My first day in China was tiring. After trying to sleep on the plane I just ended up with a painfull back.
I arrived at the airport with a smile. Everything felt familiar to me. It was a nice feeling.
It was straight from the airport that I had to head to a candle factory.

Now here’s the funny luck. The moment I arrived at the factory, QNB calls me to tell me to pick up the contract. They’ve got some GREAT timing….

After discussing, looking at samples, and trying to explain what I wanted, I was too exhausted.
We headed to the hotel (Celebrity Service Apartments) and checked in. I got the 32nd floor. However it was after that I got the room that I realized that a high room isn’t really that convenient.

Hmm I relaxed a bit, and then… oh headed out to get some hotpot with Omar and Vanessa. I had to rush though because I had to meet David. He wanted to go to a club called Richy. It was just me and Omar and it was more of a bar with dancing.

I only stayed for around an hour but it was really great to see him. When he met me he looked so excited and even gave me a tight hug.

I chilled in there, met some of his friends and one business partner of his. As I was sitting there, a girl sat next to me. We got to talking a bit and she told that she was Muslim while taking a swig of her alcoholic beverage. Irony? That’s the way it is these days, people think if you’re a Muslim, you’re a strict religious person, when it’s the complete opposite. They only show the strict dudes on tv.

Everyone kept asking me why Omar was so boring and always sitting on the side like a body guard. Who knows. He asked to go to a club many times and ended up doing nothing. Ah well…

Anyway, it was a good day. Tiring… but good.

So they didn’t call back (PC One). After getting a bite to eat at Bennigans (they have this awesome chicken salad wrap), I headed off with my father to get our hair cut. After getting a quick trim and a nice shave I sat down and waited for my dad to finish.

We left and decided to head to PC One. By then it was around 5 o’clock. Was the monitor ready? Did they call? No… In fact, the guy behind the table said “We couldn’t have given it to you in the morning since we open at 4pm today.” So…. basically their staff lied yesterday.

We took the monitor and then headed home.

By the time I arrived back home it was a bit late and just as I was about to sit down I get a call from my Uncle. Damn… it was gym time and I forgot. So I quickly changed and headed out. I arrived at the gym around 6:45. Finished by 9, headed home, and started doing a bit of work. Time to fall into my soft king size bed, watch my high def tv, and think about how lucky I am to live a good life ^_^.

Tomorrow I need to pack, make sure I have everything and head off. Got to charge the laptop. Can’t forget.

So I had a bunch of things to do. I picked up my new business cards.
I was a bit annoyed because they used the wrong paper and it was a bit glossy. Looks more like an advert than a business card. Ah well, there’s no time to fix it now.

I then headed off to PC One to let them know that there was an issue with the monitor. Funny enough, although it’s a new place, they’re all idiots there. After ‘teaching’ them the basics and re-explaining the situation, they said they’d give me a call later to pick it up tomorrow. Will they?

I was supposed to cut my hair today. Got to look good for my trip to Shanghai you know!
Omar told me that he’s coming…. I was a bit suprised because he told me that he wasn’t.
Anyway, he’s coming, but I won’t be able to give him all my time.

My uncle (who’s a Colonel in the Navy) asked me to go to the office with him to help sort out some issues with a couple of contracts that they had with some hotels (for the major Maritime exhibition). Basically they had never agreed to anything but some hotel was trying to pressure them into saying it was a finalized agreement.

Why would a hotel agency want to mess with the government? They were in the wrong and there was miscommunication.

Anyway, I felt good being able to lend a hand.

I drove to the city center mall to take a few photos and then headed straight for the Chinese embassy to apply for the visa. She was so slow (but that was because the people in front of my were slow). I get my visa on wednesday. Seems that Friday or Saturday I travel for a bit!

Got to find some good manufacturers!

Who would have thought that a beautiful city such as Dubai would have so many complaining people. From human rights activists to locals. I went to Dubai for a day to pick up a few samples for my store in Doha and was shocked that from the moment I sat on the plane I’d get complaints.

The person next to me started talking about how expensive life is in Dubai; he added that Doha’s accommodations were a bit cheaper but comparible however life was easier here. It took him around 1 and a half hours a day to get to work so he’d have to leave home at 5:30 am to get to work at 7. I smiled and nodded.

I was more interested in the staff of Qatar Airways. They were so pleasent, friendly, and I loved how they went out of their way to take care of children. In particular, Hyo Young and Kamal, were two of the attendants that stood out. Always smiling and always checking if anyone needed help.

When I arrived at the airport, I proceeded to the taxi rank were I saw a British man talking on the phone. I couldn’t help but over-hear his conversation. “Why did I choose Dubai? It’s like a prostitute, beautiful from the outside, but rotten from the inside.” I was thinking about his sentence, but wondered “not all prostitutes are beautiful…”. He continued to speak to the person on the phone, “I should’ve gone to Doha mate, at least we’ve all got a chance of a better future.”. I gave a little smile and was called to enter the taxi.

I said hello to the taxi man. He seemed like an older Pakistani. He asked me where I was from and I said Qatar and he continued to talk about how all Qatari and Bahraini people that he’s met are so friendly in comparison to the people in Dubai. He morphed the subject into how he had family in Doha working and he wishes to go there and quit living in Dubai. He said he was in Abu Dhabi for 20 years and Dubai for 5.

I was silent for the few minutes that he remained quiet and thought “wow.. is life in Dubai really not that great?”. I looked out of the window and saw great massive roads. Dubai’s layout is very well planned. Doha is still behind Dubai, but it’s catching up fast.

I arrived at my hotel called Al Manzil. Friendly staff. I really liked their attitude. The area was called ‘The Palace’. I was shocked because the design is following Doha’s plan for the east of the Corniche area. Then again, Doha and Dubai are so similar in some things.

I went to the room, put my stuff down and went to the store to get the samples. I chatted with a Philipino man who was interested in learning design and I gave him a bit of advice and the link to my portfolio. He told me that he was thinking about going to Doha. I asked why and he said that the life in Dubai is not worth it. It’s like living in a bubble. He said that he made 3,500 QR a month and had to spend 2,000 on a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. I told him that he wouldn’t make that much more in Doha, but he seemed adamant that life would be better. He complained about receiving no benefits and not even being able to afford a hospital treatment with his wife.

Would my city give him a better life? I hoped to God that it would. I thought in my mind “I’ll do what it takes to make everyone happy.”.

I don’t really know what I can put into the development in the country. One thing is for sure, I see the future. I see a bright future with development and harmony. A time where people will look at Doha in awe. The city that learned from Dubai’s mistakes and worked on them.

If I could meet the Emir one day, I’d wish that I’d be able to have his support. I’d work for free to make people remember Doha. The city that emerged from the sand.

Well I did it. I signed the offer letter today. I did it without a seconds thought. I headed to my father’s office in the morning to sign it and get it faxed over. It was an alright day.
It’s funny though, it’s the Civil Aviation Authority but the roads were being repaired because of the really bad state they were in.

Charan from a forum called QatarLiving gave me a call today to let me know that he had a cd for me which had some Qatar projects on it. It was a bit too late for me to pick it up though.

Later at night I went out to go buy a samsung charger for my father’s mobile. At least I went out of the house for a bit.

Tomorrow I’ve got four things to do.. Gym, go to father’s office, pick up cd, and go to cousin’s wedding. Oh dammit! No Gym tomorrow because of the wedding. I forgot.

Well I got the offer today. I was a bit disappointed. They bumped me up a grade and they upped it by 2k. I was expecting a total of at least 21k, since my other offers were at least 23k. Ah well.

I gave Laeek a call and told him about it. I put it simple. “I’m accepting the job. I’ll work hard and prove that I’m worth more. If the bank doesn’t think so, then I’m sure I’ll be appreciated somewhere else. For now, I’m just going to work hard and do whatever I can.”

I’m going to sign the paper tomorrow.

I’ve been getting on great track back at the gym working hard and pushing myself. I love that pain feeling you feel after a good day’s session. I was quite surprised because my uncle Jassim is much taller and bigger than I am, but I was able to benchpress equal weight, he doubled the weight on back exercises though.

I’m thinking about going to a cardio kick boxing session on Thursday. Might be good.

So as I was washing up I get a phone call from one of the guys. He told me that he was outside my house. I went out expecting to see a plate of dumplings but he didn’t have anything.

“Please we are waiting in the house for you”.
I didn’t really look good, my hair was messed up and I was wearing a hoodie….

So I walked back to their house and they were all there shaking my hands. They offered me a seat while they were singing karaoke and got the table ready. The Chief gave me his business card and started to chat with me for a bit. I moved to the table and I noticed that everyone sat in a place which seemed to be where they ’should’ sit. I was asked to sit on the corner near the Chief.

He started to talk to me about how he liked Qatar and how he was glad to be here. It felt good to hear such words. The guy to my left also tried to speak to me a bit and chatted. What was great was that they were all trying to speak a bit of Arabic.

They also asked my permission if they could drink or smoke, which was very kind. Of course I said NO YOU CAN’T! YOU PUNKS!… I’m just joking!! I said “of course go ahead, although I’m a guest in your house, you are a guest in this country so please feel free to relax and enjoy your time”.

There was this one Chinese guy there that wasa Muslim, he came up to me and started speaking arabic! I was a bit shocked! He was speaking formal arabic. It was kind of cool! We traded numbers and he asked if I could teach him the local dialect, so I told him that it would be my pleasure.

The dumplings on the table were boiled sadly, not fried :p but that’s alright. I had one. I noticed that when they were doing alot of cheers, there was always someone with a higher glass. So I asked why. They said that the person with a lower glass is showing respect. So I said ‘Oh really?’, and I turned to the Chief and cheered his glass in the respectfull way. They were pleased.

They told me that their company was responsible for contracting the new city Lusail, the New Airport and the Pearl. I told them that I’d be in Qatar National Bank Corporate Investment and their eyes lit up! I mentiond that my father was Head of Civil Aviation and Airport Affairs and they practically exploded with joy.

After chatting, I gave them a few xiexie and xin nian kuai le’s and left. I hope that I gave them a good Qatari welcome and experience ^_^

So it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve today. The neighbours put up some lanters and some text outside their place and I thought it was pretty cool. So my sister had the idea of making some cards and making the neighbours feel welcome.

So we made two simple cards and I went over straight away to give them to the guy. I rang the bell, no answer, so I opened the gate and went to the front door. There were two glass doors. I knocked the one where I could see people having a party and singing karaoke, but they couldn’t hear me.

I knocked the other door where there was this kid. I called him to come over but he seemed too lazy to get up. I kept beckoning him until he finally came to the door. He didn’t bother to open it, but tried to speak through the glass. I pointed at the cards and he made a sign as if to say “no I don’t want it”. So in a rough tone I said “GO GET YOUR DAD”. He walked over to the other room with a sulk. Kids these days… can’t get off their bums.

So the guy opens the door and I hand him the card, he’s puzzled at first but reads it and is a bit shocked!
“Wow thank you” he says.
Everyone comes to the door to see the card, they pull me in to say hello. I felt wierd for a moment. The guy looked like he was going to have a teary moment.

One girl gives me a dumpling and says here it’s for you. I said ‘thanks but it’s not cooked…’. They said no it’s for the picture! Everyone comes around and wants to take a picture with me.

They ask me if I’m Qatari, I said yes, they said they were so happy. One guy came to me and started to say that he was the boss of Sinohydro. I guess they were all co-workers. They chatted for a while to the best of their abilities and I left. They asked for my number so that they could call when the dumplings were read. I said it was fine but they insisted.

I went back home, started to do some work online. I hope the dumplings are fried

I’ve been working so hard on iLoveQatar.net
I finally finished the forum after some people requested it from me. The thing is, QatarLiving is a forum which started of quite nice, however there are too many dramatic people over there who love to poke fun or spread lies; so it seems people needed a change.

I’ve also been working on adding features to it, adding classifieds and fixing the language support.

It’s only been a day and the forum is filling up fast!

So I thought I’d do something new. Everytime there is a bad driver, I’m going to add his license plate number and description in my blog. I was at the city center and had a great day when this guy just merges into a lane without looking and almost caused me to have an accident. So I signalled him as if to say, are you crazy and he signed back “What?” as in, “What did I do?” with an angry face.

So everyone, he drives a white Chevrolet, was Indian, and was is a shit driver. His plate number is 350819.