Doha Update

It’s been a while since I have posted anything new so in the absence of any life changing events or adventures I’m going to write about everyday life in Doha for the past few weeks.

New Car

We got a new used car a few weeks back. It is a black 2003 Nissan X-Trail with almost solid black tint on the back windows. I assume that is because I Qatari used to drive it and it is the custom to shield females from as many unwanted stares as possible. It turned out to be a pretty good deal compared to the new one we were on our way to buy. It was roughly about a $6,000 difference for one year and 20,000 miles. Of course what we saved in money we paid for in patience. Buying a used car here is a lot different from Lawrence Marshal and his clobber line. Most used car lots only have around 10 cars each. They are conveniently located next to each other so it’s like a big lot but every car has it’s own rules and you have to deal with somebody different for each one. They are also sold on consignment meaning that the car guy is getting a flat $280 for each car he sells and the actual owner is the one setting the price. What this means is you can find the same car in the same lot at two totally different prices. This is great if you are patient, know the language and have the time because eventually a great deal will pop up. You just don’t know where. I think this is why most expats just drive new cars. It’s a lot more consistent.

So as we were literally making our last pass through Salwa Road (where all the car lots are) Kara saw this car, I checked the price and we were sold. The next step was getting a loan and this is where it gets good. I go to my bank with some print off in Arabic and all I can make out is the name of my car and the price. It even had a stamp. The first thing they told me was that they did not work with this show room so they could not give me a loan for the car. I thought the guy was kidding so I broke it down for him. I want to buy a car, I want you to give me the loan which you will make money on, if you do not want to lend me the money I will give somebody else my business. The guy at least told me he would talk to the head office and ask if they could work with this new dealer. One thing I’ve learned is it’s not the policy you are dealing with but the people who interpret it. So I went back to the same place the next day and asked the same questions. Unfortunately the answers were worse this time. The new teller suggested that I buy another car from one of the dealers they work with as the solution. So I went to the banker at the school branch on Sunday morning (first day of the work week) told him the situation and he said he would take care of it. This I believed.

After several days of him calling the dealer and the dealer promising to bring the papers, me going to the dealer on their request and them saying we’ll bring it to you tomorrow my friend Khaled got involved. He is originally from Syria and studied in the states for several years and works down the hall from me. He talked to the dealer on the phone in Arabic and then told me we should just go down there. So we did and we got the papers and the loan was started but there was the 10% down that I wasn’t expecting. Since I live over here and most of my money is in the US it’s not uncommon for 1/2 of my months salary to be in limbo between the two. Eventually I worked it out but since this was right before I left for Sri Lanka I had to wait until we got back to proceed. So after this surprise all we had to do was register the car. Right no big deal. The first day we showed up and got a number. We noticed the line was going slow but hey, they are still giving out numbers. Well 2 and a half hours later they closed he window and we got nothing done. I can understand if you want to close at a certain time but don’t give out numbers unless you plan on serving the people. We got up early the next morning and went through the whole process again but this time we got the little piece of paper we needed. Of course we were sent back once because my name was spelled differently in Arabic on the different forms from each respective institution. Luckily I now know how to spell my name in Arabic so this doesn’t happen again.

Doha Debates

This past week I went to something called the Doha Debates which is sponsored by BBC and features a topic that people on both sides debate and the audience decides who wins. This months topic was “Do Iraq’s neighbors want Democracy?” Those arguing against were Mohammed Aldouri (former ambassador to the UN under Saddam Hussein) and Patrick Theros (former US ambassador to Qatar). Those arguing for were Clare Short (former Secretary of State for International Development under Tony Blair who resigned because of her opposition to the war in Iraq) and Abdel Bari Atwan (Editor of a London based pan-arab newspaper).

You would think that with all these “smart” people in the
room you would get a pretty lively debate going on the topic but what ended up happening was neither side opposed the other. The first two argued that neighboring governments were opposed to Democracy while the second two argued that neighboring populations were for it. They all basically agreed so to burn time they all went off on their own soap boxes about how they felt about the war in Iraq.

The only interesting points were from the audience. One student asked Mohammed Aldouri if he thought Iraq was better now or with Saddam Hussein? Aldouri talked in circles for a couple of minutes with out a yes or no. The moderator asked the student if he was satisfied with the answer he said no and Aldouri did the same routine again. The crowd thought it was funny and it was very telling to me. The other moment came when Clare Short asked a student in the audience who mentioned he was Iraqi what he thought about the elections. He said he loved the idea (something like that I believe) but his parents were to scared to vote.

The debate boiled down to a more controversial topic that everyone found more enjoyable. Afterwards when I walked out I realized there were probably about 10 ambassadors in the room along with Her Highness Sheikha Mozah. The next one will be debating the issue of Israel and Palestine. I’ll be going to that one.

Work going well

Work is going well my projects are nice and challenging and are keeping more then busy. I got a raise with my 6 month evaluation which was a very pleasant surprise. The best thing was the accompanying letter which basically said I was being a good geek. It’s a compliment I promise. Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head. I’m still cruising in the beast.

I’m now the warden for my building because the other guy asked me to, no other real reason. This means if everything goes to crap around here I have to make sure the 2 other people in my building know. The only cool perk is I get a satellite phone for communications purposes. It’s nice to know in case there is a Coup or nuclear war there is at least an evacuation plan. I asked for a badge and whistle to but I haven’t heard back on that.

I hope all is well with everybody else. Kara and I love your emails.