Catching up

OK, I know I am very lax in my last updates, so I am going to catch up to January and the start of our new semester. After our trip to Jordan, in October, we settled back into our teaching routine. Most of my days were taken up by teaching and the evaluation of my department teachers before the end of the semester. One thing you learn in an overseas position is that things are pushed forward because of the timelines of doing a lot long distance. Our teachers have to be evaluated during the 1st semester because the hiring/retention decisions have to be made by the end of January. Because we are out most of the month of January for winter (Christmas) break, we had to decide on our returning staff before we went home at Christmas. This was not a hard task, as much as it was time consuming.

We have had a couple of dinners with a couple from Egypt who have been very kind and helpful to us. He is employed with a large conglomerate in Doha and his wife works on the same campus as our program. (Remember this couple for later)

The end of November brought out the US thanksgiving crowd. We got invited to a potluck dinner on Thanksgiving with some of the people from one of the other Universities in our campus. The first roast pork I had had since August 1st. Southern Barbeque is something you can take for granted, but trust me, it can be missed. Probably why I have lost a few pounds, no pork. The following Saturday, we had another Thanksgiving dinner, remember the national pastime is eating and shopping. This was at the home of a couple of teachers we work with who have been here for 5 years so their house is very nice, settled into and comfortable. I took a couple of DVD’s of the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” for entertainment; these people have been missing real humor.

As a wrap-up for November, we had a “Parents Night” to meet our students’ parents and to let them meet the University staffs from the various universities that are tied to our program. We have also started a real push to find a new villa.

Visiting Jordan

Tripping to Jordan

We had a fall break during the last two weeks of Ramadan, so when we were out of school, we decided to visit Jordan. I had Delta Miles so we were able to get a trip to Amman, Jordan by way of Dubai UAE. We flew in about 4:00PM and rented a car and drove to Petra where we stayed for a couple of nights. This was a very impressive place, one of those where the pictures can’t do it justice. It is a place we want to visit again. I was able to get my exercise for the month, part of this site is the “monastery” which is on top of a mountain (a high mountain), 800 steps, mostly straight up. The young man at the restaurant at the bottom offered us a donkey ride to the top. His advice was to ride up and walk down. We walked both ways but I learned my lesson, listen to people that know what they are doing. We rode the donkeys back out to the entrance. The Marriott Petra was a great hotel for us; they had good service, nice people and a clean place to stay.

From here we drove up the King’s Highway, which was built along the old trade routes. This would make the road to Fontana seem straight. This was gorgeous county to drive though on our way to the Dead Sea where we spent another two nights. The Dead Sea was fine but it was only a big body of water with a lot of salt, and a bunch of flies. The first night of our stay was under tight security because the King and Bill Gates were at the Convention Center next door to the Dead Sea Marriott. While staying here, we went to Mount Nebo, where Moses looked across at Israel. We also visited the old churches in the area to see the mosaics, pretty neat work to put all the small natural stones together.

From here we spent the last couple on nights in Amman from where we visited the best Roman ruins beside Pompeii. It is hard to believe what they built 2,000/3,000 years ago. I reckon without TV they had a lot of time on their hands. The people of Jordan were wonderful to us, we never felt threatened or anything but friendliness. Not very many Americans, mostly Europeans, few Asians, the Middle East problems are hurting tourism so the people were happy to see us. At Petra, because we started early, before the tour buses, we were there with maybe 10 to 15 people. The bombing happened about 10 days after we left, but the Amman hotel we stayed in was not one of the ones attacked.

Our last two nights of the trip were spent in Dubai, a big plastic city. Traffic was bad, lot of expats and the main activity was shopping. In my mind, no reason to visit again, I am not impressed with shiny hotels in big cities with no traditions or culture.

Ramadan in Doha

Sorry for not doing this update sooner, but with my typing skills, anytime at the keyboard takes work. First, let’s talk about Ramadan; this is the month in the Muslim religious year where Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown. In Qatar that is from about 5:30am till 5:19 pm, that means no water, no food, and no nothing. This also means that all the people that use coffee and cigarettes during their day have not had any, they get a little cross. That makes it hard on students, well maybe everybody, trying to work or concentrate during the day. Most business is conducted from 8:00am till Noon/1:00 then everything closes till after Iftar (the evening meal), which is normally huge. We are still waiting on our home ADSL line, during Ramadan is not a real good time to get anything done. Oh, after Ramadan, there is a 7 day holiday to mark the end of Ramadan, so that is another week where the phone company will not get my DSL line installed. By around 8:00pm everybody is out with friends, stores are open, etc. This goes on till early morning hours, which means that a lot of people are at their best the following morning because they have been up till 2:00 am+/-. There is also an early morning meal before the fast starts (4:00am), which means that some people are up at that time. Talk about schedules being screwed up.

It also means that there are no restaurants open during the day, except in hotels, and some of the schools (ours) and you are expected not to eat or drink in public. For someone who likes to get out on the weekend, this causes a few problems. The only place to get breakfast is one of the hotels, which is pricey. The Ramada has a deal, when you get their Breakfast/Brunch, you can use their pool and facilities as part of the package. We have done that with some friends but it is a little steep.

Driving during Ramadan is also a treat, at about 4:30/5:00; everyone is rushing home for the Iftar meal. When they drive in Qatar, everyone is in a rush during a normal day, during this time it is worst because these people have not eaten for 12 hours, their judgment could be questioned. Because of the traffic problems before and after Iftar, we have been careful to try and get out during the time (5:00 to 7:00) when everyone is having their meals and they are not on the roads.

We decided to visit some other parts on the country during the weekend. It is only an hour’s drive to cross from one side to the other. Come to find out, there is almost nothing on the other side, a couple of Oil towns with only company housing and a beach. If we think Doha is boring, the people working in these towns are down right in the middle of “NoWhere”. They are an hour from the nearest store, restaurant, etc. We did get to see a lot of camels, and a lot of desert but nothing to write home about.

Next will be our search for a Villa and our exit from apartment living. We are also on Fall Break in Jordan so that update will come soon.

Time for an update

Things are going fairly smoothly, our broken clothes washer has been repaired and returned. I can go back to doing the washing instead of taking things to the local laundry. We have to water our outdoor plants twice a day because of the dry heat, besides being hot, it is very low humidity most days so the plants dry out during the day. Our new (used) car has finally been transferred to my name, that wasn’t easy either. Took about 2.5 hours at the local traffic department and the guy I was getting the car from spoke Arabic. I hate to think how it would have gone if I was on my own. They say that all of these government type things are getting moved to the Internet, we shall see.

Our house boy has reached the end of his work visa and will be leaving the country the end of October. This is really too bad because besides being good and dependable, he was reasonable. Just one more challenge in our daily lives. Another challenge is dealing with the employees of the local state run phone company. We finally got our land line in the apartment which allowed us to order our high speed ADSL Internet connection. We were told that it will be two weeks before the install. That is all well and good till I talk to another teacher who has been waiting for over 6 weeks for the same service. The phone company just had an article in the local paper about better customer service, it is not happening yet at our place. This is important because it will allow us to “phone home” with Skype at reasonable hours instead of having to do it from the office. I will also be able to get the UT football broadcasts live, see I told you it was important.

Our activities seem to stay fairly busy, for a place that is the most boring country on the planet, what with plays and entertainment (Doha Players), sailing (which I did Friday), book clubs, golf, spa treatments, shopping (we found the Gold Souq), garden club, etc. During our upcoming Fall Break, we are going to take a trip to Jordan, with a couple of day’s layover in Dubai. This break comes during the last two weeks of Ramadan, which does not allow eating, drinking, smoking, etc. during the daylight hours. It is probably a good thing to shorten our students’ schedule, no food or drink from sunup to sundown can make for some grouchy people, teachers included. If we want to eat or drink during the day, it has to be done in private. This will be an interesting time.

Just one of the natives

We finally have our own car, a used Chrysler Sebring, a little sporty for my wife but the horsepower and handling make it a great car for getting around Doha. When you decide to enter traffic, you can’t be timid, you will get run over from behind or from the side, so you have to get out of the way. Because 80% of the cars and trucks in Doha are white, we wanted any other color, so the new car is black. Not white but maybe not the best color in a place with lots of dust and sand. At least the car washes are cheap and they do a great job, the American car washes could learn a few things from these guys.

The weather is finally breaking and this morning on the way to work it was only 81 deg F. A big change from the mornings when it was 95 at 6:00AM. Everyone tells us the weather is great from October till April, of course that may all be relative. We have added plants to our small balcony and window ledges, to have a little green to work with. The apartment is still having startup problems, this weekend the clothes washer quit and they have been by to fix it. Pulled it out from the wall, worked on it, said they would be back in 5 minutes and we have not seen them for 2 days. It will be fixed, just on Doha time.

We now have our phone which means I am trying to get it transferred to my name so I can get the ADSL line to the apartment. This will be another experience in frustration as the bureaucracy is in total control of these type things and they move at their own pace. Being a monopoly means never having to worry about customer service.

Another weather story, the cold water tap by the end of a 110 deg day only puts out very hot water, so we turn off the hot water heater in the morning and by the time we get home, we have cool water coming from the hot water tap and hot water coming from the cold water tap. At night we reverse the procedure. Being adaptable and flexible is becoming a great asset.

The first month

The first month

How time flies. We have been here for a month, and things seem to be settling into a rhythm. We have gotten on schedule for work, adjusting to the fact that the weekend is Friday and Saturday with the first day of the weekend being the day of worship, etc. A little bit of change that takes some getting used to.

The apartment is shaping up, but the fact that it is new and still has a few Gotha’s has been a challenge. We were promised a phone in the Apartment, it still has not been installed and finding the person to fuss at or who can fix it seems to be the challenge. I did a survey of the returning teachers about favorite restaurants, stores, trips, shopping and anything else I thought the new teachers would want to know. In the comment section, I got the following wisdom; “In Doha, everything is possible, in Doha, everything is impossible; you just don’t know which is coming.

We are starting to get plants and decorations, making it look and feel like our home. Have gotten the entertainment center setup for DVD’s and cd’s, have the satellite and TV figured out, I think and if I can get the ADSL (which needs the phone line) setup for the computer, we will be ready. At school, we have a high speed computer connection and have been able to use Skype to call home, check personal email, etc but the time difference means as we are leaving work, the states are just getting up for the day. Once we have the home connection, we will be able to communicate at more reasonable hours; we are learning to be flexible.

For entertainment, we have looked for a local music scene, I don’t think so. Their choice of music is not even close to anything I would listen or dance to. Is it only me, no way, have taken some other teachers from other parts of the states and other age groups, they don’t like it either. We did find a British Pub and listen to an Irish singer that was pretty good, but we had to wait an extra hour, till the Cricket match with the Aussies’ was over. That anyone can understand Cricket is one of life’s mysteries but the Brits were winning and having a good time, the Aussie lady we were with was not as happy, but she was there for the music.

How many would like to drive in a figure 8 derby, the Doha roundabouts, are the next best thing. Drivers are pulling out from the right, crossing 2 or 3 lanes to then pull off to the right, back across those lanes. They also have the habit of rounding off their turns, so the lane markers are advisory or only suggestions. At times, this also happens at fairly good speeds, it adds to the adventure. Speaking of driving, we are looking for a car and have been visiting dealers, reading ads and trying to get ready for the day we have our “Resident Permit”, which means we can own a car, etc. Should take about a month to 6 weeks, we have got the month done, hopefully soon. On one of our car looking trips, we left the dealer and saw a long traffic backup so being a smart person; we drove away from town thinking that we would find a road to turn on that would take us a back way home. After about 20 kilometers and no roads, we came to the small town on the map and could finally turn right, that took us out into the “outback”, no towns, nothing except desert for another 30 kilometers and we are looking for a road to take us back to town. Finally about dark, we turn right on the only major road we have seen for the last 30 minutes and get back to Doha.

To be continued:

Our first two weeks

The first weekend in Qatar, on Saturday night, I played golf under the lights. Not bad. Some things are almost normal. We have moved into a new 2 bedroom apartment, so there have been a couple of minor problems, the most major was the morning we got up for school and no water. We survived and no one commented on our lack of daily hygiene. The "no water" has happened again, it is fixed in about 4 hours but that does not help getting ready for school.

We have been able to call the US, with the biggest problem being the time difference. Because we don’t yet have a high speed connection at home, all Internet and Skype calling has been from school which means we are leaving work about the time everyone in the US is getting up. This problem will go away when we get our “Resident Permit” and have a DSL connection from the apartment. We can call in the evening before bedtime and reach people as they are getting home from work.

We didn’t believe people when they said most everything is available here and we brought/shipped some things we could have purchased in country. We both wish we had brought more causal clothes, because things aren’t as strict, dress code wise as we thought. Walking though the malls, you have dress from completely covered to western spaghetti tops.

As I mentioned, one of the major pastimes in Doha is eating. At this point, we have eaten at 10 different ethnic restaurants, and for this country boy that has been an experience. Another Qatar pastime, at least at the beginning, has been paperwork. We have had blood typing, blood tests and an X-ray, eye exams, fingerprinting and standing in line. The interesting thing is that our experience has been fairly well greased by our employer. All the other new people who have had other overseas experiences, say this is an easy start. Guess everything is relative.

Final 1st week

We are slowly getting our things for the apartment, from a shower curtain to a toilet brush, dish towels to hangers. The first night, I got a cell phone and some minutes and called home to check in, good to hear our daughter and know how well she is doing. The next day (Wednesday) I spent most of the day at school getting organized and checking out the lay of the land, so to speak. Because of the 7 hour time difference, and the fact we were only at school from 10:00 till 2:00 (Qatar time), 3:00AM till 7:00AM EDT, phone calls to most people would have gotten them out of bed. I did call my mother at 7:00 AM (EDT) to check in using my Skype connection over the computer. Cost me $0.15 for the 5 minutes, not bad considering the cost from the cell phone is about $0.90/minute.

One thing is already apparent, most of the entertainment in Doha seems to be around eating and shopping. We have now been to the three large malls and if there ever was a culture clash, this is it. There are Qatari women and men in very traditional dress, including the women in black with veils, walking through the mall with very western clothes and ads in the windows (just like an American mall). People have been normal to us, not a lot different than walking through an American mall except for the dress.

We have now met another person from the school who is also a new teacher and who is now the second person to move into our building. He is from Indiana and will be working in the “University Success” (study skills) area. He has spent some time in Saudi so he has some knowledge of language and customs, etc. Nice guy and he has been to dinner and shopping with us. I finally rented a car, cabin fever was setting in, and we wanted to explore. Rented a Camry for a month till we can buy a car, can’t do too many things till we get our resident permit and that can take 3 to 4 weeks. I couldn’t wait that long to get around, plus this way I am practicing my driving the round-abouts in a rental car. The drivers are crazy, no other way to say it; I will probably have no problem fitting in.

The next difference is their weekend is Friday and Saturday, Friday being the day of worship and most everything is closed till the afternoon. We were invited out to visit and swim, etc at one of the couple’s villa on Friday afternoon. It was very pleasant and the heat was not a problem, it is hot but things kind of work around the hottest time of day.

Did I mention the golf clubs, seems one of the school administrators is a golf person, so I get to go play golf Saturday, therefore the excess baggage may be worth the expense. The other thing, it is night golf, during this time of year because of the heat. Hope the lights cover a wide area, my golf balls do at times.

In-country continued

We get loaded, everything leaves on time, and we meet our next flight to London. This was where I had to pay for the extra bag, hoped it would slip through, but no luck. I needed the “Golf Clubs” so that was part of it. Flight to London was pleasant, meals were ok, service was good and we landed on time. Heathrow airport takes a lot of walking to get from gate to gate. We landed in terminal 4 and departed from terminal 4 but we walked a long way, stood in lines, went through screening again but got to our gate with plenty of time. This part of the trip began at 7:00 EDT in Philly and landed in London at 7:00AM the next morning (Monday).

We left London at 10:00 AM on Monday and got to Doha at 9:00PM, Monday night. We traveled a little over 23 hours but with the 7 hour time difference, we were dragging. On arrival in Doha, Qatar, we got through customs, passports and visas, fairly easily. No worst than any other county we have stood in line to enter, and better than some. Luggage went through x-ray but nothing was found, I left all the “pork, porn, and liquor” at home, even left a small brandy on the British Air flight.

We were picked up at the airport by a nice person from the school, traffic was everything we had heard, and we got to our apartment in one piece. Brand new apartment, we are the first people in the building and it was only 92 degrees when we landed. We both slept till 11:00 am the next morning (Tuesday) so our first day started slow. Once we started moving, I fixed breakfast from the toast, juice, fruit and milk that the school had left for us. I then called the school and they came and got us for our first visit. Because we were one of the first new teachers to arrive, they were still getting everything ready for the start of school but the reception could not have been nicer. The Director stopped what he was doing to greet us and show us around, he got me into my office and got the network and internet connections started so I could check e-mail, etc. After we left the Director, we met another couple who work in the administration and they offered to take us to dinner and shopping and a little intro to Doha.

In-country

This is the update from in-county, we have arrived. I will start at the week before departure. Our packing went very well; we shipped 2 large boxes (140lbs) by FedEx on the Friday before our Sunday departure. Our shipping allowance of $800.00 covered this cost (we hope). We had a Friday night dinner with 4 of our friends; it was very special that they went to the trouble for us. It was greatly appreciated.

On Saturday morning, we went down our check list of items and most everything was taken care of. I did go by the Bank of Athens ( they have been great) for Travelers Checks and cash for the trip. We finished our packing, which included 2 large suitcases each, a carry-on bag and a computer bag, which doubled as a carry-on for some things which wouldn’t fit anywhere else. We weighted the large bags as we were limited to 70 lbs per bag. All were about 65 lbs so that was a go.

Sunday morning our daughter and son-in-law arrived to take us to the plane for an afternoon departure. Getting everything loaded even in their SUV was a little tight. Oh, did I mention the golf clubs, we decided to take them as extra baggage, if the airlines would let allow it. If not they would go back home, but it was cheaper to take them as extra baggage than ship them earlier.

We got to the flight about 2 hours before departure which was good because we had “prepaid tickets” which they only process a couple of times per year, so it took reading a manual for the USAir staff to make it happen. The first scare was when I placed the bags on the scale, the lady told me they were 15 lbs overweight, no way, I had weighted them at home and they were only 65 lbs and we were allowed 70lbs per bag. After I finished panicking because I had no clue what to do with the extra stuff at this stage, we figured out that on International flights, the limit is 70 lbs and we were OK (50 on domestic). The next incident was almost as much fun; we got the full TSA inspection experience because we had one way tickets purchased in the Middle East. Think about it, makes sense, but why me? This adventure starts at 2:45 EDT when we leave our home airport. (Remember that time)