My New Job

For those of you who have been receiving my emails you will know about my job.  If not here is a little info.

As of August 17th, 2008 I was employed as a full time 'Health Science Technology'  teacher at Debakey High School For Health Professions - Qatar (click link to read about the school)

In a nutshell I will be teaching medical terminology and talking about possible careers that they may choose, and the basics of nursing practice - BP's, temps, bedmaking etc.... 

The students will eventually go to the local hospitals for pracs and overseeing them will be part of my job also.

We had our first staff meeting today and we are a real multicultural team. Two of us are from Brisbane - Aspley & Petrie can you believe that!!!!   By the sounds of things all of us are extremely lucky to be chosen to work at this school, it sure sounds like there are exciting times ahead.  This school was chosen from many around the world to be replicated here in Doha - the other is in Texas.

No photos at this stage as the building is not completed yet.  So I sit here and wait (and on full pay) for the building to be completed before September 1st 'Inshallah'.

I'll keep you posted.

Thai Massage/Food

Believe it or not but this is where you can buy some fantastic Thai Food - and get a massage if you wish!!!!

It is a hidden gem - we would never have thought that they serve food in here.

Word of mouth is a great thing in Doha.

Nick standing at the entrance - this was taken at about 9.30pm and it was so hot and humid as you can see by the photo.

Inside the gates - way too hot to sit outside.

A not so glam pic of me!!!  And yes I am in Qatar baring my shoulders!!!

I have ventured out a few times with the shoulders on show. You do get a few funny looks - but it is so damm hot you just have to once in a while - its called being  a little daring and just going for it!!

Ramadan Tents

This is not a very good photo - but I will take more.

These are the tents that they are putting up all over town for Ramadan - this is where they host Iftar.

This area here is a large piece of vacant land and they started erecting the  tents (marquees) two months ago.  They have curtains and carpet inside them and fancy upholstered chairs - they all look quite posh. By the looks of things there will be many of them by the time Ramadan starts.  They are all lit up at night.

I will endeavor to take some more pics when Ramadan is here - as we plan on attending Iftar.

Matt/Kirsty maybe there is a market here for your marquees during Ramadan!!!

The Labourers of Qatar

Due to all the construction that is going on in Doha there is a large population of labourers here.  They are from countries such as Pakistan, Phillipines and India. They are housed in labour camps which from what I have heard are not very nice.  12-14 in a room of mixed religions, so rather than live in these camps they build accommodation near where they are working.  

This building here is a new 'development' it has only 'gone up' in the last week or so. It is on a construction site - the big containers (with the wood on top) is where they store their water.

They have no showers or toilets.

I was unfortunate enough one day to be looking out the window one day and one of the men was doing his 'business' in a bucket!!

This is another example of where labourers are making their homes. There are about five of them that live in this one.  All their water containers are to the left.

There was an article in the local paper about the poor living conditions of these men - alot of them just choose to live outside rather than in the labour camps, all they have is a mattress to sleep on and thats it - no shelter at all!!

Home Delivery

This is how they deliver your take-outs.

They deliver almost everything: McDonalds, Pizza Hutt, KFC.  If it came to you in a car it would be cold by the time it arrived - due to the traffic here. So here you have it a little hot box on the back of a motorbike!!

Ramadan Is On The Horizon

Well Ramadan is on the horizon - it is due to start on September 1st. The date can change depending on the sighting of the new moon.

Ramadan is the name of the 9th month in the islamic lunar calendar - it is during this time that all muslims fast for the entire month. They concentrate on their faith and spend less time on the concerns of their everyday lives - this includes work and school.

They are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours - sex and smoking are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of the day the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called 'iftar'. In the evening after iftar it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends.  The fast then resumes at sunrise.

What does this mean for us???  We are not allowed to be seen in public eating or drinking or even chewing gum.  All the cafes and restaurants are all closed - unless they have a special license to stay open.  If they stay open they have to have all the windows covered up so you cannot be seen.  But I have been told that there will be no cafes open until sunset.

We have been told to stay off the roads until Iftar begins as the locals are in a hurry to get home for this meal.  The local hotels all have big marquees set up to host Iftar - so we are looking forward to experiencing this - the culture and arabic food.

No-one is allowed to work for more than 6 hrs a day - this is Qatari law.

We also have to dress a little more conservatively and probably no holding hands in public - mind you we are pretty good at not doing this now - the risk of someone in a position of authority being offended is too great.

So thats Ramadan in a nutshell.

Quirky Things About Doha

Coins: It is very rare to see coins here - since we have been here I have had maybe two in my possession.  They just don't do coins here.  If your bill comes to 200.50 QR (riyals) they will ask for 201.00 QR and for change they will give you a lolly or if they do happen to have a coin they will give you one - but very rare!!!

Navigating Around Town: There are not many street signs here in Doha so when you need to get somewhere you use landmarks - eg - at Decoration Roundabout (decoration store at the R/A) turn right, after five streets turn left its the building opposite the mall.  Its the only way to tell someone how to get from A to B.  Such landmarks are crazy signal (hate to think why its called this) TV roundabout (Aljezera TV is here).

Inshallah: this is the most frustrating thing for us westerners, it means 'god willing' everything is inshallah.  The girls in my english class for eg: when I say see you tomorrow they reply Inshallah - so it means I'm  probably not coming or I might turn up sometime during the lesson.  So one things for sure you can never rely on anything here.

Prayer: Five times a day the prayer call can be heard all over town - depending on where you are depends on how loud it is.  I usually don't hear it all.  (Listen here)  There are mosques everywhere. 

Fridays: This is the Holy day. The shops do not open until 1600 or some smaller shops don't open at all.  The larger supermarkets are open at 0800 and close for a couple of hours in the middle of the day for prayer time.  We tend to do our shopping on Friday as there is less people around and less traffic - instead of taking 20mins to get there it will take only 5mins. And starbucks is also open so that is a bonus. Friday is also a good day to go driving around town as  the locals do not surface until the  afternoon sometime. 

Kleenex: In most cars you will see a box of Kleenex on the dashboard, on tables in restaurants and in some toilets ....Yuk!!!  We have not gone down the tissues on the dashboard road and never will!!!!

Variety of Food: You can buy almost any variety of anything here for eg: Ketchup comes in garlic, chilli, sweet. Mayonnaise - garlic, chilli, tomato, herb.  Even toothpaste comes in flavours such as cola and vanilla!!!

Dress: As you all know the women wear the abaya and the men wear the white thobes.  Well picture this a woman driving a car with the full on outfit on abaya, burka and the black sunglasses - now that has to be a hazard when driving - don't you think!!!  It really is a sight. Here is a street sign that I came across.

Taxis: What a joke!!!  And they wonder why they did not get picked as a contender for the 2016 olympics.  You have to order a taxi at least 24hrs in advance - so there is no such thing as wanting to out out spur of the moment.  Then even when you have booked them they either come late (20mins late) or they go to the wrong place or they don't come at all, every few months they must have a new intake of drivers so they new ones have no idea where something is.   And they all drive like they are on the formula 1 track.   But I now have found a driver who is great and knows his way around -so that is a relief.

So there you have it just a few quirky things (annoying/frustrating) about Doha - well they probably apply to all of the gulf!!!