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!