Doha musings...

Saving you several random Facebook status updates, here are some collected thoughts on life in Doha...

DRIVING

• Why do folks super speed on low speed roads, then drive like snails on high speed roads? Example - most drivers in the right 2 lanes on the 3 lane D-Ring (a 100km/h motorway), tend to go 60-80km/h. Insane.
• Gas prices just went up from 0.70QR/liter to 0.85QR/liter. I've read that this is the first change to gas prices in 5 years. This also means I spent $12.36 to fill up my SUV this week instead of $10.18. Geez.
• Driving is not as terrible as I once thought it was. The nature of how people drive means you get to drive a little crazier, which is slightly fun. I've also had the good fortune of folks (esp. locals) being courteous drivers - letting me in or letting me out and such.
• Many seasoned Doha-ites would laugh at this next statement, but road construction here is just absurd. The road near our compound is being torn up and rather just break the job into several mini jobs and start/complete sections quickly, the contractors have opted to tear the entire road and area offshoots up and attempt to work on everything all at once. They don't close the roads down which causes folks to end up driving through the worksite, aka the previous road only now made of rock and dust. G-d bless SUVs.
• Speed is monitored by radar on most main roads. Go over the posted speed and you'll likely be nabbed by a camera and ticketed. You can also sign up to get a text if you've been ticketed, which is helpful since you can't leave the country if you have any outstanding tickets. Somehow locals are exempt from all of this, which bewilders me but I digress. The US can find a way to make this camera thing work - revenue and safety. I've seen it done in Phoenix!

HOUSING

• Flat roofs in the desert are not meant to handle heavy rain, as evidence by our flooded master bedroom. Our next compound will have a flood-proof membrane on the roof and our master will be on the 2nd floor (of 3). We cannot move there soon enough!
• Our recent flood forced us from our roomy king bed back into a queen bed (like we had in TX). Queens are a lot smaller than I remember and a 50 lb. dog takes up a ton of space.

DOGS

• Vets here cost a wicked penny. There are 2 main Western vets and they seem to have the market cornered on gauging expats. Serious diagnostic services (like pathology) don't exist here so anything that needs to be read has to be sent to the UK for a hefty fee. I cannot stress enough what a great experience we had in the US with PetCare pet insurance company. $14/month or so saved us thousands of dollars over the course of the 5+ years that we had it. We just spent $350 on a Pico treatment here that would have cost us a $75 co-pay back home. American/Canadian folks - INSURE YOUR PETS!
• We were seriously under-exercising our dog in Houston. He's been getting regular 4pm walks with some of the ladies and kiddos in the compound and if we haven't left by 4 he'll just sit at the window and get antsy when someone walks by. So sad!

EATS

I'm frequently at the grocery... milk/meat often expire within 2-3 days so I go a few times a week for dinner items.

• Produce prices fluctuate daily, it seems. I happen to be at one store 3x in one week and the price of potatoes changed 3 times. I notice this on quite a few items I regularly purchase as the stores rotate stock very quickly and it seems their country of origin changes quickly.
• Idaho potatoes are a sham. The world's best potatoes come from Saudi Arabia and Syria. Hate to admit it, but dem spuds be good.
• Kiwis are delicious. Pears are delicious. I have been avoiding delicious fruits for years some strange reason. Produce is pretty much a bargain here.
• Local squash here are called koosa. It literally cost 1/10 of what zucchini (courgette) cost and taste about 87% of the way to zucchini.
• Mange tout is an ingredient for selection on the "make your own salad" menu at a restaurant I frequent with the girls. I finally asked someone what the heck they were and learned that they are snow peas and I do not know how to pronounce mange tout.
• I have heard at least 4 pronunciations of the word basil since moving here - American, British, Filipino and Texan.
• Am I learning Arabic or do things just have new names here? Folks love their chicken franks here (not me!) but the only hot dog buns I can find are labeled samoon.

And in closing...

It's common and affordable for families to have live-in maids here. I got a kick from this quote from an article on changing laws: "...for a Qatari woman to be empowered she must enjoy equal rights with men in every walk of life, including education and employment, and that is possible only when there is a strong backup at home in the form of a supportive maid." Oy vey. So much for doing it all, ladies!