The Waiting Game

Just past midway of my first Ramadan and despite all the initial trepidation it really hasn't been too bad. Apart from altered opening times for facilities such as shops and gyms (typically 13:00 - 24:00), restricted access to alcohol (which is probably no bad thing) and the half-hour crazy driving antics of the devout trying to get back for sunset prayers around 18:30, the whole thing has been not too arduous. Imagine it as an extended version of the UK Christmas/New Year holiday, that lasts for a month, and it will give you some idea of what's happening.

For me there have actually been more benefits than costs being here during Ramadan. Firstly, my working hours, on direct orders from the Qatari government, have been reduced to 08:30 till 13:30. So for four weeks it will be like working part-time; which will take some getting used to when it's all over. Secondly, we were invited to a Sidra sponsored Ramadan meal called Gabga which took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and was very brilliant; mountains of Arabic food, live music and a fantastic 'Whirling Dervish' dance troupe. And finally the crazy Doha traffic is nowhere near as manic, obviously helped by thousands of people flying off to avoid the extreme heat, but any reduction in the general levels of lunacy is to be welcomed.

All of which will seem a distant dream when we get back from Australia at the end of August. But at least it will have been cushioned by being out of the country for three weeks. The one thing that will endure is the C40+ heat which still has a few months to go and will be welcomed after, the comparatively, mild C15 of Perth. Even went shopping today for a sensible coat in case we get caught in a down pour or, heaven forbid, we go for an evening stroll. Not sure it will get much use when we come back but it won't take up too much room in one of the walk-in wardrobes!

So after our usual daily Siesta we are off to the gym to continue the beautification process. Which of the four gyms we have access to shall we use today? Doesn't really matter as they are all very good and usually empty. Might even go for a swim in the Olympic sized pool and break-in my new, smaller sized, swimming trunks. I was shamed into buying them after confessing that my old ones were at least fifteen years old!

Onward and upward.  



   

Week Twenty Already

Is it me or is time really whizzing past? I can't believe that it's two weeks since I last wrote on here. Add to that my growing goldfish memory and it doesn't give me a lot to work with.

Last weekend went something like:
Friday
Went with Cath to the fabric souq (market) and it was bonkers. Cars double parked everywhere, too many people, lots of circling around to try and find somewhere to park. Suddenly, like the Parting of the Sea a car reversed out of space right in front of me, and quick as a flash I was in. As we went to pull out twenty minutes later Cath said "You were lucky to find this spot right outside the shop but isn't this a Disabled Parking bay?" I reply "Ba**s, yes it is but there is no ticket on the windscreen and the parking all around here is SO crazy that we should be OK". Er, wrong get a text to tell me I'm now QR500 (£100) lighter. O Flip I cry!
Then went and got plastered at a friends very nice apartment in the posh bit of town called The Pearl. His place is directly above the Ferrari showrooms which is handy. Being there elevates an already bizarre place to nearly off the scale - exotic fast cars, Rolex shops, Versace, skyscrapers - bonkers!
Saturday

100mts. tall and revolving

Cath went for a farewell 'high tea' at the top of Qatar's tallest building, Aspire Tower, with some of the teachers from her school who are not coming back after the holidays. I would really have liked to have gone as well but I was already booked in to watch the Lions match at another mates place across the road from us. The match was a bit disappointing especially as we lost and I ended up watching it on my own like 'Billy No Mates' as they were double booked and had to leave me to my own devices. I'm sure other stuff happened that weekend but I've slept since then and can't remember anything else.

This weekend:
Thursday 4 July
Went for a business lunch that started at 2.00pm and ended went I staggered home at 9.30pm. Thankfully most of the booze was bought during Happy Hour (which actually lasts several hours).
Friday 5 July
To try and off-set the heavy drinking the night before I went with Cath to the gym and did an hour on the exercise bike. I was surprised how well I did considering the state I was in the evening before. Slept most of the afternoon prior to going out to a leaving do for my boss. Had set out with the intention of keeping off the sauce but that lasted thirty seconds; Strawberry Daiquiris were offered and it seemed rude not to sample them. So along with all sorts of cocktails we had loads of Thai take-away and, as the song goes "Whoops I Did It Again!".
Saturday 6 July
Felt delicate again - sure it was something I ate! Had to go back to bed at lunch time as I felt really grog. Had been invited for a curry across the road again and watch the Lions tour decider. Was offered anything and everything booze wise but decided to just drink milk this time. Thankfully we won the match in great style and the curry duly arrived after it was all over; my system was nearly back to normal and the food was much appreciated.

Then got a call from another colleague to ask if Cath and I wanted to go to a beach in the North of Qatar to see some turtles hatch. What's not to like? So at 4.30pm we were on our way to a deserted beach about an hours drive away. It was fairly busy when we got there and not quite the way it's portrayed on the TV. As it turned out it wasn't our night and we didn't see any baby turtles emerging. But at least we tried.

Enough of this guff I'm off to work tomorrow for a rest!!!!!!

Pheeeeeek........

Wednesday 19th June
Just for a change decided to do something different and check out the Lusail shooting range which is about 20km north of Doha. As is the want in Qatar it is a very big complex with several rifle and pistol ranges, and ten clay pigeon shooting stands. Clay shooting is quite popular in Qatar as they won a bronze medal in the last Olympics due in no part to having such a great place on their doorstep. Not much in the way of any safety checks or licences just pay QR100 (£20) for a box of cartridges and off you go. Enjoyed it so much I had to have two goes and then a beer on the way home at the golf club.

Thursday 20th June
Final golf lesson of the six, postponed from the previous week due to very high winds. Had a short practise on the driving range and then Andy, the coach, laid on a putting competition. A very good end to the sessions but don't think I'll take up golf. Will drop in to use the driving range and the 19th hole occasionally but that's as far as I think it will go.

Friday 21st June
The main event - Pub Golf Charity event around the five star hotels of Doha. Was I mad to organise such a thing? Quite a few people thought so as they paid the QR50 'green fees' but didn't want to join in in case it got messy. Which funnily enough it did. There were twenty of us who braved it into the bloody hot Doha evening and via minibus visited the expensive watering holes around West Bay. I was very uncertain how the slightly conservative door staff might react but as it was probably one of the first Pub Golf events many of them would have seen I think they thought we were Americans coming back from a day on the course.

Some of the 'golfer' prior to the off!

First bar was a bit crowded, as Happy Hour was about to end, but lots of punters were very keen to chat to us and as the wine (a par four drink) flowed it all went well. The minibus was a God send as, unlike in the UK, the 'bars' are quite a distance apart and with the temperature at probably 30C+ there could have been a few who fell by the wayside. At the second bar we had a few cocktails and it was back on the bus into the main hotel area. The bus driver said he knew were the hotel, The W, was but gave us all a fright/thrill by ploughing through traffic the wrong way up a one-way street. Bit mad but, if you'll pardon the pun, par for the course in Doha! We finally ended up at a rough approximation of a British pub called 'Champions' which is in walking distance of were most people lived. Was a bit miffed that there was a QR60 entrance fee as there was a band playing but, as it turned out, they ROCKED! They were a seven piece Filipino covers band and they were excellent. By now Jaeger Bombs seemed to be the order of the night and the rest as they say was a terrible hangover after hitting the sack after 2am. Raised about £200 which is going to a women's charity in Rwanda that one of the evening competitors had been working for. A good night, as far as I can tell, and I think everyone got back roughly in one piece. If I haven't heard anything from the Qatari authorities within forty-eight hours I'll assume the best!

At 'Trader Vic' with a mad work colleague Colleen
Still relatively sober at this point.
It went down hill rapidly after this!

Bar #3 Wahm at the W Hotel

Saturday 22nd June
Maybe, in hindsight, not the wisest of decisions to have booked onto a trip with the Qatar Natural History Group the day after a massive bender. Woke up at about eight o'clock strangely without much of a headache but with, for the first time in my life, a bad case of the delirium tremors (the DT's if you will) - not a nice feeling at all and certainly not a good advert for excessive drinking. But off we went, Cath, our neighbour Tom and myself, to the slightly bonkers Sheikh Faisal Museum. I was expecting a few rooms with some nice bits and pieces, but what you actually got was a vast complex crammed with all sorts of stuff - fossils, ancient manuscripts, weapons, furniture, cars, motorbikes, boats, an aeroplane, more guns, ceramics, Bedouin heritage, did I mention guns, paintings, coins, and, just for good measure, some cannons. Absolutely crazy; very little explanation about where/what/who, and where it did exist it was obviously wrong. The funniest I saw, and maybe it was done by a bored curator, was a drawing of two fierce Arab warriors fighting with swords entitled 'The Arrival of the Prime Minister of Algeria' - priceless. The strangest thing was a bamboo bike from the Far East, and the most impressive a whole T-Rex fossilised head. Totally mad, but utterly fascinating. I really must go there again when I'm not feeling quite so, shall we say, delicate.

 

Never again......

....until the next time. Feeling a bit delicate after a 'cheese and wine' evening at a work colleagues place. Decided not to go to a 'all you can eat and drink' Birthday brunch earlier in the day as I've been on the waggon for both food and booze. So after drinking the best part of two bottles of white wine and eating my way through the runniest/smelliest cheesy offering from around the world I now feel a little delicate.

But what a laugh! First ever go on a Wii - can recommend Zumba Dance Off and Ten-pin Bowling. I will try to get a copy of the various videos I saw being taken for you delectation; I know you can't wait!

Feeling much better now after two cups of tea and some muesli. With Bowie blaring on the stereo and my fuzzy brain slowly coming back from wherever it went last night - life really is sweet.

Just need to go and collect the car and all be right as rain, tickety boo and fan-daby-dozzy.

 

Moment of Madness

....not what you think. On Friday morning I drove from Doha to Dukhan, an oil/gas town about 60km west, to try to locate a rendezvous point for the following day. On the way there, for a distance of several kilometres, I was the only car in either direction on a four lane motorway; repeat the ONLY car. I had a slight out-of-body experience thinking that I had either by accident turned onto a major section of motorway that wasn't officially opened yet or some sort of zombie Apocalypse was about to befall me. Neither of which was true. It was just very large road, that led to nowhere in particular, on a Friday (think Sunday) morning. Not something you are very likely to experience in crowded old blighty.

Friday afternoon I went on a tour of the State Mosque. It was organised by the main centre for Islamic Studies in Doha called the Fanar. We had an excellent guided tour delivered by a British convert, which was both enlightening and entertaining. Unfortunately I had another engagement and had to book a taxi to take me back to the city centre, and missed out on the buffet featuring camel that had been laid on for us.

 

 

 

We then had a very good night being entertained by some of Cath's work colleagues, Christine & Mark, at their villa in West Bay. Rosie, a Kiwi teacher from Cath's school, and her husband, Fred, were also there and they were, as our son would say, "Good value!" as well. Excellent! 

Saturday morning saw me heading back toward Dukhan to meet-up with Khalid Al-Suwaidi, a Qatari beekeeper I had contacted via the Qatar Natural History Group. He took me to his cousins farm near Shahaniya and gave me a very knowledgeable account of beekeeping in this part of the world. As you can imagine it is not the easiest place to rear bees what with the arid conditions and lack of flower bearing plants. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when Khakid took me on a tour of the small enclosed farm and showed by possibly twenty hives in three different locations. All the hives contained very placid bees but not great numbers - in the UK a good hive might have twenty thousand bees at a minimum I suspect Khalids hives held much less than half of that. But the bees he did have seemed very productive, bringing in nectar and pollen from the stands of Sidra and Eucalyptus trees.

 

Khalid was hoping to develop a business selling Qatar honey, as the market for honey imported from other Arab countries was very large. He did concede that it would be an uphill struggle as the climate was no ideally suited to large scale production. He did however managed to produce enough to sell to friends and neighbours from his home.

Saturday evening saw me watching the last night of the Doha Players production of Hot Mikado a 1940's rendition of the Gilbert & Sullivan favourite. It was directed by a colleague of mine, Christopher Churchouse, and was excellent. I'd heard differing, and wide ranging, reports from others who'd been previously but, given that it was an amateur production, I thought it was very good.

That's all for now I'm off to bed for a rest......

    

Up and down (literally)

Not the best weekend I've had here. But then again.....

Thursday night got the entry form for the Red Bull Flugtag. We intend to submit a team from the simulation department of Sidra based on the Bloody Red Baron complete with triplane. Quite by chance we have a model aeroplane making in our building who is very keen to help; so who knows it might even get airborne. I'll keep you posted.

Booked a fishing trip for Saturday afternoon that was in doubt due to high winds. As it turned out it wasn't too choppy but still not the almost flat calm we'd had on the previous two trips. There were several first timer amongst us and three of them did suffer with sea sickness. The fact that we caught almost nothing, again in contrast to the previous trips, didn't really salvage the day. But as we had an early start, and were back by 11:00, we at least had the rest of the day to recover.

In the afternoon I collected the 'new' car - 2005 Mitsubushi Nativa. Bit rough around the edges but for the money a pretty good car. Hopefully it will last for a few years as the second car, and back and forth to work will be easier now.

Nicknamed 'Bluey' by the previous owners!

Just waiting to use for the first time in anger in the commute to work. Should be able to hold its own, and not be barged about by all the Land Cruisers.

Wish me luck!  

Bit remiss of me.......

Can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote here. I'm struggling to remember what I did yesterday let alone over the last two weeks. So in no particular order:

• Went night fishing at a very swanky waterfront area called The Pearl - all Armani, Ferrari and Sunseekers. Not entirely sure that we were allowed to fish there, but no sign was in evidence to the contrary so off we went. The guy I went with, Tom, had been before and regaled me with tales of the one that got away and dark shapes looming beneath smaller fish he had previously reeled in. So I had a certain amount of lure envy when he pulled out a lurid orange and yellow thing about six inches long - mine was only about an inch and a half! With his first cast he was straight into a thrashing mad thing that gave his cheap'n'cheerful supermarket rod a right work-out. We eventually managed to hand haul it up onto the quayside and it was a fish that I had caught previously called a Shaari. It's like a freshwater Perch, covering in spiny fins and with sharp looking teeth. I was really surprised to see such a large fish come out of what looked like a small canal. We let that one go and went in search of his brothers and sisters. We each caught one more about the same size and then Tom got into something much bigger that fairly ripped the line off the reel as it shot off. With such a small rod he didn't have much chance of stopping it and after about thirty metres or so it snapped him off. As is so often the case we would have loved to have seen what it was, but then that's fishin'.
•     After a few beers on a Thursday after work got dragged to a beach party. Didn't have a clue who/what/where but thought "What the Hell!". Was surprised to find that it was hosted by one of the DJs that my son like, Paul van Dyck. We got there about ten thirty and the main man was supposed to come on at eleven. By twelve, and still no superstar DJ, decided to call it a day. Just as I was leaving he came onto the stage in a cloud of dry ice and appeared just long enough for me to be able to say "I've seen Paul van Dyck".
• My three month probation period is now over and you'll be please and/or surprised to know that they wanted to keep me. The official day is 28th May but all the paperwork has been signed and sent to HR so I'm as good as in. Will buy a fancy cake - if I remember, all this sun has addled my brian (sic).
• Can you believe it that Cath and I went for a workout at the gym together this morning. I only went to 'show willing' but she used her teacherly ways on me to keep going. She introduced me to some strange positions that her personal trainer had shown her so I suspect I won't be able to walk tomorrow. As is often the case, with lazy sods like me anyway, I was glad that I made the effort and hope to get down there more regularly.
• The new apartment is taking shape and becoming more homely. We now have a lady who comes in weekly to clean the ankle  deep thilth we wallow in - I don't know how we coped before. Even though we are relatively far away from the waterfront (fifteen minutes as opposed to three hours in Derby) I'm glad we moved here as the environment is much less urban and extremely quiet.
• Also, finally, bought a car - a 2005 Mitsubushi Nativa. Well worth the wait and, as is so often the case, bought from a neighbour rather than the far flung districts I have previously travelled to. Just need to transfer the registration tomorrow and then I've got wheels
  

 

 



 

Just a quick update on the last week:

Tuesday 7 May
Started golf lessons at the only golf club in Doha. For QR550 I get six hour long lessons from a pro; it was excellent and well worth the money. I don't think I'll take it much further than the lessons but an occasional blast on the driving range might be useful to relieve any stress that builds up.

Friday 10 May
The first Diamond League Athletics Event of the season took place in Doha to a packed, and enthusiastic, crowd. Unlike the football match I watched there a few weeks ago the stadium, which holds over ten thousand I would guess, was rammed. I got to see a whole load of ex-world champions and Olympic medallists close-up; I even recognised some from the TV.

Thought I'd include a few general shots of where we live just to give you a flavour our new neighbourhood and how it's hotting up:

The entrance to Education City
Community Housing Lot1

Our apartment block - we are on the second floor,
back right

View of the apartment from outside the compound
we are the second floor, right in the middle

 

View looking right from the entrance
of our apartment

View looking directly across from the entrance
of our apartment

Short and sharp blog this time as I need to get ready for work again tomorrow. There may not be much to report from out-and-about as the temperature is really starting to climb; it was registering C42 on the car external thermometer today. We'll very soon be restricted to dashing from the air conditioned apartment, to the air conditioned car, to the air conditioned office, nipping into an air conditioned shopping mall on the way home, and quickly back into the air conditioned apartment again. No wonder so many ex-pats are ghostly pale and have very little suntan to speak of.

So must rush. Cheers for now!

Boyd
 

Finally moved

Time goes by so quickly that if I forget to update the blog another week has passed, and with the old memory not what it was I soon forget what we've been up to.

On Thursday evening we finally moved the last of our stuff from Merzam over to Education City. Cedric, the Ford Explorer, really came into his own as surrogate removal van. It only took us three trips and one of those was because we were worried about damaging the large plant collection we have adopted. The apartment is now looking more homely and is excellent. Hopefully we can now settle down for a bit and make it our home rather than a holiday location. We will be very strict about what we acquire in the way of household stuff as it soon builds-up and at some point we may have to move again or even leave the country when our contracts are up; but that's hopefully a long way off.

For Friday I had arranged to join the Qatar Natural History Group on a visit to an archaeological dig in the north of Qatar. A team from the University of Wales have been excavating a fort and associated buildings that dates from the 1500's. It was a very interesting guided tour of a site not yet open to the public. The fact that the sea level was a few metres higher and the area was lushly cultivated was a bit of a surprise given the arid desert conditions and oppressive heat on the day we visited.


The dig leader looked suitably Indiana Jones like!

Whilst we were there we were told to be careful of the bee nest on one of the walls. Obviously my ears pricked up at this and all thoughts of ancient civilisations and artifacts were soon forgotten. The small bee colony was attached, out in the open, to the rock face and looked like a small secondary swarm. They could also be the size of swarm you might expect to see in this part of the world as they certainly didn't look like any other bees I'd seen before; being black, light brown and white banded.

My first wild bees in Qatar



Later that afternoon Cath and I visited IKEA and bought a few things to brighten the apartment - some tasteful lamps and two of their cheap'n'cheerful meals. We also had a few neighbours round for drinks - hic!

Saturday was literally a washout as we had thunder and lightening plus torrential rain. It meant that I decided not to bother going to see the final football match of the Heir Apparent Cup. I didn't fancy seeing all the players jumping about when the pitch was stuck by lightening.

And then all too soon it's back to work again. But we're still very much enjoying our time here and have another full social calendar for the coming weekend plus mid-week golf lessons and Zumba!



 

A mixed bag......

Friday 26 April

After another meal at Khan Farouk we went to a concert by the Qatar  Philharmonic Orchestra; it was a mixed bag:

• Barber - Adagio for Strings: a well known piece that was excellent  7/10
• Sharara - Egyptian Concerto for Oud and Orchestra: the Oud player was excellent, the orchestra were excellent, they just didn't for me sit together very well   5/10
• Economou - Electra: the conductor, and musical director of the orchestra, slipped a piece of his own work into the program and nearly gave Cath a heart attack induced by hysteria. During this performance I could feel her gently bouncing next to me trying to suppress laughter. When it thankfully came to the end she had tears running down her face. It really was a stinker; if you were given the task of penning something to turn people away from classic music this would be right up there. Very self-indulgent  2/10
• Elgar - Enigma Variations: loud, proud and all that is good about classical music 8/10 

Saturday 27 April

After one previous cancellation the fishing trip finally took place. We could not have asked for better conditions - fairly clam, slight breeze and cloud cover to keep the temperature under control. Of the original ten only eight managed to make it, but they were a good bunch and a fair selection of the ex-pats you're likely to meet out here - a Brit (me), one Irishman, one Lebanese, four Kiwis and a Canadian. We caught plenty of fish, most of which we took home, and some unusual stuff - a sea snake (potential VERY poisonous but luckily it dropped off before we had to think about doing anything with it) and a load of sardine like fish. The biggest fish (in Arabic known as a sharri; not unlike a fresh water Perch and just as spiny) was caught by Donna (NZ) so it might be true what they say about women and fishing!

Here are a few photos:

 

 

 

 

 

These didn't get away and are now in
the freezer.

 

 A brilliant four hours bobbing about on the glorious Arabian Gulf and only QR120 (£24) all inclusive. If the weather holds up, ie. doesn't get any hotter, I think I'll book another trip for next month.

Tally Ho! 

Time & Tide and all that.....

 

.....Goodness me is it nearly two weeks since I last wrote here? There is so much to see and do (and even occasionally go to work) that time just flies by. Is it really week eight already?

Mr & Mrs Tourist at Katara again!
Can't remember what for - something food related probably.

My initial "100mph, see everything, do everything, new boy in the candy store" enthusiasm is finally waning. My work/life balance has been re-calibrated firmly in the work arena as last weekend I worked both Friday and Saturday , and this coming weekend I'm working one day at home. I haven't worked at the weekend in about ten years and now two in a row; this will have to be redressed asap.

Buffet lunch provided for the weekend 'workers'

So the pace of work is picking up as the urgency to get things ready for the hospital opening increases. There is still no firm date for the handover but, as medical simulation will be used extensively for staff and systems orientation training (prior to any actual patients arriving), we need to be up-and-running well in advance of many other areas. To that end we have been given access to other simulation facilities in the area to trial training modules and produce supporting 'expert videos' teaching materials - hence the weekend working.

In between all this work there has, obviously, been plenty of fun stuff going on. In no particular order:

• Went to an open-air night time Jazz/Swing evening featuring excellent singers and band. The setting was fantastic as well 

  

  Not a brilliant photo but it gives you an idea
   

• St George's Day tea party - being from Wales I offered to make Welsh Cakes which was a bit brash as I've never made them before and didn't have much in the way of cooking equipment. But with a bit of improvisation - using tablespoons instead of weight ingredients and a frying pan for the griddle - they got made, and a few were even eaten!
• Got given, by someone whose contract is ending, a load of house plants. They'd seen photos of our garden in the UK and thought we might be the most capable of keeping them going. I was expecting a few small pots but they are very large structural plants that would have been quite expensive. They do look good though and will be put in pride of place in our new apartment.
• Received confirmation that we will be getting an apartment in Education City. It is only about ten minutes drive "Inshala" from where we will both work, and means that Cath won't have to endure the rush-hour madness of the Salwa Road and Doha Expressway.
• We had our Egyptian friends around last night to sample British food and decided against fish and chips or roast beef and Yorkshire puddings in favour of the number one staple British food - curry; Chicken Tikka Marsala to be exact and all the trimmings. Seemed to go down well especially as I didn't go overboard with the chilies. They brought us a fantastic pistachio cake as a gift; which was unexpected but very good of them. Their two-year old son, Salem, hada grand time redecorating the apartment; we'd forgotten that all reachables need to be at least four foot high!

Space Age cake!

Tonight we are out for another meal followed by a Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra concert playing Elgar's Enigma Variations. Then tomorrow I'm hopefully off fishing; as long as it doesn't get cancelled again and calling around to a mates, Simon, to try and sort his MP3 player and probably some beer!

"I know - it's a hard life, but somebody has to do it!" Bring on week nine; only four weeks until the end of my probationary period - Eek!

 

 

 



 

Chalk & Cheese

Compared to last week this one has been a fairly quite affair:-

Wednesday 10 April
During the day I actually did some technician work!!!! Went to the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar and helped set-up some scenarios that will be used next weekend for a research project. I volunteered to work on the Saturday as two of my colleagues are going to Bahrain for the Grand Prix - as you do. It will be the first Saturday I've worked for five years.

In the evening we went to the home of one of Cath's Egyptian work colleagues for a family meal. It was lovely and certainly different from the slightly 'westernised' food we've had to date. Although all the ingredients were very familiar they were served in totally differing ways than they would be in the UK. For the main meal we had cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and herbs, boiled and fried  chicken, a saffron rice cake, a spinach and garlic sauce/soup, and a savoury rice pudding with fried onions and garlic. Then for the desert we had an Egyptian version of bread-and-butter pudding made with strips of cooked puff pastry. A very nice meal with lovely people. We are intending to invite them over next week for a typical British meal; I hope they like Chicken Tikka and Kulfi.

Thursday 11 April
Another evening of Egyptian food, this time at a restaurant called Khan Farouk Cafe in Katara, with an American work colleague, Delia, and her husband, Rob. Again it was excellent experience. We shared several starters - the tahini and fresh made bread (not unlike a crumpet) being the highlight, but the falafal and Egyptian pickles were also very good. For the main meal Cath had an Egyptian moussaka (nothing like the Greek version) and I went off-piste and had 'Meat with Freek' which turned out to be chicken with green wheat and very tasty. Whilst there we also took in a cultural exchange event that showcased the life and culture of many African countries.

Friday 12 April
Caught up on washing, cleaning and generally lounging about the apartment. Did manage to do an hour at the gym followed by a swim. Hard work I know but someone has to do it.

Saturday 13 April
Another early gym session, then up to a local bakery, Battell, to collect the food I'd ordered for a fishing trip with ten other colleagues later in the afternoon. Only ordered simple finger food - small pasties, vegetable samosas, doughnuts - but it was ready-and-waiting for me on platters which was a bit OTT but seems par for the course here. Anyway, as it turned, all the food was for nought as for, almost as soon as I returned to the apaprtment, I got a call from the fishing trip company to say that due to high winds the trip was cancelled. Damn! They did offer us another weekend but the temperature is really rising (C40+ on our shaded thermometer) and it might not be possible until October. Some I'm now writing this as an excuse to do something rather than sitting around with a face like a smacked a**e. As a treat I might take Cath out this evening to a very nice looking Arabic restaurant called Nobles that I spotted when collecting the food earlier. Will report on it if we do. Does that constitute research for the blog and therefore justify us going there? Who knows or cares?

Boyd  

Give me a break....

Another packed weekend:

Thursday 4 April
Had an invite from Simon and Amany to join them for their bi-monthly soiree spotif. After getting slightly lost we eventually found their compound and had a great evening with a couple of their work colleagues, playing darts and table football. Much to my surprise Cath really seemed to enjoy the table football but has forbidden me from getting one - "Doh!". Had quite a few cans of Guinness so Cath was the designated driver and we got back about 23:30. Had a text this afternoon confirming that it will now be a regular event everyother Thursday so that is now pencilled in.

Friday 5 April
Got up early and went to the gym. Later, at about 10:00, we took 'the tank' on a road-trip 100km to the north of Doha to visit Al-Zubarah Fort. I was quite surprised at the uniformity of the desert landscape and how flat the country is. From the slightly elevated highway you can see for long distances either side and it is VERY flat. Anyway, we got to the fort about 12:00 and it was roastingly hot (35C+) and not a breath of wind. Sadly the fort, which looks very old but was actually build in the 40's, was undergoing internal repairs, and although we could look around inside we couldn't venture up any of the four corner towers. A very helpful South African women offered to take our picture and spent quite a deal of time arranging the shots; but unfortunately I don't think she pushed the button completely down and you'll have to make do with these:



Arty

Touristy

 

That evening we had been invited to a 'villa' warming party by one of my Sidra colleagues, Marie (Mal) and her husband Tom. Again, even with a very detailed map drawn by Tom, we got slightly lost in the less built-up areas in the suburbs of Doha. Eventually we got there and had a smashing time; meeting lots of new people as well as lots of Sidra folk. As we don't yet have our 'booze licence' I (with Cath yet again volunteering to drive) had to prevail on our very generous hosts for the liquid refreshments, and very generous they were too with food, drink and a tour around their lovely two bed roomed villa. We had a really great time but I think after my five weeks of abstinence from cakes and pies my system wasn't ready for the three pints of bitter, a pint of vodka based punch,  two samosas, Scouse stew, three puddings (trifle x2, cheesecake) and small Egyptian cake, and the following morning I really paid for it!

Saturday 6 April
Oh! My! God! - did I feel rough? "It must have been those dodgy samosas!" says me, "Er, No! It was the three pints of bitter, a pint of vodka based punch, two samosas, Scouse stew, three puddings (trifle x2, cheesecake) and small Egyptian cake!" says Cath offering as little sympathy as I deserved. Even my son told me I was getting too old for these sorts of antics and I should act my age; which at the moment, due to the rejuvenative effect of moving to Doha, seems to be about twenty-five so God help me!

I then remembered that I had arranged to go and look at a car I was thinking of buying. As we already have a 4x4 'tank' I thought I'd go for something a bit more boy-ish and get a utility vehicle - half five seater saloon, half pick-up truck. So not feeling 100% I eventually met the guy and bought the truck - 2009 Mazda BT-50 18,000km QR36000 (about £6,500). Looks, drives and sounds OK so hopefully it will get me mobile without too much grief. It will no doubt feature here again hopefully for the right reasons.

After all this we went to a combination craft fair/car boot sale/market in a very nice park next to the Museum of Islamic Art. By this time the wind had really picked-up and it must have scared off some of the stall holders as there were quite a few vacant spaces. It was, however, a pleasant way to walk off a hangover as we also went to a lovely cafe, out at the end of the promontory, and saw a brilliant exhibition at the MOI about revitalising artistic traditions in Afghanistan called Ferozkoh - if you get a chance do go and see it!

Boyd & Cath inside Richard Serra's
sculpture '7'

 

That's a month.....

This first month has just flown past. It doesn't seem five minutes ago that I arrived all wide-eyed and innocent and now it feels like I've always been here.

Had my first real experience of driving the tank yesterday. As Friday is like Sunday used to be several decades ago there was virtually no traffic on the road and so an ideal time to practise with all the new 'issues' - driving on the right, in an automatic, in a bl**dy massive vehicle. All went well and we toured around the city, using the GPS to get us out of trouble, and saw a few places we hadn't come across before. Eventually ended up at Landmark shopping mall where, after a very nice lunch in a french bistro/cafe, I spent quite a bit of money on some new outfits at Marks & Spencers; can you believe it?

This morning we went, very early, to the family beach at Al Khor. We got there at about 09:00 and it was already very hot with almost nobody about. The beach was strewn with rubbish; left from the previous evenings goings-on. But a small army of workers appeared and in less that twenty minutes the place was habitable again - fantastic job by the lowly manual workers, shame on the lazy gits who left all the rubbish in the first place. We had arranged to meet some work colleagues at the beach but we saw them arrive just as we left due to me not having sufficient mobile numbers yet.

Found this shell at the beach this morning.

Then this afternoon I went fishing with a boat load of Canadians and it was excellent. We all piled into a 36' Magellan launch and blasted out to sea for an hour; we must have been a good few miles out but thankfully stopped before we hit Iran. The fishing was good and my two small rods were more than enough for the feisty little fish we caught - most of which I had never seen before. The trip lasted for just over four hours and included tackle and bait, and all for the princely sum of £25.

"Where did you get that hat?"

Made sure both this morning and during the fishing trip that I had plenty of sun screen on but still know that I been out most of the day due to a slight tingle of the skin maybe due to wind burn. Anyway can't complain as the UK is still in the grips of a cold spell and it doesn't do to gloat!

Cheers for now..... 

I go to work for a rest......

More Qatari treats over the last couple of days:

i) On Saturday we went to the Cultural Quarter, an area called Katara, that has museums, art galleries and different aspects of Qatari culture. We had gone specifically to see a Martin Parr photographic exhibition - very good with lots of reminders of why Britain is at one and the same time great and not so, and an exhibition called 'Halal Hal Qatar' highlighting the lifestyle and agricultural practises that Qatar was originally built on. Farming was mostly sheep and goat herding, and they had some weird and wonderful breeds. Several of the goat breeds had extremely long ears, possibly three feet long, and in some it looked as though they were trimmed but what for I have no idea - food, kid gloves! 

Cath in a re-construction of a Qatari house
probably from the 1960's

ii) Last night I went to a football match, the QNB Final Cup, between two of the local professional teams - Al Arabi and El Jaish - the latter winning 2-0. But for all its pretencions of being the top Qatar league the standard of football was not great, even with a sprinkling of former top notch players from around the world. Thankfully though the fans, especially those of El Jaish, were a sight to behold and the Arabic/samba beat with constant changing singers was the real highlight of the evening. In middle of it all, just to add another level of strangeness, was an Arab guy playing a full-set of tartan bagpipes; thankfully in an Arab stylee and not the dirge that our Celtic soul brothers usually force upon us.

Can you spot the bagpipes right in the centre?

All this for the pricely sum of QR10 about £1.70; shame the very grand stadium (probaly seating about twelve thousand) was nearly empty. I think nthere were nearly as many security guards as spectators!

Anyway still very entertaining. Off out to a pub quiz now! 

So much to do....

....and so little time. It's strange to think that before I came to Doha I based most of my expectations on what I read in a couple of ex-pat web forums. They were generally neutral or fairly scathing about the lifestyle on offer, with a lot of emphasis on how little there was to do here. I suppose it might be an age thing, as many of the forum contributors appeared to be late twenties or early thirties, or lack of imagination, with constant reference to how difficult the culture here can be; but I suspect a goodmeasure of both. Thank goodness I didn't take much notice of their comments as at the moment I'm glad to go to work for the rest!

My weekend has consisted thus far of:

1) On Thursday afternoon I was taken for a 'new staff' lunch at a very nice restaurant in the high end hotel simply called 'W'.


The best and, as Cath just pointed out, the only deconstructed
cheeseburger I have ever eaten!

2) Friday morning an invite to a work colleagues snazzy breakfast - that lasted so long it actually became 'brunch'. I didn't need to eat all day after the  Bucks Fizz, Eggs Benedict, Fois Gras on Melba toast, chocolate pancakes with maple syrup, and enough tea/coffee to float a battleship.

 

 

3) Next came a crazy high speed dash to an old airstrip about thirty kilometres away to see a "Run What You Brung" motorbike and car drag event titled as the "300kph Club"; that's about 186mph in old money. There were plenty of very expensive, carbon-fibre laced, Ferraris, Porches, Nissan GTRs and American muscle cars of all descriptions, but these were all totally blown away by a trio of, what looked like street legal, Suzuki Hayabusas. All three of these bikes topped out at over 320kph (over 200mph). Only one car, a very un-street legal Nissan GTR with massive wheels and a parachute, managed to do over 300kph; so a good victory for the two wheelers!

 

Forget carbon-fibre Supercars give me
pizza delivery moped everytime!

4) In the late afternoon, after first having stopped for a pint of Guinness at the Doha golf club, it was off to meet Cath and some of my work colleagues at a Kite Festival. By this time, what with all the running around, I was about two hours late. When I finally got there they had all, as there were quite a few young children with them, called it a day. I stayed for about an hours watching all the kites (brought in especially from Afghanistan) and then walked the few miles back to our apartment. On the way I went a bit crazy in an Adidas shop and bought lots of the things I'd always liked but always considered too expensive back home.

 

5) When I got back to the apartment Cath told me I was invited to one of her colleagues leaving party that was starting in about thirty minutes. After a quick wash and brush-up, I slipped into an Adidas inspired outfit and we walked to the adjoining apartment block - all of two minutes away and no driving. We were met by loud music, loads of food and drink, and a very diverse bunch of ex-pat teachers; it was like the United Nations of teaching. I immediately got roped into making a very electric blue, very alcoholic jug of Windex Martini (vodka, triple sec, blue curacao, lime juice) - which looks and sounds like some sort of window cleaner but certainly had a punch (See what I did there?). This little beano topped off an excellent day and I write this the following morning with a slight hangover. "But hey!" someone's got to do it!

 

Cheers       

Birthday Bash

On Sunday night we went, with two of Cath's work colleagues, for a meal to celebrate Cath's birthday. It was at a Mediterranean fusion place called The Village, and was very nice in deed. As we have been living on mostly humus and salad for the last couple of weeks we decided that we would push the boat out a little - two courses plus hot chocolates all round.

Rosie, Boyd, the Birthday Girl and Jennie

I had baked aubergines (described as 'gratinated' meaning "with grilled cheese topping"), followed by some fantastic Arab style lamb chops (with four very chunky chips). Cath had lentil soup followed by baked aubergines with more salad. Rosie had a very nice looking starter of prawn salad with a quails egg on a bed of chiffonated lettuce (a poncy way to say "shredded"), followed by mushroom ravioli. Whilst Jennie also had the soup followed by grilled halloumi (a type of cheese), tabbouleh (an Arab minced salad) and brochette (Italian bread). All-in-all a right gastronomic blow out! This was all washed down with mocktails the Qatari take on non-alcoholic cocktails; all very nice but missing a little something "if you know what I mean?". 

Spooky Prawn Salad!

 

Purple Island

Went to the gym early this morning and then, whilst Cath was at the gym with her teacher mate Jennie, I nipped over to The Centre Mall to buy the birthday girl a little something. As my mother always tells me "a present should be something that the recipient wouldn't buy themselves!". So the jug water filter that Cath asked for didn't get bought - as that is something she would buy for herself - and a slightly off-piste present was bought instead. I won't reveal what it is yet as Cath sometimes reads this drivel and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

At Purple Island with the tide out!

This afternoon we took a drive Al Khor, about 40km north of Doha, to visit a rocky outcrop called Purple Island, which is access via an elevated walk-way through a mangrove swamp. It really is a strange and fascinating place; it had such an ancient feel about it - a very parched landscape, that when flooded by the in-coming tide, creates an outcrop that you could imagine our prehistoric ancestors sheltering around. Apparently archaeologists have discovery bronze age settlements there and very ancient fossils of the most simple life-forms so it must have had some special significance throughout the ages. Sadly there was a lot of rubbish discarded about the place which did, sadly, drag us back very quickly into the twenty first century.

Good afternoon out though and well worth another visit later in the year when it is not so hot. Now that we're back I'm just having a cup of tea before I go for a swim.

 

St. Paddy's Night celebration

Last night we went out with a group of my new work mates for an alternative St. Patrick’s Day dinner. It was organised by Jane, from Dublin, who was naffed off by the lack of organisational skills shown by her fellow countrymen*. So Cath and I, along with about twenty others, when to a very nice Italian restaurant, called Cucina's, about ten minutes walk from our apartment.  As the restaurant is located within the very grand Hyatt Hotel we were able to have alcohol with our meal and it really helped the banter to flow. It was a very well organised event, with spot prizes and a bright green pistachio cheese cake for dessert. And I suspect a far more civilised event than the one hundred pounds a ticket ‘real’ St. Paddy’s show. No doubt both events will be compared and contrasted in work on Sunday.

  

*The Doha Irish Club had sold six hundred tickets for a five hundred seat venue and when they had to suddenly drop one hundred punters it left a lot of unhappy people in the lurch (it was a ‘black tie’ event and some of the disappointed had already invested in a tuxedo and/or evening dresses).

First negative.....

Stupidly didn't take Cath's advice to get my teeth checked over before I came. Needless to say on Monday I noticed a 'chunk' of one of my admittedly scabby back teeth came adrift. Not yet having my AXA medical insurance card meant I would need to pay upfront and then reclaim. After asking around for a good dentist I managed to get a 21:00 appointment that night with the British International Dental Centre who were only alittle further along the coast road from where I work. So, at what seemed like the middle of the night and not really the time to be visiting the dentist, I turned up for my appointment at a very modern and bright dental surgery. The dentist, late of Newcastle UK, was very nice and told me that I'd need a sort of ceramic cap rather than a crown, and that he could do the preparitory work there and then to stabilise the tooth. He told me how much it would cost but I didn't really comprehend the exchange rates. So off we go - injections, grinding, suctioning, more grinding, etc. etc. At this point I was feeling very weird with yet another of my out-of-body moments where I'm not really there and it's all happening to some one else - strange! So after about forty five, not too unpleasant, mintues  it was all over and I needed to pay the bill. With consultation, digital x-rays (instantly viewed) and the procedure the total bill was QR4100, which at QR6 = £1.00 equals a slightly eye-watering £680! Thankfully, eventually, I will get eighty percent of that back via my insurance but I still need to pay about £130 - bl**dy hell! Sadly, my teeth are not brilliant so they may end up costing me a fortune in the long run. Again thankfully, my insurance might cover most of that and, with the added compensation of my much better wage, I might even get some cosmetic stuff done if it's not too expensive. Still it came as shock compared with the Good Old NHS; so just watch the Tories don't sneak something in.  

On a more positive note I went out so my first beer last night to a comedy club within one of the big hotels. The large hotels are the only place, other than that bought at the one state run off-licence and then drunk strictly at home, where you can legally buy booze. And again it's not cheap, entrance was QR150 and a pint of lager was QR40, but it was really worth it as the three UK based comedians were brillaint and, for once, were really LOL. The company was good aswell, mostly Brit expats, but also a good smattering of Yanks, Canadians, and Irish. Have to try and forget, within reason, the high prices as it is again off-set by my larger disposible income.

Still enjoying it though as I approach the end of my second week.

Regards
   

Al Wakra sunburn

Went to Al Wakra about 20mins. south of Doha as it has a very large open access beach. The vast open aspect was very popular, even on a Friday morning, and allowed us to dip our toes in the warm Arabian Gulf. Sadly with Qatar being so flat the water was very shallow, even fifty metres out, so I didn't get to try the snorkel kit.

"Charge that solar panel Baby!"

Due to still having two apartments we'd left the suncream at the other one, but the sun didn't seem so intense and the strong on-shore breeze certainly appeared to cool things down. So we decided that 20mins. would be OK for pale featured, pasty skinned, old me - er No! Should have made that 10mins. and not followed it with a 20min. walk around the lovely Marah Land (one of Qatars best parks).

In the surprisingly lush Marah Land gardens

It was a great morning out but now I am suffering slightly and feel like a par boiled lobster. That will teach me! Hopefully my skin will toughen up over the next few weeks but I will definitely need to have a few more bottles of SPF30 handy.

 

We're off out tonight to meet some of Cath's work colleagues for a meal in Souq Wakif, ye olde part of Doha. It has the look and feel of an old Arabic market place but is in fact a fairly recent reconstruction. There are plenty of places to eat there and a rabbit warren of shops and stalls but without any of the usual market place hassle; you get asked to come in and see what the shops have to offer but not the constant "I make you good price!" type stuff.  

 

Onwards and upwards.........

   

Friday - first day of the weekend

Cath is staying at Flat B over the weekend so that we have easier access to the city centre and the beach; neither of which is more than fifteen minutes from Flat C anyway.

Last night we both felt really tired - me as I think the events of the last week caught up with me again, and Cath because she had a long day at work. We had intended to go out for a meal but instead we had a curry and salad at home, all washed down with plenty of tea.

 At about eight o'clock I went over to the City Centre Mall, about ten minutes walk away, in search of some better work shoes. The ones I brought with me have been OK to date but I think they will be far too heavy when the heat arrives. I found some Hush Puppies, that are supposedly engineered to keep your feet cool and dry, so I bought a black and brown pair. I'm sure this engineering will be tested severely over the next few months! During the walk there and back I was quite surprised by the low temperature and high winds; I almost went back to get a fleece!

This morning we both went down to the apartments gym and had a thirty minute workout. As it was around 07:00 there weren't any other users which was fine as we both ended up as very sweaty heaps on the floor.

Now that the sun is rising we will head out to find a beach and hopefully I can try out the snorkel and flipper set I dragged over from the UK. The large hotels on the main Doha waterfront have private beaches that you can pay to access but I only want a bit of open beach to see if I can snorkel without an audience. I'll need to Google 'public beaches in Doha' in order not to swim in industrial or military sensitive areas as contact with either of these would not be a good introduction to swimming in the Arabian Gulf. Wish me luck!  

Fourth day in work 06.03.2013

Writing this feeling very tired at Flat C. An exciting day today as I actually got to visit the new hospital; which is not something that many of the other folks I work with have done. I hope I haven't stepped on any ones toes getting to go there after only having been here four days when some of them have been here months. It really was another mind blowing experience - not only the enormity of the project and the extreme architecture but also the sheer numbers of workers and vehicles that seem to be crawling over every surface.

 

 

The pictures don't really do it justice.

 

After work I went to a slightly manic 'Arabic Evening' at Cath's school. I was expecting there to be maybe fifty to sixty people there when in fact there was more like several hundred. There were displays of Arabic singing and dancing, masses of food and a camel and some hawks. Don't know exactly how Arabic it was but it was a chance to meet some of Cath's workmates and she were she works.

 

Having an early night now as the events of the last few days really seem to have caught up with me!