For the last few weeks it started now. And regarding what the colleagues say, it will become worse.

Humidity.

During the day temperatures now rise above 40 centigrades, last week the papers wrote it hit almost 47 during daytime. But this is not bad, as it is quite dry heat and you can stand it. For a short time, of course.

It is after sunset when it starts. All those wearing spectacles and having gone to a club in wintertime know it. You enter the club from the freezing cold outside and immediately you cannot see anything anymore. Because of the glasses getting steamed up. This is what happens over here when you leave the climatised office for entering your car in the evening. Immediately outside you are out of sight.

You can feel it as well on the palms. It feels like a film of oil is covering them immediately, you start feeling wet and sweaty, even breathing feels strange. But we were told that this will only last for two months so that at the end of the year it might stop.

Lucky us.

Now we are entering the hot time of the year over here in Qatar and besides the roads you can see that summer is coming.

All date palms are now carrying big bushes of ripe dates, all having turned from green to an orange brown within the last days. Here and there already they start dropping onto the floor, but sometimes you also can see that people started pulling nets around the bushes to easily harvest the fruit.

Qatar is one of the countries that I've been to which has quite strict rules regarding traffic violations. This is no surprise when you've been here driving around with your car. Although there are roundabouts at almost every junction, the rules there are mostly ignored by the Qataris themselves. It already happened to me several times that I was stopping at the entrance of such roundabout because from the left hand side there were cars coming. The same moment I stopped a Qatari passed me full speed on the left hand side into the roundabout, disregarding the other cars.

Well, I think one of the proverbs I heard from a colleague is quite right. You can take a man out of the desert, but you can't take the desert out of a man.

Some of the roundabouts are now being equipped with traffic lights as there are always traffic jams there. And of course at the big junctions. It seems that the obeying of regulations is not that common, when you have a look at the warning signs also shown in the big malls.



As a rough estimation, 10.000 Riyals equals the amount of 1700 Euros or almost 2750 US-Dollars.

Mr. Cabman was asked to reveal six quirks which he did. And forwarded the request to his complete blog roll, unfortunately.

Now as I am part of that and as I don't have any quirks, I try to figure out which my quirks could be.

One
I cannot use a toilet without having checked if toilet paper is available. Strange, but helpful especially after the relief.

Two
It has to be the right foot first. When putting on socks, trousers or shoes. I don't know why, but I started it one day long ago.

Three
I am a right hander. Nevertheless I wear my watch on the right wrist as well.

Four
I prefer to pick up at least a few sentences of the language of the country I am currently in to have the ability to speak to the people. Even if they speak German, I normally turn into their language when speaking. Ok, mostly English.

Five
Well, it looks as if I am a boring person, because I cannot find another two quirks now.

Things you should avoid over here in Doha (at least in the summer) is getting up late on Fridays and having a shower.

Of course you can get up late and smell like a skunk for the rest of the day, but for those with hygienic attitudes I'd recommend not to take your shower later than 7 in the morning.

As usual over here most houses have got an outside reservoir for water, mainly installed on the roof. Automatically filled by the local water pressure this reservoir keeps some pressure even when the water supply should accidentally stop. But it is exposed to the sun throughout the day.

Sunrise over here is around 5 in the morning, from then on the natural heater does its best to increase the temperature of the water tanks on house roofs.

My experience today, gotten up very late and trying to have a shower around noon, was that for a short moment the shower was still refreshing, using the cold water which was still stored within the pipes, but suddenly the temperature went up to hot. And the tab was opened in "icecold" position only.

I knew about it from earlier experiences, but I hope that I learn quickly. And remember the next time.

and wanted to know how the livingroom looks like. Well, after the Amilander and Bulgariana admitted that their cleaner is currently off (and not supposed to return until their grandchildren are grandparents), I have to admit that I take the chance on Fridays to clear up the flat and the livingroom.

Most probably it was not a Friday when I took the picture, as all the dust still seems to be there. (Ok, it takes only half a day for the dust to settle again over here in Doha. You can definitely kil cleaners by asking for a completely dust-free flat)

Yesterday evening, when I came home, I realised that I unintentionally invited a visitor to my flat. I must have carried him for quite a while, without noticing, but he didn't complain.

Although I offered him a drink, he refused and wanted to leave early. So as there was nothing I could do for him any more, I eventually accepted.

What to do on a Friday in Qatar, as there are limited possibilities regarding entertainment? Ok, still there are the malls to go and do the window shopping, but soon this will become boring. Or minimising the content of your wallet.

In this case it is really good to have colleagues who socialised with their people quite quickly. In my case colleagues from Serbia. So this Friday they took me to a compound where their friends live. Unfortunately most of the conversations were held in serbo-croatian language, so I was completely out of knowledge. But there was a nice pool to cool down from the 38 centigrades outside.



I took the chance to go swimming in this pool, as there were not too many people around.

But if you are in a wealthier position, you can also chose to join the pool at the Four Seasons Hotel, a location we once went for a boring and annoying technical meeting the other day. During our coffee break we then had the opportunity to see how you really can enjoy your stay here:






I am still working to achieve this though.

Betos is an Argentinian steak restaurant located on C-ring-road. When you come from Hamad hospital heading towards Ramada signals, just after the small road leading to Doha clinic on your right hand side. It's a nice place with space to sit outside, but I doubt that this is fun with all the traffic jam caused by Ramada signals just a few metres away from you.

A colleague recommended the restaurant to me as he said it's a good place to get nice meat. Although they offer you bread and relish just upfront your meal, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe because of going there on a Saturday most of the dishes in the menu were not available. Shortage of meat, they explained. So there were just three or four dishes available. But they also had a small display on the table showing special offers. And those were available.

I chose the Philly steak, a sizzling pan of chopped beef, topped with melted cheese and accompanied by flavoured rice, vegetables and cheese sauce. If you go there just for a small bite, this one is enough. But if you are really hungry, you should order something else. Unfortunately I am not sure what. Maybe the sirloin steak which they announce to be 11oz.

The quality of the food was ok, it tasted good and it was enough for me, because I was not that hungry. But keep in mind that they will add a 10% service charge on top of the announced prices of the menu.

edit: Betos is closed for a while now. A new restaurant has been opened in the same location, but I wasn't able yet to go there and test the food.

When you are coming to Qatar for work, your sponsor (the company that has to guarantee for you) has to send you through medical examination.

This is required by law. So in the morning you will have to queue up at the centre for medical examination, near the fuel depot in the south-western part of Doha. There everything is fully organised. The clerks will tell you to take a seat in the last empty row of several rows of chairs. In front there's another clerk calling the first row to the counters. When the first row gets up, all following rows move forward.

At the counter they check and enter your passport details, check your visa and the official paperwork your employer gave to you. (Unfortunately this paperwork is completely typed in Arabic, but it contains data from your passport as well as from your visa). They collect the amount of 100 Rials from you, take a digital picture, give you a receipt and send you on to the blood test.

The blood test is done like in a factory. Prior to it you get your receipt stamped, then you enter one of several rooms where the doctor will take some blood out of your arm. It takes less than 5 seconds, the doctors seem to be very experienced.

Next step is the x-ray. Stamp on the receipt, one x-ray of your lung and finished. Although the medical part takes less than 10 minutes the whole waiting procedure can take up to one and a half hour.
And I was so lucky, when I reached the first row to be called to the counter, it was just time for the prayer. So another 15 minutes waiting.

Afterwards it takes two to three days until you will get the results. But you will have to call them, if you are interested. Otherwise they will send the results as mail to your employer.


Resident permit
For the resident permit it is necessary to give blood again. This time to check only the blood group. I wonder why a country, so much netted in means of computers, is not able to combine the first and the second examination and share the data? Anyway, this blood group test has to be done in a laboratory. Most people join Doha Clinic, where the test is 20 Rials. I went to a small laboratory just around the corner in the same area and the test was 15 Rials. Unfortunately they stitch you in the finger tip, no chance for taking blood from the ear or elsewhere.
At least my blood group didn't change since I was in military 25 years ago.

Afterwards (or the next day) you will have to go and give your finger prints. There are two places in Doha, one near a girls school and one on the area of the police training institute. The places open 6am and close 7pm. It is advisable to arrive around 6am, although the officers start working from 6.30 on. It is all fully computerised, no dirty fingertips at all. You go there, they check your data sheet by the barcode printed on it and then you have to press your finger tips on the scanner glass. All four fingers of the right hand, the four of the left hand, then the thumbs of right and left hand. Afterwards they take the single fingers again and in the end also prints of your right and left palm. But this time you don't have to pay. But you also don't get a receipt or stamp.

Now I have to wait for the resident permit.

are some blogger that started showing pictures of their way to work. Gorillaschnitzel is one of them, his latest stories about his trip through Russia using the train are very interesting.

So I will try it as well:


Out of the parking


to the main road


taking the underpass


one of the big junctions


passing the German embassy


passing artificially watered lawns


one of the countless roundabouts


crossing D-ring road


passing the little palace


and being still in time to reach the office.