doha daily 4/22/06

Today, Tristan had a field trip with his nursery – they went to Palm Tree Island. Well actually, WE went to Palm Tree Island. Thierry did not have a day off this weekend due to a large oil conference that took place at the Hotel involving Qatar Petroleum so I, along with a few of the other Moms went along. Hopefully, he will have two days off NEXT weekend. We met Tristan’s’ classmates at the dhow dock on the Corniche and went over on together on the boat. It is getting HOT here, today’s temp to be 35c, tomorrow 39c (102.2F). But as soon as we arrived on the island there was a cloud cover and breeze so the weather turned out to be quite pleasant. Basically, Palm Tree Island sits out by itself in the gulf and is surrounded by a curving Corniche. It includes several jungle gyms, slides and swings with a restaurant, which coincidently enough is closed due to the latest health inspection – they’re “crackin’ down.” And behind the restaurant, there are two teeny tiny pools and a large rocky beach when the tide is out. I looked at the two cloudy swimming pools and thought to myself, “Oh God, am I going to have to get in there with mybaby?” YEP! I was the only adult who got in, actually. There were some assistants there but they hung out on the sides of the pool pulling toys from one child’s hands and giving them to the next one who was crying the loudest. It was a fun two hours for Tristan at least and when he started getting tired, I took the opportunity to return home for his nap – whew!

Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to go and get my permanent driving license – now that I have my residency card, I qualify. I’ll also be making a stop at the bottle shop to become a “legal” buyer of alcohol and tack onto Thierry’s license as a “family” buyer.

Construction and road closures/diversions here are crazier than ever and the buzz is out that the city is not going to be ready in time for the Asian Games. Boy, it’s going to be GREAT once they finish that road just outside our bedroom window! The trucks and jackhammers start at 5am. We live between two stadiums, one of which will host the opening ceremonies, so you KNOW this road just outside our window HAS GOT to be impressive!!! Hoping for a lot of trees and greenery. Speaking of, our garden is k…i…n…d of taking off. I am out watering every morning at 6a (beating the heat) and talk about watching a garden grow…

We’ve decided to buy a car, so being that Mitsubishi is handling the sales of Harley Davidson’s here in Qatar, we’re sticking with them. The original HD dealer we visited when we first arrived lost its license so there is a new showroom going up in Al Wakra. Thierry and I were thinking that maybe when I return from summer vacation in Sept, I could jump into Sales for them, we’ll see. Anyway, with a 4x4, the type of car we are buying, we’ll be safer. I know I’ve already told you this, but people drive like maniacs here! Even when an ambulance or police car passes you from behind, you can count on a line of SUV’s following behind it trying to get through the paved way of traffic that the ambulance created so they too can pass everyone. Thierry nailed it accurately when he said that there was no respect here for your neighbor. No one seems to care about rules here. Say there are 3 lanes of traffic backed up for a ¼ mile waiting to go around a roundabout, to avoid waiting, someone will inevitably drive up over a curb and out onto the desert rock/sand. The trouble is, if it bothers you, and a lot of times it does, you can drive yourself crazy - one just needs to let it go – “not my battle.” There just seems to be a lot of ego here, and we all got one, know what I mean?

See you!