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Published: June 19th 2012
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Doha, Qatar
the city is constantly growing... Holy cracker in a hand basket. Today was busy and exciting! While I'm waiting on the lab data that I've asked for for the upteenth time (and the ONLY thing holding up the otherwise finished report), I will enlighten you on today's experience.
I finally signed my contract - they had originally said they would pay for two roundtrip tickets to the US each year, but my contract says one; that's ok - I figure I will make one nice long trip and spend my other free days travelling the world. Sorry guys - blame fugro. 😊 Other than that, I can't really complain too much about the conditions, one of which is the potential to be relocated to other offices in the region (see below).
I was asked to bring in my passport so that they can copy it and to verify my date of entry. Your tourist visa is for 30 days, but they're pretty sure that I will not get my work visa before then, so I have to leave the country and return. They mentioned that I really just have to do a quick roundtrip flight one day, but that it may be beneficial to
Resort hotel
near our project site. finalize some reports in Qatar for a couple of days.
Speaking of which, I thought for sure the report would be easily done this morning, so I reviewed it with Samar for her feedback. She found a few minor things - or what you'd think would be minor. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting and writing on my travelblog...
Eric had emailed me this morning; I'd heard that he was coming back here to work on a project briefly and he asked if I would like to come with him to do a rock slope inspection, even though it may be hot as Hades. Without knowing the details, I said YES! I haven't had a straight office job since I was in college and it is hard for me to sit still sometimes (though I am definitely enjoying wearing dresses!). Another engineer here, Juan, came in to ask about Eric and said where I was going with Eric was a few hours away and in the mountains. I just assumed it would be Dubai area. So, I looked it up and I canNOT wait to go! It's located in a different emirate (Fujeirah) on the east coast, on the Gulf of Oman. There are mountains and we may be staying in a resort hotel nearby for one night. Woot! Plus, it will be my birthday...
When I went to make sure it was ok with my boss, he mentioned I may be going to Qatar for a while... I'm not surprised! He said my other head boss would talk with me about it since Khaled's last day is Thursay. 😞 When I went to return the contract to HR, Karim was in there and asked if he could talk with me. First, they started discussing rugby which was a little over my head. Then he mentioned Qatar. Apparently, they have work on the airport that they need an engineer on. They also need the geologist to go for a month as well, plus possibly bringing someone from France to help me. I would be there 3-4 months. But first I need my visa! So, things seem to be coming together as I can combine the visa/passport run with going to Doha and meeting some people there before I relocate there for a while.
Tomorrow afternoon, I am going with Karim on site to Palm Jumeirah where they are drilling my project for a resort hotel. Yay - first site inspection! It will be interesting to see the differences in how work is done here. I'm not looking forward to the heat though! It was 40+ degrees yesterday (~104). At least the humidity is not too bad at the moment, but I hear it will be...
Ok, that's it in a nutshell and it's not even lunch time yet!!!
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Steve Yett
non-member comment
Good fun!
Sounds like you're going to have a blast!