Permanent Resident Hoop-Jumping

I spent most of my first few days organizing my permanent residence here in Qatar,.. that and getting over my jet-lag, which involved sleeping until noon and feeling drunk with tiredness when awake.

There is a medical one must pass for the permanent resident status that includes a chest x-ray and blood work (fail this medical and they deport you). My good friend Danila took me to the clinic (the morning after I got in, ie. the morning after our girls-night drink-up). We drove through the entrance to the medical center in Dani's tank and were directed toward the female parking. There is a different entrance for women on the side of the building.

This was an interesting cultural exchange, and the first of many.

The medical unit is known to some as the "concentration camp", mostly because you stand in a line half dressed waiting for a medical something to happen and you're not sure what it is because of the language barrier.. laughable now, but it was the longest hour of my life; just me, my beautiful Italian friend holding my handbag and fifty Philipinas (all nannies to the Qatari and expat kids, and pets -- yes, lucky pets get a nanny too).

Everyone is given a handful of pamphlets there, these include:

"The Oneness of Allah"

"Messengers in Islam" (includes Moses, Noah, and Jesus)

"Islam and Civilization"

"Rights of Mankind in Islam"

"Religious Tolerance in Islam"

and

"Health and Nutrition in Islam"

I was curious so I kept them, .. that'll be another blog entry.

The following day I was off to get my fingerprints done at the 'Criminal Evidence and Information' government building. It looks like a huge white palace and is next to an even bigger, scary-looking jail. The kind of jail that no one ever wants to go to, or be close to for that matter. Anyhow, by my second day I was happy that there was a 'women only' section in each government building with its own entrance. No hassle, no lines, no one staring, and the women are lovely. It made the bureaucratic red-tape hoop-jumping permanent resident status-getting process quite bearable. And the fingerprinting took no time at all, so off I went to the Villagio (a super-sized posh mall version of the Las Vegas Bellagio) to reward my efforts. =)