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