COUGH!

Looks like fog but believe me it is another dust storm under some grey clouds. I don't think I ever posted a photo of the "fishing pole" lights along Al Waab, but this is them... and there are a lot of them. Not particularly effective but obviously someone liked the look of them.

An update...

Well there really isn't too much going on at the moment... I think we are just through the motions a bit now and waiting (a bit impatiently now) to find out if K and A are coming with me to the UAE. We have our fingers crossed for the "family move" though as it is another of the experiences we are having over here and it is far more enjoyable for those experiences to be together! AJA are trying to find someone to replace K (who of course is irreplaceable) but whether they are successful or not, we just have to wait and see (plus there are some other issues which no doubt will come to light at a later date).

Apart from that K is still coughing her lungs out and really shouldn't be at work, but is doing parent consultations this week so can't really have a day off... yes they do parent/teacher interviews for 3-4 year olds once a term!

I still haven't confimred my leaving/arrival date as yet, as I am delaying to the last possible moment, but it is only 4 weeks away... and then off to another country! I think it is 6 weeks until I start teaching again. All very surreal really!

Our Dusty World

Everyone is coughing and spluttering at the moment… particularly K! There is so much dust around and our villa isn’t the most airtight place in the compound, so a lot of the very fine stuff makes it’s way inside one way of another. There is a constant dusty haze that hangs over our heads, so when the winds starts that dust starts swirling. Although the temperature is still really nice, it seems like we have to keep the place all closed up for the moment to try and keep some of the dust out. Will be looking forward to living in a nicer villa in Al Ain (which you can guarantee will be happening).

Anyway snapped a few piccys on the phone driving to and from school yesterday afternoon!

Didn't actually mean to have the phone set to B&W, but oh well. Sand snakes it's way across the road and you end up with little mini sand dunes in the gutters.

It’s been a long time coming!

Well it is now official… we are moving to Al Ain in the UAE. The city is about 1 ½ hours drive from both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and is an oasis city split by the Omani border. I have taken up a position with Al Ain Men’s College, which is part of the Higher Colleges of Technology (the one that flew me to Dubai for the interview) teaching in their eBusiness program (I think it will be teaching the 3 E’s - eCommerce, eMarketing, eBusiness, and Marketing, so basically the same as what I was teaching at Griffith)… Kerry has put in her notice with AJA and hopefully they will find someone to take over her position during the break between term 2 and 3. If so we will all be going over together on about the 11th April, but if not K and A will follow me over in mid May (fingers crossed for the going over together)!

At the end of the day HCT is a good employer and it is a decent package with relocation paid; plus it is a change of scenery and yet another adventure. As I have said before we didn’t really want to pack up and leave Qatar just yet but have to go where the work is. Unfortunately the tertiary sector here is still small and seems to be a bit of a closed shop. At the end of the day it isn’t going to be that big of a change, just a bit quieter and greener, more trees and sand, and not as flat. So Emirates, here we come!

Dust Storm

We are in the middle of a dust storm today… I suppose it is what happens in a dusty country when it is windy! Visibility is very low, the world has a yellow-brown colour to it and everything is… well… DUSTY! Took a picture of the car about lunchtime… no it doesn’t normally look this dirty!

Virgin Megastore

A first for Qatar yesterday when the Virgin Megastore opened at Villagio. Might not seem like such a big deal, but seriously this is the first “proper” DVD and bookstore in the country. It is nice to be able to just go and have a look through English language books of all shapes, sizes and interests as well as being able to browse a decent selection of DVDs (all at “not bad” prices too)! Actually some of the books are cheap in comparison to Australian prices and we have already walked out of there with a couple of books for Ashur, DVDs and a Taschen art book. Makes a much-needed change from the endless sea of clothing, perfume and jewellery stores in Doha!

March Arrives!

Hi all
I know it has been a bit quiet on the M, K & A front of late. We are all doing ok and are pretty well (minus the odd cough and splutter... probably dust related). Will post more soon as have some piccys and news to share.

Villagio

Snuck a photo in Villagio today on the mobile. Just to give you an idea of the scope of this place, this is the new section that has just been opened up and the little fence you can see is actually the canal that runs down the middle, which has full sized wooden gondolas in it. There are actually only a couple of stores in this section open, and that is pretty much the same through the whole place. You can only just make out the ceiling which is painted (rather well) as a blue sky with fluffy while clouds.

They open the mall first here, and then let it slowly fill up with tenants. A little backward, but still an interesting thing to see. Unfortunately this means quite a bit of walking between shops to see what is actually there.

HCT Offer

Well HCT has made me an offer for Al Ain Men's College... nice to at least get an offer at last! More info to come...

Telephone Interviews

I have decided that I am not a fan of the telephone interview… actually I am not a fan of the interview full stop, but I think the telephone interview is definitely not my favourite.

To elaborate, I had a telephone interview with the American University of Bulgaria last night. I know! Bulgaria is a little like Qatar and doesn’t normally come to mind when people are thinking about working overseas, although most people at least have heard of Bulgaria! But the thing with this interview is there were about 6 people (I think) sitting in a room asking me questions over a speakerphone… I actually think there may have been 7 at one point. That wasn’t too bad in itself, but the line was really bad meaning I couldn’t actually hear some of what they were saying as well as some of them being very quiet (I am guessing they were further away from the microphone). All this added up to me being a little confused at the best of times and having a very sore ear due to having to squish the phone against the side of my head to hear what was being said. Added to this, the line had a nasty echo and delay playing havoc with it!

Needless to say, I haven’t heard back from them as yet. Although the interview went ok from my end, given that I probably didn’t answer the actual questions they were asking I don’t think it went so well at their end.

One thing though is I can say I had an interview with a university in Bulgaria, and that is yet another experience in itself!