Hello! We made it to Doha, with minimal issues. (Sergey put the dog on the ground on the plane next to the restrooms, and guess what? She peed. Right in front of a row of people from the GCC who were unhappy to say the least. They filed a report with the airline, and I'm going to do damage control as soon as I have a change to breath! Upon arrival at Doha Airport, we were next in line to go through immigration and there was much discussion going on in Arabic and I knew it was about the dog...they weren't going to let us enter the airport with the dog! Even though she flew on the country's airline. Anyway, we got that sorted out and then made it through customs and baggage quickly, and all of the administrators at my new school were waiting for us at the exit. After a bit of confusion, we boarded the buses and had a beautiful drive through downtown Doha, viewing the Doha skyline with my own eyes instead of just on the internet. We arrived at our housing compound within about 30 minutes and were the first ones off. Yay!
Our apartment is beautiful and eventually I will post a video or at least some photographs. Since arriving, we've been busy nearly non-stop. Arrived at our home at 8:30 pm Thursday evening, and then had to be ready for the bus to pick us up for lunch with all of the new staff on Friday at noon. I was awakened at 4 am by the call to prayer. Intrigued, I opened the window and was then wide awake, so I called a couple of friends (Kec and Heather), and then went back to sleep at 6 am. I didn't have an alarm clock and woke up about 8 minutes prior to when the bus was to arrive. So...I got to throw on clothes, brush my teeth, hair in a pony tail, and off we went! Nothing like making a first good impression. :-) Fortunately, everyone was dragging a bit, though I think they all got showers in!
After lunch, we came home and unpacked, and I went to the local mall to go to Carre Fourre (French version of Walmat) I have NEVER seen so many people working in a store, all eager to help. I had to purchase cheap mobiles, and outlet converters, and somehow the cart was full and I didn't even get to the grocery section, and it was time to go...only 999 QR's. (which is actually only $274, but it sounded like a lot...still get used to the big numbers.
Today (Saturday), Sergey and I went back to that same mall, but just looked around a bit and of course had to buy a new converter since the first one didn't work. Sergey was happy to see McDonalds in the food and to order his usual-chicken nuggets.
When we got back, I had 30 minutes before one of the assistant principals picked me up to go grocery shopping. The administration is fantastic! So friendly and helpful, giving out their mobiles and genuinely meaning it that we can call if we need anything. (since we are all car-less) Out of the 29 new hires (so many because the senior high is growing a lot this year), only 5 are Americans. Everyone else can get a driver's license without taking the test. The American's have to test and apparently many fail the first and second time. Terrific! And I'm such a good driver to begin with...not. The story goes that the Emir was in the U.S. and was cut off by someone and nearly crashed, and now American's have to test...who knows if that's a rumor though.
I fell asleep after shopping. The supermarket is interesting...will take some time to figure it out all. I bought a lot of American Brands, unless there were pictures and English instructions on the back of the package.
There are lots more details, but I want to post a few pictures, and a video. I apologize; I was half asleep when shooting the video, and stumbled across my words in the last several sentences. I'll put up more photos and videos soon. Ask any questions you like...either though email, Facebook, or you can join blogspot.com without having a blog yourself and make comments.
Hopefully the pictures will post smoothly, as I really need to get to sleep. Take care all, I'll be blogging again soon!
Our apartment is beautiful and eventually I will post a video or at least some photographs. Since arriving, we've been busy nearly non-stop. Arrived at our home at 8:30 pm Thursday evening, and then had to be ready for the bus to pick us up for lunch with all of the new staff on Friday at noon. I was awakened at 4 am by the call to prayer. Intrigued, I opened the window and was then wide awake, so I called a couple of friends (Kec and Heather), and then went back to sleep at 6 am. I didn't have an alarm clock and woke up about 8 minutes prior to when the bus was to arrive. So...I got to throw on clothes, brush my teeth, hair in a pony tail, and off we went! Nothing like making a first good impression. :-) Fortunately, everyone was dragging a bit, though I think they all got showers in!
After lunch, we came home and unpacked, and I went to the local mall to go to Carre Fourre (French version of Walmat) I have NEVER seen so many people working in a store, all eager to help. I had to purchase cheap mobiles, and outlet converters, and somehow the cart was full and I didn't even get to the grocery section, and it was time to go...only 999 QR's. (which is actually only $274, but it sounded like a lot...still get used to the big numbers.
Today (Saturday), Sergey and I went back to that same mall, but just looked around a bit and of course had to buy a new converter since the first one didn't work. Sergey was happy to see McDonalds in the food and to order his usual-chicken nuggets.
When we got back, I had 30 minutes before one of the assistant principals picked me up to go grocery shopping. The administration is fantastic! So friendly and helpful, giving out their mobiles and genuinely meaning it that we can call if we need anything. (since we are all car-less) Out of the 29 new hires (so many because the senior high is growing a lot this year), only 5 are Americans. Everyone else can get a driver's license without taking the test. The American's have to test and apparently many fail the first and second time. Terrific! And I'm such a good driver to begin with...not. The story goes that the Emir was in the U.S. and was cut off by someone and nearly crashed, and now American's have to test...who knows if that's a rumor though.
I fell asleep after shopping. The supermarket is interesting...will take some time to figure it out all. I bought a lot of American Brands, unless there were pictures and English instructions on the back of the package.
There are lots more details, but I want to post a few pictures, and a video. I apologize; I was half asleep when shooting the video, and stumbled across my words in the last several sentences. I'll put up more photos and videos soon. Ask any questions you like...either though email, Facebook, or you can join blogspot.com without having a blog yourself and make comments.
Hopefully the pictures will post smoothly, as I really need to get to sleep. Take care all, I'll be blogging again soon!
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