Today was National Sportsday in Qatar and our little family chose to spend the holiday ice skating in the mall. The ice rink is a somewhat unique public space for Qatar in the way it attracts all different kind of nationalities to share the same pit. Here are the Philippina ladies enjoying a bit of adventure on their day off holding on to each other for support, together with the Qatari brothers laughing their way bareheaded through the falls while quickly learning the tricks. The younger boy keeps a smiley eye on us. We are the audience of his fearless falls. Here is the admirable eastern European figure skater of whom everybody is jealous, on the same ice as the bundle of Korean 6 year olds scrambling the pit with the help of various vehicles. Here is a German looking mother whom appear so terribly afraid but still slowly makes her way around, by holding on to the border of the rink while her family is playing in the centre. What keeps her going? Here are quite a few Arabic girls proudly swooshing around by themselves individually. They are not particularly skillful, but fast. They really seem to enjoy it. One little girl, maybe from Lebanon, or Syria, has a big smile ready every time we pass each other. My husband is the only grown up with a helmet.