How about a glimpse into a typical day of mine? I'll pick one at random, just so you can get a sense of my life now, if you're interested. I'll warn you in advance, it's pretty mundane, but I think the details tell a lot about how things work here in Qatar.
The other day, the boys woke up at 4:30am, much too early, but they were happy to go downstairs and play legos and eat granola bars until I had my shower at 5:15. After that, I got them more breakfast and found all the pieces of their uniforms, got them dressed and brushed and sorted and walked them to the bus. I stayed chatting with them until the bus left a few minutes later, at 6:25am so they can get to school by 7am.
After they went to school, I saw the husband off to work (he leaves for his shuttle to work at 6:35am), did a little blogging, and got ready to go myself. My first errand was to the school. I needed to pay the lunch bills for the boys, so I had to visit the accountant, a woman who makes me absolutely crazy with her incompetence. While there, she told me the hospital still hasn't paid the boys' tuition for last term. There is nothing I can do about that, really, so I don't know why she told me. Tuition is the employer's responsibility here, so they really need to work it out themselves.
Next, I went to the Aramex office to pick up a few packages that had come in for us. We have an address in New York where we can have packages sent and then Aramex repackages them and sends them to Qatar. We have to go into the office to collect them, and we pay 43QR per kilo for every package we get, the cost of the international reshipment. It makes me crazy to pay for shipping and by kilo after so many years of all free shipping all the time, but that's really a first world problem, isn't it? Aramex is in the same building as a grocery store I hit frequently, Lulu Express, and I saw that they had pumpkins in stock, so I rushed in to buy two medium ones. 168QR or $49 later, I had my children's future jack-o-lanterns in had....GASP!! That hurts!
After that, I went to the clubhouse to pick up the tickets for the boys for a carnival sponsored by the husband's work. They get passes to ride for free for a day on all sorts of rides at Gondolania, an indoor amusement park inside one of the malls (because everything here is inside one of the malls). We went to this event last year, and it was so much fun, though I almost cracked my head on the roller coaster. J loved it, however, and went several times, though E was just a bit too short for the ride. E liked jumping on the trampolines, though after about midday that ride had devolved into shouting matches between the mothers and the ride attendants as people refused to leave when asked, which is sadly typical of events here. We usually come and leave early, while people are still relatively well behaved!
Then I drove downtown to meet the husband. I needed to bring him our leftover Sri Lankan rupees because he'd found someone who was going there soon who could exchange them for riyals. We tried to spend them all before we left the country but failed, mainly because the only kinds of things available in the Colombo Airport duty free shops were refrigerators and washers...because of course they were!
After I met the husband, I headed to Al Rawnaq, a craft/school supply/kitchenware/toy store that happens to be underground. It's sourced in Asia, mostly, so everything is cheap or relatively cheap given prices here. I have only been once before on a specific mission to help make some birthday party decorations, but today I decided I was going to walk every aisle just to be a better sense of what was available. As with all stores here, stock will vary wildly week to week, but I have found that the secret to being able to find a specific something when I need it is being very familiar with the kinds of things found in each store, because you never know which stores have what here. In my strolls around Al Rawnaq, I found gift bags, a mini Jenga game, Qatar national day flag paraphernalia, hundreds of electric tea kettles, every type of plastic takeaway container you could imagine, metal desktop sculptures of female robots made out of nuts and bolts, and enormous pans for biryani, a popular rice and chicken dish they make here by the ton. In the end, my purchases included sketch books, paint markers, adhesive-backed sheets of felt, tiny oryx souvenirs I am going to use as stocking stuffers for the boys, a black half apron that may be a part of my Halloween costume, wooden toothpicks (the only ones I have been able to find before are mint-flavored), and stickers I am going to use to catalog our books. A worthwhile trip!
Next, I headed to Megamart express, the smaller version of the big store that has every American product you might want for incredibly expensive prices, even more than the rest of the stores here. I only come here about once ever two months, usually to check out their sale/discontinued aisle. This day I found boxed macaroni and cheese, E's favorite, for half the price it is everywhere else. I cleared the shelf. I also got some tandoori seasoning and mango chutney that was half price; these are my favorite Indian imports. And I buckled and bought the boys some Cheezits. Which is why I usually avoid this store, so I don't buckle too often!
After Megamart, I headed home. While I had been gone, our cleaner had arrived, so everything looked beautifully clean! Having a cleaner is my favorite indulgence here, one I will very much miss whenever we go back to the States for good. I checked my email, worked on my resume (I'm on the job market now, you know), and at some lunch before the boys got home from school at 1:25pm (Wednesday is their short day, when they get out at 1pm; otherwise they are in school until 2pm, far too long, in my opinion.) We had a playdate scheduled with a friend of theirs who used to go to the same school but has since moved across town and goes to a new school. So we entertained him and his little sister and his mom and I chatted and caught up after our vacations and had herbal tea. Why do we not have tea kettles everywhere in the US? They are the best inventions EVER!
After we had visited our playroom in the clubhouse when folks got a little rambunctious, our friends left and I went to make dinner: chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches on french bread (I got that at Megamart, too) with cucumbers on the side. My dinners here are painfully simple, even now. Side dishes seem to be beyond my abilities, for some reason! Then J did his homework while I helped: spelling words, reading, literacy flashcards, and Arabic vocabulary. I finally got the Arabic teacher to send home the vocabulary lists with Latinate pronunciation guides. Until now, she sent home flashcards and worksheets written completely in Arabic for us to use to quiz the kids. Umm, I don't speak Arabic, and neither does my son, at least not yet! We're going to need a bit more help than that, thank you. The husband arrived around 4pm--the benefit of work starting so early is he gets home early every day--and after dinner he played a little Xbox with the boys. They had done all their homework and earned a little screen time, but only a very little, before bed.
After the husband and I talked through his day (there wasn't much to say about mine, as you can see, the many preceding paragraphs notwithstanding!), we went to bed, too, quite early by our previous standards. I think I was in bed by 9:15pm. I have to get to sleep that early or I am a wreck on our early mornings! I'm practically a grandma!
Stay tuned for another day in the life, this time the unusual version!
The other day, the boys woke up at 4:30am, much too early, but they were happy to go downstairs and play legos and eat granola bars until I had my shower at 5:15. After that, I got them more breakfast and found all the pieces of their uniforms, got them dressed and brushed and sorted and walked them to the bus. I stayed chatting with them until the bus left a few minutes later, at 6:25am so they can get to school by 7am.
After they went to school, I saw the husband off to work (he leaves for his shuttle to work at 6:35am), did a little blogging, and got ready to go myself. My first errand was to the school. I needed to pay the lunch bills for the boys, so I had to visit the accountant, a woman who makes me absolutely crazy with her incompetence. While there, she told me the hospital still hasn't paid the boys' tuition for last term. There is nothing I can do about that, really, so I don't know why she told me. Tuition is the employer's responsibility here, so they really need to work it out themselves.
Next, I went to the Aramex office to pick up a few packages that had come in for us. We have an address in New York where we can have packages sent and then Aramex repackages them and sends them to Qatar. We have to go into the office to collect them, and we pay 43QR per kilo for every package we get, the cost of the international reshipment. It makes me crazy to pay for shipping and by kilo after so many years of all free shipping all the time, but that's really a first world problem, isn't it? Aramex is in the same building as a grocery store I hit frequently, Lulu Express, and I saw that they had pumpkins in stock, so I rushed in to buy two medium ones. 168QR or $49 later, I had my children's future jack-o-lanterns in had....GASP!! That hurts!
After that, I went to the clubhouse to pick up the tickets for the boys for a carnival sponsored by the husband's work. They get passes to ride for free for a day on all sorts of rides at Gondolania, an indoor amusement park inside one of the malls (because everything here is inside one of the malls). We went to this event last year, and it was so much fun, though I almost cracked my head on the roller coaster. J loved it, however, and went several times, though E was just a bit too short for the ride. E liked jumping on the trampolines, though after about midday that ride had devolved into shouting matches between the mothers and the ride attendants as people refused to leave when asked, which is sadly typical of events here. We usually come and leave early, while people are still relatively well behaved!
Then I drove downtown to meet the husband. I needed to bring him our leftover Sri Lankan rupees because he'd found someone who was going there soon who could exchange them for riyals. We tried to spend them all before we left the country but failed, mainly because the only kinds of things available in the Colombo Airport duty free shops were refrigerators and washers...because of course they were!
After I met the husband, I headed to Al Rawnaq, a craft/school supply/kitchenware/toy store that happens to be underground. It's sourced in Asia, mostly, so everything is cheap or relatively cheap given prices here. I have only been once before on a specific mission to help make some birthday party decorations, but today I decided I was going to walk every aisle just to be a better sense of what was available. As with all stores here, stock will vary wildly week to week, but I have found that the secret to being able to find a specific something when I need it is being very familiar with the kinds of things found in each store, because you never know which stores have what here. In my strolls around Al Rawnaq, I found gift bags, a mini Jenga game, Qatar national day flag paraphernalia, hundreds of electric tea kettles, every type of plastic takeaway container you could imagine, metal desktop sculptures of female robots made out of nuts and bolts, and enormous pans for biryani, a popular rice and chicken dish they make here by the ton. In the end, my purchases included sketch books, paint markers, adhesive-backed sheets of felt, tiny oryx souvenirs I am going to use as stocking stuffers for the boys, a black half apron that may be a part of my Halloween costume, wooden toothpicks (the only ones I have been able to find before are mint-flavored), and stickers I am going to use to catalog our books. A worthwhile trip!
Next, I headed to Megamart express, the smaller version of the big store that has every American product you might want for incredibly expensive prices, even more than the rest of the stores here. I only come here about once ever two months, usually to check out their sale/discontinued aisle. This day I found boxed macaroni and cheese, E's favorite, for half the price it is everywhere else. I cleared the shelf. I also got some tandoori seasoning and mango chutney that was half price; these are my favorite Indian imports. And I buckled and bought the boys some Cheezits. Which is why I usually avoid this store, so I don't buckle too often!
After Megamart, I headed home. While I had been gone, our cleaner had arrived, so everything looked beautifully clean! Having a cleaner is my favorite indulgence here, one I will very much miss whenever we go back to the States for good. I checked my email, worked on my resume (I'm on the job market now, you know), and at some lunch before the boys got home from school at 1:25pm (Wednesday is their short day, when they get out at 1pm; otherwise they are in school until 2pm, far too long, in my opinion.) We had a playdate scheduled with a friend of theirs who used to go to the same school but has since moved across town and goes to a new school. So we entertained him and his little sister and his mom and I chatted and caught up after our vacations and had herbal tea. Why do we not have tea kettles everywhere in the US? They are the best inventions EVER!
After we had visited our playroom in the clubhouse when folks got a little rambunctious, our friends left and I went to make dinner: chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches on french bread (I got that at Megamart, too) with cucumbers on the side. My dinners here are painfully simple, even now. Side dishes seem to be beyond my abilities, for some reason! Then J did his homework while I helped: spelling words, reading, literacy flashcards, and Arabic vocabulary. I finally got the Arabic teacher to send home the vocabulary lists with Latinate pronunciation guides. Until now, she sent home flashcards and worksheets written completely in Arabic for us to use to quiz the kids. Umm, I don't speak Arabic, and neither does my son, at least not yet! We're going to need a bit more help than that, thank you. The husband arrived around 4pm--the benefit of work starting so early is he gets home early every day--and after dinner he played a little Xbox with the boys. They had done all their homework and earned a little screen time, but only a very little, before bed.
After the husband and I talked through his day (there wasn't much to say about mine, as you can see, the many preceding paragraphs notwithstanding!), we went to bed, too, quite early by our previous standards. I think I was in bed by 9:15pm. I have to get to sleep that early or I am a wreck on our early mornings! I'm practically a grandma!
Stay tuned for another day in the life, this time the unusual version!
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