Sorry I haven't written in awhile. We have been BI-ZY! Our furniture was supposed to arrive the 25th of February, so when I called the sea-freight service the gentleman told me to expect 3 or 4 days either way due to weather, etc...We received the call yesterday, however, that it's here! : ) Now, we just need to clear customs and we can start our official "doha life." When I learned the arrival date of our stuff, I panicked as remember, no drapes, no wardrobes, landscaping is a non-issue at this point. So, Tristan and I set off one morning to knock it out. After asking around to several different people where to buy curtains, blinds, etc, one store name kept coming up, so I tried it. I walked in, met with a man named Tasleem, explained what we needed and BAM! The next thing I knew, he was in my car (he doesn't have one - just relocated from Sri Lanka) and we were off to our place for him to take measurements. He explained along the way how easy it is for ex-pats to live here with the rents being covered by their employers, etc, but for a "local" and/or "GCC," (Gulf Cooperation Council - includes all Gulf states here - United Arab Emirates, Bahrein, Oman, etc). He paid 2000 QR's for driver's license, when I only had to pay 150 QR's (due to the fact I hold a US license) and how his employer won't pay for a place for he and his new wife who is still waiting for him in "Lanka" as all of the newspapers call it here - I felt bad for him. Needless to say, he was a very nice man, quite efficient and I was able to order custom blinds for the entire villa by the end of the afternoon. ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO. The next morning, Tristan and I visited Osama, (quite a common name here) our compound Manager, to review what types of wardrobes his carpenter could construct for us. He showed me some another tenant had had built that resembled the church pews we had back at the apartment. With a wood-type change and more contemporary hardware, we too are now set on the wardrobes. TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO! All will be installed/constructed within the next two weeks, so that means, blinds installed Mar 14, wardrobes finished Mar 15, place cleaned Mar 16, move in March 17! If all goes according to my little plan...this has been the closest stressful down-to-the-wire experience I've had since leaving LA - it feels good to be back in the game alittle bit. The only bummer though, is construction happening on the roadway JUST ALONG our back wall - here I am secretly hoping it will be finished by late March - instead, I've been told "by December." Or to use a great phrase of the Arabian People, "In Shaa-allah!" This basically means, "As Allah wills it so," something like that, so if a job is quoted by the contractor to take 2 weeks, it could actually take FOUR, in Shaa-allah.
At the pool the other day, I struck up a conversation with a woman from Chicago (as I do with ALL American's I come in contact with). Her husband is in the Army and stationed in Iraq and had stopped in Doha (there's a base here) for a few days. They haven't seen each other in 3 and 1/2 months. She was waiting to hear from him so that they could meet. ALOT of redtape though, not supposed to be leaving base to see one's wife, and although he had been in Doha for the past 24 hours, she still had not seen him. While we were chatting, though, a fit, bald man walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, she turned and realized it was her husband, Sean and screamed in excitement. THAT was cool. I cried.
Tristan went to a pediatrician this week - he had been feeling under the weather. I'll include a picture of the building next time. Anyway, they still take babys' temperatures here in the derriere - he wasn't too pleased about that. To take his height measurement, they have him lie down inside a carved-out wooden box. Again, not too pleased...
I'll write again sooner as lots should be happening within these next 10 days.
See you!
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