doha daily 4/13/06

Thanks to my last entry and a very thoughtful Jennifer whom we’ve met here after she, her husband Markus and daughter Ellie relocated from New Orleans via Houston (Katrina “victims”) I am now the proud owner of a clothes line, BUT I AM NOT PUTTING IT UP!!!

The garden is starting to take off which is nice - we could use a little greenery around here. As I penetrate more and more of this county its systems are getting more and more frustrating. Soooooo much time is wasted going back and forth from office to office when you need to get a process completed. As an expat, one needs special permission for practically EVERYTHING, ie…obtaining a liquor permit. Thierry and I did that this past weekend. Luckily Lulu gave me an application in advance so that I could prepare us for everything we needed: Letter signed and stamped from the Hotel outlining Thierry’s salary, a copy of his passport, his residency card and 1000QR’s refundable deposit, CASH ONLY! What is that? ! Everyone here seems to want just CASH. For example, the satellite was hooked up this past week, and I KNOW I’ve spoken about this before but now that I’ve been through the actual process, it is worthy of another go. We get basic satellite in the compound which includes 1000+ Arabic channels and perhaps ONE English speaking news channel on number 647, but who is going to take the time and scan through 1000+ channels to check? To make it easy, we ordered the “Showtime Total Plus Package” which includes about 20 channels in a variety of sports, movies, US sitcoms (last season’s American Idol, Jay Leno from the week prior, Oprah), etc…They came and installed the box and for 2200QR’s we have these cool Showtime “Feel as though you are in the good ole USA” channels for one year (that’s $51/mos). HOWEVER, if I want to watch these satellite channels on say, a TV upstairs, I have to buy ANOTHER Showtime subscription for 2200QR’s, so basically, ONE TV, ONE SUBSCRIPTION – ugh! We have since added a sports package for an additional $37/mos, but the whole reason I began this story is because I had to pay CASH for the sports package. Two guys arrived one night at 730p, programmed our TV to accept certain channels included in the package, collected a large sum of cash from me and then left. I just found that bizarre.

I’ve heard a rumor that Doha is going to remove all roundabouts as they have in Dubai and put traffic lights up in their place. In heavy traffic, they seem to be a complete bust. During rush hour police stand at each point of the roundabout directing traffic as if there were a light there anyway.

Newspapers here are not delivered to your door - instead, for 2riyals you buy them from the guys on the street, so as you are sitting at the roundabouts while police have stopped your lane of traffic for oh, say, 7-10 minutes, there is plenty of time to buy a paper and even read some of the front page articles.

If you want mail delivered you need to buy a PO box so we are just using the hotel in the event someone needs to send us something. I do not encourage any mail though, as a few packages sent to us in Feb. have not yet arrived : (

I’ve actually been getting out to hit some golf balls which is nice :) Thierry’s only day off usually falls on a Saturday and I’ve just found a place who sells very powerful transformers so he can now wash his bike and dry it with the air compressor he bought in the States, so THAT’S a plus – the dirt and dust blow pretty hard though at this time of the year, I’ve been told, so as soon as he washes it, it’s going to get dusty again. We are waiting for the compound carpenters to enclose the carport area and make it a garage to better protect the bikes. And as more and more people move in, the carpenters are VERY BUSY, so I believe we have them “reserved” at the end of the month. In Shaa-allah! Tristan has really adjusted to his daycare and seems to be speaking more French. He plays there from 8a until approx 130p and then conks out for 3 hours at home. In the summertime, everyone stays inside, so all of the homes have playrooms for the kids. When I asked a woman who lived in Bahrain before moving here what there is to do in the summer, she replied, “Go to your girlfriend’s houses and drink tea while the kids play together…” yikes. I was thinking more like soccer or baseball in the street or tag with all of the kids in the hood (there are a lot of them here), but now…doubt it.

The guards at our compound are so nice, there are two of them, both from Nepal, Rana and Krishna, both work 7 days a week, either 6a-6p or 6p-6a, both make 600QR’s per month. That’s $165 per month! Krishna sends 500QR’s home to his wife and 4 kids. Rana does the same to his wife and two kids. Tristan and I give them groceries occasionally and I am researching a way to reach out to expats who arrive here and have furniture or clothing/kitchen items they no longer need and would like to donate so that we can somehow get them out to people like Rana and Krishna. They are however, making more money here than they would in their home country…

See you!