Checking in

It is crazy how time is flying here.  The days often seem long yet the weeks FLY by.  Every week Tuesday comes around I think, "Wow, my week is half over!"

On the whole things are continuing to go well.  I am still waiting for my residency permit, I was told soon, I think it should be within the next week.  Which will be nice, cause as of right now I am limited to only 2 places for going out.

I am not sure how much I have written about the drinking scene but I will give a quick recap (sorry if this is a repeat story for some).  In Doha, only major hotels are allowed to serve alcohol.  To go to the bars within the hotels you must acquire a membership.  This entails showing your passport with your visa information, they take this info and create a card with your picture and then you are allowed in.  There is a dress code at most establishments and other rules: 'No Qatari women allowed,' 'No head gear' (the traditional 'dish dash' the men wear (long white scarf)).  Craziness, every time I think about the No Qatari women rule it burns me up! I know it is partly a muslim thing, but it is also a control thing, I could not imagine being a native in a country that had so much control of my actions.

In addition to hotel bars you can apply for an alcohol license.  To do so you need a letter of 'no objection' from your employer that includes your salary.  You pay a deposit of QR1,000 (about $275), which you get back when you leave the country.  License holders and only license holders are allowed to enter the ONE liquor store.  Each license holder is only allowed to spend a percentage of their salary.  I do not plan on getting my alcohol license, I have plenty of friends who have already gotten theirs ;)

So the medical experience. My bus driver took me to the medical center at 6:30 am.  I first saw two women in full burka/hijab whose questions to me were, "baby?" and "mobile?," she then scribbled something on a piece of paper and I was directed to the next waiting room.  I was there with about 10 other women (which the number increased steadily through the morning), seated in chairs.  We were directed to scoot over to the next chair as each person got up, to stay in order.  At  the counter a photo was taken, through the glass barrier, and I paid QR100 ($28).  Next was a chest x-ray.  I had been pre-warned to wear a white t-shirt and a bra with no underwire, to avoid having to get undressed and wear a questionably clean hospital gown.  Then a quick blood draw, and I was done.  One more stop to a small clinic to get a finger prick for blood typing, and that was it.  I don't think my experience was quite as bad as others, who referred to it as similar to "cattle herding."

We are coming up to the end of the term.  Having to accept their form of report cards.  Which here they simply call reports.  I have to have my comments and general marks done by the 3rd of december for my Key Stage Coordinator to look over.  We give students exams the 6th-8th and then have to have all the final marks on and turn in the reports by the 13th so the Senior Management Team can look over and comment on them.  So as of today 0 down, 23 to go!

Counting down to the Eid break, November 25th to the 30th!  Don't have much planned, obviously working on reports.  Going to try to make it out camping, celebrate my friend Jen's birthday, maybe do a Thanksgiving dinner, get some mail out to my fab friends and family in the states :) and hopefully plan my christmas holiday, still unsure of where I will go.

As always thanks for following and for all the comments.  The support keeps me going for another day!

Viv

oh yea, I was walking in a park today, and saw two rats run across the grass, it was great!