After six long months, today was the first day out on the bikes. They arrived last evening with shimmering chrome and official Qatar license plates, and you guessed it, there’s a story there – Last week I received a call that the bikes had passed inspection and I could go pick up the plates from the DMV (MOI). When the car/bikes are brand new, plates can be released to the dealer. In this case, however, no, because the bikes are 3 years old, so, as the owner, I had to go. I picked up the paperwork from Mitsubishi, drove across town to the MOI, got in line and approached the woman at the desk with all of the appropriate paperwork, EXCEPT for one teeny tiny piece of paper…INSURANCE. Being this was a Thursday and it was already 1100a, it was too late for me to go all the way back to the dealer and return for the plates, so I left – no bikes today. The following Monday, though, I decided to give it another go. I went to Mitsubishi, picked up the papers and arrived to a very crowded MOI. It was my turn and I approached the woman at the desk, who after rifling through all of my papers decided to first help a man standing well within my “public spaces bubble” and obviously impatient at waiting his turn – what else is new? After finishing with him, she again turned her attention to me and this time summoned for a man to come and translate, I wasn’t really sure what exactly he did for he looked like any other customer waiting there, except he wasn’t wearing a dishadasha. He immediately whisked me away, grabbing my papers and said something about needing a stamp, so we briskly walked across the parking lot to another office, me following him like some bounding dog trying to keep up with its master, got the stamp returned back across the lot to the woman behind the counter. One minute later, he said that we needed to go see the Manager/Traffic Police Guy – something about trying to avoid a fine due to the fact the bikes had been in the country longer than 15 days. OY! We walked into his office as some other people were leaving. He looked up, grabbed the papers for review and asked me if I was going to be riding a motorcycle, to which I replied, “Yes!” He then said, smiling, “Be very careful…” I told him I would and smiled back. He wrote on the paper in Arabic, “Without penalty…” so I am not sure if they do that for EVERYONE who this guy, Tariq, takes into the Manager’s office or just for the ladies (of course, there aren’t that many ladies who ride here and overall there are only a total of 85 Harley’s in Qatar). After obtaining the waiver, Tariq whisked me back to the woman at the counter and instructed me to sit down, winking at me (no idea what that meant). So, here is this guy I’ve never met in my life, not wearing a uniform, no nametag, could be some dude off the street (probably is), holding our motorcycle titles, our residency cards, and has me then sitting for the next 45 minutes like a dope watching some wildlife adventure show on suspended televisions behind the employees where falcons are graphically attacking and eating rabbits and ducks. He returned and sat down next to me, handing me four license plates (one for the front?) and told me to hide them in my papers. Now, I was getting a little freaked out and it had been about two hours total that I had been there – I just wanted to go home. He got back up, spoke with the woman, asked me for my credit card and charged an amount much smaller than I expected, about half actually. He winked and again, left me sitting there. Ten minutes later, the woman summoned me and handed me our registration cards and said, “Halas.” (finished), to which I replied “Shukran,” (thank you) and went to find Tariq to give him a “tip.” Turns out, though, my tip wasn’t big enough and he explained that I needed to give him more money as he was able to save us all sorts of money on the registration as well as move me through the system in one morning as opposed to 2-3 days, blah blah blah. He won.
The ride this morning, though, was great. One and a half hours total, stopped by to say hello to Lulu and then to visit the Hotel as it’s relatively far and the roads are more open. It’s like a furnace though – I kept hoping for a cool breeze around every corner – no dice.
Many of you have asked me about the cost of living here. I thought I would run a few things by you to help you make the determination. Here are a few items bought at the grocery store:
50ct package of Pampers diapers $14.26
6 medium gala apples $1.65
package Lindt white chocolate $1.79
small box nestle after-eight mints $3.00
kraft philly cream cheese (medium tub) $2.47
box of sugar-free Jello $1.30
box of Nemo fruit snacks $5.42
medium bag of Tostitos chips $6.25
jar of Tostitos salsa $4.26
one roll viva paper towels $3.98
one baguette $.82
box pop-secret popcorn (3 bags) $2.61
package of peeled carrots $1.85
16 oz can hummus $.90
case of Volvic bottled water $15.66
12ct of nestle bottled water $2.33
frozen pizza (nabil’s brand) $4.80
box Kellogg’s fruit loops $3.78
package Oscar Meyer hotdogs $3.71
32 oz Hellman’s mayo $6.52
medium bag of Tostitos chips $6.25
jar of Tostitos salsa $4.26
one roll viva paper towels $3.98
one baguette $.82
box pop-secret popcorn (3 bags) $2.61
package of peeled carrots $1.85
16 oz can hummus $.90
case of Volvic bottled water $15.66
12ct of nestle bottled water $2.33
frozen pizza (nabil’s brand) $4.80
box Kellogg’s fruit loops $3.78
package Oscar Meyer hotdogs $3.71
32 oz Hellman’s mayo $6.52
32 oz can of parm cheese $6.32
6 organic eggs (Dutch) $2.88
8 oz buffalo mozzarella $2.34
Gillette shave gel $2.87
Niagara spray starch $1.71
Pledge $1.99
Banana boat sunscreen $5.49
Tide $3.50
100ct Glad sandwich bags $3.78
johnson’s baby shampoo $3.98
case of beck’s beer $38.46
telephone line for the house (calls not incl) $9.05
1MG DSL one month $82.41
6 organic eggs (Dutch) $2.88
8 oz buffalo mozzarella $2.34
Gillette shave gel $2.87
Niagara spray starch $1.71
Pledge $1.99
Banana boat sunscreen $5.49
Tide $3.50
100ct Glad sandwich bags $3.78
johnson’s baby shampoo $3.98
case of beck’s beer $38.46
telephone line for the house (calls not incl) $9.05
1MG DSL one month $82.41
Condensation is now appearing on the windows in the am due to the humidity and the air conditioning in the house seems that much colder because outside it is that much hotter. Doha seems much less crowded now as schools have finished and people are leaving for their vacations. And I had a girls night out this week with Lulu, Angela, Janice and Amanda – we started at a Sushi restaurant at the Ramada and then headed up to the top floor to a “Club.” We met a bunch of American guys hanging out on their one night off – they were Engineers working for the Military and had just returned from Iraq.
See you!
Tristan going to school the day after France beat Spain
