Jess: on Tour

Christmas in Leeds

2008-01-04T22:36:00.000+03:00

After what seemed like the longest countdown in the history of countdowns (but was probably only about 12 weeks), I finally got to spend Christmas and New Years with Chris in Leeds.

Flew in on the 15 December and straight away headed out to meet up with Andy Lake and Valky which was loads of fun. The Thursday before Christmas, Chris suprised me by taking me to the Leeds Town Hall to see the Leeds philharmonic orchestra and choir perform their annual Christmas Carol Concert. Loved it! Also that night, finally got to have sume mulled wine at the German Markets that Chris always talks about.

Christmas Day, Chris' mum put on a 4 course feast for 11 people which was AMAZING! Ate my body weight in turkey and then tacked the christmas pudding. I love christmas pudding so much, it is the best food in the entire world.

For Christmas, my mum had organised for Chris and I a hire car for three days. We ended up having it for 5 days because of a mix up with returning it that was there fault so we made full use of it.

Went first to Liverpool which was great, explored Albert Dock and saw the Turner Prize exhibit at the Tate Liverpool. Then did some post-Christmas sales shopping in the city centre and ended up drinking till the early hours at the Cavern Club.

The next day, we went to Chester which was one of the best English cities I have been too. Did some more shopping there and then headed onto Wales. Loved being in Wales, the weather was pretty bad but that just added to the naff-ness of the whole thing. Went to some old holiday parks on the coast that Chris went to when he was little for a laugh.

Drove the car up to Manchester New Years Eve. Stayed in a hotel by the airport as I was flying out New Years Day. Fran came to see us and took us to meet her family and out for a good curry dinner. Got to meet their family's new puppy, Charlie.... sooooo cute!!!

So that was my holiday. Had an absolute ball but it went WAY to quickly. Exciting news is that Chris is finally coming here for good on 16 Jan. He booked his flight the day before I left. Cannot believe that he is finally coming!! Only 12 more sleeps!!! I am so excited as it will mean that I can really settle here in Vancouver and make it my home for the next couple of years.

Its Nearly Christmas!!!

2007-12-10T22:18:00.000+03:00

Finally FINALLY it is getting close to Christmas and the end of the year. I am really looking forward to 2008 as hopefully it will be a little more stable (I have lived on 4 different continents this year) and I will actually be able to live in the same country as Chris for the majority of it!

Friday night was the VANOC Christmas party which was loads and loads of fun. Now I have four (if you don't include the rest of today) more days of work to go till I am off to Leeds for Christmas. The last ten weeks or so have been tough but I am nearly there!

Venue Tours

2007-11-27T22:10:00.000+03:00

Part of my role at the moment with the Olympics is to attend all the first round of venue tours. This has its ups and downs... ups are visiting indoor hockey/ice skating venues and seeing athletes practicing, downs are trekking across construction sites in heels, ups are being able to walk the luge/bobsleigh/skeleton tracks before the ice goes down, downs are being caught in blizzards on the top of mountain venues.

In the above photos that just look like snow, you might just be able to make out the half pipe for the snowboard event on the right and the ski jumping and mogal course for the freestyle skiing events on the left.

And, for something a little different... the Games mascot's were launched today, they are HILARIOUS!!!

http://mash.zincroe.com/mascot/en/index.php

International Woman of Sport

2007-11-24T22:05:00.000+03:00

So its been about 7 weeks since Chris left and its 3 weeks till I go to England to see him again. That is how I judge time these days!

Things in Canada are going really well. Some old colleagues from Melbourne and Doha have started with VANOC - Nick, Elia and Disco so have had a lot of fun helping them set up home and explore Vancouver. Also, my friend from home - Alex - came to stay with me for a few weeks before heading up to do a Whistler season.

With the Whistler season starting it has obviously meant that it has gotten REALLY cold down here in Vancouver. I think I am getting better and better at dressing for the cold, something I was struggling with for awhile, but really finding being cold all the time tough! It hasn't rained as much as I thought it would though... touch wood.

Attempted ice skating a couple of weeks ago with some colleagues and my director, Toru's, family. Was really good fun as I had never done it before. Elia was hilarious, he was trying it for the first time as well and was given a helmet by concerned staff working there.

Also, a couple of weeks ago, went and saw Beckham and LA Galaxy play against Vancouver Whitecaps. It was on of the worst games I have seen in my life and I can confirm that LA Galaxy are the antichrist of good football. Inspired though, last night was my last game in the VANOC football competition. We went out on a high winning 7-1 but unfortunately haven't made the finals. I couldn't get to grips with how much I played like a girl! Next sport for me is curling, am having lessons starting early next year and can't wait!

Chris is Here!

2007-09-27T06:06:00.000+03:00

Have had this week off to spend with Chris who arrived for his four week holiday a couple of weeks ago. I finished up working at Rogers on Friday and FINALLY start with VANOC this coming Monday. Really excited about starting work with the Olympics but certainly not counting down the days as loving being able to spend time with Chris. Still no good news on the visa front for him, was hoping we would know something before he left but its looking doubtful.

Trying to show Chris as much of Vancouver as possible. A couple of days after he arrived took him up the Grouse Grind, a huge mountain that you quite literally climb your way up. The reward at the top was some bears (!)... behind barbed wire... Also headed up to Whistler and been on some walks around English Bay, Stanley Park, Kitsilano and Granville Island.

In return for being such a fantastic tour guide I have dragged Chris around more homewares shops than you could poke a stick at, including a good 3 hour stint in IKEA. Our apartment is feeling really homely now but looking forward to moving into a bigger apartment on 1 November... HUGE fingers crossed Chris will be back in time for that!!

Road Trip to Whistler

2007-08-17T06:28:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago, Fran's cousin Nicky brought a Mercedes Kompressor (I think that is right!) so we had to go on a road trip!!!

Decided to head to Whistler and had a ball. Cannot believe that I live now so close to such an awesome place... looking forward to going back in winter!

Vancouver Update

2007-08-17T05:52:00.000+03:00

Still alive and enjoying being in Vancouver. Above are some photos from a few nights out on town since I arrived. Went to the Steve Nash charity basketball game a few weeks ago... great fun! Last Friday headed to Stanley Park to see a live performance of Grease :-)

Found Chris and I a place to live, move in on September 1... just need a Chris now... no good news yet on his visa application but hopefully he will becoming for a visit soon. Working for the big telecommunications company Rogers doing recruitment for their Call Centre. Its working with one of Alex's friend which is great... another way Alex is looking after me!

6 weeks till I start with VANOC... really looking forward to it but getting to meet a lot of the people that work there already. Started doing my HR course a few weeks ago, the first assignment is due next Friday so making myself housebound for the next week to try and get it finished. Not feeling all that confident at this stage!

Hello Vancouver!

2007-07-24T06:07:00.000+03:00

I have been in Vancouver now for ten days. I think the city is amazing, very similar to Melbourne and loads going on. Have started now looking for an apartment and some bar work. Don't start work with the Winter Olympics till the 1 October so plenty of time to get myself settled. Staying with my good friend Alex who is looking after me till Chris arrives, hopefully in only a few more weeks.

Risking My Life In London

2007-07-06T16:26:00.000+03:00

Spent the weekend just gone down in London. Drove down with Package who had been working in Leeds all week. Arrived in London to hear on BBC News that it was not perhaps the safest place to be at the time but managed to avoid trouble and have a great time. At least it got me away from the flooding happening in Yorkshire.

Alex and Package - had such a great time, especially at The Sun on Sunday and hopefully will see you guys again really soon xxxxx

Spares and Throwing Shapes 4 QOCBOC

2007-06-08T16:12:00.000+03:00

Earlier this week, I unfortunately moved to the closer side to 50 as I turned 25. Was a lot less painful than I thought though, especially having Alex, Package, Andy and Darlo coming up to Leeds to celebrate the milestone with me.

Saturday we embarked on my first 'Otley Run' - a pub crawl through Leeds that consists of about 25 bars and pubs. We made it to about 15 before Alex and Package got sidetracked embracing the Pudsey experiences of 'Throwing Shapes' and 'Spares'. I had a really great night so thank you so much guys for coming to visit xxxx

For my actual birthday Chris took me out for dinner at an awesome curry restaurant in Bradford after already spoiling me with loads of presents. For those who haven't heard, a great present was finding out that I got the job in Canada for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

I am soooo excited about the thought of being in Canada for the next 3 years and want lots and lots of visitors! I start my job on 1 October but will be heading over pretty soon to start to sort things out over there. Thanks so much to everyone for the emails of good luck and birthday greetings that I have had this week :)

Some Pictures of Yorkshire

2007-06-08T15:18:00.000+03:00

Last week Chris had off work so we headed into York for the day with two of his friends. Was such a beautiful day.

We also went for a walk into Leeds along the Liverpool - Leeds canal which was lovely. Only 7 miles so not the kind of walk that you get up to Mum but it still took us a few hours.

Ah........ Chelsea!!!

2007-05-23T15:59:00.000+03:00

I arrived in the UK just over a week ago now. I had the most painful flight with no working tv for both legs of my 24 hour journey but managed in the end. After arriving at Heathrow, I remembered again how conning your way into having more than 20 kilos of luggage on your flight can backfire after I had to cart it all across London to Kings Cross Station in order to catch my 3 hour train up to Leeds... hundreds of dollars of chiro undone very quickly!! :( In all, I was in transit for a day and a half and needless to say I now HATE all the music on my iPod. The last ten minutes as we pulled into Leeds felt like the longest by far but was so great to finally get off the train and see Chris :)

I absolutely love being back in the UK and have wasted no time re-acquainting myself with Greggs, Boots, M&S and, of course, Asda. I was here in time to watch the FA Cup final at a reasonable hour on the weekend where my beloved Chelsea beat Man U in extra time :) Definitely went some length to making up for losing the Champions League semi final. The final is actually on tonight - GO AC MILAN!!!!

Not much else to report from me, Chris has next week off work so hopefully we will be able to get away and do some site-seeing, maybe head down to Brighton for a couple of days. Also, might have a few people come to Leeds for my birthday next weekend which will be great. Other than that, I am just enjoying being a lady of leisure.... still! :) Did I mention I love Chelsea?

Happy Mothers Day

2007-05-23T15:41:00.000+03:00

My last 'duty' in Melbourne before getting on the plane was Mothers Day, a couple of Sunday's ago. As much as I played it up as a chore, I really loved being able to spend my last day in Melbourne with my mum and had a great day. In the morning we particpated in the Mothers Day Classic and in the evening we went out for dinner as a whole family... I believe it was the first time we had done that in about twenty years!!!

Farewell Melbourne

2007-05-23T15:24:00.000+03:00

Two weekends ago now, I bid farewell to my lovely Melbourne pals at Felix bar. It was actually Kim's birthday party but I used it as my farewell to make me feel like I had more friends than I actually do! Thank so much to everyone who came, I know leaving the country for attention is getting a little bit old but I appreciate you all humouring me again. I had a really lovely night and it was especially good to see Fran again, Caz, who came all the way from Mt Eliza (thanks so much Caz xxx) and Mairz who came down from Sydney. Oh, and Kate, great to see you again!

Fun and Games in Sydney

2007-05-02T05:30:00.000+03:00

Took a break from Melbourne last week to head up to Sydney to catch up Mary and the rest of the newly formed Sydney-crew. Had such an awesome time. Was great to stay with Mary, Woody and ALN, catch up with some ex-'Doharians' - Rutts, Lina and Chill, and very good to see my old accreditation guru Elia! Big Dog and Jo were visiting Sydney at the same time as me so we had quite a group to hit the town with.

The best day was Sunday when we headed down to Bondi for a session at the Iceburgs club, right on the beach overlooking the gorgeous water. Not sure if it gets any better!

It is now only 12 days now till I head to Leeds, getting very excited!!!

More Greats... The Great Ocean Road

2007-04-16T08:36:00.000+03:00

Definitely my favourite thing in Australia is the Great Ocean Road so was so happy to be able to take Chris there for a mini holiday....

Despite seeing the Twelve Apostle, crystal blue waters, perfect skies, breathtaking scenary and powder, white sand, it took the lightouse from Round the Twist to impress Chris!

There is never hurry in Twizel

2007-04-14T11:45:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago, Chris and I took my brother to New Zealand. Flew into Christchurch and then hired a car and drove along the west coast to Queenstown. Whilst it was a very long drive the scenary was more than worth it. Drove through Arthur's Pass and stayed a night at Franz Josef Glacier. The Glacier wasn't hugely impressive but the scenary against which it was set was amazing, especially on the drive from the Glacier onto Queenstown. Spent 3 days in Queenstow which was great apart from having to share a hostel dorm with the three most annoying 19 year old posh southern England losers that I have ever come across. The highlight was definitely climbing one of the mountains for an awesome view of the town. Drove back to Christchurch via a little town called Twizel - one of the most bizarre places I have ever been to and populated by pixies!

Amy - You Looked Amazing!

2007-03-19T08:01:00.000+03:00

Amy and Matt's Wedding

2007-03-19T07:54:00.000+03:00

After looking forward to it for nearly two years it was Amy and Matt's wedding on Saturday. It was one of the most enjoyable days of my life. Amy and Matt are two of my best friend's in the world and so was amazingly special for me to be able to share their wedding day with them.

Hope you guys are enjoying Hawaii!! xxx

Good to be Back!

2007-03-19T07:47:00.000+03:00

Finally am able to ditch the thermals and down jacket...

Great Wall of China

2007-03-19T06:41:00.000+03:00

The 10km hike I did along the Great Wall of China was one of the best experiences of my life. It took about 4 hours from arriving at the wall to complete the hike but that included going an hour in the wrong direction and being stopped and then stalked by the first the 'Peleton' and then the crazy Mongolian 'Wall People'.

Home of The Mayo

2007-03-19T06:20:00.000+03:00

Chris' birthday proved to be one of our more interesting days on our trip when a few days before we were told that it was impossible to get a train from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing in the next three weeks. The only alternative that we could work out was to (over Chris' birthday) take a 35 hour local train to the Mongolian-Chinese border (a trip that without stops should have taken only a couple of hours) and then find a sleeper bus to take us overnight to Beijing.

The first thing I noticed when entering China was that EVERY store looked like it was a chinese restaurant to me as they had lanterns and dragons out the front and chinese writing on the windows.

Beijing was without a doubt one of the best cities I have been to. Jam-packed with eastern culture, it is suprisingly tourist friendly and whilst I was there for a week, I didn't see even a quarter of its attractions. One reason for this may have been the addiction Chris and I developed for the markets and the batering system that was used there. Between the two of us we brought, Ugg boots, trainers, ski jackets, wind breakers, pearls, necklaces, handbags and football shirts, mostly after getting the vendor down to at least one tenth of their original asking price. It became such a game for us... I loved it!!!

Then there was the food............. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

2007-03-19T06:06:00.000+03:00

From Irkutsk, we strayed from the Trans siberian route into Mongolia. The tiny capital, Ulaanbaatar, is like no other city I have ever been. A lot about the city is Asian yet the official language uses the cyrillic alphabet, the fusion of the Chinese and Russian cultures is extraordinary.

The country is extremely poor with what appears to be a still very unstable government. All you could do was walk around and try to soak up the atmosphere of the place. My favourite area was a couple of street away from the actual centre of the city in the ghetto where ordinary people live in gers (felt covered tents) still, rather than houses.

Trains, Vodka and MORE SNOW!

2007-03-19T05:37:00.000+03:00

The first of many trans siberian train journeys was from St Petersburg overnight to Moscow. Was a relatively pain free experience despite the rock-hard leather bunk beds that were almost big enough for a small child, incessant 'Musac' the blastest from our cabin speakers till the early hours of the morning and heavily sedated, snoring Russian man who slept below me.

First impressions of Moscow were that of more snow, more cyrilic and more very very cold weather. Moscow was much more like how I had imagined a Russian city to be. Gone were the renaissance buildings, picturesque canals and pretty streets and in their place, wide Stalin-style apartment blocks with wide roads and imposing statues. If possible, less people seemed to understand in English in Moscow than they had in St Petersburg.

Definitely the highlight of Moscow was seeing Red Square, complete with the Kremlin, St Basil's Catherdral and Lenin's tomb. We were fortunate enough to meet a guy from Slovakia (who continuously referred to himself as Central European when asked about his nationality until we forced him to admit he was a Slovak after spending a few hours with him) who helped us get on board a very dodgy tour of Red Square that seemed to be the only way we would be allowed to go inside Lenin's tomb.

The catch of this tour was that you had to hand over all possessions (including cameras, wallets and passports) to this little Russian lady - who looked very much like a beggar - to be stored in her big canvas bag. Fifteen minutes into this hour long outdoor russian speaking tour in -20C, it became apparent that the worst aspect to her taking all our belonging was that we were unable to escape the tour till the end if we wanted to see our things again. Seeing the embalmed Lenin was absolutely amazing though and so definitely worth it.

From Moscow, we embarked on our longest train journey of the trip, 77 hours through Siberia to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Finding entertainment on the train was interesting. It certainly wasn't to be found in the passing scenary as the excitement from seeing snow and birch trees wore off after the first 5 hours. Instead we used vodka, purchased off the train station vendors we passed along the way.

Фоываоды Йкмшры Рщццымилз

2007-03-18T06:39:00.000+03:00

Greeting me in St Petersburg was an abundance of snow and -20C daytime temperature. After I managed to come to terms with the amount of clothes I was required to wear in order to survive being outdoors, I found St Petersburg to be a beautiful city complete with frozen canals, pretty parks and awesome Western European style buildings, canals and palaces (including the Hermitage).

St Petersburg was really nothing like I expected. It was very very ornate and appeared quite capitalist. While not many signs were translated from cyrillic to English and very few people spoke English, it was pretty well set up for tourists.

My biggest memory of St Petersburg will be the ice on the footpaths. I very quickly discovered that when coming across ice on pavements, the correct way to behave was not to screech, 'Look Chris! Ice on the pavement!' and start running towards it.

Back in Prague

2007-03-18T06:30:00.001+03:00

Last night, I learned that my friend Jackie checks this site regularly for updates. So, just for her, I thought I would finally put some photos up of my last trip. Thanks for your loyalty to the site Jackie :)

From Leeds, I flew to Prague - one of my favourite cities in the world. It was just as good as I remembered it, only this time it was winter and on the last day, much to my delight, it snowed (see photo of me looking happy with snow in the background).

The delight that I experienced from this snow was very shortlived. As you will see, snow became a theme for most of my holiday and I can now honestly say that I will be very happy if I NEVER SEE SNOW AGAIN!! :)

Kensington of the North

2007-02-02T20:25:00.000+03:00

The last couple of weeks have been markedly different from my time in Qatar! Arrived in London and stayed with Package for a couple of days before heading up to Oxford with ALN to see Andy. The night before was spent in Bromley with Alex and Russ and it snowed so Oxford looked beautiful when I arrived. Despite the snow the weather was quite mild so had a great couple of days up there. I then went back to London to stay a couple of nights with Paula and then headed up to Leeds, or the 'Kensington of the North' (according to Chris)

After hitting Leeds city the first night, Chris, Alex, Russ and I all headed up to the Lakes for a few days. The Lakes being the Lake District in the North West corner of England. The Lakes was better than I had imagined, stayed in a really lovely hotel, visited the small towns during the day and had a dinner at the cosy little pubs at night. Had to say goodbye to Alex and Russ when we left which was very sad.

So now I am hanging out in Leeds for a few more days before setting off for Prague on Monday. Spending a lot of time (and money) preparing for my next trip. Got my passport back today with my Russian, Mongolian and Chinese visas which was a little exciting. Brought some thermals today and stocked up on cuppa soups and two-minute noodles at Asda.

Here are some photos from the Lakes for you mum xxx

Qatar... Halas (and may I never hear that word again)

2007-01-23T00:34:00.000+03:00

And so ends my Qatar experience.

There has been a lot about Qatar that I haven't liked and a lot that I absolutely hated... but I can't deny that it was an experience and an opportunity to meet and work with some very very lovely people.

The last couple of weeks before I left were a bit of a blur with goodbyes and sorting out all those things you need to do when you are leaving a country. In typical Jessica-style I left all the important things like closing bank accounts, returning my car, packing and cleaning my house till the last day but managed to get it all done without too many problems.

I think my biggest achievement is not having a car accident the entire time I have been in Qatar. I did sort of back into a step one day leaving a little dent, but I was able to bribe the car company out of making me pay with some strategically placed Games merchandise throughout the car.

Now I am in London for two weeks before heading up to Leeds and the Lake District and then Prague. From Prague, I start the trans-siberian which I am bursting with excitement about. Number one task in London is to buy warm enough clothes so that I don't complain too much how cold I am in Mongolia where it will be -30C :( Number two task is to try and not get robbed this time!

Some photos below of my last few days in Qatar....

Sepaktakraw

2006-12-19T11:02:00.000+03:00

Orry Visits Melbourne

2006-12-19T10:28:00.000+03:00

A friend of mine sent me these photos ages ago. Orry is the mascot of the Asian Games and a few months ago, he visited Melbourne, went to the MCG, rode a tram and sampled some bacon.

So the Games are all over now. I guess you could say they were a success... It rained everyday after not raining for 8 months previously, the rain was the heaviest the country has seen in 42 years, two volunteers and one athlete were killed and the volunteers are planning a revolt because they thought they were going to be paid at the end.

All of this aside though, have to admit that they were pretty good. I did get to go out to a couple of events. Watched 'Qatar' be beaten in extra time in the basketball. I say 'Qatar' because the team seemed to be made up of africans with amercian accents. Went to the beach volleyball to observe how the men in thobes who stare at me when I don't cover my elbows would handle the ladies in bikinis. They didn't seem to mind too much funnily! A lot of them even brought their sons along for a perve as well. Went to the Sepaktakraw, which is volleyball using your feet. That was amazing. The photos sort of give you an idea of how they play.

But the best event I attended was the Football. Football is definitely the blue ribbon event for Qatar. They reallly love their football and, like with the basketball, have invested a lot of money into nationalising some very good players and coaches in order to do well. They ended up winning Gold and the atmosphere was unbelievable. Was a nightmare trying to get into the stadium though. The semi-final which I went to was scheduled to be played at Al Gharrafa - a 40,000 capacity stadium. A few hours before the game however, the Emir, decides that he wants it moved to Qatar's 'lucky ground' Al Sadd - 12,000 capacity. This would be bad enough but he also decided an hour out from the Game that everyone should be entitled to watch the match, despite whether they had a ticket or not. Obviously, this resulted in chaos with some very agressive crowd control being called in with batons and shields to keep the people back while they attempted to close the gates.

The Opening Ceremony was really really amazing. I will post some photos of that soon. Multi-million dollar budget meant that it will be a long time before any Games puts on something that good again. The Closing Ceremony was almost as impressive.

Now that the Games are over, DAGOC are keeping me hostage in this country over Christmas and New Years and then finally allowing me to leave on January 15. It is going to be a very boring month with very little to do in this country but I am sure I will manage. Counting down the days though!!!

Melbourne Cup Photos

2006-12-02T00:11:00.000+03:00

Uniform and Accreditation Centre

2006-11-28T16:37:00.000+03:00

It has been a very long time since I have updated this site. It has been a hectic couple of months but now, with a couple of days before the start of the Games it is finally slowing down. My impressions of this country and its culture have changed quite a bit with the Uniform and Accreditation Centre being open for the last two and a half months. I have interacted with the most diverse range of people that I think anyone can ever come across.

Some days have been good, most have been bad but all of them have been the source of invaluable experiences. Every single conversation is more bizarre than the last, 80% of people don't speak a word of English and 50% of people you wonder how they even work out how to get out of bed in the morning, let alone work for the Games. Below is a sample of the types of people that we have been dealing with the last few months:

-Vietnamese housecleaners working at the Village who walk only in single files and bow after each sentence

-Indian, Nepalese and Sri Lankan construction workers who do not know a word of English including their name or the company they work for and have had all their identification confiscated from them by their supervisors

-Qatari locals who refuse to wait in a room with people of Asian background and believe throwing their papers at you with a grunt should be enough for their problem to be solved

-Pissed off "Australians-on-tour" who have just arrived in the country and insist on bitching and moaning to you about every experience they have had so far in the country and believe that because they are Australian and I am Australian they shouldn't have to follow any process and Ishould just make things happen for them

-Over-enthusiastic Asian technology contractors who think if they smile and call you "Ma'am" enough you will let them access "All Events"

It has been extremely hard not to become sucked in to the Qatari culture that tolerates racial discrimination as standard and harbours cultural stereotypes and rankings. I think I have gone a full circle and have arrived back at a place where I am more tolerant of people and understanding of their cultures than I have ever been before.

Other than working everyday, there has been a little bit of time in the last couple of months to go out and have fun... something that was inconcievable at this stage of the Commonwealth Games. We had a mock Melbourne Cup about three weeks ago which was a great night.

Tonight, Qatar play their first football match of the Asian Games so I am thinking of heading there. Tomorrow I have my first day off in about three months so I am planning on locking myself indoors for the entire day and forgetting where I am!! It is going to be great!

Lorne Long Weekend

2006-10-16T15:51:00.000+03:00

It has been so long since I last updated my website that I can't really remember how to do it but here goes.

Work is getting very busy now with the UAC being open. Nowhere near the intensity of this time out from the Melbourne Games but still everyday there are new headaches and issues to be solved.

Making it a regular appointment to have a fifteen minute argument with the Qatari Venue Commander each day when I arrive to work. At other venues, the Venue Commander has been known to arrest people so I don't think I can be far off now from that happening but he is the most frustrating person known to mankind.

Apart from that, I am being pleasantly suprised by the enthusiasm of our volunteers and the fact that they are all actually attending their appointments despite being sent a 240 character SMS only 2 days before they are due to arrive. This, compared to the N2RG Volunteer Portal and 30 person Call Centre that was set up in Melbourne 4 months out from the Games.

Enough about work, I am still finding time to have a small life over here despite the one day weekends. A couple of 'weekends' ago a group of us hired out some villas at Qatar's sole beach resort, the Sealine. It was so exciting leaving work that day, jumping in the car with the eskys and driving down to the beach. Really felt like we were heading down to Lorne for a long weekend.

Was a really great night, there was about 10 of us all up. Pulled a cork out of a bottle using a fork and proceeded to entertain myself by posing with it for most of the night. Then decided to take on Russ in a wrestling match and definitely came off second best.

The next day we went for a swim in the resort pool before taking our party back to the roof of our apartment building. It was from there that Fun Joy and Toofy was born. Loved it Matt and Sam!!! xxx

Pimp Shay's Camel

2006-09-27T23:04:00.000+03:00

I am getting more and more behind in keeping this website up to date, I hate to disappoint all my fans so I will try and do it a bit more regularly. A couple of weeks ago now 160 of us headed into the desert for Shay's birthday. This involved us jumping into 32 4WDs driven by a bunch of locals and dune bashing across the desert en route to the random camp site set up near the Saudi border and complete with these huge marquee tents, dance floor and DJ.

It was all so much fun, the dune bashing was definitely one of the highlights. There was also quad biking, sand boarding and swimming in the gulf with an awesome view of Saudi. Will definitely have to go again.

Hope you had an awesome birthday Shay!

Whopper, Copper... Poppa

2006-09-18T23:20:00.000+03:00

Poor WCH (World Cup Hero) Tony Popovic, comes to Qatar to finish up his football career in peace believing no one will know who he is and a whole heap of Australians catch wind of it, form a fan club and turn up to every game with flags, banners, chants and musical instruments.

At the end of the first game he actually came over to say hello and gave Muzza his shirt (which he subsequently put on and stank the car out all the way home)

His games are on most Friday nights and it is great fun to go to. Makes for a small bit of normality in the sand, although the arabic supporters with their megaphones and wailing music are a little odd.

Diggity Dog Grammar School Disco

2006-09-16T07:41:00.000+03:00

QOCBOC2006

2006-09-15T23:04:00.000+03:00

QOCBOC2006 stands for Quarter of a Century Birthday Organising Committee 2006 which I put together to plan my good friend Michael's 25th birthday party. The theme was School Disco and it was just awesome the trouble everyone went to to dress up. About 150 people came and it was one of the best nights I have had since arriving. Hope you had a really really great night Big Dog... you are my favourite friend :)

All You Can Bahrain

2006-09-13T18:50:00.000+03:00

A couple of weekends ago was our last opportunity until mid-December to leave the country. I decided to head to Bahrain for some Michael Jackson spotting. Didn't find Michael Jackson but did have a really awesome time. Didn't see much of Bahrain, the two photos below are really all I saw that was outside.

The weekend can be summed up with three all you can drinks and two all you can eats in a 24 hour period. Needless to say, I had a ball.

How To Amuse Yourself In Doha

2006-08-29T23:16:00.000+03:00

I have been de-toxing nearly two weeks now. It has actually made me ridiculously tired but I feel so much better for it. Going to keep it up till Bahrain. I had a great weekend the weekend before I started though:

On the Thursday night, the touring DJ's returned to Doha, where they play in this massive tent out the front of the Diplomatic Hotel. It is really great as you can very easily forget where you are.

The Friday I headed to the Golf Club with the guys to basically be their beer wench and drive the Buggy round the course stopping to get them beers at the Drive-Thru Bars on the course. Last week, I actually played instead and it appears I have quite the anger management problem on the golf course and know a lot more words than I thought I did.

After driving the Buggy though, Friday night we returned to Garveys, home of the World Cup viewing, for what turned into a massive night. Nearly everyone threw up, Adrian on Kate's foot, and/or passed out at the venue. I think I came off probably the best, I found Nath passed out in some gravel and Kate under a table by the pool so decided I should probably go home before I joined them.

Saturday was, of course, the start of Chelsea's premiership campaign. Found out that Ramada is going to show every Premiership match so went down there to watch it. We played Man City and won convincingly 3-0. First goal of the season.... England's new captain in the eleventh minute followed by Lampard and Drogba.

Are You Going To Apologise To Tim?

2006-08-29T22:05:00.001+03:00

So, a couple of posts ago I shared with you the random email that was sent, completely out of the blue, telling all DAGOC employees that we now had to work 40 hours a week instead of 35 (which we were anyway) and that instead of doing what a normal company would do and adding 1 hour to each day, it was now mandatory to work the 5 extra hours on a Saturday.

Well, since then, the story has continued to get stupider... Already, we were told that we could no longer take any holidays, but this was extended to include the ten "casual days" that we get (that I had been saving) a year. Meaning that the most anyone can ever have off in a row is one day. Obviously they didn't feel like this was restrictive enough so they then decided to also stop giving out Exit Permits, which are required to leave the country, until after the Games.

So basically, we are all now trapped in the country for the next four months. This is the country where you drive for four hours and you have covered every town and beach North, South and West of Doha.

You would think that a little bit of common sense would prevail in enforcing these new rules but you would be wrong. My friend, Mark's sister is getting married in a month, he has worked out a way that he can fly to Australia and back for the wedding and only miss two days of work (would have been only one before they extended the working week). Do you think they will let him go, of course not! Random as!

This weekend is the last weekend that we have the Saturday off and they will be issuing Exit Permits so, as you can imagine, we are all going away while we can. I am heading to Bahrain with a group of people, although two of them nearly couldn't go...

Andy was told that his exit permit would not be approved because, 'What if something happened to him while he was away?' Dan was told that they wouldn't sign her exit permit because, 'There are two many people in her role already going away this weekend.' After spending the last few days pleading their cases, it finally looks now, a day before we leave, like they may be able to come. That is if immigration process the exit permit in time.....

Another quick story, following the new rules, someone thought it might be funny to write an email from the Games mascot Orry apologising for the ridiculous restrictions and signing off as S-Orry. As a result, the entire network was turned off for the day while they scanned the system to work out who was the person that first sent it. Once they worked it out, they put him on the first plane out of the country. Only catch is, they caught out the wrong person and when the right person owned up to it, they told her to stop covering for him. Why cannot I not help to draw parallels with an episode of The Office when Gareth INVETIGATES in his INVETIGATION AND MEETING ROOM. Love it!

With Neighbours Like These...

2006-08-29T21:40:00.000+03:00

One of the best things about being in Doha are my awesome neighbours Cath and Kim. Recently Cath decided to broadcast to the world a new hobo high that I have achieved on her website....

You know you are a lazy bastard when.... You have a shopping trolley in your flat....

I like the shopping trolley, it is growing on me each day. It has been in our flat for about 3 weeks now since we used it to bring up our pre-Ramadan alcohol purchase of 7 slabs, 3 bottles Pimms, 15 bottles of wine, 6 bottles of Vodka and a bottle of Jager. Since then it has been borrowed by numerous people with the same idea and is also handy for storing the empty boxes.

http://cathellis.blog-city.com/read/411784056.htm

Return to Dubai

2006-08-26T15:08:00.000+03:00

Its quite awhile since I was in Dubai but got some more photos, this time from Wild Waadi Water Park....

Below is the view of the Burj from the top of the Water Park's big slide

More Qatari Oddity

2006-08-21T09:47:00.000+03:00

Haven't had time to update my blog for awhile but this is too odd to let slide...
Completely out of the blue, received this email today from the head of DAGOC...

___________________________________________________________________
From: Abdulla K. Al Qahtani
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 9:20 AM
To: All
Subject: Important Announcement: New Working Hours

Dear Dream Team,

I would like to thank you all for your continued commitment, effort and hard work to ensure that DAGOC will be ready to host Your Games. I am aware of so many of you are already working well beyond standard working hours, and it is truly encouraging to see this level of dedication from you.

As you are well aware our collective operational obligations will increase dramatically in the lead-up to the Games and during Games Time. In order to create an environment that will enable this, I have decided to amend our current working schedule by adding only 12 days to our working load. It is merely a 12-day extra but it will help us substantially to ensure the continuity of our achievements of our milestones and reduce the pressure during the week. This amendment is in line with our policy and procedures and particularly clauses 3.1 and 3.2.

3.1 POLICY
As DAGOC is a project based organisation and dynamic in nature, it needs to execute all its assignments by the prescribed deadlines. To this end, all Employees are expected to work extended hours that progressively increase as DAGOC approaches the date of the Games. Management reserves the right to reschedule the working hours from time to time and establish any working hour system as it deems necessary.

3.2 APPLICATION & PROCEDURE
A. NORMAL WORKING HOURS

Working hours are normally 40 (forty) hours per week. Management may establish other working schedules to meet its operational requirements.

From the above you can see that we are currently working 35 hours per week, and the new amendment will bring the working hours to 40 per week.

Accordingly, the new working schedule effective September 1st 2006, is as follows:

Independence Day Holiday
DAGOC Offices will be closed for Independence Day on Sunday, 3 September 2006.

Amended Working Week / Working Hours
Our working week will be amended as follows:

A. Pre Games Period – 1 September – 18 November 2006:
Working Day(s) Working Hours
Saturday 09:00 – 14:00
Sunday – Thursday 07:30 – 14:30
Friday day off

B. Games Time Period – 19 November – 16 December 2006:
Working Days per week 6
Working Hours As operationally required
Days Off per week 1
Your actual working days and working hours will be determined by your specific operational role / venue / FA during Games Time, and will be communicated to you personally by your Director / Manager.

C. Post Games Period (17 December 2006 – End of Service Date):
On completion of the Games we will revert to the standard working week (Sunday - Thursday, from 07:30 – 14:30 daily).

Ramadan Timings
The holy month of Ramadan is expected to start on or about September 24, 2006. During this period our working hours will be:
Day(s) Timing
Saturday 09:00 – 14:00
Sunday – Thursday 08:00 – 14:00
Friday day off

Eid Al-Fitr Holiday
Eid Al-Fitr is expected to fall on 23 October 2006. Accordingly the Eid Al-Fitr break will start on the first day of the Eid and will end on Friday, 27 October 2006. Work will resume effective Saturday, 28 October 2006.

I believe that these changes will be embraced by all, and I look forward to working with you over the next few months to ensure that we achieve all that is required to deliver the Games of your Life!

Thanks once again to all of you, the Dream Team!

Kind regards,

Abdulla K. Al Qahtani
Director General
Doha Asian Games Organising Committee
Tel: +(974) 448 2001
Fax: +(974) 447 9761
www.doha-2006.com

So basically, we have been told that we now have to work one day of our weekend.

Excuse Me Sir, That Is Not Appropriate...

2006-08-08T09:44:00.000+03:00

After over two months of Doha confinment, I was, last weekend, finally given my reprise and permitted to travel to Dubai. Flew out on Thursday night with Andy, Nath and Mary and met Dunlop and Murray at our 5 star hotel - The Sheraton Jumeirah. That night we headed to the Kazbar. Andy had told us about it from last time he was in Dubai and it didn't disappoint, was awesome to sit on the cushions smoking sheesha, drinking cocktails and eating a ridiculous amount of dips and bread. Headed home at about 1am to meet up with Michael who had flown in from Europe.

Next morning headed to the Burj... that 7 star hotel that you see on all the Dubai footage. We had booked in an all you eat brunch from the restaurant that protrudes out of the building over the Arabian gulf.

It was amazing... as most of you know, I have never been the eating-out, restaurant-type so this is a list of all the things that I ate that I had never eaten before....

Wagyu beef
Salmon roe
Oysters
Mussels
Tuna Sashimi
Raw Octopus
Lobster
Swordfish
Crab meat
Caviar

The bill for the meal was HUGE but worth every sent, Michael shouted us all :)

After that we went and relaxed on our 5 star resort beach (if you look closely Michael is wearing a shirt) before Dunlop and I headed to the Madinat Souqs for an awesome view of the Burj at night. Dunlop managed to con our way onto the roof of this amazing hotel where we sat for a few hours taking photos and drinking cocktails. It was an extremely romantic night for my husband and I :)

We were the first back to the hotel so, instead of getting ready to go out, I put on my 5 star hotel robe, and Dunlop, Murray and I started on the drinking games. When the others returned, they seemed to think we were onto a good thing and the night ended with Michael and I, in soaking wet bath robes, locked out of Nath's room at 6am in the morning after we had all broken just about every hotel rule possible, including some that are probably not actually written down, like - 'Don't try to convince the security guard to go swimming in the Arabian Gulf with you at 3am'. I guess if you put 7 ex-backpackers in a 5 star hotel you really shouldn't expect too much more.

The next morning, we headed to the Wild Waadi Water Park. Just got on a inflatable tube and floated around the park all day. It was sooo much fun! Also enjoyed finally getting some sun as you were able to stay outside for more than 5 minutes without passing out from the heat. Well, everyone else managed that... Andy struggled a little..

True to form, we nearly missed our flight back to Doha. We arrived at the airport to hear that our flights check-in was closed but we managed to convince them to let us on - with no help at all from me. I didn't want to go back to Doha so was more than happy to have to stay an extra night!

Technology Facelift

2006-07-30T13:36:00.000+03:00

My website has undergone some minor changes. Of course, completely instigated by myself, Cath had nothing to do with it.

Had a mixed week last week, really wishing I was at home for some of it. Work is going well, a lot of people are on holidays at the moment as we are approaching the holiday cut off point of 20 August. I am not taking any holidays as I want the cash! :) Also, I just had a holiday and most days here feel like I am on holiday! I am planning on just taking a few local weekend trips.

This weekend I am heading to Dubai to meet Michael with Mairz, Andy, Nath, Dunlop and Murray. We are staying 5 star right on the beach and somehow going to try and fit jet skiing, snowboarding, go-karting, brunch at the 'Burge' and a trip to the water-park into the two and a half days we are there. I think we may have to save a couple of things for the next time we go.

Had a quieter weekend just gone. Braved the ever-increasing heat on Thursday night for a couple of drinks on the roof. Slept through most of Friday and then headed over to Alex and Russ' villa Friday night. Watched the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday at the Doha Rugby Club and then finished the weekend at the gym.

Starting to struggle a little with the heat at the moment as the air conditioning in my bedroom and car have both broken. Thankfully I can rely on the freezer-box that is my office to cool me down each day. The humidity has definitely increased and it is 40 - 45C each day... just starting to test my tolerance levels. August is the hottest month of the year and it is supposed to get at least 5C hotter.

Below are a couple of neighbour hood shots, sometimes I feel like I am on the set of Life of Brian:

Behold the Tawouq...

2006-07-26T08:14:00.000+03:00

You may think that publishing a post about my lunch means that things are slowing down in Doha and I have nothing better to talk about. You would be mistaken. The shish tawouq which I order every single day without fail from the shop below is an extremely big part of my life. And, it is only 5QAR... that's like 60 pence!! It is flame grilled marinated chicken wrapped in home-made flat bread with a spicy sauce, lettuce, tomatoe and onion. Mmmmmm! 3 hours till my next one :)

Fishing Trip

2006-07-24T12:50:00.000+03:00

Last weekend, I went on a fishing trip out in the Persian Gulf past 'Banana Island' (thankfully no bananas!). As you can see from the photos, it wasn't the newest of boats but had plenty of character.

I really enjoyed my first proper fishing experience and would definitely go again. The best part was lying on the roof of the boat and, for the first time in ages, actually experiencing a breeze off the water. Clearly, lying on the roof was something I did more than the actual fishing...

Images of Doha

2006-07-23T12:01:00.000+03:00

Despite my latest experience. I am still a huge fan of this place. Some images of Doha are below:

On the day that I arrived, these two buildings caught on fire for the second time in the last month. They have just left them standing in the middle of the cities skyline.

Qatari License Part Three

2006-07-23T10:54:00.000+03:00

The Director was in no hurry, he offered me some food and drink which I refused as I had just eaten in the car. He looked offended and said, 'You drink, no test'. I quickly drank all of the drink and said I was going home now to which he laughed. We were by now best friends. It was great, I would tell him what I thought of him in English and laugh and he would have no idea but say something, probably equally as offensive, back to me in Arabic and laugh.

Eventually, he told me I needed to take a traffic signs test first. I had absolutely no idea what any of the road signs meant and after wrongly guessing about ten he gave me a road signs book to read. The book was in Arabic which was helpful, but he gave me a second go and guessing what the signs meant and amazingly I got it right that time. It was then time to do the test.

I got in the car and he directed me to a big ramp which he told me to drive up. It was the narrowest rampt in the world and marked by these massive steel posts. He laughed and said, 'Don't crash, you fail'. I started to drive up the ramp and stalled about twenty times. I was about to deliberately crash the car into one of the posts out of frustration when I realised that I had left the handbrake on. This was much to the amusement of the Director. I drove to the top of the ramp, performed a perfect handbrake start and then proceeded to reverse down. On the way down I somehow managed to hit two of the steel posts, knocking them out of the ground. The Director found this hilarious.

He asked me to perform a parallel park and then directed me out onto the roads where I drove around with no problems. I did however, manage to get us lost as I couldn't understand what directions he wanted me to go only that at every corner I somehow managed to go the wrong way. When we got back into the yard, I pullled up out the front of the offices and asked the Director how I went. He shook his finger at me and said, 'No good'.

Whilst I believed this was a pretty fair assesment of my test, I had to argue and jumped out the car to follow him into the offices asking how he could possibly fail me after all he had put me through. I was half way into the office when I noticed that the car had rolled about 4 rotations backwards as I had forgotten to put the handbrake on. I ran to catch up with it, opened the door and pulled it on and then ran back to the offices to continue my argument.

Once inside, the Director wrote some things on my application and sent me to another room. I asked the man in the other room if I had failed and he laughed and said, 'Yes'. He stamped my application with red ink and directed me to another room. Heartbroken, I asked the man in the next room what I needed to do now to get my license. He looked at me confused and said that I passed and that I needed to go to the traffic office and pay for my license. I looked back into the room I had just came from furious to find the Director and the other man rolling around on the floor in stiches of laughter. 'That was NOT funny!' I yelled at them. 'Very funny!!!' They responded through their tears, 'Go get license!!'

I left the offices in disbelief at what had happened. Mostly due to the fact that I had actually passed after hitting steel poles on my test!!!! I could not see my random stalker-drivers anyway and had rang Mary and Fran to come pick me up. I quickly went to their car and got in. Fran had just been at the traffic office and had had some issues of her own so had to go to the British Embassy. I went with her with the plan of going from there back to the traffic office. As I didn't have a British passport, the embassy would not let me in so I had to wait, once again, out in the sun, 45C, ridiculous humidity.

An hour and a half later, Fran emerged from the embassy but without what she had gone to get, being told to come back tomorrow. I had a meeting to go to back at work so I got Fran to take me there instead of the traffic office. After my meeting, I caught a another taxi out to the traffic office, about half an hour before it was due to close. I walked in with my pile of paperwork and my red stamp saying that I had passed my test and handed it to a lady behind the counter. She gave it back to me straight away, saying something in Arabic. I tried to ask what she said and she went and found an interpreter who told me that the printers were down so I would have to come back tomorrow.

There was absolutely no way that I was going to walk out of there without a license, which I calmly explained to the interpreter. After a lot of back and forth, he suggested that if I paid now they could give me a paper license which I could use to finally pick up my car and drive with and then exchange it for a proper license the next day. I thanked him and said that, yes, that was what I wanted to do. I paid my money and left, almost with a full Qatari license. The next day, I drove back in my brand new car and collected my actual license without any problems.

So that was my story, very happy it is all over and that I am now able to drive my new car around Qatar knowing that I earnt my license more than anyone else. Also, very wary of the other drivers who have licenses but could have hit steel poles on their test!

Qatari License Part Two

2006-07-23T10:06:00.000+03:00

I got to the Al Rayya driving school at about 2pm. It wasn't open but there were plenty on Indian men hanging around to wait with me. There were no seats and no shade so I stood out the front amongst 50 or-so men for about an hour and half until someone arrived and opened the front door. I went to the front desk and told them I was why I was here. They directed me to other other side of the yard to some offices. The men in the offices told my that the Director wasn't here yet so I would have to wait. Once again, no seats, no water, no shade, 45C, ridiculous humidity and lots and lots of Arab and Indian men staring at me.

After two hours, the Director finally arrived. By this stage, I thought I was going to pass out and did not really feel in the right state to be taking a driving test, in a manual car, driving for the first time on the right side of the road with the crazy Qatari drivers. The Director took me into a room to pay for the test. He turned on his computer, then got on the phone and spoke to someone for about 15 minutes. He then got off the phone walked into another room and returned with his interpreter who told me the computers were offline so I would have to come back tomorrow afternoon

I told the interpreter to tell the Director that I had been standing in the sun for the last 4 hours and that I would be taking the test today. He said that this was impossible. I said that this was bordering on ridiculous and that you do not require a computer to do a test. The interpreter told me that I had to be put in the system to take the test. I told the interpreter that the Director should have put me in the computer when I was at the traffic school. The interpreter told this to the Director who laughed, shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Inshallah'. This tipped me over the edge and I told the interpreter to tell the Director that I would come back tomorrow, first thing in the morning and that if he failed me, I would kill him. The interpreter said he couldn't say that to the Director but I insisted and so he did. The Director laughed and the interpreter said they would see me tomorrow at the Doha Driving School.

The next morning I caught a taxi out to the Doha Driving School. The taxi driver took me to the Qatar Driving School but insisted it was the same thing. Once inside, a man in military uniform behind the desk informed me that it was not the same thing and that the Doha Driving School was a different driving school quite a way out of town. He said that he was actually on his way out there so could give me a lift. I decided it was safe enough getting in the car with a man who obviously worked for the Ministry of Interior so gratefully accepted his offer.

As we were about to leave, a man wearing the Qatari, white thobe also hopped in the car. They both seemed friendly enough, the man in the thobe didn't speak much English but he got the man in the military uniform to translate for him. He began by just making general conversation courtesy of the military man, 'Where are you from?' 'How long have you been here?' 'Do you have family here?' I answered all the questions for him. Next thing, they pulled up out the front of a restaurant and ordered a whole heap of food and drink for me. Not wanting to look rude I thanked them and ate and drank while they continued to drive.

Then they asked me what my phone number was. I asked why they needed to know and they said they just did. I gave them a fake number and thought that that would be the end of it. The man in the thobe got out his phone and rang the number and when my phone didn't ring he ordered the military man to pull over. He grabbed my leg and yelled at me in Arabic, the military man translated that I should not have given him a fake number. Terrified, I tried to explain that they had just misunderstood me and gave them another number. I then quickly turned off my phone and said that there was no point them trying to ring me again as my phone was flat. Amazingly, they believed me and started driving again.

The questions then started getting more and more personal. They gave me a piece of paper and said to write down my address. Then they wanted to know who I worked for, what department etc etc. They also wrote down their phone number for me and said that I had to call them at 12noon that day so that they could pick me up and take me to lunch at their house. I explained that I would have to work and they said that they would wait for me to finish my driving test and take me to work. The whole time, the man in the thobe kept rubbing my leg and trying to hold my arm.

Eventually we arrived at the driving school which was in the middle of nowhere. I tried to get out of the car but they both grabbed on to me and made me promise I would call them at 12noon. I said I would but then they said they didn't believe me and they would wait just in case. They eventually let me out of the car and I went into the office. I explained who I was there to see and once again, I was directed to the other side of the yard. As I walked across the yard, the two guys followed me closely in their car.

On the other side of the yard was madness with men everywhere and no women. They were all shouting and pushing each other trying to get the man behind a window to take their paperwork. A military man came out and grabbed me and took me into a small office in the back where he said I could wait for the Director. After about half an hour of sitting in this room with a Qatari man who looked about 150 years old and kept poking me with his cane, the Director arrived.

And, I guess that will do for Part Two!

Qatari License Part One

2006-07-23T08:53:00.000+03:00

I have been in Doha for two months now and it is definitely feeling like home. Last week, however, I was reminded again that I am in the Middle East whilst attempting to get my Qatari Drivers License.

The short version is that it took me a long time and involved two days off work, about 150QAR in taxi fares, becoming best friends with the Director of Qatari Traffic and Patrol, an assault and an extreme case of dehydration. If you are happy with the short version, scroll to the end now. The long version is as follows:

Upon receiving my Residency Permit three weeks ago, I submitted photocopies of my Australian license, RP, visa, passport and three passport photos to the immigration department so that they could organise my license. The process is that they collate all the paperwork together, get Directorate sign off and then organise for you to go to the Qatar Traffic and Patrol offices with the paperwork the following Monday to take an eye test and purchase your Qatari license. Simple enough.

The first Monday passed and I was not told to join the others on the bus to the traffic office. I went and saw Immigration who could not find any of my paperwork. I was a little annoyed but it wasn't the end of the world so I went and got three more passport photos, photocopied my documents again and gave it all to immigration.

The following Monday passed without me hearing anything so I went and saw them again. I am currently working about out of town, so each visit required waiting in the heat to hail a taxi and a 20 minute trip to DAGOC headquarters. Once again they informed me that they had lost my application. I explained to them that this was the second time and it was impossible that they could really have lost it so I would give them an hour to find it and then I would be back. I came back after an hour and they had found it but it was yet to receive sign off from the Director. They promised they would get sign off and that I would be able to go on the bus to the traffic office on the following Monday.

On the Sunday afternoon, I thought I would check and make sure they still had all my paperwork and that it had been signed off. Unsuprisingly, it hadn't but they promised it would be by tomorrow morning in time for me to go to the traffic office the next morning. Based on this, I went to the car dealership and got myself a car, promising to come by tomorrow afternoon with my license to pick it up.

Monday morning at 8am, I thought I would just double check that it had been all signed off and that I was right to get on the bus in the next half an hour. Suprise, suprise! They had lost the application. The immigration department seems to be made up only of these two very young Qatari girls with clearly no prior administrative experience. Neither of them ever actually turn their computers on and they have piles of random paperwork and passports spread out over four desks, a few bookshelves and a cupboard. When they tell you that they have losts your application, they smile at you and shrug their shoulders saying the excuse, 'we have lots of paperwork, sometimes we lose it'. These are the people that you have to hand your passport in to when you first arrive to get your RP.

Needing to get my license ASAP now that I had gotten a car, I caught a taxi home, got three more passport photos, copied all my documents again and went back to immigration. I then sat with them and told them to put together my application and get it signed off while I waited. Within a couple of hours I got my license application and so caught a taxi to the traffic office.

The reason they organise a bus and chaperone to take all DAGOC employees to the traffic office to get their license is that it is the most random, unorganised place in all of Doha. No one there speaks English, there are no lines, just hundreds of Indian-looking men pushing and shoving to get to the front of a line that most of them don't even know the purpose of. I joined in the lines and managed to get directed to where I needed to get my eye test done. I passed the eye test and proceeded back down stairs to pay for my license feeling very proud of myself.

I handed my paperwork to one of the women working behind the counter. She looked at my photocopies, looked at me and said, 'Expired'. I looked at where she was pointed and noticed that my Australian license had expired a few days ago. 'Okay', I said, 'What do I need to do now?' She looked at me blankly for awhile and then gave me back my papers and said, 'School, school'. I informed her a few times that there was no way I was enrolling in driving school until she walked away and found someone who could speak some English. He directed me to a man in a room up the hall, who then directed me to the Director of the Traffic and Patrol arm on the Qatari Ministry of Interior. The man sitting in the room yelled at me in Arabic and directed me back to the original lady who went and got her interpretor again who took my back to the Director's office and told me to wait ten minutes and the Director would return.

Half an hour later the Director returned. I explained that my license had expired only a few days ago and that I was a very good driver and shouldn't have to go to driving school. To which he said in broken English, 'License expired, driving school, 15 lessons then you get your license.' So I said, 'No, I am not going to go to driving school, my license only just expired', to which he said, 'Driving school, 15 lessons'....

This went back a forth for about ten minutes with the other random Qatari's who were sitting around the office watching BBC News laughing at my agitation and telling me to move out the way of the TV. After ten minutes, the Director said to me, 'I will make deal, you get one test, you pass, you get license, you fail, no license. You test with me'. Happy to be avoiding lessons I agreed and he told me to meet him a Al Rayya Driving School in 2 hours.

That will do for part one of my attempt to get a driving license.

On a lighter note, below are some products that I have noticed in my local supermarket:

The above product is clearly my favourite, after all these years of trying to obtain a tan, I come to Qatar where they want to be pasty-white so much that you can actually buy whitening cream. It is huge business with hundreds of different brands. I have definitely found my home!

Golfing Anyone?

2006-07-16T12:11:00.000+03:00

Started my golf lessons on Thursday. The Doha Golf Club is really really lovely, just about the only greenery in all of Qatar. My instructor, Dave from England, was really great and didn't seem to care that we spent most of the time taking photos. It was a beginners lesson so thankfully, I don't think he was expecting much from me. When I hit it good it made a lovely noise which became very addictive. When I hit it wrong, I jarred my wrist and gave myself a blister on my thumb, which became fairly frustrating very quickly. The best part was definately driving the golf buggy. There are 3 bars spread out amongst the 9-hole course that you can drive your buggy up to and grab a drink while you play. How fancy is that!

I have lessons every Thursday for the next 6 weeks, then I think I will be ready to go with the guys. That is if they let me go, I have been told that due to the way I dress on the golf course I am too embarrassing.... yes, those are Commonwealth Games volunteer pants. I wrote the policy on how the uniform was to be a legacy so the least I can do is my bit!

And yes, I did end up hitting this ball..... very far too!

World Cup Final

2006-07-11T08:55:00.000+03:00

After controlling when I went out and when I slept for one whole month, the phenomenom that was the World Cup came to an end on Sunday. For the last time, we made the trek to Garveys, this time with the French and Italians.

The Italian celebrations at the end were great value, however by far the greatest entertainment came from the Zidane red-card. Games such as the ones below have been entertaining me all week:

http://files.blog-city.com/files/A04/69537/p/f/zaydan.gif

But I did learn that there is an unfunny and painful side to the incident when Mariz tried to recreate it using Andy and I as props. The next day we both had very sore heads.

So where to from here.... I have been getting involved in the Tour de France this last week but it doesn't quite compare. Qualification for the Football Asian Cup 2007....

Bunnings Warehouse

2006-07-11T08:34:00.000+03:00

Last week saw me pass a major Qatari milestone as I received my Residency Permit and passport back. Whilst I now need an exit permit to be allowed to leave the country, my RP does mean that I can now get a Qatari drivers license, open a bank account and get my Liquor License.

To get your liquor license, you have to go to the Qatar Distribution Centre, a warehouse out of town in the middle of nowhere and the only place in Qatar that you can buy alcohol. Mairz and I quickly spent my monthly liquor allowance of 8% of my salary in one visit. Inside the QDC it is like the Bunnings Warehouse of off-licenses. Lots of fun! Next month we get triple our allowance in order to prepare for Ramadan.

This would be me, Jessica Stein - Qatari resident, and my trolley.... with about $AUS 500 to last us this month.

Qatari Curry

2006-07-06T08:38:00.000+03:00

Cocky in the knowledge that we think we can now cook, Mary and I decided, for our weekly rotational dinner, to serve the boys the most complicated lamb curry known to man last night.

The first time I read the recipe I was more than a little confused, but Mary assured me she had it downpacked. However, reading it again at the start of the week, we decided it was best to have a practice run before the main event. The idiots that we are, we ended up inviting more people over for the practice.

We gave it a couple of days and when no one died, we decided we were ready for the boys. The only improvement was to add some chilli. Went to our local supermarket where they have fresh spices for very very cheap! Four hours later, our second lamb curry was ready.

Explanation of the visors: Mary and I start our golf lessons on Thursday so we went shopping for outfits :) I also spent four hours the other night for gym clothes to wear to the gym I have joined. I have all the important things sussed!

Villa Fiesta!

2006-07-03T10:56:00.000+03:00

Friday night, headed to Nan's new villa for their housewarming party. Their villa was amazing, kind of showed me where I could have been living if I hadn't have joined in with all the other lazy people and taken the first place that was offered to me! The theme for the party was Mexican Fiesta.

Cath brought with her her new Singstar Playstation game so the night turned more into a Karaeoke party for people wearing funny hats. Mairz was hogging the microphones until I told her she was embarrassing me. I think it was her third attempt at impersonating Belinda Carlisle that tipped me over the edge on that one! We were then able to entertain ourselves by impersonating Mary.

Middle Eastern Clubs

2006-07-03T10:37:00.000+03:00

Thursday night after work started with a few quiet drinks up on the apartment roof and ended with Mary impersonating Shawn of the Dead in the apartment hallway at 4am. In the middle somewhere, Fran and Weena bullied Mary and I into coming with them to Paloma, one of the only nightclubs in Doha ("We've got ten years on you spazzies, stop your whining and let's go!"). Once again, I was one of only a handful of women amongst a room full of men (women in this country really don't get out much). It is incredible how forward Middle Eastern men are!!! Mary was lucky enough to score four business cards... one from a guy who's job title was World Champion Kick Boxer. Apparently he had photos in his camera to back that up!

Chappelli Does Doha!

2006-07-02T12:39:00.000+03:00

What, you may ask, was Ian Chappell doing in Doha, Qatar?

What am I doing in Doha, Qatar!?!?!?

Was forced to take another night off watching the football (there were no games on) so went and listened to Ian Chappell speak at one of the hotels in Doha. He was extremely funny and interesting and could afford to be a little candid... being in the desert and all! Being one of only about three females in the room amongst 100 or so men, he was more than happy to meet me after his speech and have his photo taken.

Mairz's New Glasses

2006-07-02T12:29:00.000+03:00

I think Matt, Mairz and I would have managed to entertain ourselves on Monday night even if the football hadn't been on. Mary was the first amongst us to spend her pay on something unnecessarily expensive however, the entertainment it provided us with proved to be priceless!

When the Dream was Over - AUS v ITA

2006-07-02T11:25:00.000+03:00

So this is how we do things in Doha. At 6pm on Monday, 26 June 2006, every Australian living in Qatar converged on Garveys for what looked to be our nations' greatest sporting moment since... well, let's be honest, Australia hasn't had any for quite awhile now. Our destiny, however, was not fufilled, cruelly taken from us by the Italians with, what was, the last kick of Australia's tournament. In the depths of our disappointment, it was unanimously decided that there was nothing left to do in our depression but drink....

And of course, how could we not celebrate in keeping with the culture of the country we are living in.... Very bad taste, PK!

So, with Australia out, I've jumped on board supporting England (or Chelsea with Gerrard). May the World Cup never end....

Fran's Birthday

2006-07-02T10:57:00.000+03:00

I took a break from watching people kick around a ball on a screen for my friend Fran's birthday party. It was lovely to all go out for dinner together. I think there was about 40 of us in the end. Fran is a very popular lady...

Happier days - AUS v CRO

2006-07-02T10:27:00.000+03:00

My life at the moment completely revolves around watching the World Cup. Whether its Australia, England or any other teams that sounds interesting to watch, I have spent just about every night for the last three weeks at one of the four-or so pubs around Doha.

AUS v CRO

AUS 2 : CRO 2 Matt celebrates....

And Simon and I ponder what is to come...

The Accomodation Conundrum

2006-06-29T10:21:00.000+03:00

The Guesthouse:

The guesthouse was a great little place. Actually more like a mini-mansion. Stayed there for three days with Fee and Alex and had a great time! Then, I was given the keys to my apartment and told to move within the hour.

The Apartment:

The apartment was amazing. Absolutely huge, brand new, with the most amazing furniture. I had a super-king sized bed!! All my friends from the Games were also living in building so there were lots of dinners and parties. I had my birthday dinner at the apartment where I cooked (with the HUGE help of Alex and my lovely neighbours Cath and Kim) for about 40 people. We also had a roof party, but that went a little wrong when the roof was subsequently locked and the security guard who was on duty got fired and deported back to Nepal.

Then, after being there for two weeks, we got the knock at the door telling us that the building was going to fall down and we needed to take our valuables and go to the hotel up the road.

The Hotel:

The hotel was 4 1/2 star and absolutely awesome. While it wasn't great going back to living out of a suitcase, Alex and I managed to scam the honeymoon suite and with 3 free meals a day, my own robe and slippers, couldn't complain at all! The best thing was that the only way to get our clothes washed was to "risk our lives" and head back into the condenmed apartment building for some "extreme washing".

The New Apartment:

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and after a week, we were moved into our brand new apartments. The new apartment is exactly the same as the old one which is a good and bad thing. Good as we have the same great furnture. Bad, as the big crack in the hallway reminded us, because it was therefore built by the same people who built our last structurally unsafe building. Alex moved in for a couple of nights to the new apartment but has now moved into her villa with her boyfriend. We had a dinner for her to say goodbye. Halfway through the fire alarm started ringing and we had to evacuate. All part of the fun.

I am now living with Mary, which is great. We have also just worked out that we can both cook so it may turn out to be even better than when we have lived together previously.

Doha, Qatar

2006-06-29T10:18:00.000+03:00

Welcome to Doha, Qatar....

After spending six weeks in Europe waiting for my employment contract to come through. I finally arrived in this little sandpit. I am working for the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee in Workforce Accreditation however, my actual role will be very similar to the one I had in Melbourne at the Commonwealth Games.

Berlin and Tallinn

2006-06-28T14:21:00.000+03:00

After my cruise, turned out I needed to fill in more time so decided to go back to Berlin. Berlin is one of my favourite cities due to the fact that the whole place is a living museum to both WW2 and the Cold War. It was also great to see Berlin a week or so out from the World Cup (which has subsequently taken over my life) with all the preparations and excitement building.

With still more time to fill in, I headed up to Tallinn, Estonia. When I was in Europe last time, it was a place that I really really wanted to go to but being a little out of the way, never got the opportunity. It really didn't disappoint me. The old town is now a heritage site meaning it is pretty much a picture perfect medieval town; similar to Prague in both its history and architecture (and prices!!).

Big Orange Boat

2006-06-28T13:56:00.000+03:00

As I had not a lot else to do whilst waiting for news about my job in the sandpit, I decided to splash out and go on a cruise through the South of France and the Italian Riviera. I managed to convince Karl to come with me and then got him out of the pub just in time to catch our flight to Nice to start our cruise. The cruise went from Monoca to Genoa to Portofino to San Remo and then back to Nice.

Highlights:

Portofino, portofino, portofino
Getting a tan (over the top of my fake tan)
Walking the Monoco Grand Prix track

Lowlights:

Paying $AUS20 for a bottle of beer in Portofino
San Remo "beach"
Our bright orange ship with bright orange rooms, including a bright orange shower - That's EasyCruise!

London

2006-06-28T10:53:00.000+03:00

So, I know that it is quite awhile now since I was there but thought I would start from the start of my latest adventure.... London. I was in London for about 6 weeks all up. My lovely friend the Package looked after me for most of my time there, especially with carrying my bags for me....

Also spent some time with my friends Dean and Paula. Hopefully, I have been able to work out how to attach photos and you can see some of them below.

Tekko-Jess

2006-06-28T10:29:00.000+03:00

Intergeek to the max! So instead of sending countless emails, I am going to try this webpage thing. Not sure how I will go, has taken me over an hour to work out how to put this on the page....