One Month In

One month.  We have been in Doha for a whole month!  The transition has had its ups and downs, but we are SO grateful to the staff at Awsaj and everything they've done to help us get settled here in our new home.  So- Here is a brief recap of our first month abroad. :) 

Week 1.  

We were picked up from our homes and taken to the school every morning.  It felt early because we were still recovering from jet-lag, but having somewhere to be turned out to be very beneficial.  In the first few days, we were taken to the mall to do basic shopping at a wal-mart type store and get cell phones, we got our laptops, we opened bank accounts, and the amazing Mohammed started the mammoth task of helping us get our drivers licenses.  We got our eye exam, and took the written portion of the driving test. We were SO blessed to have members of the administration here to help cart us around the city to all the places we needed to go, and to have the amazing HR staff who worked so hard to get us here, and then to instantly begin processing the paperwork for our RPs.  (Residency Permits)  We were also incredibly blessed to have breakfast and lunch provided.  And the lunch was amazing!  By the time we got home, all we wanted for dinner was cold cereal.  And that turned out well for us, because grocery shopping has been very challenging!

Week 2

The second week in Doha we began to start thinking about school stuff.  We got assigned our classrooms, started some technology training, and I started some trainings on the direct instruction programs that are used in this school.  

In the middle of all of our school trainings, we also had our medical test and our driving test.  The medical test consisted of all of the exact same tests we had to complete in the US prior to coming to Qatar.  Go figure.  We had to be screened for TB, HIV, and Hepatitis.  Like almost everything the government does here, the men and women were separated.  We took 2 buses over to the medical clinic.  The men were done and back on the bus in 45 minutes.  The women waited for 45 minutes before they even began calling numbers, and then we ran into some more difficulties.  The women finished about 3 hours later.  It's a good thing the buses had air conditioning!  The driving test was an adventure in and of itself!  Again, men and women were separated.  I went with the women early one morning.  We were picked up at 4:30am so that we could be at the driving school by 5am.  We were ushered into the waiting room where we proceeded to wait until 8am.  Then they started calling women out to the cars to take the driving test.  I was in one of the first cars called.  There was another teacher from my school in the car, as well as the middle school principal's wife.  We left the school and drove a few blocks away to an area with a short straight road, a roundabout at each end, and one roundabout in the middle.  Let me stop here and talk about roundabouts.  They are crazy.  The first day we were here I was sure I was going to die.  3 lanes, cars coming in and out, lots of honking, craziness.  Now that I understand the rules, it makes more sense.  But the first few days of watching cars just hop in and out right in front of other cars was crazy stressful.  Anyway- back to the test.  The road wasn't very busy, but there were lots of construction trucks around.  Our test was just to drive up and down the street 1-2 times and flip around at the roundabouts on the end.  About 1 minute of driving... if that.  I was the last driver.  After I completed the roundabout course, the policewoman began to direct me back to the school.  Okay.  I'm including this weird little diagram to help you truly envision what this crazy policewoman asked me to do next.  

We're driving along that nice straight road on the top going in the direction of the arrow.  We need to go right to get back to the school.  So, she tells me to go right.  However, where the red star is- where you should go- the road was closed.  So I kept driving about 20 feet, When I hit the blue star, traffic from the road I wanted to be on started merging into my lane.  The policeman had me stop, and told me to do a u turn right there.  Into oncoming traffic.  With taxis and buses flying around the corner.  I hesitated... Do you know how illegal and unsafe that is!!  She became very frustrated with me, demanding that I make the turn.  I waited for an extra large bus to pass, and we darted into oncoming traffic.  It was one of the more terrifying moments of my life!  But guess what- we made it unscathed!  I then noticed the speed limit sign (50km) and began driving along the road back to the school.  The officer kept telling me "speed! speed!"  I went a little faster, and then asked her what the speed limit on the road was.  She replied, "I don't know.  Speed!!"  So I ended up cruising down to the driving school at over 100km per hour.  Yeah.  I passed my driving test and left the school at 11:00 with my temporary license in hand!  :)  

Week 3

The rest of the staff showed up and we started working more intensely on getting ready for school to start.

Week 4

First week of school.  More on that later.

I have so many other fun adventures to post in here, as well as stories about our awesome new ward, but they will have to wait until the next blog post.  I'll leave you with a very random picture of Steve walking across the bridge that leads from our housing compound to the clubhouse and grocery store across the street.  I cannot even convey how hot it felt when this picture was taken.  The humidity has gotten better since we first got here, but the first few weeks were miserable!  I'll be back with more soon.  :)