First Days in Doha get a simcard and luggage

We awoke at 5:15am in order to drive our hosts (Margo Sendall & Charles Werbs) to the airport (in their car, a Mitsubishi Pajero). We dropped them off with their snowboard paraphernalia for their exciting time in Oslo (more on that later). Then we parked, walked in to the Arrivals area, questioned intently by security: “we are here to pick up our lost luggage”. The Baggage Service office was polite and helpful, noted that our suitcases were present in the airport, but difficult to find as they are swamped with luggage from a recently-cancelled flight. Barbara, particularly jet-lagged, agrees to wait there while I walk down to the Ooreedoo desk and get a simcard installed in my iPhone: QR63 for 3gb data for 30 days, 15minutes international calls and unlimited Qatar calls the first week. Next to the Ooreedoo desk was a pop-up desk for Ehteraz, the Qatari answer to France's AntiCovid app. I proceeded there, and the young Qatari guy helped me install the app and get it started on my new phone number – he then explained that I could set up Barbara's non-Qatari phone also, just using my number to validate it. The Ehteraz Qrcode displays to show that I'm vaccinated and not infected, so most institutions ask to see each entrant's QRcode before entering.

One hour later, our suitcases arrive at Baggage Services desk. We roll out to the parking lot, drive back to our new home, with our new simcard to provide Waze directions through the construction zones.

Later I drove out to the nearby Lulu Hypermarket...as I left the carport, I turned on the radio, and heard a conversation in Hebrew! What? Is this a CD left in the car? An Israeli radio station? I can gather only occasional phrases like “I knew that” or “he wanted to” . After several minutes, a narrator's voice started in English. Ahh, this is the audio portion of AlJazeera channel, and just by chance they were presenting a documentary about Elie Cohen, a famous spy in the 60s.

Lulu's is truly big, with even an inside dining area and lots of prepared foods. It took me an hour of wandering to gather all we needed for basics. We are trying to not consume any of our hosts' supplies, and will of course leave the house cleaner than we found it!

Dogs go for a walk around the compound generally morning and then at 5pm just before their dinner. Three big dogs are eager to run, but we don't run; we walk.

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Where we are working now

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