Saturday, September 30, 2006

The GPO

Today we went for our first little adventure to the General Post Office. There are other little Post Offices dotted around the place (including one just a couple of roads behind the compound) but we thought we would head to the main one to get our first little piles of mail sent off. The GPO is a beautiful building with a fantastic view over Doha Bay. When you drive in, you actually have to drive up about 3 floors in the car park as I think the lower levels are all the offices etc. The actual main floor of the Post Office is a bit like the Tardis… looks small outside but very open and spacious once you enter.

Our experience inside consisted of lining up at one window and being pointed towards what is basically a souvenir stand to get large envelopes, then returning to the first window to get everything weighed (and the postage amounts written in pencil where stamps would normally go). This weighing process was of course interrupted by at least one mobile phone call, which was more important to answer than weighing our mail. After the weighing process we were handed everything back, then of course had to find out where to get the stamps from… this consisted of pushing everything back through the same small window to the same person (who really wasn’t very interested in being a part of our overall posting experience) to get the stamps! After being handed everything back with a large number of stamps and much licking and sticking we were pointed in the direction of the little mail holes near the entrance (which are obviously for letters and not for parcels, but if you try you can actually fit something medium sized through the hole).

To be honest I don’t really know what to make of all this. I know the parcels we sent were sent as large letters, rather than parcels… I also know we didn’t have to fill in any customs declarations or put on any airmail stickers. The only people in the place that looked remotely interested in life in general were the two women sitting at the customer service desk having a chat (and they were quite happy to help staple our envelopes with us as the sticky stuff didn’t stick). Everyone else looked pretty disinterested about everything, but maybe that is the general attitude to working in a Govt Dept during a Ramadan morning!

As a side note we do know now that everything arrived safe and sound so we (and they) must have done something right. At the same time we have received all the Airmail parcels we sent to ourselves via Australia Post, plus the last Sea Mail parcel. We think everything has probably now arrived that we sent but is probably all awaiting the customs people to fossick through it all to see if there is anything they deem unsuitable (which I think translates into “anything they want” but I could be wrong). Everything we have received has been opened and checked thus far… we don’t actually know how well they check what is in there and I think they might just do the open and reseal thing to make it look like they have checked. After all no one checked anything in our bags when we came through customs at the airport, so we really have no idea how thorough they are with the whole process. Plus the bacon that is available here has to come in somehow!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Kerry Arrives!

Just to let you know that we have caught up a bit today and Kerry has thrown in a few posts relating to the end of August - beginning of September. We only have a couple of weekends adventures to go from our first 6 weeks and then we are finally current! Sometimes we both sit here while one of us types away, we have decided that Michael's posts will stay basic black and Kerry's will be a rather funky deep purple (or orange if she chooses)!

Hope all is well with our readers... (I have been told to use maroon)

Cars with bendy bits!

Snapped this photo on the way home from school yesterday out the front of our compound… don’t worry, that isn’t our car! The entrance/exit roads for Aziziyah come out onto this slip road where the black and yellow concrete barriers are. Now what I think is the barriers are there to stop people driving out of the compound and then straight out on to Sports City Rd, rather than heading down the slip road a bit. I know that might sound strange but that is what many do… Added to that are the metal barriers that run down the middle of the main road to sperate the oncoming traffic, which at various places have been driven through (presumably by large 4WD) so someone can do a U-Turn! Yep, they knock them down with their cars so they can turn around.

Anyway not sure what happened to this car, but by the look of the front of it, it was either heading down the road the wrong way (yes, it does happen) or has done a U-Turn through one of the gaps where the barriers have been knocked over. But then again it may have just run up the back of a truck.

It is not uncommon to see cars in various states of bendiness sitting around on the sides of the road though… you think that would be enough of a reminder to take it a little easier… maybe it is… maybe it isn’t! We have only been here for 6 weeks and I can’t even remember what it is like to drive slow… you have to laugh… seriously, you HAVE to laugh. If you don’t, you would get stuck in your compound and if you are just going to stay home you can do that anywhere in the world.

By the way… I have a bit of a head cold! That’s right… it is 40 degrees outside and I have a head cold! Apparently this happens to most people while they are getting used to the weather (and all the dust).

By the way (x2)… I am slowly catching up on the posts and still adding a few more photos here and there. Kerry still hasn’t had a chance to post anything (work is work anywhere in the world) but promises she will soon!

Monday, September 25, 2006

Ramadan is here!

Well contrary to popular belief, while Ramadan is a time for fasting and attending prayer, it also seems to be a time for feasting and socialising… as well as the ubiquitous shopping!

One of things we have soon realised is no one really seems to tell you the same story (if you know what I mean). More than one person told us that basically everything would be closing down over Ramadan… or running at very reduced hours. OK, so it may only be a couple of days in, but thus far this seems far from the case!

Everything is still running as usual minus some minimal changes…

  • Govt working hours have reduced with most running from 9-1 (or there abouts)
  • Some schools have reduced hours (AJA is still running 8-2 which is only 1 hour less than normal)
  • Shops are closing for longer during the afternoon but at the same time have extended their hours until later at night
  • Because of all the feasting at night, certain things in the hypermarkets are a bit harder to get hold of but that seems to be mainly fruit and vegies (and many things have increased in price a little due to the higher demand)
  • There is a lot more traffic on the roads between 12-2, but at the same time the roads are pretty good late afternoon and early evening

I have also read a number of times about the increase in road accidents during Ramadan. I am not sure yet, but I think the reason why the roads are a bit more dangerous really doesn’t have much to do with the fasting but rather is related to schools and businesses all closing around the same time rather than being stagged (as is the norm).

I guess we shall just have to wait and see.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Doha Zoo x2

Just thought I would post a couple of more “zoo” photos.

The zoo itself is constructed in two halves… on one side is the botanic (type) gardens and the other side is the animal enclosures. There is a big central enclosure that is mostly undercover or indoors, and around this is the herding type animals. It isn’t overly big… then again Doha isn’t overly big either, but well worth the trip and a return or two.


It is the indoor enclosures that are the ones that have everything from Guinea Pigs, a Cane toads, through to snakes and all sorts of weird and wonderful things. One of the things I liked were the big cats… not BIG cats like Lions and so on (although they were there too)… but just big cats. Apparently they are Bush Cats, but to me they just looked like overgrown pusskins (about a metre long… maybe). I don’t know but I think they would purr rather loudly! For now I will stick to the feral cats as the villa isn't big enough for a couple of those.

Friday, September 22, 2006

The Doha Zoo

We thought we’d investigate the Doha Zoo, which is only a few blocks away from our compound. The unfortunate thing is that our least favoured road is the one leading to its entry. The road is big, long and not well sealed and there’s usually far too many dodgy trucks ferrying human’s and construction materials to wherever they’re going…but we made it perfectly safely – thanks to Michael!

We stood at the ticket booth and handed over the equivalent of $4 aud – for the three of us! Ashur’s child rate was a huge 75c!! we thought that was a pretty good deal for an afternoon out.

Once inside, we were impressed by the layout of the property – walking through water troughs/fountains, through a botanical garden and then towards the animals. The zoo is kind of oldish looking – though that is most probably from the settled dust from the sandstorms that happen around here.

Before we’d arrived at the ‘caged’ areas and the open enclosures we could see the most adorable little lion cub just wandering along with a baby deer and their human keeper who had a long, fine stick which he gently used to keep them on the ‘right path’. We were amazed at how ‘bouncy’ the little cub was when walking – and I just wanted to give it a big noogy on his head! The gorgeous thing had no concept of the fact that he was walking along with a potentially tasty treat! We didn’t get a photo as we thought it might frighten him. It was certainly something we never thought we’d see.

Next stop – the Indian elephants. One was painted and ‘performing’ for lettuce and carrots – it made me sad and Michael and I disagreed that I felt the other elephant in another part of the enclosure was swaying due to stress. Although, I battled with feeling like I was perpetrating the spectacle – I was drawn to watch. Ashur and I stood amongst the black and white locals watching the poor elephant do tricks for treats.

We also met the most adorable chimpanzee’s who were enjoying an iceblock each…a mix of sadness at that, but a niceness about the level of human interaction they were having – kind of weird. One of them spotted Ashur’s OJ, which I was holding and swung around the dome enclosure to put his hand out in a gesture for me to hand it over.

We saw the usual kinds of animals you would expect and a few interesting ones we’d never seen before…we were surprised at how big porcupines are and finally got to see some oryx’s – but, I think Michael was more impressed by them than I was…to me they just look like deer things with long sticks on their heads...neither of us are still not quite sure why they have a guinea pig and a cane toad on display though!

Overall, the enclosures are spacious, well kept and as natural as possible (in these parts) , the animals appeared at ease and the zoo people appeared to treat them better than I expected. The zoo hours are mid afternoon till evening – which is a great time to go as the animals are lively and doing their thing – even the snakes are slithering around their glass cages!. We ended up leaving at nighttime around 6.30pm after I spent most of the evening collecting feathers of all sorts – just couldn’t quite manage to find a pink flamingo feather – but I did ask them nicely to leave me some for next time…

We could hear over the speaker system someone rambling on in Arabic – which we assumed was the standard “everyone out – park’s closed’ kind of announcement. We discovered the next day – it was actually more likely the announcement that the moon had been spotted and Ramadan had commenced!.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Our First Souq Adventure

Headed off to The Mall this evening… more just to check out one of the few remaining shopping centres we had yet to venture to. Really nothing fantastic nor really any different than the others. I think it is one of the older ones and at the end of the day there a far better places to go shopping when the need or urge arises.

Given that “urge” and the fact we were not too far from that part of town, we decided to make the overall evening adventure more worth while by heading into the main souq area to have a bit of a fossick around and see what bargains we could find.

Souq shopping is an experience not to be missed. We have heard that the souqs here in Doha aren’t as good as one place or another, but with nothing to compare to they are a good introduction to walking in and out of little pokey stores filled to the brim with everything and anything… and bartering! Bartering basically translates into everything being priced above what you are expected to pay, so while you as a customer may feel happy with that price, the trick is to actually find the middle ground price that the store owner really expects you to pay.

Most shops are grouped according to product category which makes the process a little easier, but it is not unusual to have your own personal shop assistant follow you around from the moment you enter a store (which can be a little annoying coming from a culture where we no longer even like sales assistants walking up to us asking if we would like any help).

Stores range from two-storey places (still seemingly over-stocked), to little stores that seem about the size of a broom closet once inside. When I say they are grouped according to product category that is by a very loose definition. Electronics for example, basically translate into anything that plugs into a wall or runs by batteries… so stores in that grouping will have things ranging from the usual electronic products through to very tacky battery operated toys and such kitschy wonders as mosque clocks (which we have decided is a must have although have yet to find the perfect one).

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Illegal housing

Don’t know why I haven’t got around to posting this before.

We back onto the rear fence of the compound, which has a concrete perimeter fence running all the way around with a few rows of barbwire on the top. The only way in and out is through the boom gates and past the security hut at the front. Although there is a couple of small side gates that some of the workers seem to have keys to, everyone else has to go through the front gates.

I actually don’t know if all this security is needed, but I think it may have to do with providing more piece of mind than anything else. I haven’t heard anything about there ever being any break-ins or anything, but have heard mentioned of someone having an uninvited person in their home a few years ago. Not quite sure what that means but as I’ve said before, feel very safe and secure (and somewhat removed from the real world) here.

The point of all this is that over the back fence is a small road and then a row of stores ranging from a Pizza Hut, tailors, mechanic and car cleaning place, bookstore, a small music store, among other things. Upstairs from the stores is some housing of some sort… not sure if the people who work in the stores live there or not, but have seen a few expats from the sub-continent around so I think they live up there. Don’t know how many, but I would guess it is a little crowded.


At some point in time (and not that long ago apparently) the accommodation up there was extended (basically over night). The extensions consist of bricked up areas along the rear of the roof with some roofing thrown on top and held down by more bricks. Power seems to be provided by and extension cord that runs from downstairs somewhere and goes through a hole in the wall. Some have windows stuck in the wall, others have fans and air-conditioners, and they all seem to rely on one water tank on the roof. We occasionally see a guy climb up to the water tank and go back inside with a bucket.

Anyway it is all illegal, looks like it would all fall over if you gave it a kick, and I am sure against the labour laws or something… but then again that comes back to the fact that many things don’t seem to enforced very often.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Building, Building, Everywhere


It is hard to fathom just how much construction is going on around Doha (and possibly the whole of Qatar). One thing that isn’t that difficult to understand is how any country (regardless of wealth) can afford to have so much construction going on at any one time… cheap labour! These two guys were perched on the 8th story of yet another new building just down from Ramada Junction… middle of the day, on a Friday. There is some form of OHS here, but I don’t think it is enforced… likewise the workers are paid much more than they get in their home-countries, so just do what needs to be done when it needs to be done rather than going through the whole process of not being able to do this and that, at this time or another… something needs to be done, they just do it.

I have decided my current perception of this is… more power to them! While they are underpaid from a western perspective, at the same time they are well paid from a non-western perspective. Should there be more safety regulations enforced… probably… but at the end of the day things need to be done and they are just getting on with it… I just hope what there REAL expat labour force is doing is appreciated

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Zig Zag Towers

The other day when we were exploring some of Doha we drove through the development that is going on around where The Pearl is being constructed. The Pearl for those not in the know is the big man made island just north of Doha, which I am guessing is Qatar’s version of Palm Island in Dubai (but obviously shaped like a pearl rather than a palm tree). Even though there are quiet a few villas and houses plus the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the area (as with everything else here) it is one huge construction area. Apparently this is the first area in Qatar where non-citizens can actually purchase property and I think you receive a residents permit for your troubles… although from my understanding it is on a 99-year lease (but I may be wrong about that).

Anyway as we were driving up we could see these buildings that really just look like they forgot to check angles and corners as they were going up. Actually they don’t look that different to some of the other construction going on around town to be honest!

So these are to be the (at some point in the future) world famous Zig Zag Towers, to be completed early 2008. I am not sure why Qatar needs to worlds tallest zig zag towers, but that is what they are going to get. Like so many things the artist’s impression is the only way to work out what the overall master plan is. Now while I think it is going to be a very nice place to live, I have seen them being built and no offence intended but they just look like wobbly buildings that are going to fall over in the first strong wind.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Landmark and the Souqs

Headed out in the car once again, so must be starting to feel a little more confident driving at last. One of the things we have finally discovered is there are times of the day and days of the week when the roads actually resemble something that meets our internalised sense of what is “normal” on the roads. These are the times and days that it is good to venture out and just get used to what is here.

Today we decided to head off to have a look at yet another shopping centre, Landmark Mall. There are only a few to check out still… There really are a lot of shopping centres and pockets of stores spread out all over the city. It all just emphasises how much shopping plays in peoples lives here, whether it is considered entertainment, socialising, family time, or whatever. As far as the actual shopping malls go, they all seem to have at least some aspect that is targeted to towards “the family”. Landmark is no different with the typical large food court and amusement area off to one side. As far as the actual shops there go, there is nothing different than most although the specialty stores seem a little more upmarket than some.

Around the Landmark is another area of major construction, with roads cut off and diverted everywhere. I suppose we should be getting used to all this by now, but when you are heading towards a major roundabout and realise one of the major roads heading the direction you want to go is blocked off, it always comes as a little bit of a surprise.

Anyway after having a walk around we sat down to eat some large, lush and rather filling cinnamon scrolls for lunch. Can’t remember the name of the place, but I know they had the slogan “Seattle’s Best Coffee” or something along those lines. Why is there a store in the food court that has “Seattle’s Best Coffee”? Your guess is as good as mine, but you do have to feel sorry for those who still live in Seattle and can no long get their best coffee because it has gone to Doha!

After Landmark we headed towards the souq area, not that anything would be open being the middle of the day. At least with the roads being quite it would give us a chance to actually explore a little. The main souqs are more or less the middle of Old Doha, which is kind of just back from the southern reaches of the Corniche. Souq Waqif is the old one and is undergoing a major reconstruction to bring it back to something that is more authentic. I think they have realised that with all the new development around Doha also needs something that ties the city and it’s people to the past.

The whole souq area actually has a number of “souqs”, with that word basically translating to “market”. Waqif looks old and authentic on one side of the main road, while a number of other souqs are clustered together on the surrounding roads… there is a bit of an “Asian” feel to the other souqs… dirty, tacky, but with an endless list of different products and bargains to be had everywhere. I think one of things I like about it all is that it isn’t targeted at tourists… Well I don’t think it is, otherwise it wouldn’t resemble disorganised chaos with very expensive gold in one store right next door to cheap and scary looking electronics, and the tackiest plastic toys you have every seen on the other.

There was one major store open “Miss India” which is just across the road from the McSouq (not really a McSouq, but it does have a 2-story McDonalds on the corner… very authentic). Of course we stopped, Kerry entered, and Kerry walked out with a bag. Apparently she woke up the guy who runs the store as he was snoozing down the back somewhere (I don’t even know if it was actually supposed to be open or not).


Also saw the brand new (we think) spirally mosque up close… it is one of the things that seems to dominate the skyline on the southern reach of the bay at the moment. Looks all nice, new and shiny so it must be new!

Anyway there is a lot to see and investigate… I am just glad we are not here on a short holiday, as you really wouldn’t have the time to investigate and experience the place properly.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Exploring Doha

Went for our first big road exploration today. Headed out and the roads were rather quiet... so sort of just kept on going.

First we headed off down Salwa Rd to Ramada Junction to have McDonalds for lunch. Remember what I said previously about fast food, naturally this took a while because we had to wait for it to open at noon, plus the usual s-l-o-w service.
After that we drove up and down the full length of the Al-Corniche and stopped to have a little walk beside the sea… the first time we had done this. Very nice warm sea breezes coming off warm waters, and all really just what you would expect. It has definitively cooled down quite a lot since we got stuck when we couldn’t get a taxi.


We have also finally worked out what happened to Palm Tree Island. It used to be a popular little Palm covered island in the middle of Doha Bay that you would take a short Dhow ride to. Believe it or not they knocked it down in July… now I am not exactly sure how you knock down an island, but here anything is possible. There have been rumours in the paper saying there is going to be a big fountain on it before the games… but now the former Palm Tree Island looks like a big sand bar with 1 or 2 palms on it in the middle of the bay (you can kind of see it in the background).

We then drove around West Bay past the Sheraton past City Centre, then up towards the West Bay Lagoon area where The Pearl is being built passed the Intercontinental and Aladdin’s Kingdom (the local amusement park). The area where The Pearl is being developed is huge as I guess it should be when you decide to build an island that is supposed to house about 40,000 people. Along with the actually island is the Zig Zag Towers, Ritz Carlton Hotel (which is already open), and what looks like a very big canal development.

Drove out of that area and took the wrong turn, so started heading north on the major highway. Very big, fast, straight road and actually had to drive all the way up to Losail MotoGP track until there was a place to turn around (about 10 klms). The highways have huge barriers between the two-way traffic and large fences at the sides of the road.

From what we can work out, these are camel fences, because as soon as you turn off the major road there are very large cattle-type grids across the roads between the fences. Naturally these were not cattle grids, but camel grids (although we didn’t see any camels). Also the land to the north of Doha is very flat, dusty, and probably mostly limestone… no sand dunes, which I think are mostly to the south and west (we shall have to investigate as what is a visit to Qatar without the sand dunes).

Headed back towards the middle of town pass the Doha Golf Club and Qatar University (which looks much bigger than I thought it would). Then decided to have a walk around Al-Bidda Park in daylight and get some touristy photos. Apparently come the cooler months it will be the place to be with boats and amusement rides of some sort (…who knows).




Finally we decided to end our day with an exploration of Toys’R’us. It actually seemed pretty small once we got inside, but as far as large scale toy stores in Doha, we think this is it. Still an experience where we bought the obligatory cars of course!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Doha Sport City Tower

Just found this website (click external title link above) with some details of the huge tower that is being built up the road from our compound.

It is rather impressive to say the least and as with everything else around this part of town I am guessing is supposed to be completed over the next couple of months!!!!

When the road works around Sport City calm down a bit I will go for a walk up the road and get some good photos of the place. Will be an interesting place to visit once the actual games are over and done with. I love the fact there is an observation tower up the top because at the moment there really isn't much to see around this area but construction, but I am sure when everything is all finished it will become a world-class landmark.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Buying in bulk!

One of things you notice when you are shopping here is just how much people buy in bulk. Now when I think of buying in bulk, I remember when mum used to buy meat in NZ in bulk, or think of the big bags of rice you can get from the Asian supermarkets. The case here is that it would seem just about everything is available in bulk. I am not actually sure why because everyone seems to love shopping so it is no drama to pop down to any one of the numerous markets, hypermarkets, or grocery stores to pick up what is needed.

One of the stranger ones to me is tissues; 5 boxes at a time… I don’t get it. I know it is dusty and I know walking in and out of air conditioning makes your nose run sometimes, but I don’t see the need to buy a pack of 5 boxes of tissues (although no doubt we will get around to doing that in the not too distant future). hmmm just had a thought… maybe it is all related to the bidet thing!

An example is the other day we bought some pasta… well not just some pasta, but rather a bag with 8 or so smaller bags in it which would be more or less enough to last us at least a month (but maybe more). Don’t know why it comes in bulk, but it just does… but this of course leads to another issue. If most people buy in bulk I think they must have heaps of cupboard space in the kitchen… which perhaps provides some sort of explanation of why our kitchen is so big… but we just don’t have the cupboards.

Something else that comes in bulk is chocolate. No, you don’t just buy a chocolate bar here… you buy a box of them. Maybe that should be changed from chocolate, to sweeties and snacks. At the moment we have our junk food cupboard which is full of various bits and pieces that will probably be in there for a couple of months. Just to give you some idea the boxes of Nestle Hushhhh and Tola bars were about 10 Riyals each (24 bars in each). You have to love the Oreo’s!

They love packaging here, and most things are packaged well. What I don’t understand is why do we pay so much for everything in Australia!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Thursday Evening

We went for our first drive to the Corniche this evening. Traffic was not too bad really considering that it is probably equivalent to a Friday evening in Brisbane. Kerry did well considering this was our first real adventure on the roads outside our usual safety zone. It just all takes a little time to get used to.

We had a little walk around Al Bidda Park, which is a “family only park” – no “bachelors” allowed. It is about halfway along Al Corniche Street and while it maybe one of the major children’s playgrounds in the city (or maybe that is just one of the most well-known), it is actually really small (probably the same size as the children’s playground at New Farm Park in Bris). Even so it will be a nice place to escape when the weather cools down a little more.

Quite a few families, but mostly women in black sitting around on the grass while children of various races did what children do when they get to a playground (in other words Ashur had fun). Was a little hot and sticky, but really I don’t think it is too much different from a Bris summer apart from that burning sun during the middle of the day and the level of humidity in the mornings.

Regardless of the park, there was a gorgeous full moon that came up over the Gulf. That’s where it all is very surreal I think. While it is obvious that we are in a foreign country by all the funky scribbly writing, it still seems a bit strange when you sit back and think that just outside Doha Bay is the Arabian Gulf… and then out there in one direction is UAE and in the other is Iran. ‘tis all a big weird actually…

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

An Upate For All

Hi everyone

Just to let you know we are slowly catching up on all these entries. Make sure you keep on scrolling through the old ones as well as we are still adding and editing some of the posts and addign photos. I thought the easiest way to get this all started was to just treat it like a diary for the first couple of weeks and back-date posts, which means there is heaps to read through. It is just easier than emailing everyone and using up the pre-paid Internet cards.

Kerry has been really busy with her first week of work so hasn't even had a chance to post anything as yet. Our days at the moment consist of getting up around 5am (Ahsur is lucky as he gets to sleep in until 5:30!) We have been heading out on the roads around 6am as it is all still not too busy then. Takes us about 10-15 minutes to get to AJA, but the drive to pick everyone up at 2pm takes anywhere up to 30-40 minutes. Lots of traffic and lots of crazy drivers collecting children from school; both outside and inside the gates! I like Ashur's interpretation of school-time Doha traffic!


Anyway hopefully we will get up to date soon!

I trust everyone is well and we miss you all.
M

Monday, September 04, 2006

First day of school.

First proper journey to school was greeted by the nice site of a camel sitting in the back of a ute… we are noticing the lack of blue heelers in these parts! Unfortunately the school uniforms size 6 upwards aren’t available yet…They’re still on the Jordanian cutting room floor (in bales!). The kids are wearing their own clothes – with most dressing in national dress – guys in thobes and doovers (not the real name – but they look like big tea towels and come in a range of colours…white or red and white!) on their heads and girls in black Abaya’s… and Ashur in shorts, T’shirts and sandals (well I did say “national” costume and he doesn’t like thongs).

Speaking of Abayas – they come in many styles actually…full cloak and some like a long, split jacket. They are really just like any clothing – and you wear a different one each day…most are extremely elaborately decorated in sequins, glass beading, embroidery and printing. They are really quite gorgeous! I am definitely going to get myself a few of these thangs. I have (at times) commented to some of my mothers’ on the beauty of their abaya’s in the hope that I’ll get one as a pressy! In fact, I hint about all sorts of things – from their abaya’s to their flashy gold! Apparently, teachers are laden with lovely REAL gifts at the end of the school year – am just getting in early with my wish list(s).

Our Villa

Have just realised I never got around to uploading some photos of inside our villa.
Will post more comments soon!

Lounge Area








Dining Area








Study Area








Kitchen








Master Bedroom








Second Bedroom








Nanna Bathroom

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Petrol


Filled up the car with petrol for the first time. The petrol stations consist of a few rows of pumps under a roof with various guys in blue overalls (the sub-continent expat uniform of choice) who fill the car with fuel and then happily take your money which then disappears into a pocket. Pumps look old and petrol is cheap… of course! From memory you can get two types of unleaded or diesel at the station we go to which is just around the corner (and beside the local KFC); all types of petrol cost the same amount – 0.70 QAR a litre. To give you a better idea, it costs 27 Riyals to fill the car… which all translates into about 25 Australian cents a litre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This of course explains why there are so many cars on the road… and more importantly, so many BIG cars. It also explains why when people are waiting anywhere in their cars they just leave the engine (and air conditioning) going.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Crazy Clarks... Middle East Style

Today Glen enlightened us to the Qatari equivalent of the 2-dollar shop! The 6 Riyal store (which is its actual name along with something Japanese which we have no idea of the meaning) stocks shelves full of all the great stuff every home needs – as seen in any Crazy Clarks but better quality and much better selection…. the majority of things are 6 Riyal…. so nothing over 2.50ish – and its just up the road! Whatever you recieve from us in the post - its guaranteed authentic Bedouin style made in Arabia!!!!! (and cost a fortune)...

Friday, September 01, 2006

Being Neighbourly

We have a friendly Australian woman next door to us – who we only speculated about as she was away for the entire holidays before school commenced. Her name is Glen and has been an international teacher for quite a few years, teaching in Nepal and Thailand. She invited us to dinner in our first few weeks and we took the opportunity to get to know her (considering we thought it was a him for a while!). She cooks fantastic Indian!!! Which was a welcome change to the makeshift meals we were living on at the time. Glen taught us which brand of OJ was palatable and resembled something from home – unlike the watery orange ‘stuff’ we’d been buying. Glen is now a regular with us in the morning traffic on the way to school