Ok, one step further.

To get the export plates you will have to go to the traffic department in Madinat Khalifa. There are small shops just in front of the building where official agents are waiting for offering their services. Negotiating the price might work, because they start offering their service at QAR 150, we managed to come down to QAR 100. For this money the agent will issue the necessary paperwork in Arabic. You will have to present the car registration, the no-liability-letter from the bank as well as the Arabic letter for the change of ownership, issued by the bank after clearing your loan. Also please check that the bank will hand you over the necessary second page with all the signatories on it. We did not have it, but due to lucky circumstances we managed to get through without it.

The agent then will cash QAR 210 for the changeover at the traffic department, QAR 30 for the 3 letters and QAR 150 for the insurance. Plus his own fee. I am sure if you speak and write Arabic, the insurance will be less. He will ask you where to export the car to and how (by ship or by road). This will later appear on the export certificate issued by the traffic department.

First step thewn is to give up the parking space you will have been circling for for half an hour. Just to pass through the checking for the vehicle chassis number (right lane). If the agent is nice he will show you some "hidden" place to park your car.

Next step is to go to traffic department and queue up. In our case carrying a cranky baby speeded up the process tremendously. You will get the export plates and do a second circling through the place they checked the vehicle chassis number, but this time on the left hand side. The regular plates will be dismantled and the export plates riveted to the car. Now you've got 10 days to export the car.

Soon my project will end over here in Qatar. As we bought a car over here and want to take it with us back to Germany, I am currently figuring out what steps to proceed to export it properly.

First thing to do is to pay off the bank loan. Depending on the bank you will have to pay a penalty for early settlement. Our bank calculated it with 1 percent of the remaining debts up to that day. The money had to be paid into the current account, a letter of no obligation from the account owner had to be issued that the bank can take the money and settle the loan. It took then two days to receive two letters. One is a letter from the bank stating that the loan has been paid, the other one is an Arabic letter for the traffic department for changing the entry of the owner in the registration card of the car. For non-Arabic readers: the bank is mentioned there as partial owner of the car as long as there is a loan running.

Then, in preparation, there's more paperwork to be done.
You will need a letter for German Customs from the German Embassy here. That letter will cost Euro 20 and is a "Bescheinigung zur Vorlage bei der zustaendigen Zollbehoerde". It contains the names of all family members, including their passport numbers, and stating the proposed date of leave as well as that the personal effects transported are owned by the family and will not be used for retail back in Germany.

Then you will need your local contract over here in Qatar (or a statement of your company that you've been working here from date a to date b), including scans of your passport as well as your latest Qatari visa.

Additionally you will have to present the original invoice for the car including attached the list of signatories of the respective car dealer you bought the car from. I got it without cost and without any problems from my car dealer even one and a half years after we bought the car. Just present the registration and the passport of the person in whose name the car is being registered in.

Of course the export vehicle certificate issued by the traffic department. As I did not apply for export plates yet, I don't know how long it will take, but I was told that the registration of an export plate is around QAR 520. And you will have to get a 10 day valid insurance for around QAR 80. The export plates are then valid for those 10 days only!

The usual no-objection-letter from your employer that you can export the car is mandatory as well.

Let's see how it goes.

Is it an order or a recommendation? And what exactly is it I should drink?

Sometimes you have to spell how you pronounce it, right?

In this case the accident most likely happened when the designer of this board went to school.

If.

"But I already used the "c" in "chicken"

Sometimes it happens that I have to turn around an drive the same way again. And if it is only because of someone trying to sell his house.

Maybe a house boat in the middle of the desert?

No, in this case it has been spelled correctly. But even if done so, sometimes the shop owner should step back, look at his sign and think if also the meaning is correct.

Otherwise she might be in trouble.

This nice shop around the corner took quite a while for my brain to figure out what exactly they are doing. But eventually I found out by checking the windows.
Anyway, the owner must have thought that he'd rather put a little "french" touch to it to make his goods looking more exclusively. Or he just failed in spelling.

But only a bit

Oft sieht man es hier in Qatar, am nächsten Morgen, die Spuren, die hinterlassen wurden. Eigentlich sollte es das ja nicht geben in diesem Land, aber trotzdem wird man ihm immer wieder gewahr: dem Straßenstrich. Immer wieder passiert es, dass junge Burschen es wissen wollen, protzen mit ihren Stärken, Schwanzvergleiche anstellen. Und wo kann man das am Besten? Auf dem Straßenstrich. Da wird kräftig rumgekurvt, da kommen aber auch bei jedem grundsätzlich Gummis zum Einsatz. Und dann, wie gesagt, am Morgen danach, sieht man die Gummis überall:



Nein, Sie haben jetzt nicht wirklich an Damen vom Anatomieverleih gedacht, oder? Obwohl auch diese manchmal aussehen, wie die Straße: mittels Bauernmalerei verhunzt.

Doch es gibt auch noch den anderen Straßenstrich, außerhalb, im Industrieviertel. Da stehen sie dann aufgereiht am Straßenrand und zeigen, was sie haben. Protzen mit ihren Vorzügen, strecken die Ausleger weit raus und verstecken die Hänger hinter sich. Wer große Schaufeln hat, kommt weiter. Und alle tragen Sie ein Schild mit ihrer Mobilnummer. Weil sie wollen, dass du sie anrufst. Sie wollen dein Geld, bieten dir dafuer stundenweise eine Gegenleistung. Und du fährst an ihnen vorbei und suchst dir das aus, was dir gefällt. Für jeden Geschmack gibt es was: dicke Walzen und grazile Kranartige, dann wieder welche, die dich abschleppen wollen, andere, die dich an den Haken nehmen möchten. Oder einfach nur anbaggern.