Off to London

We're off to London early in the morning. This will be our first time in Europe, or just about anywhere for that matter. We're just sort of winging it. Nothing at all is planned, except for the taxi that's taking us from the airport to our hotel. We're staying at the Crown Moran if someone needs to reach us in an emergency...God, please forbid. As we prepare for our journey, I'll leave you with a story that I received via email this morning about Johnny the Bagger. I think it's well worth passing along. Thanks for the inspiration, Aunt Linda. Give Molly a hug for us.

Hurry up and wait

Let's see, where to begin? Remember me mentioning not leaving the Post Office without my residence permit. Well, I lied. I'm not sure where I left off on that story, but when I made my 3rd trip (all numbered tickets had already been given out on my first two visits) I was successful and got to "pick a number". Yea, #10!! After waiting an hour, #10 started flashing on the screen...my turn. I presented my paperwork, photos, passport, etc & was asked where my sponsor was, because he had not signed the application. Yes, I had forgotten to get David to sign it and I had been told to do so. Unfreakin' believable (pardon my French). So on Monday night while the Texans were actually being shown live here in Qatar, David & I were parked at the Post Office from 7:45pm to 10:45pm. I was the 23rd person in line, the last person to be issued a number. There were probably 30 people behind me that got sent home. The good news was that I actually left the there with my permit attached in my passport, the bad news, my international driver's license is invalid four days after issuance of residence permit. So, it's off to the driver's license bureau in the morning. Oh my, I felt like I was in a 3rd world country...Tiajuana comes to mind. You slip the guy a few Riyals in this little seedy office and he types up your license application for you in the required Arabic. Remember the old Royal MANUAL typewriters. Yep, that's what he was using. I'm exaggerating about the brand, but not about the one finger pecking manual part. After that was done, we were ushered to a room that had several hundred people in it already...you guessed it, pick a number. After three hours of waiting, the agent looks over my paperwork and tells me to go get our eyes examined. Fine and dandy, but they closed that department at noon as everything else does during Ramadan. Come back tomorrow. Okay, well that's today. Rise & shine and out the door at 7:30am. It's our lucky day, we (me & Kim, another Chevron wife) are women and we get to bypass the 200 or so men that are already in line to get their eyes tested. Don't ask why, I have no idea. Now, it's back downstairs to pick a number. After three hours of waiting there, my turn, again. I'm told by the agent that my eye test results have not been entered into the computer, therefore I must go back to that office and tell them to enter it. Can you say, "telephone". Being the obedient expatriate that I am, I go back upstairs only to find that the doors have been locked. I banged on the doors and the guard hollers through the glass that I have to come back this afternoon. Obedience out the window. "Excuse me sir, I have been here all morning and I am not leaving!" The good thing about the people over here is that they truly do not like confrontation and he definitely felt one coming on and promptly open the door for me. Not missing a beat I made it back through the maze to the eye test area. As usual, scores of men were standing outside that office, packed in like sardines. I've waited in all the lines that I'm going to today. "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me", I was saying as everyone parted like the Red Sea. I marched & I mean marched to the front of the line to get this squared away. The technician, in broken English, mentioned something about me coming back tomorrow. HOMEY DON'T THINK SO were the words bouncing in my head & obviously emanating from my expression. Long, long story made short, I walked out of there with my Qatari driver's license in hand shortly after noon. Only in Qatar.

Ramadan is coming to a Royal End

Ramadan is coming to a close at the end of this week and will be celebrated by the Eid Al Fitr holidays all over the Muslim world. Everyone & their brothers will be leaving the country come this weekend to begin their celebrations. So as the saying goes, when in Rome …oops I misspoke, I meant to say London. I can’t sneak anything past you guys. Yes, we’re off to London early Friday morning for a quick 4 night/5 day mini vacation! David & I spent the morning at the Qatar Airways Holidays office working on getting something scheduled on short notice, while Kristi was slaving away at her SAT. Kristi & I have been in the process of getting our residence permits & we weren’t sure if we’d have them in time to travel. Rumor has it that once you start the process, you can’t leave the country or you have to start it over, including the medical portion which was a royal pain. Did I say royal as in “England”? I’m sorry, I just can’t contain myself. Anyway, our permits are not in our hands yet, but tomorrow morning I will be at the post office (pic on left) hopefully handling the last stage of getting them. I should/better have the permits before I leave that place. Kristi doesn’t even know that we’ve taken care of the arrangements. I’m just going to sit back & see how long the news takes to get back to her. I’m counting on Kayla to inform her. She’s been pretty loyal at tuning in on the escapades happening on this side of the planet. We did go to the Great Wall of China last night…the restaurant, that is. The food was great, and even better, it was cheap. After that we did a little shopping at a store called Oriental Carpet. Wow, do you know how much Persian rugs cost? After discovering the answer to that question, we moved on over to the trinket section. They really had some neat things. We stayed there way past David’s tolerance level, so we made him happy with a Dunkin’ Donuts/coffee run. I mean, seriously, you’re never very far away from home over in this country. When you feel a little nostalgic, you can always get your fix at one of so many American venues. I mean, look at the pic below, that would feel like home, if Applebees would only deliver there! I have to be honest with you, though, I haven’t experienced any of that (nostalgia). I’m still soaking
up the uniqueness of this
place.

Traditional Asian Restaurant Review

Just thought I'd report back on our Tuesday night restaurant outing (for the lack of anything else to talk about). We ate a small cafe called "Traditional Asian Restaurant" located in a strip mall not far from our villa. Not much thought in the naming of the place, but the food was wonderful and the decor was modern and bright...just a really "fun" atmosphere. And as always, the Asian service was impeccable, down to the "excuse me, madame, while I put your napkin in your lap". By all means, spoil me rotten, please. The menu consisted of Thai, Chinese, and Filipino fare. Kristi & I went the safe route and got Shrimp Tempura and Sweet & Sour Chicken. Of course, the portions were huge, but somehow we managed not to save any to bring home. David opted for Chili Prawn, which was spicy, but quite tasty. There wasn't a grain of fried rice or anything else for that matter on our table by the time we were done. We topped it off with our waitress' suggestion of her favorite dessert of "Purple Yam". As she set it down in front of us, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to have seen our faces. Probably one of the most unappetizing desserts I've ever encountered was staring back at us.... a square purple blob with a hint of a yellow smear on top. The three of us reluctantly picked up our forks and scooped out a very small portion of the blob. Hmmm, not bad...maybe even edible...hey, this stuff is pretty good. With a great sigh of relief, we licked the platter clean. We quizzed the waitress on what it was made of (afterwards, of course, just in case!) and she said, "violet sweet potatoes, milk, and sugar". I'm sorry that I didn't get a pic of it, but I did find a dessert on the internet with purple yam in it...just click on purple blob above. Our dessert was more like a hunk of purple mud, not so much in the cake format as in the picture. We left with happy hearts and full bellies. Sybil Knox reporting from Doha.

Camel fun

Today I gathered with other Chevron Phillips wives & decorated camels. What an experience. The gaudier, the better seemed to be the theme of the event. Note my camel in the pic. It was very mild compared to everyone else's. It was the step camel of the flock you might even say. The ladies had so many awesome trinkets & wares to display on their camels that I couldn't even compete. I would have to say that they definitely had done this before. For being a first timer, I think I did okay. It sort of brought me back to the days of making homecoming corsages. Hot glue & scraps everywhere. We probably had ten or twelve women working diligently on the project. No comments, please, about me in the pic. I wasn't prepared for the photo op. I'm just trying to share the event with you, so be nice! Apparently, these women have lots of social gatherings to pick & choose from. They do quilting classes, card games, & more. I don't think I'll be able to keep up with them. I came out here for permanent vacation, not to work myself to death. Just kidding...I'm sure I'll be in the middle of all of it before it's over with. I better get, it's go out & discover a new restaurant night (not officially, but is sounds good) . Not hard to do in this town. We could eat out every night for the rest of the year & not put in a dent in the eating places around here. But you know us, we'll give it our best shot. Good day!