doha daily 2/17/06

Here is the front entrance to our villa - there is a door just to the right that wouldn't fit into the picture. Tristan is walking around to the "backyard." Needs some greenery wouldn't you say? Next to that, as you enter there are three salons next to one another (this is the center salon). There is the second half of the ascending stairwell. And finally, the pool where you will also find the squash courts, fitness area and mini-market .








We are now living back in the Hotel and waiting for the phone call saying, "Your furniture has arrived!" Working on water, electricity and applying for a landline for the internet, the latter taking about 4 weeks time - once you get the landline, you then apply for a DSL. We have been thinking lately on some major events we have been missing and it is making the two of us a bit homesick: The Superbowl (we didn't get ESPN at the time), Justin's 30th, as everyone is together in Palm Desert, Clare's bachelorette party in Vega$, among many other events through Sydney's school, etc. Still waiting to hear from the nurseries as well to get Tristan enrolled - they are so cute. Of course, the minute he is accepted, I will be sure to send pictures. We do meet with some women who have kids Tristan's age, which is nice - and there is a women's club that gets together two times a month at the Ramada Hotel - I envision us all swapping recipes or a surprise appearance by Martha Stewart at the podium : ) The weather for the past two days has been cold and windy - the sand blasts across the streets like sidewinding snakes, and if you accidently leave your car windows cracked open as you run into your villa to take pictures for your blog, you return to a layer of sand everywhere in the car's interior.

This week I'm off to take care of landscaping, drapery and wardrobes/closets, so feel free to send ideas - all are welcome!

See you!

one month 2/9/06

I thought I would start including some pictures of the surroundings for you to see what's Doha's architecture and layout is like - it's been one month today since we landed. This is The Ritz-Carlton from Lusail Street - a 4-lane "highway" going North.

Driving south, returning to the city from The Ritz-Carlton, you can see all of the construction - The Gulf is to our left, stand-along villas to our right.

Here are some stand-alone villas.

Stand-alone villas in The West Bay (Location of The Ritz-Carlton) area - under construction. Most of the stand-alones we looked at were no LESS than 5/6 bedrooms.

doha daily 2/6/06

Ok! We have found a place and it's officially signed sealed and delivered - no turning back. Here is a picture of the neighborhood - this is from the inside looking out at the front gates. Our place is going to be the 5th villa down the street to the left (Just a quick jaunt from the front-24/7-guarded-gate). Here are the specs: BRAND new, 3 bdr, 4 1/2 bath, dining, 3 living rooms, maids' quarters, high ceilings (which means, high light fixtures - not sure how we're going to change those bulbs) with large archways, marble floors, large swimming pool, two tennis courts, 2 squash courts, a disco (not sure why), an indoor gym with pool table, currently building an outdoor gym area for kids (slides, etc.) and we've already mentioned the 24/7 guard at the front gates. Oh! and there's a mosque in the corner, tastefully built, but we still are not 100% sure why - I asked the compound manager and he says it was the owner's doing, but more importantly, they convinced the owner NOT to include the loud speakers like the others I've mentioned. And it's all comprised of ex-Pat's, mostly Bristish, some French, Dutch and two other American families - but a fair of amount of kids, both young and teens. (which is good for Sydney : )

That's been the biggest news for the past two weeks. That and running out of wine for two nights - whoa! Tougher than I thought it would be - so after having "enough," or rather, NOT enough, off to the bottle shop with an acquaintance I went. This person does not really drink, so I practically bought his entire month's allotment I'm sure (determined by a certain percentage of your monthly salary). It's waaaaaayyyyyy out in a desert-y place. I will need a back-seat driver the next time I go. We arrived to a guard at a gate, who let us enter right away - I think he was making certain no one in a dishdasha (robe and head covering for Muslamic men) was attempting to buy alcohol, as no one of the Muslamic faith is supposed to DRINK alcohol. Speaking of, Thierry just received a notice from the government saying effective immediate absolutely NO alocohol can be sold in the public places of all Hotels in Qatar, meaning, no Lobby Lounge. I think Thierry mentioned it was because of abuse. No Server can ever sell alcoholic beverages to someone dressed in the dishdasha. Who's to say who's Muslim or not, though, when someone comes in wearing jeans and a shirt? The local population was savvy to that. So, back to the bottle shop - We walked in, Tristan in his stroller (great role model Mom - buying underground alcohol), and it was as if we were walking into a local wine mart in Kirkwood, Mo (little shoutout to St. Lu)!!! The only thing missing was the chocolate covered blueberries at the check-out counter. It was clean, organized, well-stocked with a decent amount of inventory - Bud, Heinekin, Corona, Stoli, Absolute...It was when started reading the price cards on display that I realized how well OVERpriced everything is...A case of Bud in the bottle costs $33, Heiny - $40. After grabbing a few cases, though, we hit the wine section - Heavy on the Australian varietals here - Hardy's series. And a decent amount of French. I passed a bottle of Fetzer Merlot for $25 and kept walking. I stocked up on some one-time bottles to see which were worth buying in bulk next visit and even bought a box of Cab/Merlot blend - actually better tasting than $2 Buck Chuck. Besides the box, the least expensive bottle of wine costs 27 QR's or $7.42, and all are like the Trader Joe's 12% alcohol.

Thierry is working all of the time, usually Saturday's off, when I drive him around like a tour-guide and get honked at wherever we go - people honk here at EVERYTHING. The light turns green and you're ....just....about....to step on the... HONK! and from 10 cars back! NO PATIENCE!!! Still smiling and nodding, though. If you like gold, you are golden : ) Haven't seen too many platinum salesmen around. Tristan and I visited the jewelry souq (sook) today to get Thierry's glasses fixed. It was 4:00p and they were just re-opening from lunch - men everywhere just talking, walking, sitting, I saw only one other woman there shopping with her husband. I asked a store owner if he gets alot of business and he told me that if he gets just one sale per day, it's worth it. Women approach me daily and ask if they can give Tristan a kiss. They usually have to do it through their abbaya as their faces are covered.
And here is a picture of his new fascination - GROSS! (He cannot keep his hands off of the bidets) See you!