Wedding Skype Calls!

Happy Wedding Day Laura and Dane! I am so happy that I got to be there in some small way while you girls got all dolled up. Thank you LJ for having your laptop so we could Skype. This is one of the hardest parts about being back and I miss you all so much! I won't go on a long and mushy rant about being homesick because I will start crying again. I can't wait to see all the pictures from the weekend... 

Farm Instagram Shot - Peacock!

Maybe I should just start a blog about...

My father and I have seen a lot of camels in the back of trucks, and I saw sheep in the backseat of a land cruiser when I first got here... and the other day I saw a mechanical BULL in the back of a very small pickup. I AM SO ANGRY I DIDN'T HAVE MY PHONE! Well Father Duncan wants me to start up a blog titled "things you see in the back of trucks" because we see something odd at least once a week... might have to do that. Camels would rule the blog! 

Fines - now they might actually stop speaking in Arabic?

New teaching technique of the week. 

Arabic and late fines. Cell phone fines might have to come into place next week. I love the guys but sometimes they just won't follow the rules! ENGLISH ONLY - it is the only way they are going to improve their scores! I can't take credit for this idea but I will add that Shelagh should have force this rule back in February! We would be so rich by now!!! This post is just a little highlight from the school day because it was highly entertaining to us when we started collecting money... however it did back fire on us when we were chatting at lunch and lost track of time. We opened the classroom door and were welcomed with "YOU TWO ARE LATE - you owe us 10 QAR" from some of the younger guys... Smarties aren't they?

Souq Night, Moroccan Dinners, and Shisha!

First time at Souq Waqif at night for dinner and some shopping since I have been back in Qatar. Texas A&M University has a study abroad program and some of the girls wanted to get some Qatar things to take back to the states so I took them because I love to look around, see all the random things, and have dinner at Souq Waqif. The Souq used to be a bunch of run down and rather smelly old buildings, however, after its make over it is now referred to most as "THE NEW OLD SOUQ" because the buildings are new but they are designed to look old. The architecture is all old Arabic style. Some people say it is horrible that they have torn them down but I think that what they have created now is wonderful. I think that the atmosphere is something unique and that it is a good place to go as a family. Yes it is a tourist hotspot but lets face it, there are not many tourists in Doha, so it is mainly full of locals. Also a real expat knows how to make any shop owner come down on his price, and we refuse to settle for what we know it is worth! So people should really stop complaining about how Souq Waqif is just SO expensive! 

I did that the girls to the GOLD Souq around the corner first because I wanted to see if they were still selling Camel Bracelets at the place that my mother always shopped at (only found one) and the GOLD Souq hasn't really changed much at all. I hear they are going to tear it down and rebuild it though... Doha is always changing! The GOLD Souq might still be the same but the price of GOLD is defiantly not! 

Ordering through your DRIVER!

Driver Culture Post.

So I have now been pushed in front of 3 times by a driver who has been sent to order coffee or FroYo since I have been back - oh how I forgot about the nice manners some people have here! I have been first inline at Starbucks (2 times) and PinkBerry (1 time), and have had to wait while someone who isn't even at the place gets to order before me??!!?? The way things get done here never stops amazing me! Next time I am sending my Dad aka Driver to get my double blended light mocha frappachino, and I am ordering over the phone... I want to see if there is a benefit to this method of ordering!

I had to laugh the other day because as I am all happily ordering my PinkBerry, that I have been dreaming about all day at work, someone pushed in front of me and practically throws his phone at the poor PinkBerry Dude. Conversation goes as follows...

PinkBerry Dude 

(after putting random cell phone to his ear)

"Hello"

(pause)

"Yes Ma'am"

(pause)

"You want what?"

(pause)

"Sorry Ma'am this is PINKBERRY not HAGEN DAZ"

(nicely hands the drive back his phone and says you are in the wrong place)

... how embarrassing for the driver! Serves you right for pushing ahead of all the other PRESENT FroYo customers! 

Picture Post!

Pictures from the WEEK.

YALLA!

Why yes I would love a PURPLE Lexus - not! The things they do to their cars here - will have to post about it soon... 

Doha Sunset.

Mixed Mezza dinner - we have this 2 times a week normally :) 

Fresh Arabic bread - nothing beats it! 

Sulukis up at the farm! 

Walking around the barn and I found these little guys.

Well hello there baby foal! 

Doha Skyline from the boat at night while listening to HenKandi playing at the Intercon Hotel. 

Intercon Hotel with beach DJ view from the boat. 

Doodles - what really happens in class!

A nightmare of a Health Exam!

Yesterday I spent 6 hours getting my HEALTH EXAM for my RP (residence permit). I would stop here... but I have to tell people about this weird system of getting a health exam.

All that needs to be done is blood test and chest X-rays - why did it take 6 hours? Oh that is because in true Doha fashion my number is finally called after sitting around for over an hour, go up to a desk to speak to an unfriendly lady that barely knows any English and she informs me I must go to room 7 where another gem of a lady informs me I don't have the write number in my passport as the paper I am caring. This means I must go to the other side of Doha and get this changed for a small fee of 500 riyals. I have the farm driver with me because he speaks Arabic (I was hoping he could speed the health exam process along but no men allowed) and he is not happy that we have to fight the traffic to go over there. As soon as we are at Immigration he goes up and pushes through the line for me only to told by the jolly police man to wait our turn (pretty sure it is because I am blonde and white because loads of other people where jumping the line). We wait for almost 2 hour. Joy.

After we got it all sorted I go back to get the health exam place and as I get out of the car this is the conversation:

Farm Driver 

"Catie... don't be your sweet self when you go back in there. Tell the lady you will not wait and that you have been here before. You need to jump the line! Do not let be mean to you" Mean - ha oh they are so nice in that building I have no idea what he is talking about... yeah right! 

Me 

"errrrrr okkk" and thinking well that is easier said than done since I am on the women's side and I don't speak Arabic. I also have manners...

Once I nervously walk in for the second time the lady monitoring the line recognizes me - THANK GOODNESS - and tells me to go right on ahead. Once on the other side of this... well this is wear it gets HORRIBLE. I was herded like a sheep. Waiting in line for my blood test was the worst. I am pushed into a line, given a blood tube, and forced to watch other people get stabbed for blood. I hate needles, and watching all the ladies get stabbed before me was painful. I finally sit down, give her the blood tube that had given me with my ID number on it... and she STABS me! Ouch! Needles are not my friend and this lady was not gentle about it. I was like the dartboard and she was aiming for the my vein was her bullseye!

After the horrible blood thing I go and sit in a line for the X-ray... All very confusing how this line worked but after 45 minutes I got to the the X-ray room and a very polite girl (yeah right) yells "take this off and she points to my t-shirt and throws a hospital gown at me and then she says "that too and feels my back at my bra strap." While waiting in line I am also instructed to pull my hair up... so I put it in a ponytail and get yelled out because it is not ALL the way up. A bun? You could have just said "please put your hair in a BUN!" So I am waiting in line again to go in with 5 other women and we are all embarrassed because of being so exposed. We hear a woman yelling from inside the X-ray room and it doesn't sound friendly at ALL. The lady by me starts nervously laughing and says "wow what is behind that door!" Of course now we are ALL nervous... Turns out the lady getting her chest xrayed was an 85 year old Indian woman and the yelling was very clear once we were in the x-ray room "MAMMMMA breath in... NO MAAAMMAAA don't move... MAAMMMAA one more try... MAMMMA please don't move for the x-ray! MAAMMMAAA go, finish, leave" I found it quite funny that this Arabic woman was calling this old Indian woman Momma - kind of cute in a way...

So I am permanently scared from that... I have a huge bruise from the blood STAB, and I now have to wait 3 days before I can carry on with the RP process.

WOW is all I am saying.