We have had many firsts here and I figured I could share some of the highlights. The first time we went to a movie theater with assigned seats, the first time we have had to had someone else buy us booze (since I was underage anyway) :), the first cereal we have ever had that is (and I quote) “ludicrously delicious”, the first toilet with two flush buttons and the first time I have ever felt that being outside for more than a few minutes at a time was a privilege.
We saw “The Bourne Ultimatum” last night with some branch campus and QF folks. Apparently the best system for their theaters is to assign seats, so when you purchase your tickets, you actually have to pick out your seats like you would at a Broadway show, otherwise, apparently people don’t play very nice. The other thing that was just amazing was how many children were at this movie. They will censor breasts and even kissing in Qatar, but apparently murder for hire and severe beatings are family affairs. There were children in the 3-8 year old range at this movie. Not that they were watching it – but since they are Qatari (and you just never know whose cousin is whom) until another Qatari man asked the usher to tell them to be quiet we suffered through their occasional shrieking and their cell phone songs.
I know we have mentioned it, but we are living in a Muslim country. J Now, you can get alcohol at certain bars in hotels, but most restaurants do not serve alcohol. In order to buy alcohol for personal use, you must have a liquor license and there is only one liquor store in Doha. After a particularly challenging week of work, Qatari Kevin took us to the liquor store. There are no signs, just lots of white people (and a large number of Indian people) driving to this place out in the middle of nowhere (relatively speaking). We can’t get our liquor license until we have our Resident Permit (RP), but since Kevin has one, he said I could play his wife and they would allow us in without having to see mine. You know, because I’m just a chick. Curt had to wait in the car, but this place was CRAZY. Not only did I feel like everyone could tell I didn’t have a license, but I was in shock at how much people were buying. You are allowed to buy a certain percentage of your paycheck each month. Kevin was allowed close to 3000QR (about $800 USD) and I saw that MANY people were making sure to get their money’s worth. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people buying 5 bottles of vodka, rum, 6-8 cases of beer and 20 or 30 bottles of wine – all for one person/family. There are also signs “warning” people about Ramadan. You are not allowed to buy or consume alcohol anywhere publicly for the month of Ramadan, so their signs are letting you know you are allowed up to 3 months worth of your allowance in August, September and October since you can’t buy it from mid-September to mid-October because of the religious observance. The signs were also warning for you to plan ahead – apparently the lines can be over an hour long in the 10 days before Ramadan.
Curt and I finally had time to leisurely shop for groceries. We took time to go on every aisle in this particular store so that we could begin to get familiar with it. It seems that things like whole wheat bread or pasta and cereals for people older than age 12 haven’t quite made it to this part of the world. Curt was looking for a cereal that wouldn’t send us into diabetic shock when he came upon a Kellogg cereal that said it was “ludicrously delicious”. I love how translations don’t always quite make their mark.
I was at an ex-pat party the other night while Curt was sick (he told me to go!) and some of the women were talking about the different flushers on our toilets. Apparently the reason there are two is for the different things one might need to flush. The big button is for “big things” and the small button is for “small things”. Amazingly it’s a water conservation function which is rather surprising in this country. I have never seen a place where so many people sit in their cars (or just leave them running when they go into a store) while they wait for someone. And of course they have to have the AC on otherwise you would pass out from the heat!
Speaking of the heat, Lindsay – a coworker and I, were invited to swim in the pool of a branch campus guy named Dave. Now, our places are nice, but Dave lives in the residences of the Four Seasons Doha. His views are amazing – over water and the boat of the Emir along with a wonderful pool. Lindsay and I were both commenting how it was really difficult for us to be inside so much, but we also couldn’t be out in the heat for more than a few minutes at a time. There is just nothing enjoyable about it during the day. Dave graciously invited us to his pool and we went over late afternoon. It was amazing! The pool water was easily in the 90 degree range, but with the ocean breeze and the fact that we were outside and in the water it felt wonderful!
Work has been going pretty well – it’s definitely the busy time right now for Residence Life. Our RA training has been really great – our students are so interesting and worldy while at the same time seeming to be young for their ages. I’m trying to get into the habit of calling them boys and girls rather than men and women so as not to offend anyone. If you refer to a girl as a woman before she is married you are making an inference about her sex life which is “haram” (very bad). One of the boys (who actually holds an American passport) is from Pakistan and he made us all a traditional Pakistani dinner the other night. Everyone had so much fun (it was nearly melt your face off spicy, but it was sooo good!) that two Afghani boys on staff offered to make traditional Afghani food the next night. So we strapped on the feedbags again the next day – and again it was delicious (but not spicy, just flavorful). Another thing I have noticed is that in Arab culture it is not OK to put your back to anyone. If, in our training, the seating is set up so that a student’s back is to another’s they will try to move their chair or they will go out of their way to apologize to whomever their back is facing. Every time.
That’s about all for now – we are beginning to truly feel settled, even as we are still bowled over by how similar and different things can be at once.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Catching Up: Weeks 2 and 3
Well a lot has happened since our last entry so I will try bring folks back up to speed as best I can. Let me begin by saying that keeping a blog is a royal pain in the ass! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…this was totally Belle’s idea:). However, I must admit it’s therapeutic in a way. It’s almost like I’m having a conversation with all of my dearest friends and family at the same time – only trying to be witty, introspective, and concise at the same time. I actually feel like I’m back in grad school. Anyway, enough rambling…
So I guess I drew the short straw and got to be the first person to get sick in Qatar. As we speak, I’m sitting on the coach with pills, lozenges, and dirty kleenex’s scattered all over the coffee table. Maybe Belle got me sick knowing that at some point I would get so bored of watching horrendous episodes of Dr. Phil (the only American show it seems Arabs can’t get enough of) and soccer matches in Arabic that I would write something for our blog. Regardless, I must admit that I haven’t felt overly homesick until I got sick. Suddenly not knowing how to use the hospital system here if I needed it or where to find products familiar to me in the states was a little stressful. Lucky for me it’s just a cold and we packed enough Nyquil and Ricola to get me through this first brush with sickness. Of course there are many wonderful people here ready to help (we even got a couple new home remedies to try from our Qatari colleagues) but it all goes back to a feeling of not being in total control, having all the answers, or understanding the system. I’m sure this is the same for anyone living in a new culture for the first time.
We did finally manage to get our temporary driver’s licenses. In many ways we felt trapped in our home for the first several weeks…so much so that we named our rental car “FREEDOM” (a quality American piece of junk – Ford Mondeo). I must admit we drove illegally for about a week because it was driving us crazy but only from home to Education City which is only a couple of miles in light traffic. Now that we have our licenses we have been able to enjoy the finer aspects of driving in Doha. Let’s just say that many people living in Doha view driving as a sport – getting from point A to B in the fastest possible time regardless of speed limits or say other cars. The city is full of roundabouts, not streetlights, and even you Northeasterners would be scared. You really have to drive aggressively to survive while at the same time watching your own ass. You especially have to keep an eye on white Toyota Landcruisers – the national vehicle (typically Qatari men driving like complete lunatics). I swear I’m about ready to open my own Toyota dealership over here! It will certainly take some time to get used to…until then we try to drive at slow traffic times or on less crowded roads. Another challenge is lack of street signs of any kind. Instead of street signs they give random names to each roundabout (but no actual signage) so people know where they are in the city such as “Burger King roundabout”, “Decoration roundabout”, “Slopey roundabout” – I am not kidding…they are even on the official city map! The good news is that the country is finally realizing they have a genuine safety problem. One attempt at slowing people down is through the strategic placement of speed bumps. They are seemingly everywhere and we’ll probably end up with permanent neck damage by the time we leave here. There is also countrywide campaign of signs that have gruesome crash pictures with the word ENOUGH! on them as well as quotes such as “Where are you daddy?”. They have also started to replace roundabouts with streetlights on new streets and have just increased the penalties for reckless driving. Hopefully it will start to have an impact but just in case we will be buying a car with full airbags. After seeing “The Bourne Ultimatum” last night (Belle will share a funny story about that) we were hoping to import a NYC police car but it’s a little out of our price range:).
Well, that should cover me for a couple weeks…Curt.
So I guess I drew the short straw and got to be the first person to get sick in Qatar. As we speak, I’m sitting on the coach with pills, lozenges, and dirty kleenex’s scattered all over the coffee table. Maybe Belle got me sick knowing that at some point I would get so bored of watching horrendous episodes of Dr. Phil (the only American show it seems Arabs can’t get enough of) and soccer matches in Arabic that I would write something for our blog. Regardless, I must admit that I haven’t felt overly homesick until I got sick. Suddenly not knowing how to use the hospital system here if I needed it or where to find products familiar to me in the states was a little stressful. Lucky for me it’s just a cold and we packed enough Nyquil and Ricola to get me through this first brush with sickness. Of course there are many wonderful people here ready to help (we even got a couple new home remedies to try from our Qatari colleagues) but it all goes back to a feeling of not being in total control, having all the answers, or understanding the system. I’m sure this is the same for anyone living in a new culture for the first time.
We did finally manage to get our temporary driver’s licenses. In many ways we felt trapped in our home for the first several weeks…so much so that we named our rental car “FREEDOM” (a quality American piece of junk – Ford Mondeo). I must admit we drove illegally for about a week because it was driving us crazy but only from home to Education City which is only a couple of miles in light traffic. Now that we have our licenses we have been able to enjoy the finer aspects of driving in Doha. Let’s just say that many people living in Doha view driving as a sport – getting from point A to B in the fastest possible time regardless of speed limits or say other cars. The city is full of roundabouts, not streetlights, and even you Northeasterners would be scared. You really have to drive aggressively to survive while at the same time watching your own ass. You especially have to keep an eye on white Toyota Landcruisers – the national vehicle (typically Qatari men driving like complete lunatics). I swear I’m about ready to open my own Toyota dealership over here! It will certainly take some time to get used to…until then we try to drive at slow traffic times or on less crowded roads. Another challenge is lack of street signs of any kind. Instead of street signs they give random names to each roundabout (but no actual signage) so people know where they are in the city such as “Burger King roundabout”, “Decoration roundabout”, “Slopey roundabout” – I am not kidding…they are even on the official city map! The good news is that the country is finally realizing they have a genuine safety problem. One attempt at slowing people down is through the strategic placement of speed bumps. They are seemingly everywhere and we’ll probably end up with permanent neck damage by the time we leave here. There is also countrywide campaign of signs that have gruesome crash pictures with the word ENOUGH! on them as well as quotes such as “Where are you daddy?”. They have also started to replace roundabouts with streetlights on new streets and have just increased the penalties for reckless driving. Hopefully it will start to have an impact but just in case we will be buying a car with full airbags. After seeing “The Bourne Ultimatum” last night (Belle will share a funny story about that) we were hoping to import a NYC police car but it’s a little out of our price range:).
Well, that should cover me for a couple weeks…Curt.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Week One in Qatar
After 15 hours of flying, we arrived around 1 AM local time (that would be Greenwich Mean Time+2 (GMT+2) in case you are trying to keep track!). We got all of our luggage (because they had been marked priority!) and our ride took us to our new home! We have what is considered a 2 bedroom duplex – all tile floors, neutral colors, beautiful walk-in closets, fully furnished, 4 different air conditioning controls. They were also kind enough to provide us with some staples in our refrigerator: eggs, OJ, milk, etc. It’s very nice and will soon feel homey!
Our supervisor and soon-to-be friend, Kevin (or Qatari Kevin, even though he is American) was introducing us to some of the quirks of the duplex. There is a small backyard with grass (?!) and plants some small trees that are all cared for by others. There is also a drainage pipe coming out of the side of our home for waterfrom the Air Conditioner on the roof which is growing some lovely algae. In the bathrooms we have showers that you walk in to with glass doors. The interesting feature is that the floors are not graded in any way whatsoever – the water from the showers does not run into the drain in the shower, but out into the center of the bathroom floor (since it is not graded toward the other drain in the bathroom either). When you shower, you have a little lake that forms in your bathroom. Solution: buy squeegees to squeegee the water toward a drain after the shower! Also, each bathroom has either a true bidet or a hand-sprayer in it for your backside. I will admit, I did try the bidet – it’s very freaky. If you ever want to try one, you have to come and visit us. Our laundry room has the dryer on top of the washer – however the door to the unit would not open. It turns our door is just a LITTLE BIT too large for the space. Solution: never close the door all the way. It also does not vent the heat or the lint out anywhere – that should be fun. We also have lots of plugs and several plug adaptors, but they don’t fit the appliances they provided like the toaster or the iron. Luckily we didn’t want toast for breakfast anyway . . .
On our first full day, Friday, we met up with all of the new people in our department for lunch and some shopping. Lunch was at Bennigan’s – they are just like in the US – with a Monte Cristo sandwich and everything. They also list all of the drinks with alcohol, but as we are in a Muslim country, they are all virgin drinks. Luckily they still charge the price you would pay with booze in them. Everyone seems nice and just as tired and jet-lagged as we are. We then hit the grocery, and boy was that a ride. In case you are interested they have whole lambs (or goats, I couldn’t decipher) in the meat department. Other than that, it was pretty much like a US grocery store. They had some recognizable US brands, and others that we just went with. Thus far fruits have been tasty, vegetables less so. We need to get better at this.
That evening we ran some additional errands with two colleagues, Qatari Kevin and Lindsay. We were out and about until past 11PM and we saw MANY families in the stores and eating places. We did have one of our favorite meals here yet – at the orange chicken place. That’s not its name, but that’s what is on their sign. It was a chicken shawarma that was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! Curt and I both agreed we could eat that every day. For one pita and a can of coke, it was about $2 USD (7.30 Qatari Riyal). It’s been said that shopping is the national sport – there’s not a ton of other things to do, especially when it’s so hot. And because it’s so hot, many people do things with their families until late at night. I totally understand that, but it’s still a little weird to see lots of 4 or 5 year olds in the grocery at 1030 PM.
This of course leads us to the weather. It’s hot here. Damn hot. Too hot. I haven’t had a blow dryer for the last 4 days, so I would go outside for about 5 minutes to fully dry my hair. That’s all it takes. The average temp has been about 105F every day. It gets down into the 90s at night. We will include some pictures of the surrounding area, but on the whole it is dry and dusty with very little greenery. Your sunglasses fog up every time you go outside and it can feel oppressive in the backseat of a car.
On day three of our arrival we had our health appointment with the state. We were picked up with several other new employees of the foundation and the branch campuses. At the state health department (or whatever it is called) we got our blood drawn and chest x-rays (no TB thank you!). Of course, the men and women are separated and have completely separate experiences. The other way in which people are separated is by class. If you are an “employee”(professional worker) you will go in to wait inside the air-conditioning. You will also get to go to the front of the lines, no matter how long they are. If you are a “worker”(laborer) you wait outside in the heat for as long as it takes. There is little shade and no place to sit. There were probably 300 “worker” men waiting outside when we arrived. For women, there was maybe a tenth of that. We had been told to expect the process to take upwards of 4 hours, as professionals we finished everything in about an hour and 15 minutes.
Our blood work was VERY quick. The chest x-ray was awkward at best. While there was a large waiting area with lots of seats, there was a smaller room just before the x-ray that they ushered us into. This was about 8’X12’ and had close to 45 or 50 women in it in various stages of undress. There was a small woman (Qatari or Indian?) who was shouting directions in a mish-mash of languages at everyone. Of course you can’t wear an under-wire bra for the x-ray, but they don’t easily hand out the clean hospital gowns – they kept handing people the ones others had been wearing. Apparently they also don’t want any older women to wait; Nancy from our group was ushered to the very front of the line after the woman in charge tried to manually remove her bra for her.
As we slowly moved toward the door to the x-ray room we noted several things. 1) the door to the x-ray room was open and there was nothing being done to prevent any radiation from coming into our area, nor did they seem to be concerned about ensuring all of the women wore the lead belt – you had to specially request it. 2) The woman in charge had locked us all in the room. Apparently she wanted to control traffic flow in, but this meant that there was then a line of women waiting to get out. Once we realized we were locked in, one woman in our group commented she felt like she was in a Turkish prison. The other thing we noticed was the professional women were not forced to remove their clothing and wear the used hospital gowns – we were allowed to have our X-ray as long as we didn’t have an under-wire on. The “worker” women were all forced to change into the gowns, and sometimes to completely remove them for the x-ray even though their clothing was just like mine and they had removed their bra. Class is clear and distinct here.
We have spent some time in the office in the last few days trying to get settled. Probably the main thing that is most disconcerting to us is the “tea boys”. These are gentleman whose job is to provide snacks and beverages to the employees and any guests they are meeting with. Jaya (sp?) is the one who mainly serves our area. He young and is very nice and seems to be from somewhere in Indonesia. After 3 days he now knows we are most likely to just ask for a bottle of water, but they also have cookies, juices (mango is my favorite), coffee, tea, you name it. He is very kind, but it’s really bizarre to be waited on like that. As I commented to Curt, even though his job isn’t very exciting, he doesn’t have to work out in the heat. I’m guessing his class is higher than other workers here.
Our supervisor and soon-to-be friend, Kevin (or Qatari Kevin, even though he is American) was introducing us to some of the quirks of the duplex. There is a small backyard with grass (?!) and plants some small trees that are all cared for by others. There is also a drainage pipe coming out of the side of our home for waterfrom the Air Conditioner on the roof which is growing some lovely algae. In the bathrooms we have showers that you walk in to with glass doors. The interesting feature is that the floors are not graded in any way whatsoever – the water from the showers does not run into the drain in the shower, but out into the center of the bathroom floor (since it is not graded toward the other drain in the bathroom either). When you shower, you have a little lake that forms in your bathroom. Solution: buy squeegees to squeegee the water toward a drain after the shower! Also, each bathroom has either a true bidet or a hand-sprayer in it for your backside. I will admit, I did try the bidet – it’s very freaky. If you ever want to try one, you have to come and visit us. Our laundry room has the dryer on top of the washer – however the door to the unit would not open. It turns our door is just a LITTLE BIT too large for the space. Solution: never close the door all the way. It also does not vent the heat or the lint out anywhere – that should be fun. We also have lots of plugs and several plug adaptors, but they don’t fit the appliances they provided like the toaster or the iron. Luckily we didn’t want toast for breakfast anyway . . .
On our first full day, Friday, we met up with all of the new people in our department for lunch and some shopping. Lunch was at Bennigan’s – they are just like in the US – with a Monte Cristo sandwich and everything. They also list all of the drinks with alcohol, but as we are in a Muslim country, they are all virgin drinks. Luckily they still charge the price you would pay with booze in them. Everyone seems nice and just as tired and jet-lagged as we are. We then hit the grocery, and boy was that a ride. In case you are interested they have whole lambs (or goats, I couldn’t decipher) in the meat department. Other than that, it was pretty much like a US grocery store. They had some recognizable US brands, and others that we just went with. Thus far fruits have been tasty, vegetables less so. We need to get better at this.That evening we ran some additional errands with two colleagues, Qatari Kevin and Lindsay. We were out and about until past 11PM and we saw MANY families in the stores and eating places. We did have one of our favorite meals here yet – at the orange chicken place. That’s not its name, but that’s what is on their sign. It was a chicken shawarma that was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! Curt and I both agreed we could eat that every day. For one pita and a can of coke, it was about $2 USD (7.30 Qatari Riyal). It’s been said that shopping is the national sport – there’s not a ton of other things to do, especially when it’s so hot. And because it’s so hot, many people do things with their families until late at night. I totally understand that, but it’s still a little weird to see lots of 4 or 5 year olds in the grocery at 1030 PM.
This of course leads us to the weather. It’s hot here. Damn hot. Too hot. I haven’t had a blow dryer for the last 4 days, so I would go outside for about 5 minutes to fully dry my hair. That’s all it takes. The average temp has been about 105F every day. It gets down into the 90s at night. We will include some pictures of the surrounding area, but on the whole it is dry and dusty with very little greenery. Your sunglasses fog up every time you go outside and it can feel oppressive in the backseat of a car.
On day three of our arrival we had our health appointment with the state. We were picked up with several other new employees of the foundation and the branch campuses. At the state health department (or whatever it is called) we got our blood drawn and chest x-rays (no TB thank you!). Of course, the men and women are separated and have completely separate experiences. The other way in which people are separated is by class. If you are an “employee”(professional worker) you will go in to wait inside the air-conditioning. You will also get to go to the front of the lines, no matter how long they are. If you are a “worker”(laborer) you wait outside in the heat for as long as it takes. There is little shade and no place to sit. There were probably 300 “worker” men waiting outside when we arrived. For women, there was maybe a tenth of that. We had been told to expect the process to take upwards of 4 hours, as professionals we finished everything in about an hour and 15 minutes.
Our blood work was VERY quick. The chest x-ray was awkward at best. While there was a large waiting area with lots of seats, there was a smaller room just before the x-ray that they ushered us into. This was about 8’X12’ and had close to 45 or 50 women in it in various stages of undress. There was a small woman (Qatari or Indian?) who was shouting directions in a mish-mash of languages at everyone. Of course you can’t wear an under-wire bra for the x-ray, but they don’t easily hand out the clean hospital gowns – they kept handing people the ones others had been wearing. Apparently they also don’t want any older women to wait; Nancy from our group was ushered to the very front of the line after the woman in charge tried to manually remove her bra for her.
As we slowly moved toward the door to the x-ray room we noted several things. 1) the door to the x-ray room was open and there was nothing being done to prevent any radiation from coming into our area, nor did they seem to be concerned about ensuring all of the women wore the lead belt – you had to specially request it. 2) The woman in charge had locked us all in the room. Apparently she wanted to control traffic flow in, but this meant that there was then a line of women waiting to get out. Once we realized we were locked in, one woman in our group commented she felt like she was in a Turkish prison. The other thing we noticed was the professional women were not forced to remove their clothing and wear the used hospital gowns – we were allowed to have our X-ray as long as we didn’t have an under-wire on. The “worker” women were all forced to change into the gowns, and sometimes to completely remove them for the x-ray even though their clothing was just like mine and they had removed their bra. Class is clear and distinct here.
We have spent some time in the office in the last few days trying to get settled. Probably the main thing that is most disconcerting to us is the “tea boys”. These are gentleman whose job is to provide snacks and beverages to the employees and any guests they are meeting with. Jaya (sp?) is the one who mainly serves our area. He young and is very nice and seems to be from somewhere in Indonesia. After 3 days he now knows we are most likely to just ask for a bottle of water, but they also have cookies, juices (mango is my favorite), coffee, tea, you name it. He is very kind, but it’s really bizarre to be waited on like that. As I commented to Curt, even though his job isn’t very exciting, he doesn’t have to work out in the heat. I’m guessing his class is higher than other workers here.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Flying business class to Doha, our first entre into the world of privilege…
I must say our trip over the pond from the states was almost as surreal as our first full day in Qatar. With the exception of a flying complication bump to first class for a short flight in the US several years ago, neither Belle nor I had experienced the true luxury of flying business class. It all started with our arrival to the ticket counter where a huge line of international passengers were waiting patiently to check-in. With our new found travel status we were able to skip that entire line of approximately 100 coach passengers to the business class line of only 4. While checking our bags, we also noticed that the airline had placed orange “priority” stickers on our luggage. Within minutes we were passing through security on our way to the gate – but it gets better! We don’t have to wait in those dirty airport seats with scores of other travelers…we get to hang out in the Business Class Lounge. Inside we find free internet access, leather seats, and of course all the free food and drink you could ever want including fresh fruit and liquor. I had to resist my economy class instincts to eat until I was sick, after all it was free. However, I soon realized that if I get all this free stuff now I’ll probably get it on the plane as well – boy was I right.
If you’ve never flown business class on an overseas flight, I almost feel guilty telling you what’s been happening on the other side of the “curtain” all this time. The quote in “Jerry Maquire” makes total sense now – “It’s not just about a better meal, it’s about a better life.” Our seats were spacious and comfortable recliners that could be adjusted to meet the individual preferences of any traveler(including nearly flat for a bed) and complete with a lower back massager, personal pillow/blanket, and interactive audio-visual center. You could literally pick from a huge selection of movies, television shows, cd’s, or video games whenever you felt like it. On our trip over the pond I watched Wild Hogs, Blades of Glory, and 300. But it gets better…
When I noticed a new menu(just like from a restaurant) in front of my seat I thought to myself you’ve got to be kidding me. It was like eating a three course meal at a four-star restaurant at 35,000 feet. We started with an appetizer and drinks(including wine), progressed to the main course, and of course finished with dessert. Belle and I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies so we naturally decided to take photos and steal a menu – just so we could share them with all of you – enjoy!
The final privileged experience that I’ll share from our trip took place when we landed in Qatar. First and business class passengers are taken off the plane first and put on a bus that takes you to immigration. There was a young Asian women who had our names on a sign to make sure we got on the correct bus. Then when we arrived at the immigration area, another young Asian women escorted us to a comfortable waiting area complete with chairs, snacks, drinks, magazines, etc. while they reviewed our visa materials. Ten minutes later, she escorted us through a separate customs line and led us to baggage claim where all four of our bags (clearly marked with the orange “priority” tags) were some of the first to arrive. I can’t remember a more stress free or relaxing flight. 
If you’ve never flown business class on an overseas flight, I almost feel guilty telling you what’s been happening on the other side of the “curtain” all this time. The quote in “Jerry Maquire” makes total sense now – “It’s not just about a better meal, it’s about a better life.” Our seats were spacious and comfortable recliners that could be adjusted to meet the individual preferences of any traveler(including nearly flat for a bed) and complete with a lower back massager, personal pillow/blanket, and interactive audio-visual center. You could literally pick from a huge selection of movies, television shows, cd’s, or video games whenever you felt like it. On our trip over the pond I watched Wild Hogs, Blades of Glory, and 300. But it gets better…
When I noticed a new menu(just like from a restaurant) in front of my seat I thought to myself you’ve got to be kidding me. It was like eating a three course meal at a four-star restaurant at 35,000 feet. We started with an appetizer and drinks(including wine), progressed to the main course, and of course finished with dessert. Belle and I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies so we naturally decided to take photos and steal a menu – just so we could share them with all of you – enjoy!
The final privileged experience that I’ll share from our trip took place when we landed in Qatar. First and business class passengers are taken off the plane first and put on a bus that takes you to immigration. There was a young Asian women who had our names on a sign to make sure we got on the correct bus. Then when we arrived at the immigration area, another young Asian women escorted us to a comfortable waiting area complete with chairs, snacks, drinks, magazines, etc. while they reviewed our visa materials. Ten minutes later, she escorted us through a separate customs line and led us to baggage claim where all four of our bags (clearly marked with the orange “priority” tags) were some of the first to arrive. I can’t remember a more stress free or relaxing flight.
Needless to say privilege has its privileges. We got our first real taste of what it must be like to live between two different social classes. In the states we would never fly business class or be waited on like we were on this trip. There were several times when we both felt uncomfortable and guilty about passing people in line or thinking about the folks crammed in coach but that didn’t stop us from taking full advantage. We both knew coming in that the concept of privilege would be a part of this experience in Qatar but maybe didn’t fully understand the magnitude. It will certainly be interesting to see how these experiences change some of our perceptions and behaviors in the time to come.
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