Week One as an expat.....

Greetings from Doha, Qatar! 

I have sent out a few emails, but thought I would summarize my first thoughts in this foreign land as one of the MANY ex-pats that live and work here.  I haven't met any other Americans, besides the ones from my office, but have met a lot of Indians, British, Philipino and, of course, Arab folks so far. 

3-13-13 Wednesday evening:    After a LONG customs line in Doha (me and a thousand of my closest Pilipino friends), and a lengthier, find-your-checked-baggage line, I found Steve (a Leo A Daly employee I had never met) and our driver, Nasheed, and we traveled into Doha to our hotel, Le Park Doha.  It should be renamed Le Dump Doha!  It is really not great, but I have been told it is really cheap.  No Kidding!  I have already requested and received permission to look for better accommodations.  It is quite simply, dirty, and nothing works correctly.  Light switches don't turn on lights and I can only find one outlet that actually has power running through it.  One of the guys here said it needs remodeling.  I think it needs to be torn down!   I finally received internet access via a cable that stretches about 50 yards down the hallway into another room as my room's internet port isn't working correctly.   I am fine unless someone decides to trip on the cable or pull it out of the wall!

 The weather is nice - 70 degrees and pleasant.  The view from my hotel room is attached.  There is some kind of carnival going on across the street -  camel rides were being offered instead of pony rides.  I bought a very inexpensive local "mobile" as they call them here.  It took me a few days to convert the language to English - it kept reverting back to Arabic.  I don't have many folks to call here yet, so it wasn't a problem.  By the way, the "mobile" phone store is not that much different than the Verizon store back home, (same bad service), except the contract is written in Arabic, so I may have signed my camel's life away - not too sure. 

People are very nice and extremelty polite.  It seems pretty safe as well.

3-15-13 Friday Morning

So funny – today is their “holy day” like our Sunday, and I walked down to the hotel lobby and the desk staff is playing on the main television PULP FICTION, of all movies.  There are a bunch of small children sitting watching it.  It is playing in English with Arabic subtitles.  I hope it wasn't being translated accurately. 

This country is interesting - very sandy, and flat as far as the eye can see.  There are tons of different nationalities and people dressed in all sorts of garb.  Everyone speaks some form of English, and I am considered the one with the weird accent.  There is a big mix of US/British/Arab restaurants.  There will be an Arab place with a guy cooking lamb on a spit in the window next to a brand new Kentucky Fried Chicken (which was PACKED with folks).  I think the Qatari aren't quite sure what direction they want to go. 

Next issue - I will tell you ALL about the job site.  Fascinating.