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Published: January 1st 2014
I was a bit sad to come back from such a beautiful, winter wonderland as Vienna to the desert and work again. But, so many people take this time period off, even in the Middle East, that I had to compensate for co-workers' absences. The good thing is that it is not unique to our company, so the presence of demanding clients was also less. While I was insanely busy, there was a sense of peace and happiness. Even though you have less time to get the work done, there is less of a rushed feeling.
The downside to the holidays is that both Christmas and New Year's fell on a Wednesday, so you have to go back to work for one day (Thursday) after the holiday. I guess it is nice to break the week up, but especially after Christmas, it was just a strange feeling. I guess not everywhere had the day off, but most major companies, especially Western-based, did.
For Christmas, I hosted another dinner similar to my Thanksgiving, only I was able to have learned from the first time around. I knew exactly how long things would take and the best system to cook. I
did some prep work the night before, like chopping all the vegetables and garlic, preparing the pie crust, and preparing the homemade stuffing (baked and crumbled cornbread and cubed and seasoned white bread with parsley, poultry seasoning, onions, and garlic to set overnight). The next morning, I woke up at 8 (different from having woken up on T'giving at 6) and got to work. I was on my feet for a solid 6 hours, but the timing was perfect. I made turkey, and this time had homemade turkey gravy to go along with it - I put the neck and giblets into the slow cooker with water as soon as I put the turkey in the oven and left it for about 6 hours on high, and then added that stock to a saucepan with flour, black pepper, and drippings to simmer for an hour - it came out delicious! The turkey also came out perfectly done and moist! I had seasoned it with thyme, rosemary, and my own blackened seasoning.
I also cooked the usual garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, roasted vegetables, and yorkshire pudding. I also baked an apple pie; this is
the one thing I was disappointed in. The first time I made this, it was perfect, absolutely perfect, and while it still tastes delicious, I can't seem to get the consistency the same as the first time. It is very hard to cut the crust and the apples are runny. Very frustrating!
Anyway, it was nice that when the guests started to arrive at 4pm, I was able to take a breather to join in the conversation this time. I sat down and enjoyed some nice wine and chatted while waiting for everyone to arrive. The dinner was a hit! I had colleagues and their spouses and friends join. We had a wealth of people from different regions Emlin (Welsh), Dan (English), Tina, Leon and his wife Melinda (Dutch), Daniela, Luka, Markos and his wife Antonia (Croatian), Kostas (Greek), and me (American). After dinner, we played a game called "White Elephant" - I didn't realize that this was a North American thing, so everyone else had no idea what to expect. I had requested everyone to get a gift of unto 50 QAR (about $13) and all of the gifts were nice! I had just provided a bottle of
wine, but some of the other gifts included a nice Qatar coffee mug with two core samples (haha - went to Markos), a Arabic-singing camel, and the best was a calendar from Qatar which was a kind of gentle spoof of the region (ex Land Cruiser in the desert). My gift was a stuffed puppy from Emlin - perfect for me since I had left my beloved E.T. and Vanilla bear in the states.
It was back to work as usual on Thursday, followed by a relaxing weekend. Well, as relaxing as Qatar can be with ongoing emails and text messages for work the whole time. Luka took me to a nice coffee shop about a kilometer walk on a corniche behind the Museum of Islamic Art - I am not a coffee drinker, but I was blown away by how peaceful it is! I was thankful we had another short week just before the New Year holiday. We were making good progress on my big project, but as usual, it is not good enough for our client. That is just a basic mentality in this region, that I just don't think you ever will get used to. You
No parking? No problem!
Just park on your neighbor's sidewalk!just have to focus on the ultimate goal and know that by the end of the project, you've succeeded. But lord is it a struggle to get to that point - months of stress and long hours....
On Tuesday, I headed to our crews at the airport early because the previous day, our client had noticed some onsite management that needed work. Working at the airport involves a lot of very necessary procedures to follow; you cannot just wing it like people are used to doing in this region. In order to drive at the airport, you need a special license issued by the authorities as well as certain vehicles. Our driver who was responsible for transporting crews and rigs throughout the airport had a family emergency and had to leave suddenly, so while waiting on the two replacement drivers to obtain their licenses, the crews had to walk back and forth to site daily. I went through the gate and started the trek to the first location. It is almost 2 miles. 2 miles! I had done the site visit previously, but we'd had a minibus to cart us around. Anyway, I checked on each of our rigs
The Moonwalk
no, seriously, and it was not half bad and crews - we had three rigs and three boreholes remaining - awesome progress!!! They were able to drive me to the next location a kilometer away because at that point, you are not on airport property anymore, but a special section. We returned to the first spot to discuss some of the issues, and then it was time for me to walk back and meet our client at the next proposed location.
We walked out of the airport and across the street, checked out one of the borehole locations and started to head back. We were standing at the busy intersection talking about life and butterflies when, as I was talking to one of the engineers, I saw a Land Cruiser plow into the back of smaller SUV at the light. I guess the light was turning red and the SUV was stopping. The local guy in the land cruiser, jumped out, as the first guy got out of his car, and started shouting at him "Why you slow??" We all just looked at each other and burst out laughing. Seriously, this accident is a daily occurrence and not at all unexpected with the way these guys drive.
You are driving in a lane, whether it is open or full of traffic, whether moving at 60kph or 120kph, when you see a land cruiser pull up to your bumper and flash his lights at you in an attempt to get you out of
his lane. These guys are so willing to plow you off the road, completely clueless or indifferent about what can happen, and then completely unapologetic when something
does happen. It is really a good thing that no one was hurt, but it is just a matter of time till the situation is worse....
One of the conversations I was having with the engineer involved my New Year's Plans. I was invited to two different parties, but what I was most looking forward to was a day of sleep! I seriously was unsure if I would make it through the evening. But I came home a couple of hours early (well, after an 8+ hour day), grabbed some lunch, and passed out for two and a half hours. It was perfect! I took my time getting ready and then headed over to Leon and Melinda's apartment. I was supposed to go to Luka's afterwards, but
I wound up drinking and was going no where. It turned out to be a perfect night! It was basically most people from Christmas: Leon, Melinda, Tina, Dan, Markos, Antonia, Daniela, and then Katta and Sam joined as well. We watched some crazy and insanely popular Dutch concert thing that is put on every year by three gay guys (apparently it takes place in May), played all types of music, and determined that instead of Auld Lang Syne or whatever Dutch or Croatian New Year's song there is, that our official Qatari New Year's song is "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC - everyone wins! It was seriously low key, but quite fun. And I might move over into their apartment complex - it's new and it would be nice to live near people I know...
We'll see what happens in 2014. Happy New Year from Qatar!!!
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