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Published: March 19th 2015
One of the best ways to meet people here in Qatar is to get to know the people you work. Sure, you can find community groups of people from your own country, but work is the best way to expand your horizons. I am happy to say that I have friends found at work from the US, England, Australia, Netherlands, South Africa, Egypt, Croatia, Wales, New Zealand, Lebanon, Jordan, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nepal, etc...
Desert Camping This past weekend, a group of us work friends decided to do one of those desert camping adventures. It was 360 riyals per person (around $100) where they would take us to a desert camp and provide us with dinner and breakfast, a pool, and a tent. Thirteen of us opted to go for Friday the 13th. We met at the starting point around 2pm and divided into two groups: those who wanted to do the dune bashing adventure and those who would travel overland straight to camp. Of course, I chose bashing. We had two land cruisers, one provided by the company and one driven by one of our own group. He is the boyfriend of one of the new geologists and
has lived in Qatar for four years and is a die hard gear head. So he took all the girls while the company land cruiser led the way and Markos drove his new bike. I think it worked better this way actually. Two other cars went direct to the camp site with everyone else (one girl was preggo). Our driver was a total expert and I felt safe in his hands. The dunes are not nearly as exciting as they are in UAE, but what is nice is to have the view of the Gulf - beautiful. At one point Markos crashed and I was freaking out until everyone else assured me this stuff happens all the time. Cross off dirt biking from my list of things I need to do, please. I was kind of hoping we would go all the way to the Inland sea, but I was the only one, so we went to camp.
The camp was not what I was expecting but was pretty nice. The tents are Bedouin types and huge with cushions on the floor where we would be sleeping. The bathrooms were icky and the sewage pipe discharged straight into the
sea; apparently, I was the only one who had a problem with this. Needless to say, I did not swim in the gulf and the pool was crowded with kids. We were among the first to arrive but it quickly became crowded with many families - I guess this is a thing to do here. Of course we brought some refreshments - mine in my Gatorade and wine for later. I haven't drank in a month, so it was .... interesting. At night, I tried to take us to see the stars - I had brought my guidebook, but for some reason my vision was blurry and there was still too much light and haze to see anything anyway. Bummer!!!!!!!
The night was pretty darn chilly, so I was glad I had brought a warm coat. I sat by the beach by myself for about 30 minutes then joined some people by the bonfire to chat. I do not remember going to bed, but I woke up early with a cheap sleeping bag draped over me. I saw one of our crew had no cover, so I used my blanket to keep him from shivering.
I had a
terrific time, but I am not really sure what it was that we paid for. We mostly drove ourselves, I had no breakfast and only a nibble of food, and we all shared one big tent. Actually two. I think it would have been better to invest in a couple of tents, a grill, and food.
Baby Shower - Going Away My engineer and his wife are soon returning home and I am sad. She is about 7 months pregnant and will leave next week, so I thought we should throw her a surprise baby shower at work before she left. I invited all the girls (all ten of us!) and collected money for gifts and food. I, of course, made cupcakes and our secretary ordered sandwiches. And yes, Melinda was surprised. She turned bright red after I had sternly told her to join us in the conference room. Lots of cute baby things and so much fun. I will miss her - she was very no-nonsense, but contributed greatly to our organization. Even though she is a nurse - completely different career path, but she took on lots of responsibilities.
More Driving Every day is
a non-adventure. I say "non" because an adventure is supposed to be fun, right? At least in the end. For me, getting to and from work simply puts me in a bad mood. Every time. Things that may bother me or that occur once, maybe twice, a week anywhere else I've ever lived happen every few minutes here. I have started counting on my commutes - how many crazy things happen? This morning it was 14.
14 on my 20-minute commute!!! These range from someone cutting me off
to someone passing me on the right on a freeway interchange curve
to pulling out in front of me
to beeping at me for
not pulling out in front a giant truck
to people pulling into the middle of the roundabouts
to a truck speeding down my lane toward me to cut off his line of traffic
to turning left into the opposite lane in front of me and making me wait until that line of traffic moves.... This was all just on this morning's commute and only what specifically affected me, not all the crazy sh*t I saw...
Yep - after almost three years, still adjusting to the drivers!!!
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Amber
non-member comment
let down
Sucks that camping was a disappointing experience! At least you can say you did it, and next time you can just take yourself out to the desert and set up a tent! :)