Post #100

Well maybe not a very impressive post but it is still number 100!

An explanation of cats...

On any given day we are visited by any number of cats as I have mentioned before. Their relationships differ as does our relationship to them, but they all have names of some form, which we have bestowed on them for various reasons. Many of them make their way inside for whatever reason they see fit, some we can touch, and others are a bit scary… but they are among the cats of Doha and they like the cat food and milk we put outside for them. All the cats live outside and are just visitors, as we are here.

Our first visitors after our arrival were “mummy cat” & “kitten”. As you would have seen previously “kitten” has become a fixture of our home and can be an affectionate little thing (although it is slowly outgrowing it’s “kitten” status). She plays, sleeps, and generally just hangs around most of the time. Mummy Cat on the other hand has only just started coming inside for the occasional nap and pat… she also only has a stumpy tail; don’t know what happened to the rest of it. Both of them still head off together, but “kitten” normally returns far more frequently than “mummy cat” does; she normally announces her return by jumping off the roof onto the window sill via the air conditioning unit (which makes a load thumping-kind-of-crashing sound).

Next is “big moza” formally known as “moza 2”), who sort of just turned up a few months ago. She is never too far away and often sleeps on one of the dinning table chairs in the evening. She likes a pat, reluctantly puts up with “kitten” but is not really friends with “mummy cat”… they sort of give each other a wide berth as the pass (or some times just sit there facing each other sounding not particularly happy with their world). She is one of the few fluffy cats you see around here, as most have short smooth coats.

pretty cat

The other two regular visitors are “moza” (formally “moza 1”) and “pretty cat”. We think these two must be sisters (although they don’t look alike), as they don’t really have a space issues between them and eat together out of one bowl. They also turned up together not long after we arrived, but both are still very skitty so only venture inside for a walk and sniff around then head straight back outside. “Pretty cat”, who actually vanished for about a month but is now back, is so-called because she is a very pretty and fluffy cat. We can’t touch either of these two at all!

big moza & moza

The story behind the “moza” name is based on a little girl at Kerry’s work who once said “I have nose. It’s dirty”. Both the moza’s have black on their noses, hence their name. “Big moza” is fluffier and bigger than the other “moza” plus has a white stripe down it’s back… so if we had put more time and effort into naming (which you should have guessed by now, we didn’t) it’s name would have probably been something more skunky! Don’t know if the two moza’s are related, but they seem to tolerate each other better than some of the others.

There is also the “skitty cat” that turns up normally once a day, and is very skitty! She hides under the chairs out the back, eats and drinks, then runs away.

skitty cat

There are also some male cats around, but they obviously give each other a pretty wide berth. The female cats don’t really have a problem with the male cats and basically ignore them for the majority of the time. There is “male moza” who I think is possibly the moza’s dad as he has very similar markings. There is also “ugly cat” who I think may be the dominant male and possibly the father to both “mummy cat” and “kitten”. He really isn’t ugly, but just very solid and beaten up. There are others that we only see now and then. “Big-head cat” is a young male who kind of has the whole big Garfield head thing going on… he is looking a bit beaten up lately and has only been around once in the past few weeks. I picked him up one night and brought him inside, and he just flopped on Kerry’s lap… very nice natured cat but I think when he was beaten up once too often by one of the other males and has now been scared off. There is also “tiger cat” who sort of has tiger stripes, is another nice-natured big male who loves a pat, but he has only been around once in the past month and now has a pretty badly damaged foot. We also had another kitten with a damaged foot visit us for a few days, but that was has now disappeared.

male moza

Finally are the hillbilly cats. There is a male and female who we see on the top of the back fence (I have yet to see them in our backyard)… the reason they are the hillbilly cats is the male has what looks like an overbite (or at least a big bottom lip) and the female looks cross eyed, so they both look like the bad result of a little bit too much inbreeding!

If you think that is a lot, they are just the ones that visit our backyard. You can drive through the compound or on the surrounding roads and see others who obviously have their little area they stick to… all of them look related to at least one or two of the ones that visit us.

At the end of the day you can’t look after these cats too much… this is not the place to be if you feel the need to take in strays otherwise your house would be full in a week! It is hard not to get attached to our little furry friends though and our evenings would not be the same if we didn’t look over and see at least one of them asleep somewhere.

Qatar – If the weather or roads don’t get you, the washing machine will!

Our washing machine continues to vibrate violently and make it’s own way around the kitchen hunting for prey (I think cat or child)… well, as far as the cords coming out of the back will let it. The back cover flies off every time it is put back on and it’s spin cycle is the source of great entertainment for all of us… especially Ashur, who while scared of it also obsessively sits and watches every spin cycle he can! He is actually very taken with the front-loading washing machines and air conditioning units here. He seems on a mission to draw the perfect air conditioner (which he is getting very good at), and each trip to Carrefour includes a visit (often by himself) to the washing machines and air conditioners. It has become such a regular occurrence that the men who work in that section of the hypermarket talk to him and discuss the finer points of front loading machines and air conditioning units on each visit.

Getting back to our machine… it has been fixed, but one thing you learn here is things really don’t seem to get fixed very often but rather are patched up. So until such time as the thing actually blows up or stops working, it will continued to be patched… and fair enough too I say as I don’t think life would be the same without it!

Home looking homely...

I have been playing around with the camera on the phone and worked out it does little panorama photos. Unfortunately for some reason only known to someone else, we can't send or receive international MMS messages so we can't send any photos directly to your mobiles (but we can send and receive international SMS messages). Added to this, the photos that come off the camera aren't the best when you see them off the phone (but they will do for those times when we don't have the camera with us).

Anyway here is home looking homely this morning...

The weather thingy!

I have noticed that the weather thing on the right sidebar of this page is normally out. I know this morning it says "clear" but our weather has turned weird once again. We actually had a big thunderstorm last night, which was a "just like in Brisbane" moment... today it is cold and grey... no clear skies that is for sure!

We were small, but we were there!

Not the best but looks far better on our computer than it does when posted. Unfortunately the images will not come through as clickable! I know, it is a "you had to be there" kind of thing... but thought I would post these anyway.

Off to Dubai… for the day!

Went to Dubai for my interview with HCT today. It was an early morning to get everyone off to school and me to the airport on time. The departures area at Doha is actually not too bad once you get through security into the “passengers only” area where you go through check-in then passport control. Saw the duty free shop which is actually pretty big, but to be honest the prices are not that different from what you get in town (but it was a little strange to see alcohol on the shelves). The flight was delayed a little so instead of leaving at 7.55 it was scheduled to leave at 8:15am. That would have been ok, but we actually ended up sitting in the plane for at least an hour and didn’t take off until after 9am! I just think I am destined not to have a good experience with Qatar Airways!

Did see The Pearl from the air as we were climbing though, and it does look very impressive! I think we flew all the way across the Gulf as I could see land on the left side of the plane, which I was guessing was more than likely Iran and then came in over Sharjah, which looked pretty big… but I was on the wrong side of the plane to see much of Dubai. The land did look a little different with not so much rock and rubble as there is in Qatar, but rather undulating sandy looking ground with bushes everywhere… plus you could actually see some hills in the distance that was a change from the flatness of home. Once through passport control and security it was already about 11:20, so jumped into a taxi to go straight to Dubai Women’s College as my interview was scheduled for 12.

Impressions of this part of Dubai was it is a lot bigger than I thought as the college is quite close to the airport on the map, but it seemed to take about 20 minutes to get there. Everything looked similar to Doha, but more finished… so even though I could see cranes and building everywhere (plus the top of a few huge high-rises in the middle of the city) and the roads all looked finished and clean… and BIG!

Dubai Women’s College was very nice and new looking… the security at the gate welcomed “Mr Michael” and handed over a visitors pass… the reception area also welcomed “Mr Michael” and another security guard showed me where I needed to go. I was greeted by two of the heads of two of the business departments and the interview went as interviews go… it was video taped as well which made me feel rather self conscious. Can’t really say anything more specific about how it went because I really don’t know… I was asked questions; we discussed some things and so on. After the interview I was taken upstairs where I was introduced to some of the DWC staff and got to talk to the supervisor of the eBusiness program there which was informative, and then talked to another staff member from the business department. Both were rather open in their conversations and answering my questions, which was a good thing, and it seems like a good working environment with some good courses in place. From my understanding HCT falls somewhere between TAFE and Uni, being more focused on vocational education but also providing undergraduate degrees.

The process is quite complicated as the interview is just one step. Next the interviewing panel sends their recommendations along with my videotape to central recruiting services. Then I have to be recommended further by one of the colleges if I was deemed to have “passed” the interview. The business supervisors can read the recommendations and view my interview, and then recommend me for a position at any of the colleges… all a bit confusing, but I guess the one thing I do know at the moment is I am one step further along in the process.

By the time I waited for a taxi I didn’t actually leave DWC until about 2:30 so had to head straight back to the airport. Tried to call home several times but even though the roaming on the phone was working; apparently you can’t call from the UAE to Qatar… who knows, but maybe it needs to be set up before you leave or something! Once through the security check into the “passengers only” area I went through check-in and then passport control yet again… one thing I noticed about both the Doha and Dubai airports, that unless you are a passenger they look very small and you really don’t get to see anything at all!

I had a look around Dubai Duty Free, which is as big as you would imagine and bought a couple of pressies to take home with me. The prices once again really aren’t too different from in Doha, but I guess the whole “duty free” thing is aimed at travellers who don’t get these prices everyday. Another thing I noticed was the huge display of Fosters in the duty free section for both incoming and outgoing passengers!

Anyway flight home took about 40 minutes and saw the river (or whatever it is) and port at Dubai on the way out but not much else. Crossing the water I saw what I at first thought where groups of fishing boats with very bright lights, but then worked out they were the oil and gas platforms… and there were a lot of them! Anyway once through passport control and security one last time I was home again… a very long day with over 6 hours of it spent either in planes or at airports… and what did I see of Dubai? Well really nothing apart from the most cranes I have ever seen in one place, some very nice buildings and some very big roads with lots of traffic, but of course that is probably more or less all anyone sees in Dubai on a daily basis anyway. But next time we will all go and make sure we have time and money to experience what Dubai really has to offer!

Qatar Exit Permits

Ok so while I have posted our experience I just thought it may be useful to post a little more information in case anyone tries to do a Google search or something the same as I did… maybe it will come up, maybe it wont.

Qatar Exit Permit – All those with a Residents Visa need an Exit Permit to leave Qatar, which must be approved by your sponsor. If you are under a Work Visa your employer has a process in place, which includes handing over an internal application for an exit permit along with your passport a few days prior to leaving the country. Apparently most require a confirmed booking to do this. They then take care of the rest and return your passport to you prior to your departure date. If you are under a Family Visa you only need an Exit Permit if you are a Husband (or I think male child over 16, but not 100% sure about this one). The easiest way to do it is either online (but the online form on the MOI Website is only in Arabic), or to just go out to the immigration office next to the airport (first left and then left again after the airport heading into town along Old Airport Rd) with your sponsor who can sign the form on the spot. The actual forms at the immigration office are in both English and Arabic, so hopefully the one online will be the same in the near future!

The reason for the Exit Permit is (from what I understand) so that those who are under residency visas do not just leave the country leaving money owing, breaking employment contracts etc. I am guessing the reason why husbands (but not other dependents) under family sponsorship need one is for similar reasons, and possibly that if the male of the household leaves the country there is more chance the wife may follow.

Of course there is one problem with all this… there is nothing that I can see that would stop you from getting a return ticket and Exit Permit to fly to somewhere nearby, then booking a flight home from there… but maybe I am wrong.

The "yes, you can catch your flight" permit

Well we did find out that Kerry could come to the airport with me the day before I was flying out to sign something, which I assume was an Exit Permit. So after school today we headed out to Doha International to see what we could do!

Firstly went to the departures area to discover that most of it was a “passengers only” area, so went to the information counter who sent us on to the Qatar Airways room, who then sent us to the arrivals lounge… same building but out the door, up the road a little, and then in another door. In the arrivals terminal we found a sign that said “Immigration’, so followed that upstairs to a closed door with an Arabic sign above it. We did get some information from someone helpful in another office though who told us the immigration office was only open until 2pm, but there was another immigration office next to the airport and if we couldn't come back at 7:30am in the morning, they could help us because they are open 24 hours.

So we got back in the car, left the airport and went down the road to the first big white building (which actually IS right next to the airport, but not very well signed and quite easy to miss). After lining up the guy behind the counter filled in the form which Kerry then signed and gave back a little printed sheet of paper… we can only assume this was the Exit Permit!

Not really that much of a hassle to be honest IF we had been told that was all we needed to do when we asked, but by now we are getting accustom to receiving partly correct information and then making the rest up as we go… this seems to end in the correct result most of the time!

Asian Games Ceremonies DVD

They released a 3 DVD set of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies from the Asian Games today. Packaging could be better as it is just in a normal DVD case and there really isn't anything on it that you could really call "special features", plus it isn't cheap! But anyway we bought a copy and have seen the closing ceremony... I think what we saw in person was far more impressive than it looks in the telecast. The scope of the whole thing isn't really shown and the colours don't look anywhere as good as they did in person. But we did do some slow motion to see if we could see ourselves, which we think we can at least once (although no closeups)... but there is a shot from above where you see the 2 laterns K and A where waving which is a bit cute... of course very hard for us to show you, but maybe I can get a still image from it and circle us or something in the future!

Job Interview

Well I finally have my first proper job interview this Thursday… in the UAE!

This is the second time I have been invited to an interview with the Higher Colleges of Technology; the last one was scheduled for 13/12/06 in Ras Al Khaimah (one of the smaller Emirates) and we just couldn’t afford for me to fly over.

This has been a little bit of a saga as originally this interview was going to be done via teleconference, as HCT are unable to set up a videoconference between Qatar and the UAE (I actually don’t know why). Then we found out that a teleconference does not replace the face-to-face or videoconference interviewing process… I guess they need to see the whites of my eyes. The problem once again was that we just didn’t have the cash available to pay for the flight upfront so this time around they have provided me with a return ticket so no reason not to go, plus they will reimburse incidentals.

The issue now has been finding out about the Exit Permit that is needed to leave Qatar. This is a continuing saga that started with me needing one, then not needing one as I am under Kerry’s sponsorship (Family Resident Visa rather than a Work Resident Visa). Now what we were told has changed again, and apparently the only dependents that require one are husbands under their wives sponsorship. At this stage the only thing we have been told is that Kerry needs to accompany me to the airport on the day of my departure… beyond that, who knows. Hopefully we will find out something a bit more detailed (or an alternative) today.

So regardless of the Exit Permit (which we will get one way or another), this Thursday I am going to Dubai for 7 hours… yet another adventure!

We now have mobile technology!

Due to the impending travel (see next post) we decided it would be a good idea to bite the bullet and finally get a mobile phone. Added to this is the fact that potentially we are the only people living in Qatar without one as we continue to get strange looks every time we are asked for our mobile number and reply “we don’t have one”. We had already purchased a SIM card as Qtel are having a ½ price sale during January, so we thought we better get one while they are cheap; QR 100 (instead of the usual 200) and you get QR 100 credit with that. A bit of a bargain!

We actually went to Carrefour yesterday and came away with a Motorola for QR 499, but after bringing it home and charging it up, we discovered the screen didn’t work. This morning we took it back... they played around with it and discovered the same as us… that it didn’t work… and gave us a refund. So today we came home with a Sony Ericsson w300i for QR 650 (about $AU220)… and it works! Of course the only problem now is that our old mobile has died… the Optus SIM card is no longer registered so we can’t access any of the numbers that were stored on it!

But anyway we now have a mobile with about 6 numbers in it… at least we wont be getting anymore strange looks when asked for our contact details!

15th Asian Games Closing Ceremony

OK........ so it has taken a while to finally get this up, but here are some of the photos from the closing ceremony. I think it has taken so long because it was an experience that had to be experienced, rather than something that is easily put into words (maybe they will release a DVD).

The flames burn on...

Maybe the right words to do justice to the ceremony will come at some point in time, but for now the images will have to do.

The Emir arrives to much flag waving!

The first 1/2 of the ceremony was inspired from the stories of 1001 Arabian Nights and the whole thing went for about 3 hours... so this is just a very small selection of images!

The Sands of Time
…a magic carpet ride through the closing ceremony

The Flame is Passed On
…the symbolic passing of the Flame to the Arab merchants of the caravan

Haroun Al-Rashid and the Darawish

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Sinbad the Sailor

Aladdin and His Marvellous Lamp

The Dance of Lights

Entrance of the Athletes of the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 - The Land of the Oryx

Salute to the Games

Fireworks begin...

Hopefully these images are clickable, but it seems some are and others aren't without me actually doing anything to the settings!

Back to school!

Well it has been 5 weeks but today it is back to school for both K and A... 6 months, 2 terms with a 1 week break in the middle to go until the first year is complete... back to the early mornings after far too many sleep-ins!

Happy New Year...

...to all!

What a year 2006 was... going to be a hard one to top!