Where I go from touch down to melt down
An English Girl Abroad – Life Qatar – Week One Stilll
The first few days are real high. The weather is so warm, the spacious marble floored apartment so chic, the air so full of expectant promise that we are both on a pink cloud. Vince doesn’t start work until Sunday – (yes Sunday is the first day of the week here and that takes some getting used to I can tell you.)
We thought we’d be really productive and get phones and a bank account, but its difficult enough getting into the centre of town. Although when we finally get a taxi – and as a general rule of thumb don’t stand by the road side in the midday heat and expect to flag a cab, great in theory, but in practise there just aren’t enough cabs in Doha - its only a fiver to the City Centre Mall. It’s lovely and cool and huge and we’re on the verge of giving up when we find a Vodafone shop. But leave with no phones tho armed with some info on how it works here. There’s no rip off contractual tie-in’s, but no free phones either. I’d like an iphone4 – who wouldn’t –but that will set me back around £600, pause for thought.
Bank also no joy, you need your Resident Permit to set up a current account – no exceptions, except for the exception someone else got, apparently. You can set up a savings account, handy in order to get paid, but no cheque book, which we need to rent apartment, no credit either which is also needed for apartment and possibly buying a car for me. When will we get RP, who bleedin knows???
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