Driving in Doha, Nutella, & Hot Water

Setting out on the first day began with my phone ringing off the hook! First, two people from the school called to make sure I knew the pick-up time. Second, a phone call from another teacher upstairs who needed a ride, and finally, a call from the principal making sure I knew who was picking us up to lead us to school. Needless to say, they take care of you at ASD and I didn't mind at all having someone in the car with me the first time I set out to drive in Doha. Now, knowing we're going to caravan to the school brought a lot of comfort and yet, knowing how insane the driving can be, my worst fear was loosing the caravan & getting lost. Everyone begins to pull out of their respective parking spaces and I'm in my CRV in the spot closest to the exit. As I wait, I realize I'll be the last one out. No big deal...or so I thought...We begin to pull out, but then realize (mostly due to the slow speed and the "rrreerrruuggh" sound) that the emergency break is still on; the rental car people left it that way.  So as the last car before me drives out of the parking garage, I try to lift the emergency break. A liiiiittle hard to do when you can't find it! So we're looking, looking...by the time we found it (thank you, Scott- it was on the FLOOR in the far left corner-who puts it THERE???), the entire line of six cars was no where in sight. Excellent start to the morning :) Thankfully I wasn't alone and we had a map.  After a few phone calls, I survived my first of many Doha roundabouts and we made it to school in plenty of time.

After orientation (won't bore you with the details of it, but good times and I got my laptop!), we set off in another caravan to this place called the Carrefour (it's like a Wal-Mart) led by a guy named Ryan who rivals the energy level of Lars Coleman or a room full of sugared-up 2 yr olds. We all head out and this time I'm able to stay with the caravan. All is well. It was also pretty entertaining watching Ryan hop in and out of his car at least four times on the way there and back--mid traffic, mind you--to run around his car, step out onto the shoulder, count the cars in the caravan, and get back in. It was like watching a teacher on a field trip. 

The Carrefour was fantastic and overwhelming. TONS of stuff to look at while you A) try to remember all that you need to get B) constantly divide every price that you see by four to convert the currency C) try to find the item that most resembles the American item you're looking for: ie- me trying to find cheese slices that are actually yellow, not white. All I have to say is, I about yelled out a "hallelujah!" in the middle of a muslim city when I found an entire 6 x 4ft shelving section dedicated to four different-sized jars of Nutella. Still made in Italy and still delicious! Once I had everything I needed, I made it through my first official Qatari money transaction, thereby squelching the fear that I'd be standing alone in the middle of the aisle, with a handful of Qatari Riyals, crying, with no idea what to do next. (This image may have cause a minor freak-out incident prior to leaving that resulted in me crying on the phone to my friend Amanda, but we wont go into that.)

That evening, we had some fantastic Arabic food a one of the teacher's houses. We had freshly baked pita bread, 3 kinds of hummus, vegetable spreads, grilled lamb and chicken... It was amazing!  Thankfully they didn't make us stay too late. I was able to get home early, try to call my parents for the THIRD time and miss them, take some Tylenol PM to keep me asleep, and go to bed. Oh, but not before I talked to the maintance guy again only to realize that I did have plenty of hot water, but had just been turning the knob in the wrong direction. (I swear I checked them both.) It was scalding and wonderful. 

Plenty more stories to tell involving getting lost, medical checks in a foreign city, and a fire alarm. But that will all have to wait :) Love you guys! P.S.- I have yet to sleep through the call to prayer...at least it's pretty.