Pussy - My Cat

It's always my wish to have a pet.

In Singapore, I find that our lifestyle do not allow us to do so since we are always, i mean always back home late.

Thank God, I get to meet Pussy right at the door step of our villa on my 2nd day here.
Pussy is a lovely fur cat. Her origin should be from the mountain in the Middle East - probably Lebanon where the temperature can be cold. How she ended up in Qatar ? I'm not sure.
But I heard that cats were imported to Qatar to curb the rats problem years ago. And now that the rats are gone, cats populated the land.

Pussy's temperament is quite mild but she does have her defensive skills. 2 days ago, I playfully threw a blouse on her just to have some fun. And in the midst of the darkness, her head came through the sleeve and got stuck... Seeing such comical sight, I tried to free her. But Pussy sensed danger rather than help from me and she struggled out on her own, fiercely refused my help.. Result ? she torn my blouse !! Gosh... what I meant for fun cost me 55 riyals!!..and that is one of my fav blouse bought in Doha. And one of the few i could wear to work. I was angry with her for the whole day and with myself for making such a silly act. Andrew said I deserved to learn a lesson. - Never put my trust on a cat !

Still, this cat is getting more affectionate to us as days go by, she probably knows that I have no ill intentions and will feed her at the right time.

Lately, her 'figure' changed and meow for food often.. We suspect that she may be pregnant. So who is responsible for that ? The handsome black cat or that ugly pancake-face cat.
We shall find out in due time.

Singaporean club in Qatar (Reddotters Qatar)

hi, as some of you would have known, there is a singaporean club setup in Qatar - with about 300 members to date. It is setup some 2 years plus back. The main purpose? to facilitate the social interaction of Singaporeans living in Qatar. Here is the website where there is a forum also. http://groups.google.com/group/reddottersqatar
Over there, you can see 1 article which i submitted. Check it out!

One question - Why is the club called "Reddotters Club"? Any try (just comment..)?
: )

Qatarliving.com

Hi, for those who are interested to come and work in qatar/doha, check out qatarliving.com - a forum where you can find useful information, buy/sell stuffs as well. Some of the most interesting gossips can be found there also. Do give it a look to know more about Qatar.

Qatar Total Open (Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Just upload some photos of the tennis final which we just attended. It is packed and got to stand to watch for a while. Maria Sharapova (Russia) beats V. ZVONAREVA (Russia). You can see from the photos that she won a Havey bike also. Thought of quite a few things during the tournament - will share in my subsequent posts.
For now, here is the url for the tournament. http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/1/

Qatar Total Open Tennis 2008

Just went to the tennis open tournament in Doha - the location is just opposite my place only. Kind of cold when watching the tournament. also first time watching a live tennis match. heard the prize money for the winner is 2.5m.. hmm...This event is in the news - you can check them out on the qatar news links on the right.

7 Reasons why driving in Doha can be crazy at times.

Left hand driving - opposite Singapore's right hand driving.

Roundabouts - There are more roundabouts here than signals. Traffic has grown with Doha's growth, but the road infrastucture seems to lack behind. Roundabouts are good if traffic is not heavy. However, traffic has turned heavy since a few years back. With people inpatient as well, you can see lots of cutting lanes, flashing of headlights and hornings before, during and after the roundabouts. Cars can go at high speed during the roundabout. A bit stressful at times, but quite used to it now. The idea is to go fast when the chance to cut in is available and watch for all sides when in and exiting the roundabout. hope i can take a video to show you all.

No road sign or that they are too small - basically, you will know that you need to make a turn when you reach the junction. So, the solution is to remember landmarks (eg. buildings, momument in roundabouts etc). When talking about places with people, references are mainly made to landmarks instead of road names. Think I need a GPS already. so far, a map is sufficient for doha, but not in the outskirts and sand dunes.

Unannouced road closures - this can be frustrating and make you lost.

High Wind speed - this tends to sway the car esp when your car is moving at 100km/hr (still within speed limit for roads on doha outskirts hor).

Sandstorms and Fog - with high wind speed and many sand, you get sandstorms. At times, you can see the sand "dancing" in the air in front of you and with more of these, visibility can drop to 100m. Also, fog can come and go esp in the mornings.

Heavy trucks and vehicles on the road - as doha is in a construction boom, roads and building are constructed and reconstructed constantly. Many heavy vehicles can be seen on doha outskirts.


Well, in short, if you can survive doha driving, you can do it anywhere else probably.

Car bought in Doha

CK is asking me for some photos of my car bought in doha. Here they are. Cars are generally big in Doha. so this honda crv is considered medium here. Think abt it - taxi drivers here are driving toyota camry...

The cost of the CRV is 82k QR or about 32.8k sing. much cheaper than equivalent in sing. btw, it is a 1 yr used car, not brand new although the plastics are still on - it is a culture here to leave them intact so resale value can be higher!

Do you have too many blogs to keep track of? Here are the options for you.

Option 1 : Come to my blog! Why? Look at the right hand panel. I have added "feeds update" from CK, Eng Soon/Denise, Jocelyn and Joel Neo. For the blogs of Yvonne and Alpha/Jas, not sure why the feeds failed. Alpha, why har? anyway, included links for these 2 special cases. Anyone else to include? So, with the latest 3 posts displayed from each of these blogs, you can scan for updates at one look. Great?

Option 2 : Get a feed reader. Recommending Google reader here and it is web based so nothing needs to be installed on your PC. Just sign up for it - http://www.google.com/reader. Take the Google Reader tour to understand more.

As for reviews on other feed reader, read the following reviews if interested.
http://email.about.com/od/rssreaderswin/tp/windows_free.htm
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/03/30/the-state-of-online-feed-readers/

Occasional Google Error when accessing Blogger.com from home

Hmm... seems like I may not be able to update the blog from home at all times..

Google Error

We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.

Routine schedule here in Qatar

Hi guys, just to illustrate and give an idea of our lifestyle here in qatar. The following is the routine weekday timeline.

5am - wake up
6am - start work
1pm+ - finish work
2pm - take lunch
3pm - fetch wife from her work
3.30pm - wife take light lunch
5pm to 6pm - start dinner with wife
8pm to 9pm - start to sleep

hmm...doesn't look like much time left tho. as for the weekends, they are FRIs and SATs over here - instead of Sats and Suns. Church in the morning of Fris, followed by lunch with a group of Singaporean friends here - will show you a group photo in another post. Problem faced everytime - don't know where to go for lunch (guess it is the same problem back in Singapore after church). For Fri evenings, am thinking of joining a Bible Study group comprising of international members - quite interesting tho. For Sats, am planning to go explore the faraway parts of Qatar - but so far, a bit lazy leh.

I was telling Eng Soon that the adjustment for weekends is that church is on the first rest day of the weekend, instead of the 2nd day. but not too much of a problem adjusting to this. btw, there are 3 church services available - 8.30am, 10.30am and 1.30pm - can you guess which one we are attending? : ) drop a comment hor. one thing for sure - definitely not all 3 even though the preaching is good. The current series of preaching covers the teachings of Jesus during the last supper, starting from the washing of disciples' feet till the arrest of Jesus. This is a lineup to Good Friday.

will drop another post on exploring "faraway places" in qatar.

Thanks to Technology

Thanks to Technology. That we can do a long distance CNY visitation. This has indeed make Qatar feel more like home. Talking about "lo hei", haven't done a single one yet - this is a sharp contrast to multiple times last CNY. How about you guys in singapore? Believe you all are having a great time. Well, thank God that we are having a singaporean CNY celebration this coming thur right here in doha, with lo hei - at least something for the reddotters (singaporean club in qatar)..

Meet the best Chef in Doha

Guess who? Of course, my wife lah. She has been a good chef since she arrived here. Here is a sample meal for dinner.
But then, I got to wash dishes leh.. : (

Valentine day celebration

Went to Hotel Seef in the Corniche area on Valentine day. Nice place, nice ambience and good service from the hotel staff. Affordable pricing also. Wife is also happy to receive a rose! : )

Just video chat with Kenny and JJ

managed to see the cute little boy of Kenny and JJ. Had a good time chatting with them.

Ban on red roses in Saudi Arabia

Interesting article cut out from the local newspaper:

Ban on red roses in Saudi Arabia
Published: Tuesday, 12 February, 2008, 01:52 AM Doha Time

RIYADH: A Saudi Arabian authority has banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet, which is widely seen as symbolising love, newspapers said.
“They visited us last night,” the Saudi Gazette quoted an unidentified florist as saying.
It is not unusual for the Saudi vice squad to clamp down ahead of Valentine’s Day, which it sees as encouraging relations between men and women outside of wedlock, the newspaper said.
Saudi Arabia prevents unrelated men and women from mixing, bans women from driving and demands that women wear a headscarf and a cloak. –Reuters

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=201097&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17

Fog

This morning, thick fog covers the roads on the way to work. visibility can be up to 100m only. The danger is that the fog can settle in suddenly - of course, it can dissipate just as fast as well. One of the common precautions you see on the road is that most drivers will turn on their hazard lights during the entire journey. esp so when the car stops at the signal - you want to make sure that oncoming cars can see your stationary car.


http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&month=February2008&file=Local_News2008021223355.xml

Singapore - Qatar terminology changes and the Arabic language.

Been here for a while and the following are some of the terminology changes.

handphone - mobile
sms - text
telephone - landline
junction (traffic) - signal
hello / hi - salam-allay-comb (translates as "Peace be upon you")

And the best of all?
No lah / Cannot lah - Inshallah (translates as "if God is willing")
hmm..so it is not so good if you keep hearing inshallah during meetings and conversations.

Talking abt the arabic language, I have tried to learn the basics for 2 months. Not quite there (actually kind of given up already..). In my view, here are the challenges when learning this language:

1. Throat sounds. Arabic language (or even the Hebrew language) involves "throat sounds" - sounds produced by the throat/end of your mouth. This way of Pronunciation is foreign to the chinese and english languages where sounds are generally produced within the centre of the mouth itself. To better illustrate, trying to pronunce throat sounds seems like trying to spit for chinese speakers.
One example is "Good Morning" = "Saba'a-Al-Kair" Kair needs a throat sound. Check the url below for further info.

2. Male and Female versions of the verbs and nouns (at times). This simply means that "give" is pronunced differently in "he gives" and "she gives". To expand the idea, it is also different for "they (for 2 persons) give", "they (all males) give" and "they (all females) give". kind of like French tho - le and la.

3. Ommission of "he", "she" and "they" during speech generally. Since the verb has a different pronunication for different subject, they just omit it during speech. This makes things more complex and hard to memorize.

Well, having said all that. Did master some commonly used nouns and verbs and of course, the arabic numbers.



At least something. also bought the CDs to learn arabic language - those interested can borrow when i return. : )

Poll on whether you think we shd extend another yr

Hi guys, Just update the blog to start a poll on whether you think we shd extend another year in Qatar. Simply poll and leave your wordy comment here. ok?

Still adjusting to the Qatar time schedule

Hello guys, sorry for not posting regularly. Just need some more discipline.

It has been 3 months in Doha already. However, I still have yet to adopt their time schedule. Huh? what do you mean? While for the locals and foreigners here, they work in the morning, nap in the afternoon and then, come out to enjoy in the evening (about 4pm till as late as 12am mn). I find it difficult to adjust to this time schedule - somehow, feel more tired instead in the evening after the nap. And end up still requiring the 7-8hrs of sleep at night. Just cant go on till late at night (with afternoon nap) and still wake up at 5am tmrw.

Perhaps, the only time I can do this is on Thur nights as Fridays and Saturdays are weekends.

Any advice? : ) Andrew

The day we had Video and Voice Chatting Marathon.

Yes and it is the 3rd day of CNY. We had several video and voice chatting sessions with different groups of friends back in Singapore. In the morning (Qatar time), we called up CK house and talked to Jocelyn, Jackie, Eng Wee, Joshua, Amos, Joel, Aaron gang. Then, after lunch, it is the usual gang of friends - Charles, Lili, Wilson, Kirk, Tim etc. Had a good time chatting with them but too bad.. no webcam at Charles' place (how can hor?). They can only see our "Missing them" faces and of course, our house. After the evening, we video chat with my in laws - Johnny and family. Had a good time esp my wife talking to her sister. For my family, I did call them up individually, but have yet to see my nephew and nieces leh.

As Qatar is behind Singapore for 5 hours, it is best to chat with us on Sunday evenings and Saturdays evenings (Singapore time). So, keep those time slots for us ok? And, pls buy a webcam so that we can still remember your faces after 1 yr. ha. For other time slots, just sms or msn me to arrange.

Here is a video chat screenshot we did on 4th day of CNY with alpha and jasmine. Just to see her big tummy!

Steamboat

We had our a steamboat gathering at our place last night. It was quite stressful because
1. I'm still amateur in my cooking and should be catering for 15 !
2. We only have 2 sets of cutleries at home !
3. Need to seriously clean up the house.

But it was good as I managed to give the house a thorough vacuum and cleared up the cluster of mess on my dinning table. As for the food, the broth turned out fine despite the fact that I used peas to boil instead of soy bean . (Lili -I got the wrong beans !) I also prepared beef stew, grilled chicken wings and broccoli with prawns. Annie bought all the ingredients for the steamboat and with that, all of us had a good time feasting and chatting.

It was also great to catch " A night in the Museum" again with the kids after the dinner.

Ben Stiller - our all time favorite joker. Anyone like to watch "Meet the Parents"?