Let's Catch Up...

Ok...so a quick trip from Dubai to Doha. About 45 minutes of flight time. They had a service waiting on me as I deboarded the plane to assist me through the airport. They put me on a bus to the terminal (the gates are a little different at Dubai International) and had someone else waiting for me when I got off the bus. They took me to another lounge and they took my passport and paperwork and processed it for me. We then got to skip the enormous immigration line and basically walked right through, all she did was flash my passport. She got a porter (not Derek) to grab my bags and we went to Customs. We got to get in the line that had zero people in it, and were out the door in about 2 minutes. Once going through the door, I was met by 3 men in really nice suits. They took my bags and rushed me to a waiting BMW, that was already air conditioned, and had me a bottle of water, newspaper, and chocolate covered dates waiting on me. They took me to the hotel, passed my luggage onto a bellman, I got checked in and got taken to my sweet ass room. The room, as you have seen already, complete with turn down service, a balcony, full shower, tub, all the amenities. They have free shoe shine service, plus work takes care of all of my laundry and transportation bills.
As part of our contract, we have access to the executive lounge on the 23rd floor. There they have numerous servings of food from breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and late night snack. They have a full bar which is complementary (sweet!). The entire staff knows your name, and they know you are coming. You have to use your key card for the elevator to take you to this level, and the staff bend over backwards to meet your every need.
The rest of the hotel is amazing. They have numerous lounges, restaurants, indoor/outdoor pool, indoor tennis courts, sauna, steam room, fitness room, squash courts, a bank, barber, hair stylist, car rental, etc. The list goes on and on.

So Monday night, I got in and called mom to let her know that I was not dead. Tuesday I slept in and went to meet my boss in the afternoon. She talked about the hotel, my new house that is in the final stages of completion, (I am going to get a 3BR villa, complete with pool, etc.) the project, my roles, etc. I also got to hang out with the 2 guys that recruited me. I am not going to use names, since this is a blog. I will just say W & T. After getting back to the hotel and getting some electricity issues figured out. (Someone kicked the breakers in my room, I knew that I was not losing my mind and nothing electronic I brought was working). I also had to get them to bring me an iron, as the Ritz does not provide them. W & T, plus a nurse manager and a doc that is here took me to the Central City Mall. This place is 5 levels of huge, get lost in kinda mall. They even have a Carrefour, which is kinda like a Super Wal-Marts. The gang took me to Nando's and we had some regional food choices. It was basically a Kabob on a Metal stick that they bring out on a hanging skewer. Plus french fries (chips) and vegetables. The cook/coat the meat in the level of spicyness you prefer. Being new to the area, I got the mild. It was really good. Since the manager knows and likes UPMC, we also got a round of Lentil soup thrown in free of charge. After dinner W & T took me to Carrefour where I bought a cell phone (a necessity I am told). Then I had to take my $30 cell phone to Q-tel, which is the only phone company in Qatar. They have to activate it, and I have to use prepaid minutes until I get a residency permit. I stopped by the photo booth and got more passport pictures made, as I need about 30 of them for all the permits and paperwork I have to get. Everyone wants 2 photos here for everything. After grabbing a cab back to the hotel, T and I retreated to the 23rd floor where I had a could of Jack Daniels. We talked for a few hours about some strategies and ideas and where I would like EMS to be at. I think the project is going to be very successful. Soon after I headed to bed and got the CPAP machine fired up. I slept until about 5:45 when I had to get up for a class that started at 7:30. A 7:30 class means that you have to get the work driver to meet you at the hotel at 7, if he does not have any other deliveries. Breakfast doesn't open until 630, so you have to be up and ready by 630.

I went to the train the trainer teaching class, which was basically the same class I had while I was in undergrad. I actually helped out a bunch of groups with projects instead of joining a certain group, since I had already had all of it before. That lasted until about 3:00 where I came back to the hotel, and got a good workout in. Now its time for dinner. Sweet.

First impressions. I don't think I have met any Qataris as of yet, if I have they have not told me they were locals. I have met people from all over, and they all seem very nice. India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Indonesia, Tanzania, Australia, UK, Philippines, just to name a few. They are all very eager to learn just as much about the US and me as I do about them. Probably one of my first semi-awkward moments, that I was prepared for thanks to my boss and reading my books, was that in class today when we were leaving for a break a guy that I had been working with in class came over to tell me something. As we were walking out he grabbed my hands as we were walking out of class and down the hall towards the break/bathroom area. People of the same sex holding hands in this part of the world is not a sign of anything but friendship, and it is impolite to pull away. After finishing his story and my comments he dropped my hand and went about getting his coffee. I am really getting immersed into the Middle East culture.

Gotta run. Dinner Time!