Linda's Adventures In Qatar: August 2014

So I started by flying from Salt Lake to Chicago to Doha, Qatar. I got to the airport with plenty of time but when I got close to the gate the flight attendants told me that I would have to check my carry on. I quickly rearranged some things and got them to let me take it on as a carry on. But I was the last on the plane. I made it to Chicago and had dinner. Then in the line for my flight to Doha they decided to WIEGH my carry on and made me check it. So in the end I didn't get my carry on. The flight was very long but ok. It was 15 and 1/2 hour hours with a 5 hour lay over.

When I got Doha, people from my school we there to pick me and many other arriving teachers up. I bought a new local SIM card for my phone. Then when everyone was ready we went outside. . . I had been warned but I wasn't prepared. It was so hot and so humid when I walked outside that not only did it take my breath away it flogged up my glasses. It was like walking into a dishwasher.

They put us in residential hotel for temporary housing while we wait for some government permits on our real housing. It is nice, it has had a face lift and there are a few sketchy things like I have to move the fridge, to open the dishwasher and then move the dishwasher to open the cupboard. I was designed my a man who put the pieces together and it looks nice but doesn't work super well. A lot of things are like that here.

We spent the first couple of days going to malls so we could get things and so we could stay awake.

We also went to lots of malls because that is really all there is to do here. It is so hot NO ONE is outside. Plus everyone just loves to shop here. The malls are huge and they usually have something special in them like the Villagio that has an indoor river and gondolas or an ice rink. (Which tells you how air conditioned everything is.)

Doha is very beautiful but it is trying to be. The buildings are amazing but they are there to be beautiful. Most are empty and some are even un-inhabitable, they were just built to be cool. There is construction everywhere. I have never seen so many cranes.

Tonight I went to the Souq Waqif, an time marketplace. There were lots of little stores and shops and restaurants. Some were tourist stuff and some were beautiful handmade things. There are fabric, gold, spices, animals, falcons and lots more.