I'm still recovering from the attack of the Turkish food, but things seem to have stabilized internally. Stayed up at the office late last night, getting a little paperwork done, but mainly just being online and doing iChat with my family. It sure is nice to be able to see and hear them. I tried to stop by Landmark Mall on the way home, but Fridays are "family only" days at the mall. Pretty neat concept, unless you happen to be in gastrointestinal distress. This morning, I went on a shopping sortie, and managed to find the Lulu home center, which was sort of Sears-ish, on a smaller scale.
Trying to figure out the local version of Pepto was the number one priority. The only thing I could find was some gnarly Australian stuff called "Gastrogel" that's made from dried aluminum hydroxide. Sounds scary, looks scary, smells pepperminty. Bring me some Pepto if you come for a visit, and my guts will love you. I also visited several shops downtown, just exploring, and managed to pick up some sundries and the makings of a few spaghetti dinners. I might even be able to invite some folks to supper, once I can eat again. Got honked at by several Qataris...they really like their horns over here. Driving is definitely, shall we say, less structured than in the States. But it's really not so bad, once you get your brain around the concept of cooperative driving, which is embodied in the roundabouts. With traffic lights, a preordained order is imposed upon you as a driver...with roundabouts, you have to cooperate with the other drivers to create just enough order to get everybody around the circle in one piece. With greater freedom comes greater responsibility, all the way down to traffic control. I think our founding fathers would have preferred roundabouts. :)
I had a good visit with Mr. Omar, who is the owner's representative in our housing compound and is basically a site manager. He's from Syria, and we discussed Colin Powell's upcoming visit to Syria, and our desire to finish up the war in Iraq and get out of there as soon as possible. He has three grown children, his oldest daughter is in college. He's going to get me in touch with the owner to discuss my wishes for some improvements--primarily, a shade canopy over the back patio, and some irrigation for greenery, so my family won't fry in the sun out there and we can better utilize the space. Mr. Omar showed me around the club, too. They have a fitness trainer on staff, a gentleman from Bulgaria, and we talked about Bulgaria a little.
It turns out that I can call the reception desk anytime to schedule maintenance, house cleaning, or whatever--which is good to know. A thorough house cleaning by a two-man crew costs QR 70, or about $20. They're building a convenience store in the compound, which should be open in a month or two, inshallah (everything's "inshallah" over here--"lord willing"--basically, they understand James 4:13-17 better than most Christians, and it does tend to slow things down considerably, which can be a mixed blessing).
Mr. Omar also told me how to get up onto the roof, so I borrowed a ladder from the maintenance guys and climbed up there to check out the potential for setting up a wireless shot to Education City. In the process, I replaced the lid on the cistern up there--somebody had left it open, no telling how long ago. Nothing like a bit of sand in your water, eh? I need to get a whole-house water filter or something. I used my new broom to sweep all the sand off my front porch, so it looks a little better now. Also replaced the batteries in the doorbell, so it sounds like a doorbell now instead of a dying cat. They're coming tomorrow to replace some light bulbs and clean the house. Inshallah, I'll be able to have the house shipshape by the time my family gets here!
Posted by jon at October 25, 2003 11:20 PM