the entire female population of doha

...in one small Japanese restaurant sitting room. Yessssssssss!

Perhaps we should have expected that the first girls' night dinner upon everyone's return to Doha would be quite well attended. Yet I thought I was rounding up when I called Oishi yesterday to make a reservation for ten ladies "in a private room." I ended up having a five-minute conversation with the Oishi guy, who was very concerned for our comfort. Apparently they can only guarantee that eight people can sit comfortably in the private rooms. "Ten people can sit together but it will be tight," he told me sincerely. "It depends on how big you are. Are you all Americans?"

I assured him that we were ladies of varying nationalities and that some of us were very small and that I was sure we could all fit and it would be a lot of fun. He laughed along with me and said "hopefully!"

Once the numbers ballooned to fifteen, I was pretty sure we were headed for disaster. But I envisioned that it would be fun to be crammed together in one of those rooms -- and sure enough, we made it work! Out went the seat backs, in came more cushions, and somehow, with five on each side and 2-3 on each end, we had a lovely time together.

Even better, not only was the Oishi staff gracious about our immense overcrowding of their room (and the food, though appearing haphazardly, was delicious as usual), they even brought us a boxed doll as a gift at the end of the night!






Photo credits:
All B&W photos, Mia Buchignani