The end of the first week in Doha

Well, I've  survived my first week here in Doha and it has been interesting to say the least. Work has been straightforward as I am doing things I am very familiar with just in a different setting and context. I am still borrowing stationery etc but at least someone has put an order in for some things for me today.

This morning, a slight drama as my driver failed to turn up to collect me at 7.30 am - we have some communication difficulties arranging this the evening before as he speaks no English and I speak no Arabic, however, I thought we had communicated 7.30 am ok. He is teaching me one word of Arabic and I am teaching him one word of English a day. The previous day I thought he was telling me he was 17 years old, but it turned out he had 17 members in his family. Anyway back to the lift, after an hour, I had to get the hotel limo service to take me to work - so a BMW limo with black leather seats duly turned up and I rode to work today in style.

A little story for Colin who I told that camels were never seen in the city because of the traffic. This was in the paper on Weds:

"Camel chaos on the D-Ring Road - (which is one of the major three lane freeways into the city): A camel that played truant from a breeding farm had jaw-dropping motorists slam their brakes hard, some in awe and some in excitement, as the animal ambled near a roundabout on D ring round on Saturday night. As the animal sauntered in the street, oblivious of the traffic chaos it was causing around midnight, someone had the sense to call the police who arrived soon to restore order. The animal was handed back to the owner of the breeding farm who had reported it missing earlier."

I went with Khawar to a Salsa party on Tuesday night which includes for the entry price of about £12, one free cocktail and one hour's cha cha cha class. This was exhausting but is not helped if your partner is even worse than you are. Khawar's dancing is impressive but she has been going for the best part of a year now.

We went to look at an apartment for me to rent earlier in the week and I signed up for it today. It is on the 18th floor of a block which is very close to work which means that I will be able to walk to work and not need lifts. Being independent will be great and I will not need a car. I am not able to get a driving licence until I have my residence permit and I cannot get a car loan until my 3 months probation period is up, so walking is best for now. Bearing in mind I will have to cross a busy road of course.

The apartment block has a large swimming pool, gym facilities, two restaurants and coffee shop, maid service and cleaning twice a week and rent includes internet access (4mb) as well with free wifi in the lobby, a parking space. It is one large room with an ensuite bathroom but no kitchen.It will do for a couple of months and give me time to look round for something else.

Met a guy at work who has decided to go home after only two weeks out here as a contractor. He has had a number of negative experiences - a car accident in his first week, not getting on with his boss, not been paid for his consultancy work etc and is not happy here but nevertheless a drastic decision. So it doesn't suit everyone and Khawar was right when she said that the most important thing was to be patient with the processes.

We had an interesting visit to a local community project - working with blind people in the community - we had to take an interpreter from our office who speaks Arabic and when we got there, the main man, was not there as he had got the days mixed up, he is a Qatari, elderly and blind so we had to sit and cool our heels for nearly an hour until he arrived. It was a great visit but they are in dire need of some help. They find it very hard to get volunteers - nothing changes. They have requested ICT equipment but have no technical support, trainers etc - is this ringing any bells with anyone?

Looking round the apartment the other day, something made us smile - in the lift going up to the 18th floor, on the floor o fthe lift was a very nice rug which said Tuesday - have a nice day or something along those lines and I said to Khawar - that's all very well but what happens on the other days. The lady who was showing us the room, told us that the rug gets changed every day so the day of the week is correct.

Well more soon.

Next few days in Doha

Now that I have been here a few days, I have a bit more to tell. I started work on Sunday morning at 7.30 am when all of you were probably tucked up in bed enjoying a lie in. That was very strange to begin with and on Sunday evening, I had great fun with a group Skype video call with various members of my family. Three and a half thousand miles away and it was as if they were in the next room. We had a few teething problems with the technology at first but got there in the end and it made me feel a lot less lonely.

I have been mega busy every evening because people are constantly calling me on skype so that I keep having to juggle the calls, not that I'm complaining - its great to keep in touch and hear what everyone is doing - it's not much fun on your own in a hotel room. We sometimes lose the sound and then the video but that's part of the fun - even my Mum at 85 is doing it, so if she can, anyone can.

I took a wander tonight down the back streets behind the hotel to find somewhere to have some passport size photos taken (it was only 5pm our time but it gets dark at 6pm). Apparently I will need lots of them and it was something on my to do list which I never got round to doing before I left England. After a few wrong turns past many strange looking shops with arab signs, I had to resort to asking in the Centrepoint mall and a kind young lady directed me "up the road, over the roundabout and then straight on - look for Konika". As it turned out it was called Hilab but they did the job very efficiently and in about ten minutes, charging me £10 for 16 photos in colour. Not bad. Note to Gillian, they had posters up in this tiny shop for Fujifilm.

Walking there itself was an adventure - since the roads are quite dangerous for pedestrians - we think our pavements are bad but theirs are far worse and drivers definitely have no respect for people on foot - not to mention that you need to remember to look the other way as well. Everyone drives everywhere at top speed, as if their life depended on it - they take no prisoners.

So far I'm managing well with the food, I have breakfast in the hotel, which is quite a normal continental one, if I have time before the driver comes to pick me up but his arrival time is a bit unpredictable and I will just get a text which says "I reached" meaning he is here.

I have lunch in the work canteen - which is great, very generous portions of rice, potatoes, cooked chicken, fish or meat, spicy but lovely and well cooked and only costs about £3 with a drink. However, the canteen is in the building next to us and to get to it we have to go through the car park and climb over some very large kerbstones, where my well known lack of spatial awareness skills comes into play frequently.

I had a completely empty desk and office on Sunday morning because until I am on the payrolll properly, I am not allowed a computer, stationery, etc. I am having to beg, borrow and steal things at the moment and use my own laptop. I now have a few piles of paper accumulating. Today they gave me a temporary pass for the building so at least I can get in now.

Meetings are beginning to fill up my diary - same old, same old. Tomorrow someone is coming from the Qatari National Bank to see about opening a local bank account for me.More in a few days.

First day in Doha

Arrived this evening after setting off from Manchester at 8.55 am. Stayed at the Bewleys Hotel, near the airport last night. Failed to get the wifi network to work on my laptop so was unable to make contact with anyone.

The flight with Qatar Airways was about 7 hours, tiring but passed fairly well - watched a couple of films on the in flight entertainment system. Enjoyed watching "Morning Glory" with Harrison Ford. For the second time, I had a screaming small child in front of me.

The new airport is now partly operational and this time the masses of people who are tranferring on to Sri Lanka, Thailand and other exotic locations, were dropped off at a different terminal. So the inbound to Doha passengers had a fairly easy time through immigration.

Nice comfy ride in a mercedes to the hotel in the centre of the city and have finished my unpacking. The wifi works and I have been able to skype with my daughter and son and email my husband to let them I've arrived safely. More tomorrow.