Our trip
hoped onto an air flight from
day 1 1/2.
flight form Rome to Doha… brand new airplane, clean, up to date, lots of fun stuff to do in the economy seats, little games on the headrest embedded in the seat in front of you… good food too… and more room…
we landed at about 8 pm, made our way through customs(about 10 minutes form airplane to clearing customs) collected our baggage and headed outside to find a ride to the hotel.
that was when it hit you… right in the face… takes your breath away… it was soo freaking hot. and humid. I now know what a turkey feels like when you tent it under tinfoil… really hot.
It was now about 7:15 local time and a limo from teh hotel was waiting for us… we were driven the 20 minutes around the city to the hotel intercontinental. we checked in, and headed up to our room…
About 2 minutes after checking in, our phone rang… Mike, a friend was waiting for us in the lobby. We quickly showered, then went back down to meet him…
we chatted for about an hour about the flight, customs, life in , then he mentioned that he hadn’t eaten yet, so we went to the hotel buffet and dined. It was a buffet, I ate about a hundred dollars of sushi, and jen ate about the same value in Hummus… It was good…
at about midnight, we crashed and went to sleep.
Day 2.(thursday)
we woke up at 10 ish, and decided to get things rolling and head down to the buffet… walked up at 10:30 to them clearing everything off… not a good start. We ate upstairs at teh cafe, and took a cab into town to see the mall, the grocery stores, and get moving on some questions that we had.
the drive was about 20 minutes, and the mall was huge… it had an amusement park in it.
it had a skating rink in it. a wallmart like store called carrefour. Actually, more like a superstore than a wallmart. cause it is a grocery store too…
We went in and started to compare prices, everything was about the same… nothing too drastic mike was a bit more, bread was a bit less, diapers were a bit less, and wipes were way more expensive… meats generally are cheaper there, but there is no pork. the array of produce would make Martha Stewart proud. everything from aero bars to granny smith apples are available. and about a billion types of rice…
we ate lunch at the mall, I had pizza, and hen had a sub-sandwich. it was here that we noticed a few things about the culture…
the Qatari people are really polite… you eat pizza with a fork and knife… always. you never show the soles of your feet to anyone(sitting cross legged is a no-no.) the left hand is used for “dirty activities” like bathroom stuff, opening doors, and stuff… the right is “clean” and used to shake hands and eat…
Qatari’s are normally dressed in a Hijab(I think that was what it is called) and it is an all white gown(think long long shirt) with a head-dress that is either white or red-checked… the entire thing is spotless… they must go through a wack of bleach…
back to the day.
ummm went back to the hotel, got there about 4 I think and showered and cleaned up had a nap, did that kind of stuff till 6 when we met with mike again. We went to a Lebanese restaurant, really modern looking, glass tables, red and white chairs etc… ate some good food, and had a lot of great conversation. We retired to the room at about 11 again…
Day 3 – Friday.
This is their holy day. I don’t remember what we did tin the morning, but the afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool, Mike spent a lot of the day with us. We finished off the day at a local pub, drinking a bottle of red, and talking about stuff…. No, I don’t remember… but it was fun.
Day 4 – Saturday.
This day we went over to the villas, and saw where we would be living.
The rooms are enormous. The kitchen is in an odd location, but it is completely furnished. The house is wired for internet, and cable tv, and well, it looks really nice. I’ll have pictures online shortly.
We went to a few other stores, walked around the mall… went shoe shopping…
We ate dinner in a restaurant, just jen and I, and retired to the room at a more respectable 10pm…
Day 5 – Sunday
I had arranged with mike to go to work with him on this day. I showed up at 7:30 and sat down to go through emails, do some reading, and met with 2 gentlemen from the foundation. I ate lunch at the university cafeteria. Then sat down in a meeting about the cisco phone implementation across the foundation…
We spent the evening with mike again, drinking beer at a bar on top of a hotel. Great views from all around.
Day 6. Monday.
Our last dayt in .
We wake up at 9 ish, and ate breakfast… Jen was planning on hanging around the hotel, and perhaps getting some stuff for the boys. At 10, we had a tour of the school Daniel would hopefully attend in September, it looked great…(I’ll write more about that when I get a bit more time) I spent a few hours at the foundation again, and went home around 3:30. we got packed up, and met Mike for a good bye dinner at 8. we ate at a restaurant called the fish market, you walk around and pick the fish you want to eat, then they cook it up… Great food, and more wine…
We started our trek home at 10… and saw the boys at 3:30 the next day…. It was great to be home.
Now, I know I have left a lot out… and I’ll get to it…
I still have to write about the souk, the drinking rules, the Qatari “untouchables†the insane drivers and the schooling… but not now… I’ll do that when I figure out what time it is.
