They're coming!

Mavis and Xiane are coming back to Qatar tomorrow! Yup, after an extra month long stay in the Philippines since I returned to Qatar, they'll be flying in tomorrow night via Qatar Airways. I'm excited! Now, I just have to finish some chores like cleaning the bathrom and kitchen. XXX

Of Parcels, Mail Forwarding, and Buying from the Net

Since eCommerce became an option for expats (esp. in the middle east) to buy items from the US/UK and have these delivered through mail, more and more has it made using the internet more interesting at the least. Now you can surf the net and look for your favorite book not found in our local bookstore, order it and have it delivered right at your doorstep (or in our case, cubicles). I have ordered comic books, dvd's and other stuff from Amazon and got them in Saudi without any hassle. Sometimes though, you find yourself trying to buy that elusive item on the net, only to find out that the internet shop doesn't deliver outside the US or UK. The solution? A mail forwarding service which gives you an address in the US/UK so you can have anything delivered locally and forwarded to your address in Qatar.Aramex now have a service called Shop & Ship which offers you that exact service. Basically, you have to sign up with them and pay a one-off setup fee of $35.00 ( SR127.75) to receive your address in the US/UK. Once you get the adress, you can now use that address when ordering any item that is not available for international shipping, for a service fee of course. If you're in Qatar, the first half kilo would cost you $8.00 (SR29.2) and succeeding half kilos would set you back for $5.50 (SR18.25). Let's say you ordered that glorious looking, souped-up laptop from Dell USA (with a discount voucher of $750) and have it sent here in Doha, you pay Aramex a total of $53 (SR193.45) for that 5 kilo package (probably 3k for the laptop and 2k for packing... he he he). With the savings you got by buying it in the US, shipping fee of $53 is just peanuts. You can even have them ship your stuff at a specified date so that all the items you bought can be shipped at the same time. The service is also available in Saudi and other middle east countries. About customs tax? Well, I know someone who actually did what I illustrated above by buying a laptop from Dell USA and having it delivered here and was charged tax at all. However, you can find the following on the Shop & Ship Terms and Conditions page.

Aramex is not responsible for any customs or duties incurred on any Mailbox contents. Furthermore, Aramex is not responsible for penalties, loss or damage of Mailbox contents while in possession of customs.

Hope this helps!

Doha School Terms and Fees

I've tried to compile some of the Schools Terms and Fees for each school and placed them in a Word Document. All terms are for school year 2006-2007 except when stated otherwise. Schools included in this document are: Cambridge School Doha English Speaking School Doha College Park House English School Philippine International School (SY 2004-2005 terms) Qatar International School You can download the file here. (94kb) *close the internal pop-up after timer finishes

Schools in Doha

A lot of people coming to Doha are interested at looking for schools for their children. So here is a list of schools in Doha and the links to their websites. This is not comprehensive to include ALL of the schools in Doha as others don't even have their own website. American School of Doha http://www.asd.edu.qa/ Doha Academy http://www.dohaacademy.com.qa/ Doha College http://www.dohacollege.com/ Doha English School (Doha) http://www.dess.org/ Doha English School (Al Khor) http://www.akdess.com/ Dukhan English School http://www.bsme.org.uk/schools/more.asp?id=34&sch= Qatar Academy http://www.qataracademy.edu.qa/ Qatar International School http://www.qis.org/ Cambridge School Doha http://www.cambridgeschool.com.qa/ Al Jazeera Academy http://www.aja.edu.qa/ Cambridge International School for Girls http://www.cisg.edu.qa/ Middle East International School http://www.misqatar.com/ ParkHouse International School http://www.parkhouseschool.com/ Philippine International School +974 4821923, 4821924, 4820158 Philippine School Doha +974 4364148, 4364150

The Hippies on Amazing Race 9 (spoilers!)

I've never watched The Amazing Race that much. I only get to watch it if I do catch it on TV but that's very seldom. I think I only got to watch 3-5 episodes out of its 8 season glory until I decided to watch The Amazing Race 9 (thanks to torrent!). The Race was quite amazing indeed. Contestants were made to ride a helicopter, bungiejump, dive into a pool of ice water, eat fried grasshoppers and locusts, and travel around the world with just their backpacks behind them! Cool! The more memorable teams were MoJo, The Nerds, The FratBoys, The Dentists, The Pinkies and The Hippies. I liked MoJo the most just because Mo was really very competitive. She looked lke Reese Witherspoon! But when MoJo got eliminated, I began to root for The Hippies. I thought that the FratBoys would win the race as they were very lucky with theirs tasks. In the end, The Hippies proved that brains is needed reach to the final mat first, winning the 1 million dollar prize! It was fun to see people of different attitudes doing their tasks and interacting with one another. With the pressure of doing your tasks, teammates often argue, shout at each other, and loose temper. The teams usually get lost as they try to find their way through the new country they're in especially if the navigator of the team isn't that good in reading maps and directions or if they get wrong directions from the locals. At times, teams get to misread the clues and loose valuable time or get penalty for such. It would be exhilirating to be in such a race around the world but also scary. Most of all, it would prove to be a test to one's relationship with your teammate. Then I wonder what Mavis and I would do if we were in the same predicament. Would we be fighting with each other as we go through the cobbled streets of Italy or would we as cool as ice riding the monstrous rides in Japan? What would the other teams name us? The Pinoys?

Dancing Xianelle

Did this on 2004, I think, with a 3d program and using Xiane's photo for the face...

To Fly or not to Fly

If you're flying to Qatar from the Philippines, the only option for you is to fly Qatar Airways (QA). Unless you want to stop over at Bahrain or Dubai, you can probably take Gulf Air or Emirates. However, if you want a straight trip, QA is the answer. Coming to Qatar, you're allowed 20k of baggage. That's why it is always a challenge for me and Mavis to pack our things cause we don't want to exceed our baggage allowance. I'm not sure how much you pay per kilo if you exceed but I've hear that it's like $30-$50. So to be safe, we always get our baggages weighed before leaving for the airport. But that 20k would never be enough if you're travelling with 2 Xbox machines, books, food stocks and clothes. That's why you need to be a member of the Privelege Club. It's their frequent flyer program which entitles you benefits like additional baggage allowance. If you're on their Burgundy Tier, you're allowed 15k more, 25k for Silver card holders, and 30k for Gold status members. Of course, there are more benefits the higher your tier level is. So for those flying to Qatar, I do suggest you enroll in their program as it would help you a lot. I've flown with Philippine Airlines, Saudia, Gulf Air, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways and I can say that QA is probably next to Cathay Pacific when it comes to quality service. My only complain about QA is for a long haul flight to the Philippines, you sometimes get to ride on a plane without personal entertainment system. You pay a huge amount of money for your trip (even costlier than going to Europe) that lasts 9 hours and what do you get? Nothing. But the worst would be Gulf Air. Imagine, the first time Mavis and I travelled with Gulf Air, they didn't have toothbrushes! But they had toothpastes! So when we we're coming back to the gulf by the same airline, we were ready with our own brushes. But alas, this time, they didn't even have a toothbrush, neither toothpaste! I don't want to fly Gulf Air again. I have never been scared of flying in an airplane. I think I was 12 years old when my family and I went to Hongkong from the Philippines to have a Christmas holiday there. If you think of it in a positive manner, what are the chances of your plane crashing? The odds of being killed on a single trip is 52.6 million to 1. That may ease some of your worries then. Still, if it does happen that your plane crashes, what are the odds of you surviving? That, I don't want to think about.

Filipino Statistics in Qatar

Here are some statistics from Gulftimes:

76 Women Facing Deportation

THERE are 88 Philippine nationals, 12 males and 76 females, at the deportation centre, official sources said.In addition, a baby was born at the centre. Ten of the detainees have been there for more than a year. Though they have served their sentences, they are awaiting tickets and salary arrears from their sponsors.At the Central Jail, there are two Filipino men and 24 women, including 18 who were involved in “love affairs”.Six are being held for theft and fights with their sponsors. Besides, a baby was born to one of the inmates.At the Umm Salal jail, there are seven Filipino convicts serving terms while four men and one woman are held by the Capital Police, sources said.Out of the eight Filipinos who died in Qatar since the beginning of the year, four were killed in road accidents and the remaining died of cardiac arrest.One of the deceased was Maria Concepcion Suarez Aresta, a 46-year old woman who was reportedly run over by a speeding car near City Center on January 27.Meanwhile, the family of Filipino worker Bernaldo Sampang (38), who died in a work site accident, received QR127,500 as blood money. The rest of the amount, QR22,500, went for the lawyer and other legal fees, sources said.

Imagine that! I'm not actually surprised at how many are jailed for whatever reasons but more of the number of deaths by road accidents. The more one should be careful when driving the streets of Doha.

I'm Back!

I am back! I know I haven't been able to update our blog for months but vacation is vacation. And what a vacation that was! Mavis ans Xiane are still in the Philippines for their extended vacation, as usual. They would be arriving on June 1 which is just less than 3 weeks from now. Back to Doha means back to work and in this case, alone at work since the other designer is on leave as he got married in India (Congratulations Bala!) while the other one...well, she decided not to work anymore for personal reasons. That leaves me with a LOT of work. But that's ok since it keeps my mind off loneliness. By the time I get home, I'm already tired and would just want to rest and sleep. There's not much change in Doha since we left last March. A lot of roads are still undergoing construction, which means diversions, which means traffic. Although it has significantly lessened asI think drivers got to find better routes instead of congesting to using 1 major road. It is starting to get hot, though I don't really get to feel it as I'm always in the comfort of an area with airconditioning, either I'm in the car, in the office, or at home. Hopefully, I'll be able to answer all emails that were sent to us while on vacation once I really get settled in. That's it for now and more in the coming days... XXX