Beached Shashimi

Changes

2010-05-22T11:58:00.001-07:00

More colonisation…. The traditional souq is slowly being colonised unfortunately. There are some sections where you are able to still capture traditional ways of living but in amongst the coffee houses, traditional wares and restaurants where you can get a camel liver sandwich you now find a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlour…. Starbucks hasn’t arrived yet … its only a matter of time.

Speaking of Chickens

2010-05-22T11:54:00.001-07:00

Speaking of chickens… Souq Waqif has had a bit of a face lift and a huge tidy up. Down one alley which once stocked hardware there were a number of pet shops. How do you get your animals to stand out you may ask?? You paint them in bright colours. Pink rabbits and multi coloured chickens. They sure stand out.

Hami's Pet

2010-05-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

Mohammed had said that he had a pet bird back in Qatar when he was with us in NZ. He couldn’t explain what it was apart from ‘similar’ to the budgies at school. This one was quite tame. As I was leaving at about 2-0am ( they tend to stay up late here) they showed me their chicken up in the tree. Apparently its good for an egg or two a day.

New Fruits

2010-05-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

There was a new shop in the same area of the mall as Tiffanys, Bvlgari, Gucci et al called Dean and Deluca. It was an amazing up market deli where the best of the best produce and products could be bought. Fiji Blue sparkling water, $ NZ 200 bottles of balsamic vinegar and $600 tins (very small) of caviar. I could have bought lobster mornay to take home but went for the Hungarian goulash, some limes, figs and this little beauty a grenadillas..never had one before. A bit like passionfruit but not as sweet

Stats

2010-05-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

It was recently reported that Qatar was the richest country in the world per capita. The sovereign fund has bought Harrods and owns a 40 % stake in Porsche. So I shouldn’t be surprised to get this vista. Just three of the stars that make up a small part of the extension at Villagio Mall. Qatar also comes up trumps in the safe country stakes, rating fairly highly in that category as well. The report notes that unfortunately it’s human rights record doesn’t come up to scratch.

Get back on the horse

2010-05-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have already mentioned a noticeable improvement in driver behaviour since my last visit. Still a bit of a challenge getting used to driving habits and also driving on the other side of the road. Friday morning is the time to practice as there is little activity. It is like riding a bike, you do remember how. I just need my little mantra "drive right, look left" I survived my trip to theh cricket and the supermarket, long may it continue

Cricket Revisited

2010-05-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

It was a bit like sons for the return home visiting the cricketers at the Grand Regency. It was one of those moments where the manager Ashvin saw me coming across the carpark and did a bot fo a double take. It was hand shakes all around... you never stop being the hotel guest. Offers of drinks, discussions about New Zealand's form in the 20 / 20 world cup and queries about family and shared friends. So Friday mornings are booked for theh coming weeks. Cricket starts at 6am!

Cultural Shift

2010-05-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Some things have changed since my last visit. The traffic is more civilised. Apparently a proactive approach to road policing has seen a change in behaviour, namely through increasing fines exponentially. Our parking of half on the road and footpath which was the norm now earns a $2000 riyal fine. I think it was the use of indicators that alerted me to the change.

While I see cranes out of my verandh window may of teh construction projects have been completed. Roads are open or complete. There is still work going on but it doesn't feel as frenetic

My return to the office felt like a home coming. I'm known as Martin Al Sheebani, 2nd father to Mohammed, brother of Hassan. Even to theh point where my Qatari director came looking for me calling me by my new name and then burst into laughter realising that this name had been bandied around the office for theh last couple of months since the Qatari visit to New Zealand that she had forgotten my real last name.

New Digs

2010-05-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

It wasn't just the plane trip that got upgraded its the accommodation as well. For those in the know I'm in Al Sadd, If I stand in front of my apartment and look to the right I'm about 200 metres away from the Royal Plaza. To the left I'm about 800 metres from Turkey Central and Jade Garden Thai. The apartment feels more like Al Ain in terms of fit out. The 32inch flat screen, new air con units. Lots of space, nice furniture. I drove past the old digs, Al Hitmi today. While I have incredibly fond memories of my time there I'm happy with where I am.

I'm Back

2010-05-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm here again in the land of sand. I must admit it felt like coming to my second home. It felt very familiar but also alittle stange in that much of the experience is based around the people you spent time with. I coming back into my old team so there are still the connections. I came on a different flight class this time. An upgrade which sees you lying flat if you so choose. Sitting 2 rows behind an ex prime minister, drinking Moet on board and Vive Cliquot in the transit lounges. The unfortunate aspect of the experience is the thought of down grading again... could be hard. So this class almost affords me an almost queueless entry into my second home. Out even before my ride arrives. Worrying bit was walking out into 39degree heat and feeling comfortable, an almost pleasent temperature.

National Day #4 - Aircraft

2008-12-27T01:44:00.001-08:00

National Day #3 - Vehicles

2008-12-27T01:34:00.000-08:00

National Day #2 - People

2008-12-27T01:29:00.000-08:00

National Day #1 - Forces Parade

2008-12-26T06:16:00.003-08:00

Catch up

2008-12-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

Right playing catch up with a few bits and pieces. Some things could be a little out of order. National Day provided us with a day off to celebrate a little bit of patriotism. This was apparently the second time they had made an attempt to celebrate the day with a couple of big events. They bought in overseas expertise to support the day. First up a big parade. A parade displaying a range of the service and military groups that are critical to Qatar. So there is a series of images from the parade rather than using words to describe the event.

Yep did it again

2008-12-20T03:57:00.000-08:00

Yep did it again..small cultural stuff up!. We were working on producing some certificates and cards and there was a discussion around the correct convention for writing Arabic names. A quick lesson.. first name your name, second fathers, third grandfathers and last family name. No changing names through marriage. Anyway the discussion was about should we capitalize these cards so I asked if I could see Sabeeka’s national ID card to see if it was capitalized. She fudged and fumbled around looking for the card…then I clicked… her photo would show her face uncovered. I apologized profusely for being so insensitive and luckily Hussan came to the rescue with his.

Conveying History in the Modern World.

2008-12-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

This cracked me up at first and then I started to wonder if history is being distorted by contemporary media. Our guide at both Gallipoli and Troy used our experience of movies to explain our history. So he would say things like… You know in the movie when Mel Gibson……. (and we would all nod knowingly) Another great one was when he was explaining the change of the geography with the creation of an alluvial plain around Troy and he said, You know when Brad Pitt jumps off his boat and runs up the beach right into Troy in the movie well that was before the river brought all the soil down and pushed the beach out.

I wonder if history will be distorted by this.

Farewell to Istanbul

2008-12-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

Really enjoyed my time. I saw a lot in my short time here but am pretty certain there is a lot more to see. May have to come back again

Images of Gallipoli

2008-12-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

A Turkish View

2008-12-20T03:39:00.001-08:00

We remember Chunik Bear as a valiant effort. The Turkish remember it as a great victory. It was strange spending time on top of the hilltop with more Turks than Kiwis.

Tin Man starts to Rust

2008-12-20T03:37:00.000-08:00

The trip to Gallipoli is in some respects a little like the Kiwi Hajj. A form of pilgrimage. This was my main reason for coming to Turkey. It was a highlight as it brought my understanding of history to life. I don’t think you quite get it until you have been there and physically seen the geography that they were on a hiding to nothing . The scale, literally of what they needed to overcome was sobering. We started at the beach and worked our way up the hills to Chunik Bear, the strategic hilltop. I learnt more of the history which I appreciated. While I don’t have a direct family connection to Gallipoli that I’m aware of I must admit it was an emotional experience.

TheTrip

2008-12-20T03:31:00.000-08:00

The trip to the Gallipoli is a round trip of 700kms. We did it over two days with the second day visiting Troy. I’m met at 6am and our tour group consists of Aussie sand Kiwis. There was the young couple on a quick trip to celebrate varsity graduation, another young couple doing a big trip before getting married early next year. The middle age couple who had a week in Turkey before back to London then returning home after 4 years away. The Aussie family of four doing a major tour of Europe. Then last but not least little old me. My little cultural sensitivity radar was on high alert after the young kiwi woman said that they had been in Istanbul for two days and she was sick of hearing Turkish as they hadn’t spoken to any English people for two days… I wondered how our English speaking Turkish tour guide took that.. There was only one other major time during the entire trip where we let ourselves down as countries. It was later in the day, admittedly we were all pretty tired. We were heading up to Chanock Bear and stopped off at the Turkish memorial. Some of the group didn’t even get out of the van and a couple of others did a quick oncer around the site. Now our guides are Turkish, they lost over a million people during the war, they are an incredibly proud and patriotic people so I was feeling a little uncomfortable about the lack of respect some of the others were showing. I don’t think it was intentional. So I lingered a bit, last one back to the van. I picked up a few common names on some of the graves and guessed that the alay (sp)and tabir (sp) were equivalent to oum and abu in Arabic (mother of..father of..) So was able to have a conversation with our guide as to whether I had picked it. Part of this was interest for myself and a part was to show that we did care about their history as much as ours.

2008-12-20T03:28:00.000-08:00

Went into the Topkapi (sp) palace. Wonderful set of buildings which were a major part of the Ottoman Empire. Wonderful exhibitions..83 carat diamond… a harem. What really took my fancy was the building in the back corner of the complex. It held a series of religious relics. Included in this were the swords of significant figures of Islam.. Mohammed’s and Abu Bakers were a couple. They even had pieces of Mohammed’s beard kept in containers. The oldest relic they had was Moses’ staff. It was funny walking through the exhibits and coming across such a relic. It wasn’t what I had expected . I think I expected something longer than a man as per the movies and imagery as opposed to the short walking stick it was.

Preparing for Prayer

2008-12-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

On the outside wall of one of the large mosques in the middle of town the men clean themselves before praying. It isn’t a simple washing of hands. It appears to involve face, hands and feet. It is fascinating to watch this occurring right in the middle of the town with thousands of people milling around.

Karpali Carsi – the Grand Bazaar

2008-12-20T03:21:00.001-08:00

If you can’t read the date on the door it says 1491 I think. This is a major tourist attraction with around 4000 shops trading in all sorts. It is probably just as exciting in the streets surrounding the bazaar. Their appear to be more locals trading here. The prices are better. Copyright is not part of the vocab with so much genuine imitation product. Great experience

Traders

2008-12-20T03:19:00.001-08:00

Another chance photo. Was just about to walk into another mosque and could hear this noise from over the railing. Looked down in into the side street the local traders were selling their wares. While this picture doesn’t capture it selling is a family business. I was amazed to see the number of young boys doing lots of the trading / selling on behalf of their families.

Pigeon Feeder

2008-12-20T03:18:00.001-08:00

This is a picture of one of the old ladies who sell food for the pigeons in the middle of town

The Church

2008-12-20T03:14:00.000-08:00

One of the Aussie team was dealing with the anniversary of the death of her brother while I was away so I’d said that I’d pop into a mosque as a sign of support. Now normally it would be a church but wasn’t expecting to find any of these. It was a damp morning so had caught the tram across town and decided to walk up the hill to Taksim Square and then spend an hour or two walking home. As I was walking down the main street I looked over to one side and thought the building was a strange looking mosque. It was St Anthony’s Catholic Church. It was right in the middle of town. Must admit wasn’t expecting to find a catholic church in the middle of Istanbul.

The Turkish Bath

2008-12-18T02:29:00.000-08:00

If this is the last post you see then there is a slight problem with my blog. Click on December over on theh right hand side under the flicker pics and hopefullyit will show you later blog entires.

Was staying in a lovely little boutique hotel just below the main tourist area of Istanbul. After a day of walking the city I was knackered. Spoke to Borcu the lady at the front desk about having a nap. She suggested a Turkish bath first. So she organized for me to have one in the Spa facilities in the hotel. This was down in the basement. So off I head downstairs in the bowels of the building. I meet this big Turkish bloke, can’t remember his name, just his smile and enthusiasm for his job. So he goes through what’s on offer. I take the basic sauna, steam room Turkish bath option and at this point in time no massage thanks. I’m not the massage sort of bloke and when he showed me the facilities with the Turkish bath being down this long dark corridor. The bath area is covered in white tiles from floor to ceiling all I could think of was the scene with a similar setting in the movie Midnight Express. A quick look and I could see any coat hooks which I would need to save myself (you need to know the movie). So the sauna was great, the steam room just about killed me. The Turkish bath was fantastic. My Turkish friend would pop in every ten minutes and remind me that it wasn’t too late for him to work me over with a massage. I survived with a commitment I would come back for the full treatment the following day which I then spent out on the streets and then locked in my room. The photo isn't the basement its a view of the 1500 yr old underground cistern/

Duh

2008-12-18T02:09:00.000-08:00

Staying at a hotel in Escabet after having spent the day on the Gallipoli Peninsula. There’s me and a kiwi couple. Yep crowded house, after the kiwi band. There is some kiwi ownership involved somewhere. And.. as I’m typing this blog entry having a quiet efes in the lounge downstairs Crowded House are playing on the CD player. There is a bit of kiwi and Aussie ‘ana about. Anyway.. we both going hammer and tongs at trying to get inot our rooms after a long day touring. It took a while before we worked out that we were trying to unlock each other’s rooms. No wonder the handles wouldn’t turn

Secular but 99% Muslim?

2008-12-18T02:05:00.000-08:00

Don't quite get it ... the secular nature given the high levle of the population who identify with one religion. Here are the gates to the university where the issue over wearing head scarfs has played out.

Sharing lentil soup during Eid

2008-12-18T02:01:00.000-08:00

Happened to visit the blue mosque (viewable but working mosque so to speak) on the first day of the Eid festivities. I mingled with the crowd of men who were coming out after morning prayers. Was offered a cup of lentil soup to share with the worshippers. No hostility, quite accepting. Fascintating to see the large police pressence. Stopped and chatted to one of the polici about why. It was a religous festival, precautionary more than anything else. I'd forgotton about the bombings earlier in the year.

The cleaner

2008-12-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

Sitting in quiet reflection in the blue mosque..well as much as you can with 3-400 other visitors. I sat against a pillar and faced Mecca. I heard this sound which sounded mechanical in nature in this 1500 year old building.. it was the cleaner. Now I can’t remember the exact number of square metres of carpet. Let just say it was considerable. Here was this guy working his way across the mosque with this little household vacuum cleaner.

The Carpet Salesman

2008-12-18T01:56:00.000-08:00

It was only a matter of time before I was captured by a carpet salesman. I had read to watch out for them but he caught me off guard. I sort of knew what to expect so thought I would go through the experience as an exercise of Istanbul culture. His “guy” caught me outside one of the mosque, hey where are you from? New Zealand… kia ora and a handshake..he had made the connection. Where are you heading? I’m off to the bazaar… Ah it is closed today but how about you come and have look at my carpet shop. .. I’m not here to buy a carpet…well how about if you come and get a brochure… So I walk with him to his shop. I am taken into the back end of the shop , away from direct viewiong of the street and offered an apple tea.. He leaves me and then the guy in the slick grey suit goes to work… a little lesson in what makes a quality Turkish carpet as opposed to others.. it’s all in the double knotting. A quick demo by his sister on a carpet to show me the technique… and as you are here let’s have a look at a couple of these quality pieces. Nice carpet how much? Ahh sir you have not seen it at its best. Let us go upstairs and put it in a frame with the light behind, then you’ll see it’s true value. So ff we go , past the safe where the most valuable carpets are kept..he grabs one of these. So now I’m completely out of view of anything. The door is closed and he goes to work showing me the carpets. They do look good. Which one do you like best sir?? This one .. Aah you have good taste. That one sir is 12000 euros. It’s lucky I’m not buying one then. After 15 minutes or so I start to head for the door. Sir as you are my first customer and it is Eid and if..if you were to buy this carpet what would you offer… After 10 minutes of trying to negotiate my way out of offering a price I finally cave and say if I was buying a carpet I would not spend more than 1500 euros. I slight step back from the man. A quick recovery. If you had said 2500 we could be making a deal. Sorry if I was to buy a carpet I would not pay more than 1500 euros. As I walk out the door.. if you could add 500 more to this offer I think we could make a sale… offer… I hadn’t offered.

I could have been home

2008-12-18T01:53:00.000-08:00

Early morning on the ferry from Escalabet (sp) to Cannakale (sp). Looked across the water and it was a bit like being on the hills over Pukerua Bay, seeinfg the radio mast up behind home and colonial Knob in the background.

Countryside

2008-12-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

The countryside was wonderful..Green lush and dotted with little villages. This was after the city of Istanbul which was huge. No green just hills and hills of buildings. I suppose with 18 million people they need space to live somewhere. Anyway there were lots of these villages in the countryside. You would see them in the distance with the mosque tower standing out from everything else. I know we have churches in the West but they don’t appear to have the same visual prominence

More history

2008-12-18T01:34:00.000-08:00

I spent time in the Sophia Mosque today.. fascinating. A tale of conquerors and the process of the elimination of the Roman empire. The Ottoman Empire, the loss of Christianity and the establishment of Islam in a country. The plastering over of Christian mosaics, replacing with Arabic script. Many of these artworks are being restored so it is interesting to walk into this truly beautiful building and to view the artifacts of both religions side by side.

City of Cats

2008-12-18T01:32:00.000-08:00

This is a city of cats. They appear to be everywhere, roaming freely through the city. Not sure how this works (who feeds them etc) but they look healthy compared to the moggy’s around Al Hitmi.

Culture

2008-12-18T01:27:00.000-08:00

I have spoken to a couple of people who rate Istanbul as the best city in the world to visit. That it is rich in culture. I’m beginning to see what they mean. I marveled recently at the artifacts that were in the Islamic museum in Doha. The 10th century Koran. Istanbul drags you further back in time. Buildings which are 1500+ years old. It is a country which has a wonderful history which is proudly displayed. Patriotism is alive and well here.

A different set of rules

2008-12-17T21:53:00.000-08:00

Turkey is 99% Muslim. Bu he rules they adhere to are different. A little confused. It could just be a more liberal interpretation. Examples... tend to cover heads only...... while the older generation were seperate gender wise that can't be said for the younger generation. Efes... golden amber...lovely drop...drunk by many...

Istanbul

2008-12-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

Work has been just a little crazy here as well as some commitments i have back in NZ. We had the Eid break and so I took the opportunity to book a last minute flight to Turkey.

Istanbul is full of colour. Some of this is the fact that every inch is built upon so you don’t have the sand of the desert. Bu the people have colour, a style to them that you don’t see in Qatar. For the women it is their scarves. The muslim women wear silky multi-coloured scarves. There is the occasional abaya’d up women. They are few and far between and tend to be older. The men wear suits. Some are shiny black, silky black. We would call them sleazy in NZ but somehow they are just part of the colourful melting pot which is this city

Carla's handiwork

2008-12-06T23:34:00.001-08:00

In the foyer of the Sharq they had this huge christmas tree and ginderbread house which was being set up for an event later in the weekend where they would put on lights and have carols. The kitchen staff were busy putting the finishing touches on the gingerbread house. Carla convinced the bloke that she could do the job so he handed it over to her to finish.

A Spyder

2008-12-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

This too was in the Sharq. Not my favourite but still a very nice car. Note the christmas tree in the background.

The Sharq

2008-12-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

High end hotel. We went there for a drink on Thursday night to celebrate the Eid break. Now with high end hotels you can expect to pay high end prices. I was on driving duty so was on the perrier and flat whites whereas the others were having a quiet ale and the odd mojito. A corona stubby set you back $NZ30 and a mojito close to $40. Still wonderful surrounding and setting.

Inside the Museum

2008-12-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

No Limits

2008-12-06T21:47:00.001-08:00

Architects have a field day here

Like the sign says

2008-12-06T21:46:00.001-08:00

Another interesting thing I saw on my walk.

Rain

2008-12-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

I was sitting having a coffee and reading the paper at the mall when I looked at and saw rain. Not just a trickle but a torrential downpour. This was big and given that I had walked the 7 odd kilometers here and was planning to walk back I decided to sit it out. Well after half an hour and with thunder and lightning and considerable rain I decided to catch a cab. I think I would have been safer walking. The amount of water on the roads was amazing. They have no drains so there is no where for water to go. Oh yeah. It rains dirty as well. Ell for the first part it does as it pulls all of the sand and dust out of the sky. So your clothes are dirty and have brown marks all over them.
So I’m in the taxi queue and stat talking to the bloke next to me. We agree to share a cab as we are heading in the same direction. He’s a young german bloke who is flying out that day after spending six months setting up a high end hotel. I jump in the front. Miscala Kabaira – Big Problem. The seat belt doesn’t work. Well my little Kerela taxi driver can see the rain because he has put the wind screen wipers on but it doesn’t change his driving pattern. He floors it, as does every other idiot out on the roads. No ideas about driving in the rain. We get overtaken by a big landcrusier on the inside whose bow wave …yep the water is deep in places covers our bonnet. I suggest to my drive that he may want to pump the brakes a little as we screaming towards the roundabout. Ahumdilahlah – thanks be to god I get home safely. Usually I tip all my drivers as they get paid very little. This time the tip was…”slow down in the rain next time buddy”

Ice in the desert

2008-12-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

Another wonderful example of this city. Into the shopping mall to buy my jersey. There’s a game of ice hockey on. Two of the big malls here have ice skating rings and with a large North American presence in the country why not?

Perfect Weather

2008-12-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

A lovely day for a walk. It started out about 20 degrees and was close to 27 when I had a wee lie down on the grass with the ants in West Bay. The water was like glass. This was my view when I looked up.

National Day

2008-12-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

National Day in this country is the 18th December. Not sure how much pomp and ceremony there will be but there was a lot of construction along the Corniche with seating being installed. Must be a parade of some form. They have replanted a number of the flower beds…in the national colours.

The walk

2008-12-06T21:37:00.001-08:00

Need to get a jersey for Turkey. It has been quite nice there in the last week or two judging by the weather. But a quick look at the forecast for this coming week and temperatures between 4 and 9 degrees are going to be a little tough. Thought I’d walk down to City Centre as my exercise for the week. You see lots of interesting sights.. a man and his wife fishing

Good Design

2008-12-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

For those who come to the museum who are blind or are lost... people can find their way with these. There is a no touching policy but they have audio books that take you around the exhibits.

Mishkala Kabaira

2008-12-06T21:32:00.001-08:00

Obesity is a big issue (excuse the pun) here in Qatar. Given their diet and lack of exercise it will be a problem that won’t go away. They have significantly high levels of people with diabetes.

More pics

2008-12-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

Museum of Islamic Art

2008-12-06T21:24:00.001-08:00

I had an entry recently about the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art. It is now open to the public so wandered down for a wee look. It’s the sort of place you probably need to spend a day at. I did a quick “recki” just to check it out, as did a lot of other people. I’ll flick a few photos up and a short vid to help you get a sense of the place.

It is a stunning building both inside and out. The pieces here make you realize how valuable history is.

It tells some wonderful stories. Like the quadrants used in construction from the 12th century. You also appreciate the skills of those from the past. One of these photos is a picture of a Koran from the 10th century…perfect.

Rituals

2008-12-05T02:26:00.001-08:00

Friday has developed a series of rituals. An early start to watch the cricket begins the day. This is not easy as Thursday night is the end of the week so usually it is let your hair down night unless you are so beggared you just want to go home and sleep. So my alarm goes off 5 mins before we are due to leave. The boys are always excited to see us and Keren has done a lot to foster this. She organized on behalf of the Aussies last time to bring back 60 boundary cones from Rebel Sports plus cricket score books and the balls. So the boys now stand out as all the other teams use rocks for boundary markers. Plus what stands out more than this is the small expatriate contingent that front up to watch them each week. To cheer them on. It is fun to watch the reactions of many of the other teams as well as passersby who stare and struggle with the concept of a group of ex pats supporting the workers. Barry and Keren have even invested in seating now so that you don’t get a sore backside sitting on the wall. Here’s a photo of Keren and Baz having a discussion about the last wicket. Keren is signaling to me that she thinks that’s two down now. In the background is Taffy (camel vet) coming to join us. After cricket it is off for a real coffee and a bit of brekky. Although today brekky was more important than quality of coffee so we went to Ric’s Diner a truly American institution in Doha. It is just like an American diner. An endless cup of weak coffee, country music piping in the background and big breakfasts with Texas Toast or you can even have grits. The home by midday for a wee siesta.

Cricket Update

2008-12-05T02:24:00.000-08:00

The boys had a tough match this week. They lost to these guys last time they played so there was a little tension, a little more focus. There was even the group huddle before the start of the match. Dimuth, who is the team’s strongest run scorer lost his wicket cheaply. There was a heated discussion or two with one of the fielders. A rough call on an out that shouldn’t have been and so the pressure built through the match. The boys came home with an over to spare and it was a great example of a team effort. No stars, just gritty determination. The kiwi crickets could learn from these blokes.

Eid Mubarak

2008-12-05T02:23:00.000-08:00

“Happy Eid”. Eid is upon us. There are two Eid’s and this one is the most religiously significant as this is when people make the Hajj a religious journey to Mecca. So it is a holiday in the Muslim world. Numbers are limited regarding who can actually go on the Hajj. I think each country is allocated a certain number of places and every Muslim should aim to make the trip at least once in their life if they have the financial means to do so. It is a holiday break for nearly all of us. A small group of my Aussie mates are having to work through which is really unfortunate for them. This is in part because their contract finishes shortly. Keren took Anne and Carla out to the airport at some crazy time this morning as they are heading to the big apple for a week. The queue was apparently a long winding snake..and that was just on the outside let alone inside. I’m here for a few days and am jumping on a plane to Turkey for my Eid break. Going solo and doing the classic kiwi trip to Gallipoli.

Duh !

2008-12-05T02:19:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it takes a little while to click. I work in an office with some Qatari gentlemen (refer older post) next door there are four Qatari women and then next to that room is my female counterpart and another Qatari women. The door to my colleague’s room remains open. The Qatari woman she works with is fully covered apart from her eyes. When I enter I knock first, wait a second and then enter with a greeting “Salam Aleykum”. Now the room in the middle is always closed and I have t knock and wait until I am called in. The woman in this room range from wearing a sheila (head scarf covering head and under chin) to fully covered (behind a veil covering their entire face). Now I always find it best to discuss things directly with my Qatari colleagues (face to face) whereas my two male friends tend to use the phone. I was thinking they were lazy by not getting out of their chairs and going and discussing the matter in question until I had a conversation about it this week. Why do you not go and ask her directly about this rather than phone as what you are discussing is hard to explain over the phone? …. Duh…. It is because Martin, every time I (we) go into the room they have to cover up. It’s an inconvenience. When we leave them to it they can remove their covers because they are safe from the eyes of strange men. This makes it easier for them to work…sometimes I’m a little slow!

ICE – In Case of Emergency

2008-12-05T02:17:00.001-08:00

A couple of sobering stories
There was an incident this week involving one of the other teams here. I work with a number of people from this team and went off to a meeting during the week to find them very casually dressed for work. They live in a twin tower block in the middle of town. A fire broke out in the basement of one of the blocks and so the buildings needed to be evacuated. We’re talking 30 odd people from this team living in one of these blocks. So they are bundled out in the early morning with nothing but what they could grab. This was a serious fire. The fireman had to smash the windows of their cars and move them away from the flames. A young nepalise man living in the other block,, having only been here for a week jumped from a fifth story window to his death in an attempt to flee the fire.
The day before one of the leaders from another team had strange sounds coming from a fuse board in his building so went down and turned a switch off. Later in the night it exploded into flames. He was then arrested and is to be prosecuted for not informing someone of the situation. If the charges stick he will be deported.

Camel Folk

2008-11-28T06:17:00.000-08:00

A couple of new faces of people who I have come into contact in my time here. On the left is Sue and her husband Taffy. Now they’re also Aussies. I call them third generation GR’s. We were the first ANZACs at the Grand Regency and then Murph, Old Barry, Keren and Rick came along. On the night of Murphs farewell dinner at the GR Mazen brought Sue and Taff over to our table as they had recently arrived in Doha and knew no one. So just as we helped the second generation get settled we have helped these two get sorted. Now These guys are lovely people and Taff has an interesting job here. He sisthe camel vet to the heir apparent. Sue and Taff used to live in Alice Springs where he was a camel vet. They moved to Cairns and he had been practicing normal vetting I suppose. He was approached to take on this job. They are building him a brand new vet clinic out in the dessert and so I’m hoping once he is sorted we’ll get an up close and personal look at the operation. He will be looking after the racing camels. They’re in the Grand Regency and are soon to move into a nice villa.

And it rained

2008-11-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

Yep it rained this morning at the cricket, hence the last three pics. One of the sky with clouds. Clouds have only recently appeared in our sky. Drips on my sunnies and the drops on the tarseal beneath my feet. Cool even, actually very nice low 20s up to 30..perfect

Big Week

2008-11-28T06:11:00.001-08:00

Yet another interesting week in Doha. My colleague Mary flew back home today so I’m left steering the ship. It has been a week of lots of conversations. Lots of stuff to think about, truckloads of reflection with a close look at behaviour.
Work has been challenging and sometimes you just need to chill, take a deep breath and go with the flow. Had a couple of significant meetings Thursday. Big in the scheme of things. So while trying to juggle several other balls we were working towards these meetings. Part of this was the handouts. Simple…no because we are working in a bilingual culture here so everything that is developed needs to be translated, approved, printed. Now there is translation and there is translation. The best example of this I can give was when I was doing my study. The university tried to get every student to get this particular lecturer during the course of the diploma programme. I missed him Ahumdilahlah but Kay didn’t. So when she got her assignments back she would have three pages of notes. Half a page would be on the content of the assignment and the other 2 and half would be on the use of English… “where you have used the term data and are talking about a single item the term in datum”Now Kay’s English is pretty good so lets just say I was pleased to escape this opportunity. Well you tell by my writing that it isn’t that koser. Anyway back to the story. So the translation comes back, we print off the masters and get them checked by the boss who then gets an Arabic specialist check it. Not good enough more changes. I have during this time damaged two colour photo copiers trying to start the print run. It’s now a half hour after we would normally leave for home and there is this continual correction of the work. We spot a gap , get an agreement and do a dash with the masters. Having broken the copier we head into town. Mary has another meeting to go to so I’m left trying to negotiate with a copy shop owner the notion of priority and doing the job on the spot. I’m able to get this done. 1700 colour copies and $NZ2000 later I then spend my evening making up these packs in the print shop. Carry the now boxes and folders across the busiest road in the country to get a cab. Get to work the next day and when the boss introduces the first workshops states that (in Arabic) the handouts have a small error so please disregard the information ionthe pack and we’ll send out corrected versions via email. Roll on next week I say as it’s a biggie !!

Maz

2008-11-28T05:49:00.001-08:00

When you are away from home you tend to value people more. People at home, people you spend time with. I think this is because the social dynamic has changed. This is a picture of my “last supper” with Mazen. Mazen was really the first Arabic man I met when I came to Qatar. When we arrived at the Grand Regency back in March he took an interest in the little kiwi contingent. We have stayed in touch and I really enjoy his friendship. We met Mazen in town and he indicated that he was leaving Qatar. This is significant because of the labour laws he will not be able to return here for at least two years ( I think they are pushing for five) .
Mazen is leaving to work in Dubai as the new job has accommodation for his wife and baby daughter. While he is happy working where he is he cannot get accommodation for his family so needs to make the change.

A little fun about a serious matter

2008-11-28T05:42:00.000-08:00

Won’t name names but had an interesting situation yesterday. One of the younger members of the Aussie group went out on a date with a bloke she met on a plane trip and caught up with again in Doha last week. Now the bloke was known only by his first name to her closest friends and she is of a generation who texts every couple of minutes. A bit like my children do. If fact I wrote recently about not being on our country's telephone tree and funnily enough I had been talking t oKim yesterday about communication plans for Emma over Chrissy.

So there is this constant exchange of texts between this group when they are apart. Well last night the women went out and for some reason her phone was turned off (apparently the battery went flat). So by 2-00am one of her close mates got very worried and contacts others. Even I knew at 2.37am in the morning about it. I also learned at 4-05am that she got home safely. (this gave about 20 minutes to sleep before being woken for prayers then up again at 7-00 to watch the Grand Regency boys play cricket and people wonder why I sleep through the day!) This was after people had been contacted outside the country as well. Now it may seem a bit over the top but this is a potential risk when you do things on your own and don’t leave enough information with others. It was brought home this morning reading a local paper over a coffee regarding a 52 years women in a nearby emirate found beaten and paralysed in a ditch. The article was about how she needed $23,000 dirhams to fly home in a bed because of her condition as she was no use to anyone as a house maid here as she couldn’t walk.
So between 2-00am and 4.05 a couple of this woman’s mates made up some rules about cellphones (machines) for the group which appeared in my email this morning. Thought I ‘d share, while quite funny (rotting in hell and never alive to real friends are actually statements of affection) it is still quite serious. And yes she did vomit.

1. You have a responsibility to have a functioning machine at all times
2. If, for some reason this is impossible, you must provide machine contact details of people who you are cavorting with
3. If, for some reason this is impossible, you must provide cavorting friends with real friends contact details
4. If, for some reason you don't have a functioning machine, you must text from cavorting friend's machine that you are ok and having a grouse time
5. If, for some reason you don't have a functioning machine, you must let real friends know that you're having a grouse time, with machine of cavorting friend, so that real friends can also come out and have a grouse time if they choose
6. You must keep credit on your machine at all times
7. If you don't have a functioning machine you are not allowed out
8. If you don't have a functioning machine and your friends have used all their credit on their functioning machine hatching plans around getting your body home to Australia, you owe them QR100 Hala Card
9. If you don't have a functioning machine you must take your laptop out with you and only go to venues with wireless internet so that you can skype in updates
10. If you don't have a functioning machine you are dead to all friends with functioning machines
11. If you make a real friend vomit (like I just did) because of stress and worry that your machine doesn't work as real friend doesn't know if you're ok or how much fun they're having without them, then you are to be congratulated for supporting their weight loss program
12. If you make a real friend vomit for a second time (like I just did) because of stress and worry that your machine doesn't work and real friend doesn't know if you're ok or how much fun you're having without them, then you will be rewarded with support in fixing machine
13. If for some reason your machine doesn't work and real friends have put out an alert across all hemispheres of this planet, including consulate offices and you are actually alright, then you are rotting in hell to us
14. If for some reason your machine doesn't work and real friends have put out an alert across all hemispheres of this planet and you come home, find a note on your door and don't contact your real friends immediately to let them know you're alright, then you were never alive to real friends

Another Face

2008-11-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hassan is a Qatari colleague with whom I work with in my current job. When I first got here somebody had suggested to me that most Qatari don’t work hard as they are cared for financially by the state so lack the motivation. My experience has been quite the opposite. In my previous role and this one I have been fortunate to work with Qatari who have a great work ethic. Hassan is no exception. His English is a lot better than my Arabic but we work on his English every day. Hassan has been great in allowing me to see some of the life of Qatari men. A recent highlight for him was when he took me to one of the big clubs here where his son was being tutored by a Moroccan art teacher. This bloke was helping his son prepare for an art competition. We sat down and had a drink and talked about the art. Now this bloke was quite easy to understand but also had limited English. I think Hassan has got so use to my kiwi accent that when I was explaining a concept to the tutor which obviously confused him Hassan knew what I was saying and translated it into Arabic for him. When I pointed out that he was my new translator he just beamed because in the group that I work with Hassan would have the least English and so more often than not someone translates for him. He was so excited that the next day he went around telling everyone about it.

Faces of Qatar

2008-11-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

Have just done the maths and technically I only have 17 more entries to make on the blog to meet my target of 1 entry for every day in Qatar (284). I have got a head of myself somewhere along the line as I still have 60 days still to go. The work is full on and the time really flies. The rest of the time can go really slow unless you fill it up with stuff. I think that is why people do lots of stuff here together. They do make an effort to do something. So yesterday I decided to get a ride down to City Centre to find a hoody as it was just starting to cool off in the evenings. Now Anne was driving and she mentioned that as they had nothing to do on Saturday they decided to count the number of times each of the Aussies had been mentioned in my blog (as you do on Saturday afternoon in Doha when you have nothing to do) . Now she was quite aggrieved that her name had only appeared twice and this was in her mind significantly less than that of the other Aussies. So what I thought I would do is introduce you to some of the people that I have met on this trip. So I thought I would start with Anne because Anne as I mentioned was worried about having a presence and Anne has been known to get “the rage” if Anne (there’s five extra mentions there Anne plus a picture is worth a thousand names!) is not happy with things. In her real life Anne is a psychologist and has been a teacher. In Auz Anne would be like Bernice at GSE but possibly one step up. She is involved with a behaviour initiative here working in a small team managed by young Barry (I’ll introduce him in a separate entry). I think Anne arrived about the same time I turned up for my first tour here but as can be the case, you can be working in a similar field but never meet.

A couple of pics from the opening

2008-11-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

I shot this on ISO with a 7 series flying by. It's just a blur

The Opening Story

2008-11-24T08:14:00.001-08:00

The Museum of Islamic Art was opened on Saturday night here in Doha. The video below got a slightly better look at what was going on than us…only slightly mind. This was a significant event with over a thousand dignitaries there for the opening. I have never seen so many black series 7 BMWs. (apparently there were over 250 of them) as well as a huge assortment of limos, jags .mercs. Now we wandered down as we thought there would be a fireworks display and also that there would be large crowds watching from outside the fence, you know to witness the opening. There was nobody there so we wandered up to the ISF (internal security force guys) asked if we could cross over in front..marfi miskala and sat right up by the fence so that we could see the big screen inside televising the opening ceremony (as seen on the you tube video below). So technically we were only 250 metres away all the major leaders of Islamic countries,( plus Robert De Niro) and no one asked us what we were doing , looked at us. So we watched the opening ceremony, then the 8 minute fireworks display ( I have it on video all 168 megabytes of it so will edit and compress and hopefully upload it) and then wandered back out to the car. We had to run the gauntlet of ISF which was now a significant force given that all the leaders were now contained inside the museum grounds. They didn’t smile at us as we walked past. There was a small crowd watching but they had obviously been too scared to go through the security guys.

The Opening

2008-11-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

Financial Pinch

2008-11-21T04:28:00.001-08:00

During the last few days the Kiwi has dipped against the US and with the Riyal pegged to the dollar we have slipped under the 2 for 1 mark. Not sure how far it will fall. While living it still fairly cheap here the exchange rate is making some things very expensive. I was in the supermarket this week and went for a troll through the fruit and veges. Now evey now and again Kim and I will have steam brocolli with fresh black pepper. Reviewing my own cooking I can't remember the last time I cooked vegetables here. So on the shelf were some nice heads of Aussie Broc. A closer inspection revealed that with the current exchange rate it was going to cost me about $NZ14 for one. Buggar that I'll just take a berocca.

Winter is coming

2008-11-21T04:16:00.000-08:00

The days are getting shorter and it is starting to get cooler. I walked the corniche to West Bay a couple of nights ago. Its about 6km. If I had done that when I first arrived back I'd be bathed in sweat. Apart from feeling a little warm, given that I was wearing my jeans and a polo it was a cool breezy evening. The temperature was 23. It won't be long before the ice breaker gear will be out.

When is Thanksgiving?

2008-11-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

We had a thanksgiving dinner last night. Keren is the event planner, saw an ad for a turkey meal from the Marriot and put two and two together and made thanksgiving. Keren enjoys hosting dinner parties back home so went at this with military precision. If you check out earlier entries in my blog you’ll have seen a photo of an al hitmi apartment. Keren lives on the second floor in an 01 which is the mirror image of my pokey little place. She organized this dinner party for 10 people. So space and resources are hard to come by. Now you may also recall the limited items we have in our apartments. Some of us have a 4 piece dinner set (not necessarily matching). Some have 1 cup, plate and bowl. Keren went all out and bought a 12 piece dinner set and then followed it up with matching glasses (3 per person), table cloths and napkins. Table cloths were problematic as everything here is embroidered and colourful.

So a couple of white sheets did the trick. So we have this amazing meal with fantastic table setting. Keren leaves the end of December so someone will end up with the kit for the next one I suppose. Now what happens at Thanksgiving is that people get together and give thanks to others. This was organized where we were given a card with someone’s name on it to write on. This had its challenges as I didn’t know many of the people well enough to write a thank you card. Now all the cards were colour coded (refer to previous entry about me being green) So the photos are of the card and message I got which was really cool. What was great to watch was that secretly Anne had organized for everyone to make an extra card for Keren as she had gone to a lot of trouble organizing the event. From the comments it was clear that she has obviously touched many of their lives with her generosity and support and it is truly valued by people who find themselves dumped in the sandpit.

The Job List

2008-11-21T03:57:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving dinner Keren had made a whole series of lists and people were given jobs and roles. So here is a couple of photos of people helping out Old Baz (who is 67 as opposed to young Baz who is 60 something) carving up the turkey and Anne and Carla are into the dishes. Now I was given the job of making salads. I knew this because I was given a piece of paper with the job on it. During the week there was a discussion about organizing to move Baz’s table into Keren’s room so everyone could have a seat. I said I was happy to help. Now people back in NZ people know that if they ask me to do something they usually send me an email because if you tell me it goes in through one ear and out the other. I think I was reminded a couple of times about the table verbally but you know me. Well anyway the offer of soccer came my way and so I jumped at it. I got caught up at work so didn’t get home at my usual time. Had a little kip and then off to the soccer. This was while I was supposed to be moving tables. Now the tables are large and heavy and the rooms are small and difficult to navigate. So as I was enjoying the footy my name was mud as Keren was trying to sort the table on her own.

As a result I was reminded that there is no I in team and the word table featured throughout thanksgiving dinner so had to eat humble pie after stuffing my face with turkey and cranberry sauce with gravy and potatoes with sautéed carrots and cauliflower, broccoli!!

A little resilience

2008-11-21T03:55:00.001-08:00

There has been a series of little administrative hick ups along the way with this journey up here this time. It started with no key for the apartment, then followed with being locked in. My insurance claims went missing. My medical claims went missing. I went for the first month not being part of the email communication tree because no one added me to the list. They forgot to pay me as no one had authorized this tour of duty to payroll. I was then left off the international phone list and just this week I was removed from our country list meaning that technically I don’t exist for emergency purposes. Now most of these things are just small admin errors and have since been corrected. But if you didn’t have a little resilience you would start to wonder wouldn’t you?

The crowd goes wild

2008-11-21T02:51:00.000-08:00

The Qatari fans pretty much up sticks and left when the score was 3-0 to Japan

Easy Access

2008-11-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

The photo and video which will be posted is at a footy match I went to this week. The Aussie lads had been in a school where free tickets were given away and as they had a spare invited me along. The tickets were free I think because they wanted to fill the stadium. I’m sitting six rows back from the front just off to the side of the goal. Did I mention this is a world cup qualifying match? Easy access. You just don’t get these sorts of opportunities in NZ.

Yessir Culture

2008-11-21T02:43:00.001-08:00

One of the traps for young players so to speak is getting caught up in the stratified culture that exists here. There are layers that operate within this country depending on your nationality and role. I was having a conversation with a bloke here about it and he talked about the dangers of a yessir culture. We have many people in this country who answer yessir. So in my typical day I get up, head downstairs and get a “good morning sir” and the door opened by the security guard. I get picked up by my driver with a “good morning sir”. I get to work and my Sudanese friend (photo) will bring me a coffee and a mango juice. During the day I may need to go out so get a different driver who calls me sir. The security guys at work also greet me with a yessir. This bloke pointed out that when he went to Europe recently he said he felt the service was poor but then on reflecting he decided that the service was fine he had just been immersed too long in the yessir culture that exists here where pretty everything can be done by someone else for you. I feel I’m in for a rude awakening when I get home.

No Birthdays Here

2008-11-12T05:39:00.000-08:00

Another year older but this time I got more than a day to celebrate my birthday. My day started in NZ and ended in QATAR so technically I got 34 hours worth. So got a couple of emails the evening before, which was great. Really appreciate them. Now I hadn’t mentioned my birthday here but there was a discussion about age last week and someone remembered that my birthday was on the same day as Murphs (This was something he had shared with them one day after Ridges). So this started a chain reaction. I’m waiting with a couple of colleagues for my driver down in the foyer of our apartment block and the Aussies drive past and shout out Happy Birthday. So then my Kiwi colleagues knew. This in turn was communicated to my boss and the Qatari staff at work. My Qatari boss explained there is not really a birthday celebration in Islam. What is supposed to happen on your anniversary of your birth is that you are to reflect on the year that has past and think how you can better serve god and others for the coming year. Even so she wished me a happy birthday. Now the Aussies had organized a ticket for me to go with them to the Comedy Club. This is a monthly stand up comedy event at one of the hotels. They had organized a table for the 20 or so of us and had also organized a cake and presents. So the photo shows the collection which all have some meaning. The big box of very flash choices is from Mary my boss. Now the green hat is important because Keren is like the camp mother and events are organized with lists and colour coded spreadsheets. My colour is green so if she receives an email from say Murph back in Aus she then colour codes the bits of the email which relate to individuals and forwards it on. So I know I just have to read the green bits or look at the green timetable. The photos are to remind me that my Aussie mates are important. The Aussie certificate I think is because a number fo times now I’ve been mistaken for being an aussie so I sort of get Aussie status (until I open my mouth). The CD is Roberta Flacks, Where is the love. My GR5 team will remember I was a “share the love” and kumbya sort of guy. I’ve had to adopt the same sort of phrases as these guys like to chip away at each other. Hence, ”where is the love?” Some vouchers for Titto Bluni. I bought some jeans which I really like from Titto’s so can now get some new gear as well. Plus I brought my possum and angora socks Ma and Pa form NZ. So not bad for a no birthday.

The Incident

2008-11-12T05:35:00.001-08:00

This was a real interesting story as we watched it unfold from a distance and then was able to piece it together from a range of sources. Carla one of the Aussies (Miss Melbourne Cup Doha 2008) was invited by a bloke to watch the tennis from one of the corporate boxes. The rest of us ( the 50 odd Aussies and Americans) were all sitting in the nose bleeders (the seats up really high) on the opposite side of the court so watched as the events unfolded. So Carla walks in with her date and as you would expect she has dressed to impress her date. She was wearing her high heels and missed a step heading down to the box. She survived the fall by grabbing the rail. Now she was with her date and a couple of other blokes from his company and so they were given directions to their box. The box had six seats but there were two young women in Abayas sitting in the box. So the three guys grab the front three seats and Carla walks in front of the two women and sits next to them. Now Carla has dressed to impress so is in a sleeveless white top with spaghetti strings. She assesses the situation that as she is now sitting next to a couple of Qatari woman she should cover up, so does so. After the first game there is a flurry from the ushers and security and they are asking the guys and Carla to move boxes. We can see one of the guys arguing with the usher and showing him their tickets which indicated that they are in the right place. But they move to another box. Problem? The problem was that one of the girls was in fact the Emir’s daughter and here were three western men sharing the box with her. A western woman had stood over her (and was wearing clothing you would not normally wear when meeting royalty) to get past. Mary my boss was sitting just behind and said the ushers and security guys were frantic when they initially realised what had happened with letting the men into the box. I think it meant that somebody was going to be for it for letting such a thing happen.

Strong Leadership

2008-11-12T05:33:00.000-08:00

My camera battery went flat before I could capture the photo I wanted for this. In this photo is Sheika Mousa, one of the Emir’s wives. She is truly in inspirational leader and is a fantastic role model. She has been the driving force behind the educational reforms of this country. Behind her in Billy Jean King. A wonderful irony as she is known not only for her strong leadership in women’s tennis but also her sexual orientation. Billy set up the WTO tour and all the winners acknowledged the impact the tour was having on their careers. Although a colleague did highlight the fact hey the players will having to market themselves as stunning models rather than stunning athletes (which they are by the way). The third person who would have been in the picture would have been Venus for her skills. They were all on the court for the prize giving but as I said my battery went flat.

Good money if you can get it

2008-11-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

This is Venus in the final a few points short before winning $1.3 million US dollars for her weeks work.

Being Aussie

2008-11-12T05:30:00.001-08:00

I feel a little like I’m Jane Goodall in the movie Gorillas in the Mist. I’ve been invited into the tribe of people we know as Aussies. I’m sort of like the participant researcher. Spending time studying human behaviour. They invite me along to different events (tennis, Melbourne Cup, comedy night and I sit and try to make sense of their behaviour. You learn new lingo, like dropping the end of names and replacing them with an a or an i. There are things called sharts and eski’s which I won’t go into but one is a good thing to have in Qatar and one is not. There is a wonderful directness about many of the Aussies which is quite refreshing, sometimes challenging. As the Aussie doubles player who was part of the winning pair spoke at the awards ceremony she mentioned two things which stood out. She thanked the sponsor (Sony Ericcson) as having them on board meant they could make some good money on the tour. And then she followed up by saying that “it was good to see the Sheika here watching the tennis” Direct, bold, to the point, no her royal highness or nothing like that just the Sheika. She was genuine in her comments in a truly Aussie sort of way.

Tennis Pics

2008-11-08T04:27:00.001-08:00

How close?

2008-11-08T04:12:00.000-08:00

Not too bad in the nose bleeders

Top Events

2008-11-08T04:03:00.000-08:00

The WTO are holding their end of season event here in Doha. Now while we have an event in Auckland we don't get the quality of fields that we have here. This event has the top ten women players in world and accesstosuch an event is pretty easy. The court side tickets sold out too quickly for me to grab for $60NZ but I was able to get a couple of cheap seat tickets fro $5NZ.

Serena played on Wednesday but had to pull out because of injury.

The Dancing Kiwis

2008-11-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Video Part Two. The kiwis decided to dance as well as sing along which made it kind of interesting for the guy sitting by himself behind the dancing. Look fo rthe guy in the white shirt

The Singing Waiters

2008-11-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

I went here a few weeks ago for Murphs farewell. We went back this time for the kiwis who are moving out. The light was poor but you'll get an idea of how it works. They can really sing

The Diplomat

2008-11-06T13:12:00.001-08:00

I have a really good relationship with the Qatari men I am currently working with. This has provided me an opportunity to see a little of their lives beyond work. I’ve been for coffee in one of my colleagues Majlis. (meeting tent). He has taken me to a few places I couldn’t visit as an expat. Last night he was invited to the Malaysian National Day celebrations at the Dip Club. He thought it would be a good idea if I went along with him so he made a phone call. The WTA Tennis is on at the moment and to the top ten female players are in town. I had planned to go to the tennis but organised to go with him and then pop into the tennis for the last match. When we got there I knew I was a little out of my league. I think every embassy or consulate had sent their ambassadors to the event. There was me with my little silver fern on my suit lapel standing in the food queue next to the guy from South Korea in front of me and the Belgium ambassador behind me. I survived the initial interactions until my Qatari colleague dragged me along to meet the Malaysian ambassador who was hosting the event, who happened to be sitting with the Qatari deputy minister for foreign affairs. I was invited to sit and join their table so I’m starting to panic a little. Here was this kiwi bloke rubbing shoulders with a room full of fairly important people. I am introduced with a title that basically translated to being the New Zealand international expert working with the Supreme Education Council. (just in case you didn’t know..I’m not) A deferring of my seat to other dignitaries and a hasty retreat to the far corners of the room was in order to munch on my chicken satay with the waiting staff. All in a days work representing my country. One day educationist the next unofficial diplomat

Language

2008-11-06T13:11:00.001-08:00

I love it. Susie got the last post, Faz missed it. Read between the lines buddy !

Hey Koro

2008-11-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

It’s been an interesting 48 hours with a minor family crisis to deal with. Now, I have expectations of my kids and have been known to express my frustration at times as fathers can do. I think I’m fair and reasonable. I’m told I over react. But leading up to this situation I spent a bit of time listening to my Aussie mates share some life stories. Stories that make you realize that other people live through major life challenges that make our little crisis appear insignificant in the scheme of things. I think it came as a bit of a surprise to Kim that I was calm, collected and accepting of the situation. I know I use to wind the GR5 up with my “world peace” expression, which was really saying what we‘re dealing with is small compared to world peace and not worth worrying about. I think the more opportunities you get to experience what others deal with in their lives you realize how lucky some of us are.

Wide Awake

2008-11-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

Have had a tough week sleep wise and has taken me a little while to work out why. I've been cominmg home for a snooze late afternoon and then waking up in the middle of the night, not sleeping and then struggling to get up for my ride in the morning. I think the problem has been my visits to lots of schools during the week. Each visit involves a lot of greeting and hospitality. It always involves an Arabic coffee (green coffee bean) followed by turkish, nescafe of shey (red or green tea). A few choclates or sweets thrown in. So by the end of the day when I've been to three or four schools I'm tired from the meetings but pumped full of caffiene and sugar. No wonder I can't sleep!. I only have 45 schools to visit so should be sorted by the end of November as I don't think they know what decaf is.

Fashion in the Field

2008-11-02T06:54:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of me with Carla (L) and Keren (R) on our way to the Melbourne Cup night. Keren had organized a ticket for me to go with the group of Aussies her and Baz hang out with. A was in my jeans and tee shirt about half an hour before we left when she rang to tell me that the ladies would be wearing frocks and the lads would be suited up. A quick change to casual smart and they still let me go with them. Carla won the fashion in the field competition. It was really quite serious with about twenty women in the field plus there was a male and couples section. People went to a lot of trouble (apart from me) with big hats and matching outfits. Both Keren and Carla had spent the day making their fascinators. Carla’s was made out of peacock feathers to match her dress which apparently had a peacock pattern. (Sorry typical male didn’t notice and got berated for it by the team!). The event was judged by the real Miss Melbourne Cup 1984 (She still had her sash which looked in pretty good knick given it was 24 years old!). Apparently she does a few of these events as this was the third time she had been in Doha to judge.

An evening at the races

2008-11-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

I’ve now been adopted by the Aussies. With Murph having gone back home I am helping to fill a gap for Barry and Keren. Murph has been a huge part of their lives here so I think they’ll need about ten people to fill it. They have simple rules for the lone Kiwi. I must be seen at least once a week ( I thinkthis is so we can exchange insults about some sort of sporting event)as well as participate in team social events and share a meal. These guys will hopefully be around till mid / late December inshallah and they are a lot of fun. There is a rather large contingent of Aussies up here so it is always good for a bit of niggle. Buggar about the netball. The first team event was the Melbourne Cup. They have a function at the golf club where people get dressed up as if they are going to race day back in Aus. They have a race track with squares which jockeys (people on broomsticks with horse heads move along to the roll of a dice)race along. You bet on horses like Wellington Lady, Why kick a moo cow and Budgie Smugglers to name but a few. They run a tote and a percentage goes towards paying for the kids Christmas party. All I can say is that I hope the kids enjoy their party given my investment.

Inclusion

2008-11-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

I’ve been very lucky because of the inclusive nature of many expats in Qatar. My job is currently working with 9 Qatari and one other expat, my boss. She lives with a group of Kiwis in another part of town. While being on my own I have been taken in by a group of Kiwis (Team Cooghan) who are here for a short stint. Some leave this Thursday and the rest the following week. So I have been part of their social events – (desert trip / pearl tour). Brian also looks out for me. Brian is from the West Coast and if you have followed my blog you’ll know him as the guy who helped me meet my cousin who was living here. Brian invites me to some form of event at least once a week. I have been busy with work so have missed a few as well as slept through one. I did make it over yesterday to his place to watch the All Blacks in Hong Kong. As there will be four weeks of test matches I think I’ll end up seeing a bit of him and Sally.

Driving Qatari Style

2008-10-31T04:01:00.002-07:00

I have been out and about with work this week and have been visiting with a Qatari colleague. I have written in the past about driving in this country but this was my first chance to be driven around by a Qatari. Any guess to what he drove? Yep, Toyota Landcruiser. So for those of you who are familiar with Qatar.. we headed back down D ring towards the airport. We wanted to turn left at the lights and straight ahead puts you into the airport. The traffic was heavy and the queue at the lights was large. My buddy didn’t worry. He drove down the straight ahead lane looking for a gap to stick his nose in but it was tight. He then spied that the lights for going straight ahead and turning were both green so gunned it down to the lights and did the big sweep left to merge into the turning traffic.
We got onto the corniche and traffic was also heavy. This did not worry my Qatari buddy. He just drove down the carparks on the side of the road. He would foirce his way back into the traffic until the next carpark came along. So after three of these detours we had made fantastic progress. Each time we entered the traffic people would yield. He would acknowledge and so it was all OK. Further into our journey the road stopped and became desert. This didn’t stop us. We just headed out into the sand until we found a track or another road. It was interesting as it felt incredibly safe and I felt confident in his driving ability. Note: after two days of driving around Doha he did actually use his indicators at least four times.

Things I’m not meant to see

2008-10-31T04:01:00.001-07:00

I had an unexpected experience this week. I had to visit an organization with an expatriate colleague to view some materials. He had been working with this group for a long time and was in and out of this place regularly. It was a predominantly female organization. The usual process is you arrive. Letsecurity know you’re there. Inside the word goes out that there are men about to enter so everyone covers up. So I was surprised that when I went to visit that the women did not have their abayas on. This was something I had never expected to see. Yeah she had her shayla on but her clothes were Western. That said a lot about the trust my colleague had built up in the 9 months he had been working with her. The irony was that I had to visit the same organisation the following day with a Qatari gentleman. Thank goodness she had the same makeup on as I wouldn’t have recognized her.

Apologies

2008-10-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not being as frequent with the stories lately. I’ve sort of become completely absorbed into my job at the moment. It leaves little time for anything else as I get home late afternoon ( not like my first experience here when were able to get to the pool a little earlier) Usually pretty knacked so tend to have a wee moi. I then convince myself it’s too late to walk to the gym (30-35 minutes each way) so go for a quick walk around the block , back for tea and then back into work. The challenge is developing policy, making connections with the stakeholders, establishing and setting up systems and training for a new entity as well as designing an electronic tool which currently doesn’t exist in a form that we can use. This is all being done concurrently. Being male this pushes my multitasking limits to the max. We’ll get there inshallah.

Inside a shopping complex

2008-10-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

We went for a tour ( prices for 1brm apartments start at aroudn the $US500k mark and go up a fair bit. Didn't even look atthe price for a villa.) and that let us walk along a section of the water front and through what will become part of a small shopping complex. The marketing guys are very clever as the shops are still yet to be completed so they have put up these large hoardings which from a distance almost make the place look alive,complete. Intertesting to see some of the names of the hoardings of the shops that will be taking up leases. The names are in keeping with the value of housing.