Sickly weather April 29, 2008

The weather in Doha is getting hotter by the day. Today, it hit 36c but it felt like it was already in the 40s. And summer isn’t really here yet. The peak is yet to come. When we first arrived in Doha in February, the weather was freezing. It was 15c then, and a cool 10c in the night. Kat rumah pun kene pakai stokin and sweater. Even when it’s not cold, the wind tends to get gusty. When the wind blows, it brings the dust and sand with it, making me sneeze continuously. Sometimes the day can be hot but you can’t see the sunshine as the sky is so mucky. This kind of weather is far from pleasant. 

The change in weather is making me sick. Kejap sejuk kejap panas. Out of 3 months in Doha, less than half of the time I was not having flu. My nose is constantly blocked and my throat gets dry. Is it me or is it this country? Whatever it is, it’s making me wanna stay in bed and ponteng kerja. But I just can’t. Help!!  

Happy 10th Anniversary April 26, 2008

Yesterday, 25th April 2008 was my 10th wedding anniversary. A blissful decade has passed, blessed with three amazing children. We have sailed thru the ups and downs of married life. Thank you to my Hubby for his undying love, care and patience… My love for you is for always. Here’s to an endless happiness hingga ke akhir hayat. Together forever..    

Soooo Melayu April 24, 2008

Getting home from work at 4pm daily leaves me with a reasonable amount of quality time at home with my kids. This extra time can also be used for siesta, catching up on the latest gossips back home via the net, as well as catching up on malay tv programs.

Thanks to some tech-savvy samaritans out there who have been diligently uploading the latest shows on the net, we living abroad can now watch most of the popular tv programs as quick as a couple of hours after the show is aired on malaysian tv. TV series, be it malay, cantonese or spanish telenovela, can really be addictive once you’re hooked on it. I am the type of person who can be so engrossed with the shows sampai tak dengar kalau orang panggil. Lagi satu, I can be so attached to it that I get emotional, like I can actually sob my way thru the heart-tearing scenes, sometimes tak sedih mana nye, tapi nangis jugak, geram punya pasal pun bole nangis… I have no qualms about this as I believe crying is a great form of therapy! But if my Hubby catches me with tears in my eyes while watching tv, he’ll be having a good laugh over it! Arggghh, men..!! 

My recently watched tv series include Manjalara, Spa Q and now, Bella. A lot can be said about the creativity of the jalan cerita and the logic of how certain scenes unfold. At times, sungguh lah tak logiknye as if la penonton tak bole nak pikir sendiri. Tapi, kalau dah nama pun cerita, what else can I say? Kecik2 dulu mak suruh jadi director tak nak..ahaks..

Anyway, demam AF6 is also not to be missed. Kalau tak tengok, orang kata ketinggalan pulak nanti. AF ni, since season 1&2 dulu2 lagi I dah start tengok. Sanggup tak kluar malam minggu becoz of the concert. Biasa lah, yang kat rumah pun nak jadi pengkritik jugak. Tapi semenjak dua menjak ni, AF macam dah takde ummpphh la. Ni semua mesti Mawi punye pasal. Not that I’m a great fan of Mawi’s (eventho Hubby is..) – ramai lagi bintang reality tv that I prefer over him. But let’s take my opinion on reality shows another time, shall we. 

Souqs of the Middle East April 21, 2008

Negara2 timur tengah memang terkenal dengan souq nye. The souqs or ‘pasar’ (bukan wet market) or ‘bazaar’, not unlike Trengganu’s Pasar Payang, are normally made up of shops along small cobble stoned alleys. Most souqs are located not far from the sea or port as traditionally it was easier for people to trade goods in the old days. Souqs do not offer fixed price, but bargaining skills are really put to use here. I used to watch souqs of the middle east countries featured in Jejak Rasul and wondered if I’d ever sampai ke situ some day. At last, I am now living in one such country!

In Dubai, the famous traditional souqs are the Gold Souq and Spice Souq. As their names suggest, both are niche souqs focusing on specific items. The Gold Souq glitters with gold and other jewellery item. Takde pak guard tercegat kat luar kedai macam kat Poh Kong. In fact, the showcases are simply draped with cloth and some flimsy looking lock while the shopkeepers go for zuhur and asar prayers. Tak siapa brani rompak, takut kene potong tangan. Spice Souq on the other hand, fills the air with its sweet and tangy aroma. Bermacam2 jenis spices and nuts can be found here. Just scoop them out of the huge gunny sacks. But like, how much bunga cengkih or kayu manis would one really need..? 

In Oman, the Muttrah Souq is somewhat different from the souqs in Dubai. Located by the corniche, the small dark alleys offer a variety of goods. Small steps welcome each shop, which is crammed with goodies. The main alley carries Omani silver and other semi precious gemstones which one can purchase by grams. Also spices, frankincense, and traditional arabian oud. For those who are not used to these traditional kind of fragrance, memang sungguh menusuk kalbu bau nye. And they are not cheap, mind you. Natural gitu. In the back alleys, one can find the traditional abayas for women and handmade Omani cap for men, which can run up to hundreds of ringgit a piece.       

Here in Doha, the largest souq is Souq Waqif. Unlike the souqs in Dubai and Muscat, this souq is airy, spacious and spans over a large area. The main walkways are cobbled and scattered with many cozy two-storey restaurants with beautiful traditional decor and serving authentic middle east cuisines. In the evenings, the fruity smell of shisha fills the air. Traditional handicrafts can be found here, but to me, this is too Central Market-ish for shopping. Sekadar mencuci mata tu ok la. Recently, a Malaysian restaurant called Seri Kebaya made its debut right smack in Souq Waqif. Food there is good, if you don’t mind spending QR35 for a plate of nasi lemak or QR70 for a dish of asam pedas. 

Our next target is to visit the souqs in Syria and Iran, which according to friends who have been there, are really worth the trip. Hopefully we can land there soon in the near future.

Let’s Connect April 11, 2008

My company had recently launched the Blackberry about 3 months ago, and being an expert user of BB for the past 1 year, I was glad to have been given one. When I first got it at my old company back home, I thought it was such a cool gadget. Even Hollywood celebs like Paris Hilton had one. But it soon became a nightmare when emails came beeping at midnites and weekends. And they obviously needed to be responded to, since the boss knew I had email access 24×7.

The work culture here is so much different from Malaysia. People are not willing to stay back after hours, let alone work on weekends. Except for a selected few, maybe. So, this new BB of mine hardly beeps on weekends. Indirectly, I have now started misusing its other functions for personal purposes. Like Yahoo Messenger and Facebook.  Now don’t get me wrong. I refuse to be labelled as a FB addict coz I am not! Unlike the teenagers who use instant messaging and social utility networks to get new friends, we old-timers use it to stay connected to old school frenz, college frenz, ex-colleagues and so on and so forth. When I first signed up for FB, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of frenz that were already in it. And these are all 30 somethings, bukannya budak2 pun. Having internet access on the BB also minimizes the perebutan internet yang berlaku at home since all my kids are hooked on the world wide web these days.

Dipikir-pikirkan balik, kalau company tak bagi free, I wouldn’t spend close to 3000 riyals for this gadget anyway. So, alang2 dah ada tu, why not make the best out of it, kan?

I Did It! April 6, 2008

Yesss! I did it in one go!

Today was my hari ini dalam sejarah. My driving test. What’s the big deal y’all say? The big deal is that not everyone, in spite of having driven more than 10 years in Malaysia or elsewhere for that matter, can pass a driving test in Mid East in one attempt. And that’s a fact. My Hubby took his twice when he was working in Dubai. My frenz in Oman took an average of 3-5 times. And over here in Qatar, even my male frenz took 2-3 times to get thru. So yup, it really is a big deal for me.

The driving test or referred to as ‘police test’ here begins at 5.30am. Which means that I had to wake up at 4am to get there on time. Being the nervous wreck that I was, I hardly got any sleep the nite before. Mengalahkan nak ambik SPM. Tossing & turning in my bed, dreaming of roadsigns and pocket parking. By 5.10am I arrived at the driving school and by 5.20am the first part of the test began. Part 1 was the roadsign which was administered verbally, unlike in Malaysia where it is in the form of a written test. Only 4-5 questions for this part. Then, Part 2 was the pocket parking.  For some reason, the parking bit lah yang paling digeruni. Tambah2 lagi, kalau sangkut yang ni, takde chance nak move on to the road test, which I was pretty confident. Thank God, I was calm enuff to survive this. Lastly, the road test which lasted hardly 5 minutes. One or two roundabouts, another two intersections, and I’m done! All these, mind you, using a manual car, something I haven’t done for more than 5 years to say the least. Tambah2 lagi Qatar is a left-hand driving country.

Waiting for the results to be announced too, was nerve wrecking. I met 3 Indonesian ladies in the group and made frenz with them thru out this little adventure. So close was the bond between us that we ended up hugging each other once the results were out, even tho we’ve only known each other for 2 hours..

I am now ready to take on the Qatar roads. And berangan-angan of what car to purchase soon…

Bahrain Weekend Get-Away April 2, 2008

Our weekend trip to Bahrain was unplanned and finalized within a day. Kalau kat Malaya dulu, even nak ke Penang pun tak pernah plan secepat macam ni. On Thursday morning, tickets were purchased from the travel agent located at my office and by noon the same day my exit permit was ready. Why the rush? Hah, ada lah hidden agenda nya. Biarlah rahsia…

Our flight took off at 7.30am bright and early Friday morning. Oleh kerana flight tersangat lah sekejap nye, takde lah apa2 hidangan, in fact, even the crew remained seated tru out the journey due to the low altitude. Hubby’s cousin picked us up from airport as we crashed in at his place for the night.

Bahrain is a country smaller than Singapore. We saw F1 banners lining every street as the event is just around the corner. Drivers here are much more polite than in Qatar. Sumber pendapatan utama negara kecik ni tak dapat dikenalpasti. Dengar kata tourism. It is nevertheless a known fact that this country thrives from visitors from neighbouring countries. That’s the reason for the ‘jambatan emas’ King Fahad Causeway yang menyambungkan Bahrain to Saudi. Mula2 nya we were going to get the travel agent to arrange us the hotel, tapi sempat jugak agent tersebut advised us to stay at good apartments, in case ada yang come knocking at our doors di malam hari. Masih ada yang tak faham? Go figure…!! (Hint : what can you find in Thailand..?)

Our one and a half days in Bahrain were spent sightseeing and visiting historical places. We got to see runtuhan of the Arad Fort, which was built by the Arabs in the 16th century. Lagi satu tempat menarik was Bait Shaikh Isa – the 19th century residence of Bahrain’s former ruler pada tahun 1869. This house is huge, with maze-like corridors, roof-top majlis, a deserted well in what used to be the kitchen and yang paling unik, a traditional windtower i.e. air-con zaman dulu.

 

A visit to any city isn’t complete without a stop at the city’s biggest mall. The Seef Mall, boleh tahan besarnye, better lah dari malls kat Doha ni. Oh yes, we also managed to grab a t-shirt at Hard Rock Cafe Bahrain, yang tersorok di celah2 shoplots.

We enjoyed the trip walaupun the stay was short. At least the kids dapat lah pegi somewhere during their school break.    

Pemandu Berhemah April 1, 2008

The Malaysian driving license tak laku kat Qatar ni, even if accompanied with an international license, unless you are a tourist. For us residence, kene ada Qatar license. The only way to get it is to sit for the driving test. Tak main convert2 nye, even tho I’ve heard of some Malaysians who have succeeded in doing so. I suspect it’s actually a camouflage of ‘lesen terbang’ i.e. pay some $$ to get the license ‘converted’. Yang betul2 bole convert, adalah mereka2 yang berkulit putih dan berambut blonde. What is so special with them anyway?!

So, here I am, enrolled in a short course of 7 hours at one of the popular driving schools recommended by friends. Apparently, the success rate is higher at this particular school coz the instructors are very professional and customer oriented. The course begins with a 3-hour theory class. Yup, a classroom style lecture. The 1st hour I thought was a refresher. During the 2nd hour, I was yawning away. And by the 3rd hour I almost dozed off. This would have been fantastic for beginners really, but for me, alamak..

The instructor that is assigned to me is from Kerala. Tapi nasib baik takde free aromatheraphy dalam kereta. In fact, he’s very polite and his English pun not bad. We have been practising the same routes over and over again, memorizing the so-called formulas of when to put on the indicators, when to change gears, and the works. Brings back memories of my first driving lessons some 10-15 years ago. Has it been that long??