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!!!

Khalifa Stadium Doha - Qatar

This is Khalifa Stadium in Doha.

It is a sports stadium - but not quite sure what goes on here or when anything happens in here.  It looks to be quite a large stadium.

It was used back in 2006 for the Asian games.

The socceroos game was not even held here - I think that it must have to be a large event for them to open it.  You never see it lit up or anything.  It is right next to the Villagio Shopping Complex - the one that I blogged when we first arrived.

It is quite an impressive looking building.  Would love to see what it looks like all lit up.

Kids English Class

These are the kids that I taught for 4 weeks over the summer break.

They all passed the exam  - marks ranged from 79% - 100%.

They were a really nice bunch of kids.

How Cute is This!!

As I only have three more days of teaching the kids left - one of the girls said that she was going to give me a postcard so I would not forget her. (She is 9)

Yesterday she gave me this and told me not to let anyone else in the class see it.

How cute is it - hand made and all.

(This was the girl who was trying to convert me)

Our New Car

This is Nick's new car still in the shop awaiting collection!!!

The photo does not show the colour properly - it is an amazing colour.

This is mine - pearl white with orange leather interior - it just looks so good!!

Now back to reality - this is our new car.  Its a Ford Edge, an american car.

Not quite as nice as the Lamborghini - but one is free to dream. 

Mr Marshmallow Man

As we live in a newly constructed building there is usually some sort of construction work going on at some time - and for some reason it always seems to be in the middle of the night when you trying to sleep.

They are working on the ground floor of the building and the sound of banging vibrates up the entire building so it sounds like someone is banging next door.

Last night we woke up to the banging at midnight - you usually put up with it for a little while, until you can take no more.

So Nick gets out of bed and gets changed - but does not change his t-shirt (don't you love Peter Alexander PJ's) I was going to say something but thought better of it - he had steam coming out his ears.

THIS IS THE TSHIRT!!!!

So off he goes down to see the security guards.  He comes back and said that they were laughing until he not so kindly told them them to shut the ##$$@@!!!! up.

Still with steam coming from his ears, I said you know it must have looked so funny you standing there going off and your tshirt says 'Marshmallow Man' - and hes flexing his muscles - we both just laughed.

Alas the banging did not stop - so he gets on the phone and calls the director of the building (he has done this many times in the middle of the night) and he says 'I will be as polite and precise as I can, can the construction stop its @@##$$!!! midnight - so much for being polite Nick!!

His response 'I will tell those crazy people to stop'

And it did stop almost instantly.

This morning I am still laughing at the image of Nick steam coming out of his ears in the tshirt.

Drive Thru - Arabic Style

This restaurant looks quite dodgy from the outside ... and the inside to be honest.  Its not dine in.  You just pull up outside and park on the footpath or anywhere that you can find - it's incredibly  busy.  You wind down the window and yell out to one of the boys standing outside or beep the horn ... take your pick, then  someone will come over and take your order.

Its just a kebab shop or shawarma as they are called here and they are dirt cheap - about $1.40 each and they are really good !!