oil country

i spent today wandering around doha, mainly in the "city center" mall (yeah, that's what it's called, and it has at least 3 adidas stores and 3 burger kings), and corniche, the pedestrian park area near the water. it was largely uneventful, except for the shock of seeing everybody in headscarves. i kept a vote in the mall for all of 5 minutes, and about 75% of the women had them, though people dressed in totally western, revealing clothing were present as well. what surprised me is that the headscarves that covered only the hair i barely noticed, but i was instinctively (and not rationally) a little frightened by the complete burkas, that leave just a slit for the eyes. i'm not sure why that is: 1) has the image propaganda gone to my head? emily moxley, a george w. bush success story... 2) am i more disturbed by the more that's covered, because for me it's symbolic of greater oppression?, or 3) does it just remind me of every hollywood mugger/murderer/thief that pulls on a ski mask to commit the crime? i tried to figure this one out, and i'm really just not sure... but after only a few hours in qatar, it's no longer strange to me to see women in burkas sipping out of a christmas-themed starbucks cup. tomorrow i go on a 4x4 trip in the desert dunes, and then continue on to england to be with the family for C*.