Day Arrival

Day 1

It is 5 am in Doha (10 p.m. in New York) and after a few hours of sleeping (both on the plane and my new apt), I’m wide-awake.  It appears that the time change or day shift has really thrown off my freaking sleep schedule, which is a little annoying.  As I sit in my new flat (clearly everyone else in the world calls them flats and not apartments lol), I can hear the call to prayer and oddly the sound is somehow comforting/peaceful at this hour right before dawn. 

Looking around my new flat, I can’t help but feel immensely grateful for this remarkable opportunity that God has me.  There is absolutely no way if I continued to live and work in New York City, would I ever afford such a luxurious and spacious apartment. While it is hard to describe in words the feeling that I got when I entered the vestibule of my new home, I will try to put it into words to help you visualize the beauty that I see.

After the initial surprise that my new living room was 2x bigger than my entire apartment in New York, I immediately notice the stunning, heavy, cherry-wood doors located throughout the flat.  As I walk into the flat I glance down at the floors, which are strikingly white marble, and appear to be so clean that you could eat off of them (WOW). The furniture throughout the flat is all very modern with a slight twist of Middle Eastern culture, which I like a lot. The two bedroom-two bathrooms now emerge from opposite ends of the living room/dining room, and I am thrilled beyond belief to know that I DON’T have to share a bathroom with my husband anymore (lol, love him dearly but you understandJ).

As I take in the kitchen I can tell it isn’t as modern as the rest of the flat.  The kitchen is a completely separate room in itself with a door that closes and locks to provide absolute peace while preparing meals.  Though everything in the kitchen is brand new and well placed, there are definitely some items that are missing (i.e. microwave, dishwasher, coffee maker).  However with a quick stop at the mall tomorrow I am positive that I can give it to look and feel a bit more nyc!

Speaking of the kitchen……so dinner/breakfast tonight was good old cornflakes because I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to turn on the damn stove/burners.  It was extremely frustrating at first, but then I laughed and recognized that this is what comes with moving halfway across the world! Here is to hoping that lighting the stove is the biggest problem I shall have as I transition into Doha life/work/living.

Day 2

Our mission of the day is to locate a supermarket and/or department store to purchase the items needed to make our home a bit more livable.  Luck for us the school has provided free shuttle service throughout the city the first week and it should be relatively easy to get the things we need (relatively).  We begin our journey out into the city of Doha at 1pm.  The call to pray has just ended and the shops are back open for business.  Sidenote: We quickly learned that the call to pray occurs five times a day and can be heard throughout the entire city.

We arrive at Carrefour supermarket and it doesn’t look much different than say a Walmart or Target in nyc.  As we enter, we realize everything is listed in Qatari Riyals and we are forced to calculate totals via iPhone as we shop, since we only want to spend $900 Qatari Riyals ($250 US dollars).  Going through the supermarket aisles is a little overwhelming because the signs are all in Arabic and don’t exactly follow the traditional order that American supermarkets do.  Nonetheless we get a rhythm going and begin locating many of the items required on our list.

Worthy noticing: Healthy eating is extremely important in my household and based on the supermarket selection, Qataris aren’t the healthiest eaters. Qatar being the second fattest country in the world behind the US, it is easy to see why fitness, diet and health are a problem here.  It is also worth mentioning that around the corner from our apartment is KFC, TGIF, and another fast food halal joint BUT no juice bars, vegetarian places or whole food type of shops.  Anyway back to the supermarket, the produce selection is narrow and not in the best condition.  It takes us quite some time to find some suitable and edible produce from our list.  Nonetheless, we manage to gather blueberries, strawberries, bananas, green beans, asparagus, and peppers.  What?!! I can’t believe the blueberry carton is half the size of the cartons back home and twice the price.  No freaking way are blueberries damn near $6 US with a quantity of 25 pieces. Talk about a severe rip off sheesh! Clearly most of our spending allowance will be on healthier food selections out hereJ

Peace and blessings until next time