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We are back

OK for the few lost souls who have asked for an update.

I know how bad I am at keeping this going, but some days it seems everything is the same, all over again, or what ever Yogi said.

We got back to Qatar in July because I had to come back early for my new job, I have left the classroom and become an administrator. The new job comes with some better housing and a little more money, and a lot more headaches. The new housing is a step up from our previous villa, nicer compound, better rec facilities, newer and larger, etc. What it really means is we have now moved at the start of every semester. My dear wife is a saint because she ends up with most of the moving and packing, but this time we are happier. Every move has been a real step up.

The new villa is PINK, you know, Barbie, Pepto, little girl pink. Does have white trim, more trees, a better back yard but it is a gated community with 100 pink villa and houses. It is hot and we are missing the green, green hills of home. This is a tough time in the desert, it is hot, almost too hot to play golf, we have to go at night but it is still hot and it gets humid. They have most of the roads torn up still but have reopened what is called C-ring which solves some of the problem of getting from one side of town to the other. It had been closed since before we arrived a year ago. Traffic and drivers are not getting any better but we are adjusting. Looks like we are getting another used car, 95 Ford Explorer, 4X4, it is old and cheap but it will do for a second car and allow us to go some places the Chrysler can’t go. It has been owned by two people, the US Embassy and a Canadian so it has not been too abused.

Our school has started and things are going fairly well, our fall break is the last of October, during Eid. We are trying to find a cheap place to visit (maybe Oman) for a 3 or 4 night deal. This is the time to see the world so we are trying to get as many places as we can.

Google Earth has new pictures of Doha so you can now see our villa from space, problem is they don’t have street addresses in Doha so you have to know what ypou are looking for to find it.

The Villa

The Villa story

Now back to the couple from Egypt (you remember them), they called on Tuesday night before we were to leave for the states on Thursday night to tell us that there was a villa available in the compound (think gated community) where they live. Were we interested in looking; we were there in about 30 minutes. Nice place, good area, close to school, good neighbors, etc., pretty close to what we have been looking for to get away from the apartment. All that being said, we had a very short time in which to decide if we wanted to move. We spend most of the next day getting paperwork done, signing a lease, taking care of the banking arrangements so that we had it tied up on January 1st. It all came together before we left so that we could move when we got back from Christmas on January 20th. There was a minor (well it got bigger) problem in that we moved most of our excess money to the states the afternoon before we looked at the villa so we had to figure out how to cover the January 1st rent payment, but no problem, what could go wrong from 6,000 miles away. Well, as luck or fate would have it, a couple of things did go wrong, money didn’t make it to where it needed to be on time, the 1st month rent check didn’t clear even with my Qatar branch manager saying it would be no problem, etc. Before it was over, I called the compound manager, from the states, told him what was happening and how did he want to handle it. I took him the cash when I got back to Qatar, cash always seems to be in style.

With this taken care of, we were off to the states to see our first “Grandbaby”. Based on our past history, this was going to be an easy trip. Wrong as usual. We were to leave at 3:45AM, had a friend take us to the airport so we could leave our car at the apartment in covered parking. At 1:00 AM he drops us off and we go to check in and nothing is moving. Dubai is fogged in and flights are delayed or canceled. We got canceled. Rescheduled our flight for the next afternoon with different connections. We go home, grab a nap then go to breakfast at Ric’s Country Kitchen and guess who we see, the same friend that saw us leave, being a fine person; he took us again to the airport. We got out of Doha at 5:40 PM with a 6 hour layover in Dubai; I was able to convince the airline that we should wait in the business class lounge because of the time and the canceled flight. We got out on time to London where we changed to an Atlanta flight. It was overbooked so I asked Delta to upgrade us to First class and let someone else sit in the back. My request, my sad tale of woe and my Santa hat must have done the trick because that nine hour flight was the only way to fly and we finally got to Tennessee about 18 hours late.

Dec Update

Dec Update

OK, what happened in December? The West Asian Games were in town and it was easy to get tickets, cost $1.40 per event. At these high prices we attended a football (soccer) match and the opening ceremony, team handball, fencing, track and field and basketball. The really sad thing is we were there with only about 50/60 other people, but we had front row seating. The next major sporting event was the Qatar Golf Open on Dec 16/17. This event was open to anyone with less than a 9 handicap, so I entered. This was a chance to play the golf course for a very reasonable sum. The only problem was this was the first 18 holes that I have played since July; we played 2 days, 36 holes, walking from 7200 yards and 4 inch rough. A little more golf course than I am used to in the states, the good news was I didn’t finish last, the bad news is one of the people I beat was the Japanese ambassador who played because of his position, not his handicap.

At school, we wrapped up the first semester without any major problems or glitches, most of the students did well and there were only a small handful that were not successful in our program. Overall that part of our days and months is going smoothly. These students are very much like young people in the states, some work harder than others, most all are very well behaved and it is fun to be around them

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.