Driving in Doha

The process of obtaining a driver's license in Doha is insane. It requires multiple pieces of paperwork all done in Arabic that you have no control over. You also need an eye test before you even show up. Once you do arrive at the driving centre you need to go into a room and take a number. When they call you, you go up to the counter and pay your money. Here is how it went: The lady speaks no English but tells me to sit down after I pay. I sit for about 10 minutes before asking somebody else where I should be. They tell me the other building and tell me to hurry. So I walk into the other building and I push on the door as it seems wedged shut. I soon learned that it actually is a bunch of men behind the door. The room is the size of your typical living room, and has about 140 people in it.  I wedge in, look around, and try to find a number.  After looking lost for a bit longer a man stands up and yells at everyone crowding the desk. They back up. He sees me and waves me forward. I hand in my paper work and with no further instructions, find a place to sit down. There are seats for 6 across but people are 12 wide.  We wait.

After a while a man will come out and call a few names. Everyone rushes forward and it makes it impossible to hear what he is saying. This process repeats every 20 minutes with 5 lucky people going into the room, never to appear again. At the end of a couple hours my name was called and I was taken into the testing room. This is where I sat down in front of a computer and took my 20 question multiple choice test. The test was a total joke. It would show a picture and ask a question. Sometimes the question was read to you other times not. The answers often didn't make sense. For example, once I was asked quote what is this “Road feature?” and was given a picture. In the picture was a marking on the road, a sign above the road, a sign to the left and to the right, signs above the road… there must have been 15 signs. I read the answers and only one of them fit for any of the signs. 

The first four questions of my test were yield or give away. That means 4 out of 20 of my questions were about the yield sign. Sometimes when you click on an answer they will read it to you other times they will just say one word like give. It took me less than 3 minutes to answer the test and I got 20 out of 20. However when you leave the room they don't tell you anything and you end up wondering what to do next. A man walks into the room with his hands in the air and said “that's it, no more tests.” It is over for today about 50 people did not finish their test or get to take it. I was told to wait outside the door for two minutes. Ten minutes later I'm walking between buildings asking for more help. An hour later I am finally called and my paperwork return to me.

Then you go inside the first building, grab another number, and register for your next test, the road test. This is a couple of weeks after the theoretical test. On that day you show up at 5:30 in the morning. You pay your money to use their car. 200 riyals or about 60 dollars just for the privilege of driving in their car. Then you were told to sit down and they will call you at about 7:30. Around 8:10 I was finally called and walked out with 3 people into a car. A stone faced police officer gets in the car and barks instructions at the first driver, “turn left and right” but they are in Arabic. One by one we go through the process. I get into the front seat and immediately the cop starts texting. The radio is blaring. I make a few turns and drive us back to the driving school. Not a word is said. I returned inside and wait another hour. Rather than process people as they finish, everyone waits until the end and it is all done at once.

We heard horror stories about this process from other schools and other people. Sometimes the instructor would tell people to speed up or do something that was wrong to see if they could trick them into breaking the law and then they would fail them. When some people finish their test the person just says, “Fail.” Or they would stop the car and open up the engine and point to a random item inside the car and say what is this? If you could answer, you pass. If you can’t, you fail.  A man with a stack of papers will walk outside and everyone will rush after him gathering around. He will read named after name and show them that they failed right in front of everyone else. If your name isn't called, you assume that you pass and you wait again until they call you. Many people are in the driving school for the fourth and fifth time to try to pass their test. It is no wonder there are such crazy drivers on the road here.

I passed, 8 hours and 500 Riyals later.  Good thing I didn’t have to take it again.

Intro to Doha, Qatar

Originally we were disappointed to not live in ECCH, the housing close to the school with many other employees of the company. But we need not have worried. We were moved into a brand new complex. There are 55 units, all of them villas, and very nice. The house features 5 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms, plus a bonus second living room upstairs. All of the appliances are stainless and we have a patio and even a little grass! Stone floors and 10 foot ceilings make for a really great space. There is an air conditioner in every room. We do not pay for water, gas electric, internet or cable, so monthly expenditures are pretty low. We do, however, try to help the environment by being very conscious of outing the lights and A/C whenever possible.

Our complex features a small playground that isn’t much but something for the kids to go on. All the families here are members of the company we work for so although they aren’t all at our school or have kids at our school, there is a nice mix of people. There is a clubhouse in the center featuring 2 pools, a game room with foosball and billiards, and a weight room. The first few weeks they did not chill the pool. It was quite a shock to jump in and feel like you were under water in a hot tub! Fortunately, the pool is now nice and chilly. When the sun goes down and you jump into a chilled pool, the wind and air make you feel cold – cold when it is 90 degrees out. Weird. Being in the water is the easiest way to hang out outside during the early part of year. We live next to another family from our school and 3 doors from the director. Our drive to work is 10-20 minutes, depending on traffic.

The Heat:

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is, “how is the heat?” Answer: it is hot. Some days bloody hot. The first few days were a shocker but slowly we started to acclimate. The body adjusts and although one cannot say it is cool by any stretch of the imagination, you do stop sweating and getting dizzy just by walking outside after a week or so. It is really the humidity that is the problem. When it is 107F degrees, it feels like 110 when the humidity is low – we have seen 21%. But on the day when it is 103F and the humidity is 71%, run and hide. It feels like 125, and your sunglasses fog over the second you step outside, you drip with sweat from just standing there, and you actually feel chilly inside because you go from 125 and soaking wet to about 61 F inside and freezing. However, the humidity fades and the temps drop after October, and we are promised 5 months of amazing weather. That is when most people venture outside for all of the amazing activities and athletics available.

Driving:

Roundabouts are the Middle East’s way of telling you life is short. These are psychotic in every sense of the word. People darting in and out, shifting lanes, exiting from three lanes over in a bolt – it is scary. Apparently, if you are Qatari you own a Land Cruiser, and you have the right away all of the time. It can be quite intimidating seeing a SUV come flying up behind you at 100 miles per hour and flash its lights as it sits about 6 inches off your bumper. Your best advice is to move over and let him pass. In many parts of the world this elicit violent gestures and road rage aggression, but here, you just let them pass. You never know if they are connected and can make your life difficult. We were convinced to buy a bigger car than necessary for safety and intimidation (think posting up in the lane of a basketball court – do you want Shaq or Mugsy Boggs?). Often someone will pass you on the left and come right over to the right, with you slamming on the brakes in order to let them over or they would clip you. Defensive driving is a must here. Let the fact that Premium gasoline costs about $0.85 a gallon and Super (even better than 95 octane Premium) $1.00 a gallon give you some satisfaction.

The Qatari people (and others who dress like them, such as Saudis) stand out because there are so many expatriates here. The national population is about 2 million, but only 300,000 of these are Qatari. The other 1.7 million are foreigners, and of those, 1 million of them laborers. So with such a mix of faces here, you often forget you are in the Middle East as it looks like the Philippines, Sri Lanka, or just about anywhere else. We have yet to capture the essence of what Qataris are like because every person that takes your order at a restaurant, pumps your gas, or works in retail is from elsewhere. Even the abundance of Mosques (they say there is one in Doha every 400 meters) doesn’t draw much attention. The evening call to prayer rings out in beautiful tones over the hum of the air conditioner units and that is one indicator we are in a different place.

Shopping:

Shopping is easy here, for the most part. You can get everything here, and I mean everything, that you want. Sometimes you will have to pay for it and no one carries all that you need, but trust me, it is out there. The most popular venues are the malls. There is one about every 3K apart, and each is overflowing with stores, play areas, and entertainment from roller coasters and ice rinks to movie theaters and high end shopping boutiques. Each has its own theme and movie theater showing the latest movies from the US. It has tons of stores, including just about anything you could ever want from the US or Europe. It is all there. Every mall also has its own kid’s area theme park with slides, roller coasters, games, etc. There is no lack of entertainment for the little ones. The mall by us has an ice rink and I play hockey with a bunch of Canadians twice a week. Any food you could want is there as well ranging from fast food (every major brand) to chains (Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, etc.) to high end steakhouses. One even has gondola rides where you can boat the length of the mall in water as if you were in Venice. Every mall has enormous grocery stores that carry a lot but are busy and difficult to get in and out of. We have started identifying local places closer to home to avoid the malls. Most stuff is comparable to shopping in a mid to large US city or in Europe. Lots of stuff is very reasonably priced, especially if you buy brands that are local or off-brand. Typically, prices are average compared to the international realm. We have been quite pleased with the price of meats, cereal, milk, canned goods, and dry goods. Fruit and vegetables are the exception. Nearly everything is imported and prices can range from reasonable ($0.80 for a kilogram of carrots from China) to extravagant ($10 for a head of lettuce from Spain). It pays to shop around and buy from places like Jordan, India, and Indonesia as opposed to Europe.

Speaking of costs, while we are free from utilities at the house, we absorb others. For example, the nanny/housekeeper here costs about 3x as much as in South Africa. Our family does not need a full time person but without securing one, we cannot be sure that someone could be here for when the kids come home. Another cost is the driver. The school does not bus its children to or from school so we must hire a driver to take them home long before we get out of work. These costs are fairly significant.

Doha

Qatar is a very interesting place. It is perhaps the richest country in the world as it sits on the 3rd largest natural gas field. It is a tiny place, as the country itself is only 100 miles long and most people live in Doha. Doha has some amazing buildings. The Qatari people have no problem showing off their money as buildings are both creative and massive. Nice cars rule the road. There are less than 300,000 Qatari people and the rest of the country is made up of 1.8 million expats, with about half of that as laborers. Everything is being built at once, with the city expanding and preparations to make it an amazing place for 2022 FIFA World Cup.

There is much to do here. People take advantage of the desert with dune bashing (being driven in a Land Cruiser at top speed up and down sand dunes), desert camping, walking/running down the dunes, camel riding, etc. There are many beaches. The golf course is amazing and hosts world class tournaments so if you can’t afford to play, you can watch the pros. There are many parks as well but these are visited much more often from November to April due to the heat. There are all sorts of clubs to join. I will mention the many within the clubhouse and rec center, but there is also ice hockey, rugby, running, triathlon, cycling, scuba diving, sailing, wind surfing, kite boarding, etc. You name it, someone is doing it.

Being a member of QF, every employee also has access to the major benefits of the organization. This means that you can go to the ECCH Clubhouse anytime. It is a place with a spa, workout facility, pool, and restaurant (highly subsidized so you can eat much cheaper here than other places). There is a playground, squash courts, tennis courts, and many classes like aerobics and circuit training. They play kids movies on the big screen 3 times a week. All free. Otherwise, you can go to the Recreation Centre. It has a giant, Olympic-sized pool and smaller training pools for the kids. It has a workout room, gym, courts, etc. Lots of classes here too ranging from free to a small fee per term. Kids play in a supervised play area while you work out. There is also a bank, post office, cell phone place, and travel agent to get done lots of stuff while on campus. Right across the street is another rec center where you can take classes or swim or workout. While some people pay $30-99 a month for gym memberships, it is all free here, whether you have one in your complex or use the QF ones.

It is a very family friendly place. There are always these events going on, most of them free, with bouncy castles, face painting, etc. for kids. There are opportunities for 6 movies a week (depending on the location) where your kids can watch a free kid’s movie in a theater, sometimes with juice and popcorn. Parks, pools, beaches. Camel and horse riding. There is an amazing outdoor waterpark. Disney on Ice was just here. There is lots of support for kids in QF and in Doha in general.

Alcohol

Alcohol can be purchased legally by expats in one store. It takes a letter from your work to allow this. Wine and liquor are about the same or slightly more than most other places, but beer is much more. It is one of those things that you just accept about living here. If you want it, you pay a bit more for it and you make your choice. Most people drink less here than other places in the world because of the expense. It helps the belt stay thin and wallet stay thick but it is good to have now and then if you want it. Bacon can also be purchased here. Otherwise, the major hotels have restaurants with bars (Belgian Bar, Irish Pub, etc.) but the cost is insane. Most just have it at home.

The other option is to partake in a brunch. On Fridays (day off) people go to the big hotels and eat a brunch. It is all day, all you can eat, 5 star food. Very delicious, and for the price, all you can drink. It is an amazing way to get fat and live large, if just for a few hours.

Religion

It is a fairly conservative state as Muslim goes. Expat women do NOT have to cover up at all, they can drive, and they can be in public without a male escort. However, it is considered courteous for them to not wear shorts and to cover their shoulders, which isn’t typically a problem since it is so cold inside there aren’t complaints. Men mostly wear pants and can pull off shorts in public if they are long. There is call to prayer 5 times a day like every Muslim country, but here it doesn’t seem to slow things down. With the exception of Fridays, it is business as usual and most things are open daily and late. There are churches in specific areas that are allowed to operate, but otherwise religion (other than Islam) are not openly discussed.

Money

The Qatari Riyal is pegged to the US dollar at 3.65 so your salary never changes or devalues. You are paid in local currency so must people wire money periodically to their US accounts. Credit cards are widely accepted here and ATMs have a $15,000 daily limit. Good thing there isn’t a casino around ;)

Vacations are nice. We take a week in October, February, and April. We get 17 days at Christmas. There are a couple of days off during the year for national events, plus some PD days. School starts around September 7th and ends about June 21. Travel within the Gulf region seems somewhat expensive (with the exception of Dubai) while trips to Europe don’t seem all that bad comparatively.

Ireland 2014

Given my passion for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day like it is Christmas, it was only fitting we flew to Ireland in March to see how it is properly done in Dublin. With the family in tow and joined by our friends David and Helen, we made our way to the Emerald Isle for a week of Irish culture, and of course, Irish beer. Ticking the bucket list item of St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland was the bonus.

Landing in Dublin and being chatted up the whole ride by our cabbie, we arrived on one of the best weather days of the week. Partly sunny and chilly, it would only get worse from there. Desperate for food, the Killkenny offered up our best Irish breakfast of the week, and we had good basis for judgment considering we ate it every day. Full and ready to hit the streets, we stopped at the famous Book of Kells in the Old Library of Trinity College.

Moving on, we entered St. Patrick’s Cathedral, full of its splendid stained glass and many centuries of history. It was a clash of boisterous tourism and solemn reverence. Like most cities with a grand religious landmark, the visit is well worth the time due to the sheer size and storied past. To cap off a trip around the city, we attended the Guinness Storehouse at St. James’ Gate. Grandiose on a regular weekday, the extravaganza was in full swing on the Saturday of St. Paddy’s weekend. What is normally a bright, vibrant display of one of the oldest breweries in the world was transformed into a wild, jam-packed sea of movement from display to beer stand. Thankfully, our pre-purchased online tickets saved us waiting in the 1-hour entry line. Free food and the occasional beer made for a good time, although many of the things we wanted to do, such as the Connoisseur Experience, were closed due to the festivities. We finished up the evening watching MSU in the Big 10 tournament.

The following morning we all wandered over to the nearby Windmill Lane, home of the studios responsible for producing some of the best rock music of all time, including several albums by U2. Though no longer in operation, the graffiti-covered walls are home to many statements of gratitude penned by loyal fans and tourists. Sarah and Justin left the kids with David and Helen and headed to St. Stephen’s Green and the annual Dublin St. Patrick’s Day 5K run. With no particular intentions other than to tour the city by foot with several thousand others, we ran a calm and collected 20:17, a great time for Sarah with little training. Most importantly, we had a great time, seeing the childhood homes of Oscar Wilde and his statue in the park. Our evening was supposed to conclude with a trip to the horribly crowded and rancorous Temple Bar area for a traditional Irish music pub crawl. Despite my best efforts to ensure the event would happen, it was not on for that night at this time of year, and rather than continue to rub elbows with thousands of beer-covered tourists in the loudest bars in town, we headed back to the hotel, buying beers from the store, and thoroughly enjoying watching Michigan State kick the hell out of Michigan for the Big Ten title.

St. Paddy’s Day dawned as it always does, with the playing of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Names” live video from the 1980s. From that it was a departure from the norm. Justin went for a run and photographed many of the local sites, including the General Post Office, a significant building in the modern history of Dublin. The city was up early preparing for the parade. Unbeknownst to us, beer is not served before noon in Ireland on a holiday. Missing out on the Guinness with our Irish breakfast was disappointing. We made our way to the main part of town and grabbed a spot to watch the parade. Two hours early left us still stretching for a view of the street. The wind blew hard and the children quickly grew bored of sitting on the pavement. The noon start still meant we waited until almost 1pm for the parade to reach us and even then could only see bits of the floats. Freezing and fed up we headed to the nearest pub, JW Sweetmans, where we had local beer and watched much of the parade on TV. However, all of the Dublin bars had removed all seating to accommodate the masses that day and with the kids on the floor again, we gave up and headed toward the hotel. Luckily we happened into a very low key, traditional pub and were greeted well by the locals and had several beers in a more authentic experience. After dropping the kids at the hotel with a babysitter, we headed out again, this time to O’Donoghue’s to catch some Irish music. The place was packed out, over capacity by at least 50% and we ended up finding the music – two guys sitting on a bench in a small room with at least 40 people packed in. Although the music was amazing and great craic, we had to bail as it was just too much. We went into a bar across the street and ultimately ended at one down the road where we finally got to talk personally and enjoy ourselves, though we were shhhhhh’ed by the barman many times (apparently this pub was the only pub in Dublin on March 17th that wanted it quiet).

Bright and early Justin ran to the rental place and picked up the van. The whole lot of us piled into the vehicle for the ride to Cashel, where we visited the famous Rock of Cashel, a large cathedral-type ruin over a quaint town. Said to be the seat of kings for centuries, it was a great site though the wind blew at horrendous speeds outside the castle walls. Onward we drove to Cork and out to the Jameson Distillery for the Jameson Experience – a tour of the grounds and a whiskey tasting, complete with certificate. Exhausted, dinner was in the hotel pub.

Moving on from Cork in the morning we proceeded to the small town of Blarney and walked the grounds of Blarney Castle. Beautiful gardens and rock caves line the perimeter of an iconic Irish castle. This site, of course, is home to the Blarney Stone. High atop the castle rests a slate of rock that, if kissed, bestows the Gift of Gab or eloquence. This is in itself a very Irish quality and many, many people take the time to climb the winding stairs and wait for their opportunity to kiss the stone. Even Taelyn did it, which is very fitting given her talkativeness. Our next stop was the town of Bunratty. We posted up in a guesthouse and left the children with the owner to have an adults only dinner at Bunratty Castle. This show is a medieval dinner complete with harps, singing, jokes, costumes, and mead (honey wine). The all-you-can-eat/drink evening was a great show with good friends.

Blasted with pouring rain the next morning, we headed north from Bunratty to Doolin, stopping on the way to see the Cliffs of Moher. Towering over the Irish Sea, these rock walls are amazing examples of the beauty of the Irish landscape. Filmgoers would know them from the Princess Bride as the “Cliffs of Insanity.” Despite their beauty, our trip was difficult as the winds were nearing 40 mile per hour. When walking along precarious cliff edges 300 feet above the seas with small children, harsh winds add an element of danger to the already risky outing. Frozen and hungry, we warmed in a pub in Doolin with the locals before driving on to Galway.

Galway offered a place to stop and relax. With more basketball on and the rains pounding, warm, dry seats and cold beer proved a nice alternative to walking the promenade in Salthill in the rain. Our attempt to head outside of the city to a medieval town ended with the main attraction being closed, though we did get to meander small back roads lined with rock walls and spotted with sheep. The green, rolling hills of the West of Ireland are a gorgeous site.

While Ireland provided some great views and sites, the experience was somewhat disappointing. Far too many tourist flood Dublin for the holiday, thereby limiting some sites and experiences. The weather in March is terrible and our next trip to this great country will focus on the beauty of the west and north, probably in summer!

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European Christmas 2013

Desperate to get a more traditional feel to Christmas (yet unwilling to pony up for the flight to the US), we decided we would hit up Central Europe for a taste of cold weather and Christmas cheer.

Our visit to Budapest was amazing. Let’s skip past the drive where we waited for 45 min to get into the city then drove past our place and had to do a 30 min over and back across the Danube River to find it. Another 45 min to park the car and the good times could start. We rented an apartment perfectly located – city (Pest) center and just 50 feet from a tram line, meaning we never were outside too long for transport. We stayed at the Green Dream Apartment at a rate about ½ of the going cost of a smaller place. We could see the Buda Palace, Parliament, and the Danube River from the entrance, meaning running was amazing along the river and on the island. It also didn’t hurt to have a bakery in front and a Belgian beer place in the back.

Our first stop was the Terror House which shows video, audio, photographs, and artifacts from Nazi and post-war communist activity. Three stories of museum, complete with jails and execution stands in the basement, remind us all of the horrible actions committed by man this century. We were appalled, not only by the history but also our ignorance that these atrocities happened in the past 60 years and we had no idea they occurred.

Perhaps the key thing we wanted to do in Budapest was go ice skating in the park. Of course it mean crappy skates and terrible ice, but a chance to cruise the largest outdoor rink in Europe. The rink is situated in front of Vajdahunyad Castle, a building crafted in a combination of historical Hungary architecture into a single eclectic palace featuring styles from the Middle Ages to the 18th century: Romanesque, Gothic Renaissance, Baroque buildings. The crisp air of a European winter with the a castle as a backdrop while Christmas song play throughout the park, does it get any more festive than that? Amazing. For dinner, the four of us braved the cold and walked 2km to the Iguana Mexican restaurant. Why would someone go into a Mexican place in Hungary? Because all the people inside were Hungarians and they have amazing food! We sipped on beers and cocktails (the girls had hot chocolate) and we munched burritos, enchiladas, fried ice cream, and sopapillas.

The other main purpose of the venture to Budapest was to hit the Christmas market in Vörösmarty Square. Sparking lights and stalls of vendors provide ample views while munching on töki pompos (oven-baked dough), delicious kürtöskalács (a cone-shaped sweet hollow pastry), sipping hot mulled wine, and guzzling sour cherry beer. Holiday music was piped in overhead and it was everything we hoped for in a market.

Prague takes the cake as an amazing city. Unbelievable architecture, cobble-stone streets, art, music, parks. From the walk across the Charles Bridge to looking at the Astronomical Clock, Prague offers sights around every corner worth a photo. Our first day was spent at the Prague Castle, which was only a 5 min train ride away yet took 45 minutes (the castle is between two metro stops and we couldn’t figure out which was shorter for the kids so spent a lot of time going back and forth). Situated high on the hill, it overlooks all of Prague and is spectacularly huge. We did the “short tour” and saw many amazing rooms, churches, and chapels. The girls grabbed hot dogs from a street vender while we opted for a traditional lunch.

The night market, post-Christmas, did not disappoint! Live music in the square and sparkling lights on the gigantic tree set the mood. People wander shops, munching on kielbasa, potato dishes, cinnamon rolls, and sip grog, mulled wine, cider, and beer. Horse-drawn carriages transport people to and from the square and the smell of cinnamon mixes with pine for a truly Christmas feel.

We decided to skip on the absinthe as it is taboo and a tourist trap. Luckily, there was plenty of delicious beer. The Czechs have the market cornered on solid beer. I am a fan of Belgian and German brews, but these Czech brewskies are climbing quickly in my book. Lights, darks, wheat; they all rock. The highlight was the Prague Beer Museum.

Much of our time was spent in little visited Bratislava, Slovakia. Not much to look at, this quaint little city acts as a launching pad to many of the other destination. Less than a couple of house to Prague and Budapest and just 45 minutes to Vienna, this was an ideal location. Plus, just one mile from the house we stayed in was a gigantic park with hundreds of kilometers of trail. With a fireplace and a backyard, it was all we could have hoped for. Our days were spent running on the trails, playing at the playground, and popping over the boarder to Hungary to a beautiful local restaurant along the river. We sampled traditional goulash, wandered the grounds, and checked out the farm animals on site. Our evenings were spent at the local Christmas markets, or sitting in front of the fire and watching holiday movies.

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