Little bits of life

I'm still a little too scattered for a long, coherent post.  Instead, a few (totally, oh so very) random observations.

Ways in which living in Qatar is awesome:

• The weather right now!  Oh my goodness, when I hear about the deep freeze hitting the Midwest this week, am I grateful to be living in the Middle East instead.  On Saturday, we went to an outdoor bazaar at the Museum of Islamic Art, and it was so very beautiful outside.  Sunny, not hot, wind blowing in off the Gulf (the Persian Gulf, that is), the perfect day to be outdoors.  We walked around the bazaar (basically an outdoor craft and random vendor market), went around the museum for a bit, then headed down to the other side of the park and played for a long time at this amazing playground filled with lots of other kids enjoying the weather along with us.  By the time we left around 4pm, the grassy areas in the park were just starting to fill with families on picnic blankets ready to enjoy the cool evening.  Honestly, the weather here in December rivals Hawaii's weather, truth be told.

• I went into my local grocery store and picked up a random package of pita bread (Qbake brand, for those wondering), mainly because it was warm (!) and it turned out to be the best pita bread EVER!  No, really, it was fabulous.  And I love that I can go into pretty much any store and pick up any other package from any other brand and chances are it will be just as good, because  pita (and all flat breads like unto it) are big business here.

• And speaking of the food, I am loving the food here (although it often doesn't love me back, but that's no surprise!). Even the tiniest little hole in the wall eatery makes better samosas than you have tried and the next restaurant makes something you've never heard of that is now your favorite food.  This place near us makes something called Meat or Chicken Barg, which is marinated steak or chicken grilled and served on flat bread, and I have no idea what they put on it but that meat is delicious!  Barg is served alongside a big bowl of cucumber, tomato, onion, and cabbage salad that I also like and the boys will eat by the bowlful.  Every place we go in another adventure and often another favorite.

• Our house.  Apart from the overabundance of insane furniture (TWO red velvet couches!), the place really is nice.  Tile floors, lots of room, a little yard, nice (though few) neighbors, peaceful and quiet (even during the daily calls to prayer, despite the fact that there is a mosque just outside the compound gates), and more or less conveniently located in the center of things. The boys have settled right in, even without all their things, and I have even learned to use the washer and dryer to my satisfaction, so we are making ourselves right at home!

Ways in which living in Qatar is less than awesome:

• I still, STILL don't have my residence permit and neither do the boys, because there was an anomaly on my chest X-ray.  If I could ever just talk to a doctor associated with the Supreme Medical Commission, I could explain that the "anomaly" is my PFO closure device, nothing to be worried about, but instead I have had to take X-rays three times now and in the meantime, they won't like the boys' permit go forward without mine, even though that would greatly aid our attempts to get into school.  Today we went to go get fingerprints and after an hour and a half of waiting, we were told the X-rays we took on our latest odyssey to the commission were not back yet so we couldn't go get our fingers printed after all.  Sigh!

• Driving really is horrendous here.  I was able to drive some last week and practice while many folks were on vacation and even that was challenging at times, but I am so glad I did then because it's even worse now that everyone is back.  People drive like Nascar drivers just as a matter of course and honk constantly, zoom into tiny spaces, pull up on or over curbs that happen to get in their way, and generally don't seem to care about danger.  And the roundabouts!!  These are going to be the bane of my existence, I can tell!

• And driving is complicated by the fact that no one gives directions well here and street addresses don't exist.  It drives me NUTS!  We went to the World Trade Festival Doha the other day.  I had read about it, and then someone on a listserv I'm on mentioned they had gone and it was fun and they gave the following directions to get there: "the turning is a couple of streets before villagio on the right near green village compound--it has been set up in the muraikh area not too far from Appletree nursery (aspire zone)."  Actually, it turns out you turn RIGHT at a huge NAMED intersection that is nowhere near the nursery mentioned and the compound mentioned isn't visible at all on the way there.  We only found it by sheer determination, when just a BIT more precise directions would have helped a lot.  But, you say, this is just some poor person you're picking on here, it's not her (it's a women's listserv) fault she can't give better driving instructions.  Don't worry, I consulted the local newspaper's article on the event and the event website itself and all they told me is that the event would take place in the Al Waab area, which is a HUGE, undefined set of neighborhoods bordering Al Waab street, a major thoroughfare.  It boggles the mind that anyone ever gets anywhere here!

On balance, we are still coming out on the plus side!  The residence permit hullabaloo will get resolved sooner rather than later, though the bureaucratic craziness will continue over and over again (see upcoming post on getting into schools for the boys!), and I will find my zen about both the driving and the lack of addresses (helped by both Google Maps and remembering that this is how things were in Guatemala as well--though I didn't love it then, either).  Soon enough I will have the wherewithal for real, descriptive posts again, I promise, but for now I need to buy some more groceries and get busy meal planning again (shopping for and preparing food is another post in and of itself).  Besides, right now some random maintenance worker is wandering around my backyard so I need to go find out what's going on (don't worry, happens every other day!  Nothing to see here!).