Settling In

When moving to a new country there are certain events that happen to mark your stages of 'settling in".  Here in Qatar the process has been much faster than in Kenya.  But still, there are challenges...

The first step in Qatar is to secure a Residence Permit.  This is like a work permit in other countries but requires several more steps than we were familiar with.  First is a Medical exam -- blood work and chest x-ray to test for HIV, TB, Hepatitis B and C.  Men and women are separated during this process. Tim and the men flew through these tests but Lisa and the women were delayed at every step.  The stamp that Lisa is holding above took 3.5 hours to get and that was before any testing was done.  In the end Lisa made four trips to the Medical Commission, received six chest x-rays, and totaled more than 10 hours for the process.  (Tim was finished in 1.5 hours on one visit.)

After passing the medical, fingerprinting, and Identification card, Tim received his Residence Permit last week.  Lisa's RP is, of course, delayed.  There are three significant implications of having a Residence Permit: 1.You may live and work in the country of Qatar; 2.You may leave the country for travel purposes; 3.You may purchase a vehicle.

This is our new 2008 Toyota Prado VX.  It has 60,000km on it and handles like a dream.  With a 4.0L V6 engine, it has nice pick up in the round-a-bouts.  It has two fuel tanks which hold 150 litres of gas.  In Canada that would cost $201 to fill.  Here it is just $37. 

It seats seven because it has a third row of seats that fold up and down as needed.  The air conditioning works really well (the #1 item on our wish list) and there is a cooler between the front seats to keep our water cold.

Lisa has been joy riding around the compound (she doesn't have her Qatar driver's license yet).  Sigh.