Saturday, August 15, 2009
We have Arrived
Asalaam Alaikum
Well, we had a wonderful flight from DC to Doha. Qatar Airways is a 5 star airline and its easy to understand why. The meals were delicious, a selection of dozens of new and old tv shows, movies...etc We were received at the airport by a greeting service. They collected our lugggage while we sat in a lovely lobby eating dates. They then marched us past long queues at customs straight to my new administrators who drove us to our new villa. Everyone was incredibly nice.
The first few nights have been challenging as the jet lag made it very difficult to sleep. In fact there has been only one night since I've been here that I have managed to sleep through the night. We all seem to be roaming the halls from 2 to 4 in the morning unable to sleep. Its improving slowly .
Monday morning All the new men teachers were picked up by a bus and taken for blood tests, blood typing, chest xrays and drivers licences. What an experience! You go local medical facilities and stand in line with dozens of men from Nepal and Bangledesh waiting to get poked and proded.
The driving here is.... bizarre. Its a mixture of rigorous rules with huge fines and drivers who seem oblivious to those two things. If you get caught in an intersection on a yellow/red the fine is 6000 QR or 1500 US. The traffic after 6pm is bumper to bumper. People here drive fast! If aren't going fast enough they will flash their headlights and honk their horn until you get out of the way, they pass on shoulders or simply create a new lane between two preexisting ones. There are roundabouts everywhere and they are 3 lanes wide and the basic rule of conduct is ... every man for himself. Lenore was hoping to get here license but was informed that she needs for me to get my residency first, it could take a month (after seeing the local drivers, that could be a good thing)
We have been very busy all week being orientated to the school. The school is very structured and is very big on communicating everything to everyone. We have been "in class" all week trying to get caught up. Every evening has been a night out to homes or restaurants where we have sampled arabic, indian and other exotic dishes. Lunches were subway subs, pizza hut ...etc. The new food is delicious but its also nice to get a burger or hot dog once in a while.
The girls and I got up this morning at 4:15 and drove down to the corniche, which is the seawall on the Persian Gulf.
We watched the sun come up and then drove around down town. It was quite busy as the air temperature was only 29. The daytime temps get up to 45C, but its been mercifully dry and the heat is not that bad ( I need gloves though to hold onto my steering wheel).
The people are all very nice. The admin has put all the new families with teen agers on the same street. Our neighboors are street hockey fanatics from Alberta, should be fun. There is an exceptional sense of community here. The new teachers organised a family b-ball tournament, it was fun!
The old town has markets called Souks where you can buy fabric, watches, luggage, clothing, rugs... They are these tiny littleshops with guys calling you in to take a look. It felt just like Tiajuana.
The home is nice, humungous, made of plaster, tile and stone. Everything echos. We need throw rugs in a hurry.
The electrical outlets are a challenge as most are designed for 220V asian appliances. They will power European appliances but the plugs don't fit the outlets so you need adaptors for everything. North American appliances need transformers to convert 120 to 220, Its been interesting. We have ordered cable tv and you get many american networks as well as three sports channels (yes!)
TTFN
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1 comment:
Glad everyone made it safe and sound! I read the 45c thing and just cringed!
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