Finally, our Middle Easter Barbie tour takes us to Kareema and Jamil.  Jamil is dressed in a traditional thobe and guptra, while Kareema has on her hajib and a trench coat (?).  I wish Kareema had on the traditional abaya instead.  I also wonder what is under that trench coat? Old Borat up there may have tried to peek and gotten hit in the mouth with something...that may be what's up with his lips.

Finally, the last stop on our toy tour is at the "Benthal Fish."  This one was fun for what was written on the box.  The fish will "Swim happily and at liberty IN THE WATER."  It's "FUNCTION" notes "Accelerate to exercise suddenly, The fin also comes after the acceleration swing."

Over on the left, the box declares, "They live here marvellously.  Bottom of the Sea World."

Some time soon I need to take some pictures of the warning notes on these same kinds of boxes. 

Until then, my dear loved ones, I wish you good night at hope that you will "swim happily and at liberty IN THE WATER."