Immigrants

   My parents migrated half way around the world, looking for a better life.  I'm quite proud of the brave choice they made, and I think they made the right choice, although you can never say what would have happened if they'd stayed at home.

    So it's with somewhat of an interest that I watch the migrants flock top this country.  To give you an idea of scale - as of March there are 1.77million people living here.  This is a record number - up 13,000 on February, and 100,000 people on the previous March.  Given you have to register to enter & leave the country, and have to have a job to stay long term - it shows that these numbers aren't made up - and that there's a lot of migrant workers here, hoping to earn a dollar or two, see the world, and hopefully have a better lifestyle then at home.

    There are all types of migrant workers - from the skilled to the unskilled - but above all else, the ones who fascinate me are the migrant Indian building workers.  Given the building boom in this country - Without trying I can probably count 100 cranes on the 15 minute car journey from home to the office - and the fact that I've nto seen a single female building worker - you can imagine how many male building workers there are.  The ratio of men to women in Qatar is 3 to 1 - definitely helped by the number of building workers.

   The building workers are very orderly, and very managed.  They all get taken to work by bus - I think driven by one of their crew - and then home again at night.

    They queue nicely, to get on the bus, and likewise when entering the building site.

    By local edict, all of their housing has recently been moved to camps outside cities.  I don't know how much money they make, but I'm sure it's not much - for their 6 days a week, 10 hours a day jobs.  I believe all their accommodation is paid for, although I'm not sure about medical insurance, holidays and food.

    I guess and hope they're doing these jobs for the economic betterment of themselves and their families back home, but especially with the current ban which moves them away from most eyes, I wonder....

Easter

  Most of the people I've talked to recently have all asked the obvious question - Do we get Easter as a holiday?

  If you think about it for a few seconds - the answer is probably equally obvious - with this country having Islam as the major religion, and Islam not recognising the religious nature of Easter - Easter isn't a holiday.

   There are a few odd things about this though.  Firstly, with my weekend falling on Friday and Saturday, and most of the Western world having Friday off - for the first part of the weekend it did feel like Easter. I had Good Friday off!

   Secondly, besides the religious nature of the holiday, many of us associate Easter with Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs.  (Although strangely, my American colleagues didn't know what Hot Cross Buns were!).  Coming up to Easter - would they be available?  February crept by - and Easter Eggs would no doubt be in the shop back at home. No sign of them here.  March - No sign.  Then last Saturday, while shopping - suddenly there was a big display of Easter Eggs in oversized boxes.  I suspect they were English, as many of the brands were English style chocolate brands. This excited agirlindoha, so one large box of Easter Eggs was procured.

    Over the course of the next week, it would appear agirlindoha must have done some more shopping, because soon there were some Cadbury caramel eggs.  Then a Lindt bunny or two appeared.  Easter was looking up.  No Hot Cross buns were to be seen, so recipes were scoured on the Internet, ingredients procured, and Hot Cross buns were baked (quite successfully I should say- Iranian raisins are very good!).

   So we were sitting around, munching them fresh from the oven on Friday night, when a friend told us they'd made a last minute appearance at our supermarket.  Oh well, mine would have been tastier then shop brought ones!

   The other weird thing was today - Easter Sunday.  Of to work I went, and no word of Easter was said.  I was tempted to run an Easter Egg hunt around the office, but I figured this would not win many friends, despite this countries love of chocolate!  Happy Easter!

Simple things

    Here's a meal I didn't think I'd be able to cook when we moved to Doha.

Roast pork loan with a bottle of Burgundy.

   As the advertisement says, sometimes it's the little things. 

A night out

   Last night we went out to a "beach party" This maybe why my head is a little sore and stomach is a little queasy today, although I suspect it's more because of the late night (ok Mum!).

 

   This particular beach party involved a Scottish musician called Calvin Harris, and there was probably more than a thousand people there.  

   I wouldn't have gone to see him at home, but when there's a distinct lack of gigs to go see, you do it for a chance to get out and have a good time, especially given agirlindoha's state.  Yes Mum, I did look after agirlindoha - we bought more expensive tickets so she could sit on a couch and relax, although I think she was up and dancing more than I!

  While there was not a thobe or an abaya to be seen at the gig and English accents abounded, I do wonder how many people there were normally clad in the traditional dress.  More than a few I suspect - although you did need to provide your ID card when you entered the gig - maybe certain categories of people were excluded?

   The other highlight of the night was the toilets.  There was a single cabin of portaloos for men (capacity 6 people?), and a single cabin of portaloos for women (capacity 3). To paraphrase a Scot while we were standing in the queue "How are these guys going to run a world cup when they think 9 toilets are enough for 1000 people?".  (He didn't exactly say that, but my Mum might be reading this - and given he was Scottish there may have been a few swear words involved!)

  The night reinforces what a weird dichotomy there is in this country.  On one side there is a need to bring a huge number of expatriates into the country to help support the businesses in this country. Expats will tolerate some lifestyle changes, but also appreciate having a lifestyle which allows them some freedoms.  This night was a good example of this.  On the other side, you've got the push by many native Qatari's to reinforce the values of the Wahhabism doctrine (one of the more conservative branches of the Islamic faith).  

   

Banking

   You're buying a car, you've got money in your bank account, so it's an easy process to get a cheque made out and pay the person for the car.

   Not in Doha it isn't!

   Imagine this:

   Me : I'd like a cheque please for 90000 Rials.

   Them : Have you got a cheque book

    Me : No.

    Them : That'll take a week for you to get the cheque book

    Me : I only want one cheque

    Them : Get a book.

    Me : I want a cheque now please.

    Them : We can't make cheques here. Go to City centre branch, they have a cheque book printing machine there.

     Three hours later finds me at the city centre branch, where after putting my card in the ATM like cheque book machine, I find it spits out a message "Unable to do this action at this time, please see your branch".  I do. They tell me I can try the West Bay branch, or get a cheque from the counter.  I remember my morning encounter, so I drive to the West Bay branch.  As luck would have it, the West Bay branch cheque book printing machine said "No".  Well not really, but that was the substance of the words.  The West Bay branch is closed, so I return to the city centre branch.  I go to the counter, having sat on a very nice leather seat while I waited to get served, observing people with bulging A4 envelopes leaving and arriving.  

    Me : I'd like a cheque please for 90000 Rials.  

    Them : Have you got a cheque book.

    Me : No - I just want one cheque.

    Them : Oh.

    Me : I need to buy a car.  Can I please have one cheque for 90000 Rials.

    Them : Ok.

    And that was how I ended up leaving the branch with 90000 Rials in bank notes tucked into a bulging A5 envelope, and paying for a car in cash.

It rained!

   In all the time we've been here - it's not rained.  Not a s-i-n-g-l-e drop.

   So last night, unbeknownst to us, it drizzled.  Apparently this is the first rain since November (and November through to March is the rainy part of the year).

   I asked someone a while ago - when it rains here - what's it like.  They made two comments - that when it rains here - it really rains.  Clearly last night didn't fit in with that rule.  And that when it rains, everything looks so sparkly and clean - for a day or two.

    So I present you with last nights evidence that the person I spoke to was lying.

     That car is a very nice gloss red.  You wouldn't know that - because it's looking like someone has taken it to the local children's kindergarten and let the kids spent all day throwing very fine sand at it.

    The other thing to note is the layer of sand on the ground. This isn't left over sand after the builders have finished paving - that's sand that has flown in - probably over the space of a week.  Our door mat ends up with a fine layer of grey dust around it's edges 2 days after cleaning it. Our front door ends up with a fine layer of dust on any nook or cranny in it's surface. Too summarise - dust is everywhere the whole time.

   The local response to the fact glossy car paint finishes  show the dirt ten seconds after the latest car wash is instructive - some of them get their very nice, very snazzy cars painted in matte finishes.  Doesn't show the dirt - but gee it ages the car!

Qatar Ladies Open Tennis

   AGirlInDoha likes tennis.  I can't say she is a massive sports fan, although she indulges me by watching some sport with me.  Just privately, I think it's so she can check out the good looking sportsmen, but anyway, that's just a private thought. That said, she loves watching tennis and felt cheated to miss her annual grand slam pilgrimage.

   However, last week was the Qatar ladies open, and by good fortune I got offered free tickets.  Upon a quick check back home, I snaffled them up, and made it be known that any other spare free tickets would be gratefully received.   This paid off in spades, as in no short order I had tickets for 3 of the 7 tennis sessions.

   Our first session was on the first day, so after scoping out the venue and 3 outside courts we watched some matches, eventually ending up about 10 metres away from the court - close by grand slam viewing standards.

    However, our second visit resulted in the jackpot.  While waiting for me outside the venue, AGirlInDoha and her friend was approached by a mysterious man - "Would you like VIP tickets?" They explained they were waiting for their husbands, however he was not to be turned down and within seconds of entering we were following him through a maze into centre court.  While waiting for a break in play, our mysterious man got waved at by another man, complete with security earpiece and dressed in a thobe. He shook his head, and waved at us. Our hearts sank, maybe the offer wasn't on.  We got dragged behind the scenes on centre court again, this time coming to a different entrance.  Finally, play broke.  The man in a thobe called us over and told us to follow him.  We did, down steps, down more steps. Our eyes widened, the court got closer.  We were at court level - and he pointed to the private box, diagonally behind the server.  "Sit here" we were told.  We did.

   Very quickly, we realised why we'd been selected - this was the box which was framed on every second serve by the TV camera.  They needed the box to look full, and needed some beautiful people to do this.  Hence why AGirlInDoha and her friend - both looking decidedly full of western glamour - were selected.

    Text messages started arriving - one from a friend who fell off the treadmill while in his gym, startled by seeing us sitting in the front row box on the TV in front of him.

   However, the highlight of my night was still to come.  Players were introduced off court, and walked out from the corner, directly past us.  On one introduction, to one of my favourite players, I quietly called out to her, wishing her the best of luck.  As she walked, she turned, clearly having heard me.  And smiled - clearly feeling a touch of home.  A small moment perhaps, but unexpected and individual.

   After she won we were obliged to watch her the next day.  Upon winning the next day (after more than a few encouraging calls from our perch somewhat higher in the stand) - she left the court, giving me a thumbs up.

   So I don't think AGirlInDoha is feeling as mad about missing her grand slam fix as she otherwise would.