The Simple Life at Home: You Might Be in Doha If . . .

10:44 AM | Posted by Lori ~ The Simple Life at Home | | Edit Post

1) All your electrical clocks are wrong, all the time because the electricity supply is rather sketchy. You only trust battery operated clocks. And your cell phone.

2) The word "round-a-bout" strikes fear into your heart.

3) When you find a favorite product in the store, you buy every. single. package. because you might not see it again for a year.

4) Fully 1/3 of the candy aisle at almost every grocery store is devoted entirely to Kit-Kat bars.

5) Men walk hand-in-hand down the street and freely express affection, but public displays of affection between a man and wife are frowned upon.

6) You often receive your change in candy.

7) You think the sky is actually a lovely shade of beige.

8) Swimming pools have "chillers" as opposed to heaters.

9) Even though you are in an Arab country, you'd be better off knowing how to speak Hindi or Tagalog (the main Phillipino language).

10) You notice that about half of the cars still have the plastic wrap on the seats. It's kind of like the mobile version of that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Marie keeps her furniture covered in plastic.

11) While doing your grocery shopping, it's not unusual to see men wheeling whole lamb carcasses through the store. In the same shopping carts the customers use. Ick!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...: Wandered over to your blog. Interesting read! :) I'm sure it must be quite an adjustment to be living in Qatar. It looks like you're doing the best you can with the changes, which is good. My family has moved around a lot, so I can relate to the feeling of being uprooted and starting anew somewhere else.

Anyway, I like your blog. Keep up the good work!; October 11, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Leeann said...: Girl,

You are being stretched in ways I cannot imagine for the life of me!

It really is fascinating. Are you allowed to take pictures of some of these sights, or is that frowned upon?

Leeann; October 11, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Anonymous said...: i'm with leeann - pictures!! if it is frowned upon, can't you just be sneaky?

and i love that episode of "raymond."; October 11, 2008 at 4:32 PM
tammi said...: Sounds exciting!! Never a dull moment, I guess.; October 11, 2008 at 5:53 PM
Anonymous said...: I love it when you do these! It's fascinating!

Never in my life would I guess shopkeepers would give candy as change. I just don't think I'd be okay with that. Which doesn't really matter, I know.

Whole lamb carcasses??? Ugh. I do believe I would wipe down every shopping cart I used. I guess I'd have to bring a spray bottle with bleach and paper towels to the store with me.; October 11, 2008 at 6:40 PM
Traci said...: Very interesting! Lovely shade of beige! LOL; October 11, 2008 at 11:12 PM
Nancy M. said...: I love reading of your life over there. I told my husband of the gas prices over there and he said let's move. I said cool I already have a friend there!; October 12, 2008 at 6:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Did you bring your clocks from the States? If so, they will always be slow, because our electricity is 60 cycles, and the rest of the world is 50 cycles.

I had that problem when I moved to the Europe, we had to buy new clocks that were 50 cycles so that they will not run late:)

Jen; October 12, 2008 at 4:58 PM
Jess said...: ew - lamb carcasses? in the same cart you put your baskin robbins and catalina dressing?????????

okay - off to pray and read "six secrets to a powerful quiet time" which i promptly ordered from amazon after hearing you talk about it.

love,
jess; October 13, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe I should come to Doha. I heart roundabouts and Kit Kats! :); October 14, 2008 at 3:32 AM