The past few days have been an exercise in flexibility, patience and humour. If your schedule says black, then you can be pretty certain that in twelve hours it’s going to get changed to white. Or grey. Or hey, wait! Green could be pretty cool! No wait, black. Black’s good. Let’s go with black.
It’s nothing if not entertaining and at the end of each day we usually have a pretty good laugh over how everything is coming together. We are in the final lead up phase prior to the opening of the Games, which is on December 9th. Our typical days are made up of spreadsheets, scheduling, venue visits and meetings, workshops… Soon we’ll be moving into rehearsals and then finally, competition! We are hoping to go to the Opening Ceremonies which would be pretty great. To give you some perspective, tickets to the opening ceremonies at the Vancouver Winter Games cost around $1100 for the “fancy seats”. Here, we can buy tickets in the VIP section for 150 QR (about $50). So let’s hope it doesn’t rain!
I’m getting more accustomed to the pace of life here – I’m even able to tell when a cab driver is jerking me around! I can usually negotiate a few dollars off of the rate which I am pretty proud of. I even negotiated some prices at the Souk the other night! I’m practically a local! (A still very pasty white local who only speaks 7 words of Arabic, but still…)
My camera died a few days ago so I missed a few days of pictures but thanks to the good folks at the Carrefour grocery (where they sell just about everything) and $65 later, I am back in business. Insha’allah I’ll have more exciting stuff to write about soon!
This will look familiar to some
Khalifa Center Court
Apparently the current club isn’t nice enough. They’re building another one.
Private entrance for His Excellency and guests
Sidewalks under construction? Walk on the pretty median!
We’re told that by Games time almost every tall building will be branded.
One of my producers here had the bright idea (with perhaps some slight coercion on my part) to sign us up for an Aquathon, behind held at the Aspire Zone this past Friday. The race was the first in a series of 5, part of their winter race series. Team BesterCogger pulled it together for a respectable finish! Rocky led us out with a solid 500m swim, I brought it home with the 5K run.
For the bargain price of 50 Riyals (about $15), we were treated to a safe and super well organized event that included photos, official timing, a full spread of food, medals and a goodie bag stuffed with swag. WTC, take note…
The swim was held in one of 4 (!) pools at the venue and the run went around the outer edges of the Aspire Zone. This was a great way for me to see the venue! Because we go there early enough, I also got to check out several of the indoor venue sites for the upcoming Games, including boxing, fencing and gymnastics. It’s all coming together.
The Aspire Zone is Doha’s version of Whistler’s Meadow Park. The major difference, besides the incredible facilities themselves, obviously, is that they are virtually empty. No one uses them… a shame really. What we wouldn’t do to have such an incredible facility at our fingertips!
1 of several outer fields
1 of 4 pools
Diving pool
Soon to be gymnastics venue; currently indoor 200m track
It’s been pointed out to me that many of you (you know, at least 3 of my 4 readers) don’t know why I am here. No, I am not competing. I got the opportunity to come here to work at the 2011 Arab Games. It was a 6 week contract that I just couldn’t pass up! Many of the same team from VANOC are working here so it has been really great to re-connect with those people. It’s quite an international crew as our “division” of the Games – which is Sport Presentation and Victory Ceremonies — has been sub-contracted out by a French company which hired the team I am in. Confused yet?
So I’m in the desert planning medal ceremonies for all things Aquatic and Tennis. My venues are absolutely amazing and it all seems to be coming together. The pace of work here is quite different from what I am used to, but we’re adjusting.
The tag line of the Games is “Doha: where it all comes together”. I might add “insha’allah”…
I finally ran outside this morning! (Mum – I felt perfectly safe and no one ran me over, so don’t worry). I felt how I imagined an animal feels when it escapes the (very comfortable, nicely air conditioned) zoo.
I certainly didn’t set any records as I think I stopped every 8 feet to take pictures. That being said, I enjoyed every minute of it. I was grinning like an idiot, looking around and enjoying the wind and sun. The Corniche is a wide boardwalk which runs along the waterfront for several miles. It kind of reminds me of the seawall only there are no trees, it doesn’t smell like the ocean, cars are constantly honking and fighter jets are flying overhead.
Sidebar: Those fighter jets scared the crap out of me. You hear them long before and after you see and they fly in pairs. No one around me was phased at all. I, on the other hand, nearly hit the deck when they flew overhead. I have since learned that there is a major American military airbase nearby and the planes are simply training. No biggie.
A final thought about my run. I went out dressed as I normally would when running in the summer at home: shorts and a t-shirt (I have been assured that this is ok), and found myself running towards a woman walking in her abaya and bushiyyah, her face and eyes invisible to me. I couldn’t help but wonder what she thought as she watched me. Did she think I was vulgar? Did she think I was a silly American, showing off? Or did she envy me and what I perceive as my freedom. I guess I’ll never know.
Incoming!
Prayer mats
Yes I am a nerd, thank you very much.
I would like to add to the tag line “… at the very last minute”.
Spot the fighter jets
I can’t decide if something is lost in translation or not…
“authentic” Lebanese dinner. And by authentic I mean the manager of the restaurant was Lebanese and everything came with fries.
Home for the next 30 days. Not gaudy at all.
I love the view.
Soon to be World’s tallest building going up next door.
Not a bad place to start swimming again.
Comforts of home. But no egg nog after all 😦
I’m happy to be able to say that I am adjusting to the day to day life here in Doha. My days are an interesting balance of living a very comfortable western lifestyle in our hotel while actively trying to seek out more traditional aspects of middle eastern life. Finding those aspects hasn’t been particularly easy.
We are living in the downtown core of Doha – “the Manhattan of Qatar” according to our driver (a Manhattan in which walking is verboten). Our hotel is happy to feed us at a steak house, an Italian restaurant, an american sports bar or a Brazilian steak house. The grocery store in the mall is French. You have to hunt high and low to find hummous or vegetables in any quantity on any menu. I’d guess that 99% of the food is imported (and as such is highly processed and/or scealed and/or coated in something shiny). Apparently there is a natural food store somewhere close by (which means 10-20 minutes in a car) so I will report back once I get there.
Despite being within arms reach of some of the world’s biggest oil refineries, I have seen exactly 1 gas station. Gas costs about 8 Riyal a litre, which works out to a little less that $0.03 per litre. Petrol is cheaper than water…
Driving is definitely an adventure; one I shall not be undertaking. Just being a passenger takes some getting used to! There are very few traffic lights, but many roundabouts. 4 lane, super fast, extremely scary roundabouts! If buddy on the inside wants out, well, he’s going. If he clips you, oh well. Move along. Mum – you would DIE. Speed limits and lane lines are merely suggestions. Texting while driving? Of course!
Foreign visitors are expected to dress in a style that is sensitive to the Islamic culture. We are expected to represent our employer by respecting this and as such, we are dressing quite conservatively. In some situations we are more covered but when we are at our hotel, it’s just like being at home. For example, at Venue meetings I am generally expected to cover my shoulders, upper arms and knees. No mini skirts and tank tops! I am not permitted to initiate a handshake as a greeting but can shake hands with men if they extend theirs. Surprisingly, it has been much easier to adjust to this than expected.
Work is starting to pick up steam which is great. Too much downtime means too many chances for home sickness! We had a fantastic party last night with all our colleagues so everyone is moving a teensy bit slower than usual today. For those curious, yes we can have alcohol but accessing anywhere but the hotel (where it costs a small fortune) is tricky. Conversely, shisha is almost everywhere. I tried some last night. Not my cup of tea but hey, it was worth a try.
For my triathlete friends, unfortunately there is no triathlon at these Games. Training has been interesting – I have yet to run outdoors and have seen exactly 1 bicycle outside. Our hotel gym is terrific and very under-utilized (I am generally the only one in there). Our pool is a beautiful 35m outdoor pool, also under-utilized. 35m makes for interesting pool math so I just pretend it’s 25m and know that I am just getting in bonus mileage! I will attempt to run down to the waterfront tonight which will involve jumping over medians, playing frogger in traffic and sweating. I can’t wait.
My next mission it to go and take photos of all the weird food imports – like the Thanksgiving display in the Mall. Stay tuned!
Today was a day that I never could have imagined experiencing. If you had asked me a month ago if I thought I’d ever sit on a camel, drive through sand dunes or see Saudi Arabia while floating in the Persian Gulf, the obvious answer would have been no. But on Saturday, I did do all of those things and it was an incredible day I will never forget! I am so thankful that we are able to experience some of these adventures while preparing for the Games.
Speaking of which, we are inching towards the opening ceremonies and while the process is not without its challenges, it feels like everything will go smoothly (for now!) We are all trying to feel our way around the cultural differences and expectations and trying to establish a common ground. The venue teams are all quite international so that definitely adds a few more layers of interest.
The next few days will be spent training our team and immersing ourselves into our Venue teams (some of which are very cohesive units and some of which… don’t exist yet). It will make for an interesting few days! As we are learning, Insha’Allah goes a long way here… God willing, it will happen…
I arrived in Doha after a long day of travel through Frankfurt. Thankfully it would seem Doha isn’t an overly popular destination so that meant a fairly empty plane. I had expected the heat but the blast of hot, humid air when we stepped out of the airport was still somewhat of a shock. We were met by a driver who drove towards the “Manhattan” portion of the city – the part that is made up entirely of skyscrapers and cranes to build… more skyscrapers, including one that will end up being 1.5km TALL.
The majority of our team is staying in the Marriott which is lovely and overly air-conditioned and quite Western. I am not complaining at all, in fact it feels quite decadent to not have to make my bed for the next 38 days! Jet lag seems to come and go so I am seeing lots of sunrises, enjoying some very solo gym/pool time and reading some good books at 2am.
To be honest, I have not yet had the chance to really explore much. It is difficult to walk anywhere here since the city isn’t conducive to pedestrians (who needs sidewalks when you have 4 lane roads and a million roundabouts!) so we are limited to car services and taxis (which is an adventure since you are never sure if you will get a taxi with a meter or some guy who offers to drive you somewhere for $15). A few nights ago, we ventured to the Souq Wakif which was fascinating and has been rated #2 of 2976 things to do in the Middle East. I am really looking forward to going back and taking some pictures once I figure exactly what the etiquette is with regards to taking photos of strangers!
We’re off to the Dunes and a beach today so I hope to get a better feel for this place by the end of today… back to work tomorrow! Here’s hoping I won’t see the sunrise tomorrow…
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