Hi All,
Firstly apologies for the late blog.....so now its here you can stop harassing me for it :-) !! Its good to see people showing an interest tho so thank you, I wont disappoint! From now on I'm going to do a weekly + specials....I'll aim to do one every Thursday at the end of the week here so please.....be patient....they will come!
So anyway where to begin!? What a manic, interesting, depressing, confusing, chaotic, life juggling week I have had here! The work has been coming in faster than a fat man at a donut sale! Whatever happened to breaking the new kid in easy? I mean I expected to be making tea and coffee and reading old reports....not here tho! I have a lovely Indian gentleman named "Indian Man....yeah i have forgotten it..whoops" who makes me tea and coffee whilst I have actually got to do this thing called.....w.....wo.....wor...work(cah that was hard to get out),! I have never had such a long working week in all my life, I kinda wanna go back to Black's I mean sell some shoes, throw in a tent & clock off wow I can handle that!
Here I have been correcting the English of reports no problem, but on day two in the office...I was given the "challenge" of writing a preliminary design report to be submitted to ASHGHAL the governing authority! So boss says: write these design reports of which I have no idea of the template, no idea of the content, no idea of the stakeholders, no idea of the working practices, no idea of anything at all....so what do I say.....challenge accepted! So yeah turns out that didn't go too well but meh it's a work in progress!
On top of that on Thursday (that's friday for you English folk) I get my responsibilities stepped up again! Now I am writing a tender for works on a new infrastructure project here in the center! I love it, I've been here 5 minutes and already given all this responsibility! With no safety net to fall back on, I'm rapidly learning not to balls up!
I keep being dragged into project meetings now too, my first meeting was a delight, to sum it up, things aren't going to plan so naturally there were fist fights, furniture flying through the air, windows broken.....or at least that what I wanted to believe was happening! Truth be told, I had no idea what was going on....so naturally I found myself losing interest after the first hour, but then I had a moment of discovery....a moment that will change my life forever! I discovered how to yawn....without moving your mouth or showing facial expression....I discovered how to yawn...wait for it...inside!!!!! A skill that is going to benefit me for years to come.
Further to this, they also gave me some light reading to do this weekend...yeah its only a 200 page design guide! Good job I've got no life out here at the moment isn't it.......HURUMPH!
There are some great people around the office tho, and I had the weirdest conversation with Helen the other day! Turns out that she was taught by one of my lectures going back 30 years ago! Good old Les Hamill, and better yet another one of my lectures did his first work placement under my boss too! What are the chances!
Outside of work things are still as alien here as they were from day one, excluding the daily dance with death to cross the road, I keep noticing weird things that make me aware I am not home. I mean walking about today I actually saw a Qatari man walking his pet falcon...or least that is what I have been made aware it was!!! I mean walking a rabbit is one thing, but a falcon,..OK!
Being the holy day today as well, I swear there was a call to prayer every hour. It was inspiring to see so many people, in dress, constantly making their way to the mosques to sing and pray! It really gave me a sense of respect for the level of devotion they have for what they believe in....something missing in the UK these days!
Sadly, I can still still not find a decent supermarket ANYWHERE! I tried Al Meera on Tuesday, a 45 minute walk from my apartment, where I managed to by a SIM card for my Galaxy S III that guess what....didn't fit! So another wasted trip! I tried Family Food Mart today which again, was about a 30 min walk away, and ended up paying £9 for 500g chicken breast! I'll cut my own breasts off a chicken for that...or maybe ill ask that Qatari if I can buy his falcon! I mean £9 is mad, yet then again you pay £1 for 2.25L bottle of coke? I don't get the pricing here at all. its like they have just given a blind man riding a goat a price gun and said go nuts!
Oh and FYI if your ever in the area McDonalds here is AMAZEBALLS! Never thought I'd say that but its half the price, twice the flavor and if you go large, you'll be content for a week! My heart nearly stopped when she pulled out the bucket of a cup and filled it with coke; she even used a shovel for the chips!
I am starting to miss some home comforts now , I mean tonight I had my first Skype dinner date! And it was amazing! But it isn't quite being there in person nor anywhere as rewarding after sunset..........bad times! I also find myself craving a good British pint of tribute and well Yorkshire puddings randomly, not gonna be a weekend without the weekend roast.
Tomorrow is going to be my first tourist outing to the city, going to try the Souiq Waqif and cornice waterfront so hopefully that will give some stories to tell!
On Sunday, I have to have a medical test to prove I don't have TB or HIV or I get deported........! So if you see me soon, stay clear because I may be in a murderous mood!
All I know is that this has been a VERY long week and although I'm looking forward to next week, I dread to think how much more intense its going to be!
Anyway I need my daily cool of dip in the pool before bed so goodbye!
Sean
Firstly apologies for the late blog.....so now its here you can stop harassing me for it :-) !! Its good to see people showing an interest tho so thank you, I wont disappoint! From now on I'm going to do a weekly + specials....I'll aim to do one every Thursday at the end of the week here so please.....be patient....they will come!
So anyway where to begin!? What a manic, interesting, depressing, confusing, chaotic, life juggling week I have had here! The work has been coming in faster than a fat man at a donut sale! Whatever happened to breaking the new kid in easy? I mean I expected to be making tea and coffee and reading old reports....not here tho! I have a lovely Indian gentleman named "Indian Man....yeah i have forgotten it..whoops" who makes me tea and coffee whilst I have actually got to do this thing called.....w.....wo.....wor...work(cah that was hard to get out),! I have never had such a long working week in all my life, I kinda wanna go back to Black's I mean sell some shoes, throw in a tent & clock off wow I can handle that!
Here I have been correcting the English of reports no problem, but on day two in the office...I was given the "challenge" of writing a preliminary design report to be submitted to ASHGHAL the governing authority! So boss says: write these design reports of which I have no idea of the template, no idea of the content, no idea of the stakeholders, no idea of the working practices, no idea of anything at all....so what do I say.....challenge accepted! So yeah turns out that didn't go too well but meh it's a work in progress!
On top of that on Thursday (that's friday for you English folk) I get my responsibilities stepped up again! Now I am writing a tender for works on a new infrastructure project here in the center! I love it, I've been here 5 minutes and already given all this responsibility! With no safety net to fall back on, I'm rapidly learning not to balls up!
I keep being dragged into project meetings now too, my first meeting was a delight, to sum it up, things aren't going to plan so naturally there were fist fights, furniture flying through the air, windows broken.....or at least that what I wanted to believe was happening! Truth be told, I had no idea what was going on....so naturally I found myself losing interest after the first hour, but then I had a moment of discovery....a moment that will change my life forever! I discovered how to yawn....without moving your mouth or showing facial expression....I discovered how to yawn...wait for it...inside!!!!! A skill that is going to benefit me for years to come.
Further to this, they also gave me some light reading to do this weekend...yeah its only a 200 page design guide! Good job I've got no life out here at the moment isn't it.......HURUMPH!
There are some great people around the office tho, and I had the weirdest conversation with Helen the other day! Turns out that she was taught by one of my lectures going back 30 years ago! Good old Les Hamill, and better yet another one of my lectures did his first work placement under my boss too! What are the chances!
Outside of work things are still as alien here as they were from day one, excluding the daily dance with death to cross the road, I keep noticing weird things that make me aware I am not home. I mean walking about today I actually saw a Qatari man walking his pet falcon...or least that is what I have been made aware it was!!! I mean walking a rabbit is one thing, but a falcon,..OK!
Being the holy day today as well, I swear there was a call to prayer every hour. It was inspiring to see so many people, in dress, constantly making their way to the mosques to sing and pray! It really gave me a sense of respect for the level of devotion they have for what they believe in....something missing in the UK these days!
Sadly, I can still still not find a decent supermarket ANYWHERE! I tried Al Meera on Tuesday, a 45 minute walk from my apartment, where I managed to by a SIM card for my Galaxy S III that guess what....didn't fit! So another wasted trip! I tried Family Food Mart today which again, was about a 30 min walk away, and ended up paying £9 for 500g chicken breast! I'll cut my own breasts off a chicken for that...or maybe ill ask that Qatari if I can buy his falcon! I mean £9 is mad, yet then again you pay £1 for 2.25L bottle of coke? I don't get the pricing here at all. its like they have just given a blind man riding a goat a price gun and said go nuts!
Oh and FYI if your ever in the area McDonalds here is AMAZEBALLS! Never thought I'd say that but its half the price, twice the flavor and if you go large, you'll be content for a week! My heart nearly stopped when she pulled out the bucket of a cup and filled it with coke; she even used a shovel for the chips!
I am starting to miss some home comforts now , I mean tonight I had my first Skype dinner date! And it was amazing! But it isn't quite being there in person nor anywhere as rewarding after sunset..........bad times! I also find myself craving a good British pint of tribute and well Yorkshire puddings randomly, not gonna be a weekend without the weekend roast.
Tomorrow is going to be my first tourist outing to the city, going to try the Souiq Waqif and cornice waterfront so hopefully that will give some stories to tell!
On Sunday, I have to have a medical test to prove I don't have TB or HIV or I get deported........! So if you see me soon, stay clear because I may be in a murderous mood!
All I know is that this has been a VERY long week and although I'm looking forward to next week, I dread to think how much more intense its going to be!
Anyway I need my daily cool of dip in the pool before bed so goodbye!
Sean
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