doha daily 5/17/06

For all of you Seinfeld fans; “The heat, Jerry, the heat!” It is becoming oppressive. We are now living in an air conditioned world and everyone that has experience living here in the summer months tell me, “Oh, this is nothing, just wait until the humidity comes along; walking outside is like stepping into an oven…” And when I say “everyone,” I mean EVERYONE!
Tristan celebrated his 2nd birthday last week. I dropped him off at school and then raced across the city to pick up 40 helium balloons (becoming a tradition) to take back to the nursery for his big celebration. They were a big hit as no one usually delivers helium filled balloons and now I know why. The temperature since the end of April has consistently been in the 40’s (104+F), some days 44 (111F) degrees. Helium and heat do not mix, therefore you have to turn on the AC full blast in the car and hope that none of the balloons burst from the store entrance to the car. Success! Tristan’s party went off without a hitch.
A few more temperature related tales: 1. As you turn on the shower, one actually waits for the water to cool down as opposed to heat up – we have no cold water! In fact, “everyone” tells me to go ahead and turn off the hot water as it doesn’t make a difference and you save on energy. This really comes into play after a tough “in the heat of the day” workout afternoon, and when you are wanting to peel a hard-boiled egg that has just finished cooking – OUCH! Any clothing that needs cold water, like my black and white Harley shirt…forget it. 2. Last week, I thought I would be proactive and ask Shamind (AC specialist) to come and clean all of the AC filters (each room has its own unit). Coincidently enough, that very night, I woke up at 3am to a fan of hot air blowing in our room as the AC in our room went kaput. From what he told me, almost everyone that has moved into the compound has needed a new compressor, so apparently, we are NOT alone. The air was so still, so hot. It took two days to fix – THAT was a bummer. It made me immediately think of a newspaper article I had JUST read last week about a group of workers in Al Khor (city nearby) who were striking due to many promised benefits that were never delivered. One of which was air conditioning: First of all, during the “winter” months, no AC. From June to August, however, they are allowed 5 hours of AC per night, and even then the switch is regulated by Management. FIVE HOURS! After working on the roads all day long where there is no shade whatsoever besides a bush or two where 20 guys hover underneath for a quick break, or working construction on one of the several high rises that are helping shape Doha’s new and improved skyline, you would think air conditioning would be a given, but it is not. The sad thing is, I haven’t seen a follow-up article so who knows what is happening with these guys and their demands.
After writing to our shipping company upon looking for the whereabouts to a missing box of DVD’s that we never received with our original shipment, we received an email stating that customs had been back-logged 4-6 weeks and our box was alive and well. Two days later, I went to claim them. But first, I had to swing by the shipping company to collect some release forms. I was then instructed to go to the Qatar Customs Department, a grand building along the Corniche, and “it’s better to get there by 8am…” so Tristan and I went foraging for DVD’s together as that is usually the time that I drop him off at his nursery – he happily made the sacrifice : ) We popped in on some gentlemen having coffee and reading the paper only to be given a hand-written map to an entirely different location – one that closes by 11am, as this was Thursday, time for the weekend to begin. It turns out that Tristan needed a 2-yr checkup, so I stopped by the American Hospital (although there is nothing “American” about it) to meet a new pediatrician, Dr Fayad from Egypt, but most recently from Cleveland. Tristan was given a clean bill of health and we all became fast friends : ). Afterwards, we went to our “DVD destination” and arrived by 1045am. We were escorted inside an office where two gentlemen were having tea and a rather heated discussion. I was offered tea and since I read that it is considered rude to refuse, I accepted. With all due respect…GAYROSS! Not my gig. No thanks. Never again. First of all, I’m not much of a tea drinker, but you know…green tea…that’s an easy one. I cannot begin to tell you what this tasted like, so I won’t. End of story. He offered a cup to Tristan but I declined on mybaby’s behalf telling the gentleman that it was too hot for him. I can just imagine the grimace that Tristan would have made. As I presented the man with my release forms he immediately asked me if I could come back on Sunday (3 DAYS LATER) at 1000am. Before I could answer (thank goodness) he was thinking out loud that he remembered passing this box of DVD’s through customs and that it was nearby. At the same time however, he reached underneath his desk and picked up two amazon.com boxes to make certain our name wasn’t on them – I felt bad for the senders of the Amazon gifts because they will probably never reach their recipients – how can they? when they are found underneath some arbitrary desk in some arbitrary office in the customs department?!? The man left us for about 10 minutes and returned with a box of 22 DVD’s – Thierry and I finally watched Star War episode 3 this past weekend.
I’ve included a few pictures of our compound for you to see how we all look pretty much the same – not all of the families have moved in yet, so we still have a lot of the place to ourself. The carpenters are building a few additional shelving units for us and that’s about it for now…


These were taken from the roof looking down into people's back yards (not yet moved in) as well as down the street. The Khalifa stadium (in the distance) is where the Doha Asian Games Opening Ceremonies will take place.



This last picture is taken from our roof looking out onto the main road and horizon
See you!