Qatar 2008 - 2010
This was home for two years in Doha, Qatar. The teaching job was with College of North Atlantic Qatar (CNA-Q). The Newfoundland college is contracted with the Qatari government to provide health, business and technical training services. |
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The capital Doha is located on the Persian Gulf south of Saudi Arabia. Sailing is one of the expatriate activities. Qatar is oil and gas wealthy. They export large quantities of lignified natural gas (LNG) to Europe, South East Asia and North America. |
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| The money is going to develop infrastructure, healthcare services and a modern city. The growth rate is mind-boggling. These buildings did not exist five years ago. |  |
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| Doha is on the water so there are many water related act ivities. |  |
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| "The Pearl" is an artificial island under construction. When finished it will include 15,000 dwellings and lots of shopping. |  |
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| The CNA-Q campus is state-of-the-art in all respects providing the 1,200 students and 500 Canadian staff with a very comfortable working environment. |  |
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| The roof of my building was cluttered with air conditioning and satellite dishes |  |
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| However, it was a great place to see wonderful sunsets almost all of the year. |  |
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| The roof was also a meeting place for the almost 60 Canadians in the building. |  |
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| That included barbeques, movie nights, and other entertainment. |  |
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| My neighbourhood included reliably fresh chicken dinners by selecting the chicken from the flock. |  |
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| Also in my neighbourhood were local dress shops with colourful clothing. |  |
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| The Qatari students were a pleasure. The class sizes needed to be small because I was adding more complicated technical vocabulary to the struggle they were having learning English. |  |
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| ...and it was tough to keep them interested... |  |
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| Fortunately we had work areas and labs for practical activities. |  |
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| The technical facilities were important to support the classroom. |  |
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| They were definitely fun to work with. | .jpg) |
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| Some of the students are real characters. |  |
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| A camel shipment was a common site. |  |
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| ...or a goat shipment.. | .jpg) |
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| Modern highways lead into the desert. |  |
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| Fuel was about seventeen cents a liter so large SUVs were preferred. |  |
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| McDonalds were everywhere. |  |
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| Picnics were popular. |  |
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| The Qatar expatriate community is large enough to support regular rugby tournaments with neighbouring counties including Bahrain, U. A. E and Kuwait. |  |
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| I had many enjoyable afternoons at the rugby club gym and the pool. |  |
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| Trees needed irrigation to survive. |  |
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| One of the shopping malls did however provide gondola rides. |  |
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| The operators could also sing in Italian... very authentic |  |
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| The traditional markets (or souqs) were also popular. |  |
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| ...and colourful... |  |
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| Qatar is being built and maintained by foreign workers from poorer countries. They have a tough life. |  |
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...and they are many.. The little money they make goes to their families in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, etc. |
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One of their diversions visiting the food stores. However, they cannot afford to buy anything. |
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