Weekends

         Because I'm a neat freak and somebody's got to do it, Friday mornings are spent cleaning, scrubbing, and mopping off dirt and dust that stubbornly, mysteriously find their way into the flat even with windows closed. Suits and linen are washed by the hotel laundry service, so doing the rest of my laundry at home isn't much of a big deal.

         Since a 48-hour work week doesn't allow enough time for kicking back, I refuse to cook. Either I pack food from the hotel on Thursday evenings, or I head out with friends for lunch and make sure I bring home dinner. If I don't work in the afternoon from my room, I'm usually out with Kuya Jay and Kuya Ray - good friends of the family who have lived here for a decade, or with my co-workers Terry and May, or all of them.

            Men have asked me out, yes. End of story.

Transport

           Getting from the flat to the hotel and back is easy because transport is provided. Otherwise there are taxis (called karwas) and "colorums" that are hard to come by but charge pretty much the same rates as in Manila. Cars are at least 20% cheaper here. I haven't tried the public bus, and there are currently no railways in Qatar. But they are building a railway and metro system that will be operational in 2016. Not that I'm holding my breath for it.

         So how's it been like, really? In a nutshell, manageable. Sometimes draining, sometimes exciting. But generally manageable.

            And if there is one thing Qatar doesn't have that I wish I could have brought with me from the Philippines, I swear it is the quiet, natural, and ever-reliable, walis tambo.