sarah vs the world

Not a video game, not a comic, not a band, but an amazing adventure continues...

Friday, July 21, 2006

Arrival in Doha

So my adventures begin...

Congratulations. You are one of the lucky few who I have included in my updates about my adventures overseas. I can imagine that there won't be a lot of them, but probably one every couple of weeks and probably less frequent as I get busier in anticipation for the actual games themselves. If you do not wish to be included, send me an email. I won't be offended. I will even endeavour to write back to you personally, should you reply.

First of all, if you aren't aware I have started my job in Doha, Qatar working on the opening and closing ceremony for the Asian Games. To give you an idea of where it is click on http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/middleeast.html

Its a tiny purple country near Saudi Arabia overlooking the Persian Gulf. Currently the high temperature is approx 113F/45C with the low temp around 95F/35C. I arrived here after flying from Melbourne to Sydney to Singapore to Bahrain and then on to Doha. It took approx 24 hours and a lot of patience, but I am here safe and sound.

The place is dry, desolate and dusty. It kind of looks like something out of the prequels in Star Wars. It is also one giant construction site. As soon as I get my camera up and happening, photos will soon follow. I can't really describe it, but you will see for yourselves soon.

My apartment is very nice. Don't really feel like I can sit on the couch because it looks so expensive. Thank goodness there is air conditioning everywhere. In fact, at the moment, it is almost too chilly in our office. I am living with a guy I went to NIDA with (Dave Wilkinson for those of you who know him), and that is proving to be a great help for adjusting to the culture shock. He has been here since January and knows about most stuff I need.

Work will initially start off a bit slow, but as I say that I am already been receiving emails about how I will need to have things accomplished by the end of this week! I am scheduling coordinator for the stadium which basically is a fancy term for spreadsheet girl. Its geeky but I love all that paperwork stuff, so I am sure it will be fun. Very similar role to what I did in Melbourne on the Commonwealth Games.

I am heading into town tonight to do a bit of shopping etc. I am sure that will be interesting. The culture is different being a Muslim state, but I am not required to fully scarf up or anything. Just be a bit conservative and probably to usually be with a guy when I am in public. I woke up a bit in the middle of the night last night to the sound of people praying in the streets at 3:30am. This will all become a bit more customary in time, but at the moment, it is crazy but educational.

As far as my safety goes, I know that is my employer's primary concern and the so much planning has gone into what to do should anything happen. We are all watching the situation in Lebanon quite closely, but again it is still relatively far removed from us as you can see on the map. There is a US Embassy and Army Base here and I will also be on the Australian Embassy in Dubai's list so I am sure there will be nothing to worry about. If anything happens, I will be home before you even realise something is happening!

So that is about it for the moment. My postal address is (would love to get some mail!) It takes approx 2-3 weeks from Australia and 2 weeks from the US, apparently.

Sarah Grubb
David Atkins Enterprises
PO BOX 24329
Doha
State Of Qatar

mobile: +974 584 8664 - expensive to call but text messages aren't so bad.
Skype: sjgrubb (should be on a lot so add me to your list and let me know your ID as well) If you don't have Skype, sign up and talk for free on www.skype.com Its amazing.

Hope everyone is well. I will be in touch again soon!

Lots of Love,
Sarah

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Hey
It's been over a month!
How about an update?!

4:24 pm  

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