It’s past time for an update from the land of sand. Well I have been working and even with most people away it has been a busy July. However I have managed to do a few interesting things other than eat out which is of course one of my most favourite things!
My friend Dhabia and I decided we should have a massage so off we went to a Thai ladies only massage parlor. Well I had never had a Thai massage before. They give you what looks like a pair of loose pajamas and you put them on and then lie on a big mattress on the floor. They massage over these clothes and I was given a full body massage starting at my feet! I was pummeled to within an inch of my life but very expertly. When she got to the sore part of my back,we had to come to an agreement about what would happen there, and how hard it would be. This might sound an easy discussion but this was a no English or Arabic speaking person! Anyhow it was all good and they have done such a good job that I have been back each week this month.
On Wednesday last week Dhabia and I went together to organize her resignation from the Ministry of Education as she going to change her job. This process has taken a while and this was the second time she had visited. The first time we had to take a piece of paper from one office to another about 4 meters apart and then come back again after two days! I can’t imagine why they couldn’t have done that themselves!
Well the MOE building is twenty floors and we started on floor three. There are ladies lifts in these buildings which we were using. It became very funny as we kept having men get out of them as we got in. We spend nearly three hours going backwards and forwards between floors to get the resignation file signed. It went something like – 3rd floor, 1st floor, 4th floor, back to 1st floor, back to 3rd floor, etc, etc and we ended up on the twentieth floor. I was a bit worried by then that we had missed most of floors 10 to 20 and they might make us visit those too. We got lots of looks as I don’t think they could understand what this kiwi and Qatari were doing there together. We had to make it a laugh otherwise we would have both been boiling with frustration. So we enjoyed each other’s company as we did repeat tours of the building! And decided that governemetn departmetns are the same all around the world. After another day of Dhabia going to some other government departments it is all done and she is free to take up her new position – in sha allah.
Earlier in the day Dhabia had helped get my first bank account in Qatar. I now have an account at QNB (Qatar National Bank) at the Ladies branch. I am easy to spot as I am the only one not wearing an abeya. The staff are very helpful to their kiwi customer who looks fairly confused at times.
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