First Week

On our first full day in Doha, we walked down the Corniche towards the Sheraton to see the last round of Powerboat racing with Max. Funny-- they race every year in Detroit, but we never saw them there. The water in the bay is a beautiful blue-green color, and the tiny island in the middle--empty but for one small tree-- somehow looks like paradise.
There were people of all nationalities out, walking along or lounging in the grass beneath the palm trees. Certainly those in traditional dress made up the majority, but one does not feel out of place as a Westerner. I really do not understand how the native women stand it in their full black abayas-- sometimes so much as covering my shoulders and elbows makes me swelter. The women here do not seem to be at all mistreated, quite the opposite, but the fact that the men get to wear white while the women wear black in this climate certainly reeks of ancient misogyny.
There was a children's area set up with activities, inflatables and entertainment. We spotted free camel rides and took Cricket over to take advantage. She had been telling everyone for weeks she would ride a camel when she moved, and less than 24-hours in, she made good.
The work week here is Sunday through Thursday. On Monday, Chandler's work visa finally came through (we had to enter under a tourist visa), so he could finally begin the many steps necessary to receive a residence permit. The full suite at QSTP is not ready for the team, and even the most basic equipment did not arrive on time from the UK, so the work that could be done for the first week was limited. By Thursday, though, he was nearly caught up in the RP process with the rest of the team, but the pads of his fingers were too torn up to be fingerprinted, and so that last step must wait until they recover.
We have looked at many rental properties, both compound villas and apartments. Several are tantalizingly close to perfection, yet each has some big chunk of restriction-- only available fully furnished, pool and gym not finished, etc. Many of the compounds have nice facilities, but the villas themselves are poorly laid out and terribly dark inside. It seems that finding housing with the right ratio of all the necessities is going to be very hard.
Everyone is quite keen on getting out of the hotel as soon as possible-- though advertised as "four star," the Ezdan would be lucky to break two. Lights burn out, suds come up through the floor drain when the bathroom sink is used, the TV in the bedroom has a huge crack in its screen, circuits trip in the middle of the night, the fire alarm goes off briefly every few days, the elevators get stuck, the garbage chute is for some reason unusable and so trash piles up, and perhaps worst of all, the only music played in common areas is Celine Dion!

A Long Trip

We departed from Washington Dulles at night, flew through daylight, and landed in darkness. We checked seven suitcases and a large car seat. Having never been able to sleep on airplanes, I took a double dose of maximum-strength knockout drugs and still was only able to doze. Luckily, though, Cricket did not have the same problem and was unconscious for the majority of the flight. All in all, the fourteen hours were relatively painless. Our seats were just two rows from the back of the 777, and since deplaning is done from the front and back, we were in the first bus to depart for the terminal.
The same welcome service had been booked for us as during our summer trip, but things did not go nearly as smoothly. As we waited for the return of our passports the line to go through immigration emptied several times, and many other travelers came and went. Once we were able to advance through the airport, there were no porters available, so we had to collect and lug all of our own baggage. After doing this, we quickly found that there was no one from the hotel to transport us, as had been arraigned. We were taken to the welcome service's counter, but they did not know of the hotel and could not find the number. After some waiting, they did find it, but the hotel could not find any record of our stay, and so were no help. Twenty minutes later they found it, and said they would send someone. We sat and waited in a coffee shop, and after quite a while the driver appeared. They had been told we were coming in the previous day.
As we drove out of the airport, Cricket spotted a mosque and said "Look, a lid!" We told her it was called a dome and was part of a mosque, an Islamic church. She started right in with "No, you're a mosque!"
The hotel, Ezdan, looked quite impressive from the outside. It is made up of three very large buildings that look like old-school magnets, and at night they are outlined with color-changing LEDs. However, once we entered our room we quickly found that there is much to be desired. Still, it was nice to finally have arrived and be able to rest.