The mouse and other adventures

Well, CQ has been here for just over two weeks now and has settled in very quickly as those of you who know him would expect, making new friends at the rate of one a day. He is thriving in the multi national environment and different languages don't seem to be a barrier to him to communicate. He has already found several spanish speakers so is practising his Spanish as well as learning Arabic.

He has stopped going to the formal classes as the teacher was not teaching in a very helpful way so his young friend, Mohammed now comes over every day and they have practice sessions by the pool - he is also helping to improve Mohammed's English. Mohammed is Indian descent but has lived in Doha all his life. He is only 25 years old but a very young and naive 25, looking for work in IT at the moment so we took him to the large careers fair with us last week. ictQATAR had a stand to provide advice about careers in ICT so he was very grateful. In return he taxis Colin all over the place. Last week they went to a large bookshop to buy Colin an Arabic/English dictionary. So a strange friendship, but it seems to work.

He is very disciplined - every morning he studies by the pool for a couple of hours, then swims and the afternoon is free before I finish work. I admire him, I don't think I could apply myself so seriously in this heat.

The week before, we had some unusual weather - we had rain for several days on and off - I even had to get my umbrella out of the suitcase one morning to walk to work - even then I got drenched. Because there are no gutters and drains on the roads here, the water stands until it evaporates and the cars drive about in very deep water. When it gets to a certain level, things are at a standstill unless you have a  4x4. It was cloudy every day for almost a week over the whole of the gulf area - very unseasonal. However, it is now back to normal and the temperatures are now up in the late 30 degrees - the last few days it has been between 35 and 38 degrees celsius most days - extremely hot and in the evenings still very warm.

We had a pleasant couple of hours by the pool yesterday before it got too hot at lunchtime, then the pool grill does a full three course buffet lunch for 65 QR which is about ten pounds - very good value - then of course you need a siesta.

In the late afternoon we set off in the car to find the Qatar Distribution Company which is the posh name for the alcohol storage depot. It is owned by the Airport Duty Free company. This is the place where you go to get your liquor licence and then buy the booze. The place is out in the middle of nowhere and quite a challenge to find but we got there and were very proud of ourselves. The usual process of application, after taking your ticket number from the machine in the waiting room. However, we must have arrived at a good time as we did not have to wait. Having filled out the form, had my photo taken for the permit, handed over the returnable deposit of about 150 pounds, I then became the proud owner of my alcohol permit. (It's a good thing I bought a new purse with a lot of credit card slots, as I now have a whole new set of cards with my photo on).

We then proceeded to the supermarket part of the depot to make our purchases. Only permit holders are allowed in but the security guard must have taken pity on me and allowed Colin to accompany me. Inside a surprisingly good choice of wines, spirits and other drinks, quite expensive but as they have a monopoly, you have no choice. My monthly allowance is 2,500 QR - this is the maximum I can spend on alcohol - it is based on my basic salary and is equal to about 400 pounds so is pretty generous. This is tallied up every time you visit to purchase and they keep a close eye on it. There are even machines where you can check your balance. A bottle of standard wine is about ten pounds.

Entertainment in Doha is very varied - if you keep an eye on the newspapers there is plenty happening. We went to an "Elegant Indian musical night". This was an evening of Indian music and dancing provided by a local amateur group, the Punjab Music Group, with an international superstar in the main spot. It ended up being quite hilarious by English standards as it was completely disorganised and half of the advertised acts did not turn up. The compere spent most of his time in between each performer plugging the main sponsors and it got to the point where we were all laughing each time he mentioned "The Gulf Times" and "Mr Broast BBQ". We were spotted as the only Europeans in the audience and thanked publicly for staying as long as we did to watch. All the organisers had very grand titles on the programme and billboard, Chief Organiser, Show Co-ordinator but I certainly wouldn't employ them to organise any event. They were on stage moving the props and rugs around whilst performers were singing - even trying to pull a rug out from under someone at one point. It was hard not to laugh because they were trying very hard to make it a good evening for  the audience.

We had another trip to the desert on Friday evening, this time we went in the dark and came back in the dark. You might be wondering why we would do this. We sat on the beach with a campfire for several hours, with a picnic and chatted the hours away, looking up at the stars as the sea came in slowly around us. We were nearly marooned for a while then around 11.30pm we set off back to drive home across the dunes, with no road to follow, just some tracks in the sand and the markers on the car navigation system.

The funny part this time was that whilst we sat, Khawar kept saying that there were some creepy crawlies on the ground sheet of the sun shelter we had erected. We laughed at her as we could not see anything. There were a few small beetles crawling around in the sand so we put it down to that. After we had set off and we were back on the main road to Doha, Amir was driving and Khawar had dozed off in the front seat, me also in the back. She suddenly gave a loud scream, waking us up and saying that a mouse had crawled up her leg. It must have got into the car when the doors were open and then travelled back with us. The following day, she put down some food to lure it out and left the door open. We think it left but she then had ants in the car instead. The morale being, don't leave the car doors open in the desert I think. After this, I might rethink staying overnight - we had originally planned on camping.

I have taken up belly dancing classes again here in Doha - I had been going in England but had stopped for quite sometime so I am very rusty. The classes in Keighley were Egyptian belly dancing which is a more traditional style and here it is a more modern style. The teacher is a very hard taskmaster and makes no allowances for age or inflexibility. This suits Colin very well as the classes are held at the Sheraton Hotel, which just happens to be where the Irish bar is located, so he can wait for me there whilst happy hour is on.

More later.

Ten weeks in and counting

It's been a while since my last blog - sounds a bit like a confessional - CQ will like that - seems appropriate since he is now here and that is what has delayed my latest entry - I have been very busy showing him round everywhere and making sure he will be independent whilst I am at work.

He arrived on 29th March - the flight got in around midnight and although I picked up the rental car that day, I had not been brave enough to drive it let alone at night, so I booked a taxi to the airport to collect him. He was tired from the flight but everything had gone well, apart from the luggage being a little bit overweight. I had managed to get a couple of days off work and these were tagged on to the weekend which gave us four days together. This was because I had worked two Saturdays and had some TOIL to take. Officially I am not allowed to take any annual leave until I have worked my three months probation period which is not up until the end of May. So we managed a lie in and we were able to plan what to do on Colin's first day in Doha.

Obviously the challenge involved where to find some alcohol and we ended up at the Admiral's Club at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, which was where I first stayed in November, over looking the marina and the sea - a very enjoyable first afternoon with Guinness and cheeseburger and chips, followed by watching the boys launching their jetskis. This is the Qatari boy's after school activity - they drive up in the 4x4s with the jetsksi on a trailer, launch, race round for about half and hour and then away they go.

In the next few days, we took the car out, managing the driving fairly well, with CQ acting as navigator, and watching out for the other drivers coming up on my inside, outside, cutting in front of me, traffic lights turning to red and reading the map as well. It took his mind off the dangers of the road. I am now getting used to it and have had my first solo drive, collecting him and Khawar's friend Caron from the shopping mall.

Colin's first week coincided with Caron's visit here - she is Khawar's old school friend from Scotland - they had not seen each other for thirty years but regularly corresponded. So she and Colin have spent the week together visiting the various sights whilst we have been at work and we have got together in the evenings and the weekend. This worked out well and they have talked themselves to death, drunk a lot of coffee and worn their feet out on the Corniche.

We went to the desert at the weekend - this was a very long day because the first part was spent with the Qatar Ramblers Group. This is something of a misnomer because they actually ramble in 4x4s. We all met up at a petrol station, filled up with petrol and essentials, sunhats, water etc and then set off in convoy to the other end of the country to the Ras Abruq peninsula in search of the nature reserve, wildlife such as flamingos, the Oryx which is the national animal similar to a gazelle, camels, birds etc. We were lucky enough to see two Oryx - they are very rare and shy animals. We also stopped at the Doha film set in the desert - this was built specially for their version of Lawrence of Arabia and is now there for tourists to take pictures at with a small oasis and an ostrich breeding area.

We moved onto the coastal part with some fantastic geology and rock formations - the pictures are on facebook if you are interested to see them - they have been there around 7000 years. Around 1pm, we left the group and drove to the inland sea for swimming and driving over the sand dunes. At the end of the day we had driven around 300 kilometers.

Colin had his first ride on a camel - there are some very tame ones for the tourists - they are muzzled because I think they have a reputation for being a bit bad tempered. It was very cheap, only 20 QR which is about 3 pounds. We met up with some friends who are locals and they built a camp fire -we were out there until about 9.30 by which time it was dark and it was quite surreal sitting on the sand in the dark, looking at the stars and then driving back over the sand dunes in the total black and not knowing which way you were going and when you would hit a steep dune. You navigate by your sat nav and the markers you have put in  it or follow the other people heading back. It can be quite scary but Khawar is fearless and a very confident driver. The Hummer can go anywhere.

The rental car had about a quarter of a tank of petrol in it when I collected it from the garage and in England, you will recall that there is quite an obsession about taking them back full of petrol or they charge you for the refilling of the tank etc. Here, because petrol is so cheap, they really don't seem to care. Khawar had already told me that she could fill her Hummer tank for about the equivalent of fifteen pounds but I hadn't really taken that in. So when I took the rental car to the garage for some petrol and the attendant asked me how much I wanted (here you do not fill it yourself and you have to pay cash) I said half fill it and this came to 20 QR which was about 3pounds. Filling the car in effect would have cost me about 6 pounds so no wonder the garage attendant looked at me strangely and Khawar laughed her head off when I told her!

Driving is a strange experience because apart from the main highways, many of the roads do not have names so everyone navigates by the roundabouts, all of which have lovely names and strange sculptures or something unusual nearby that they are named after. For example, the Oryx roundabout has a very large Oryx statue; the National Theatre roundabout is near the National Theatre; the Civil Defence roundabout is next to the Fire Station - you get the general idea. The Decoration roundation happened to be next to a very large interior design shop and I was going with Khawar to a meeting with a community project last week. The directions were that it was next to the Mercedes garage on the Decoration roundabout. When we got there, the interior design shop had been pulled down. Perhaps, they will rename the roundabout, which will confuse everyone.

Last night we went in search of the Irish bar which is at the Sheraton Hotel. To enter, the procedure is very strict. I had to have my picture taken, show my ID, pay 35 QR and Colin had to show his passport. The bar was excellent and is a very good imitation of a real Irish pub with live music, Guinness and Kilkenney beer. It has a happy hour from 5-7 pm and we had a great time. I of course could not drink since there is zero tolerance here on drinking and driving.

Colin started school yesterday - he has enrolled in Arabic classes at the local cultural center here called Fanar. He will be going three times a week for two hours in the morning. The classes are conducted entirely in Arabic so I think he is very brave. He has already made a friend from the class - a young man called Mohammed who is going to help him because he has missed the first week and is behind the class who have already started learning the alphabet. Here is the link if you are interested http://www.fanar.gov.qa/ .

Well better go now - more soon.