It’s officially been a month since living in Doha. A lot has happened, so instead of writing a post on one specific subject, I’m going to break it down into categories so I can paint a picture of our life for you. Be forewarned though…. you may want to grab a snack, a beverage or a glass of wine because it is a lengthy one. I’ll give price comparisons where I can to give you an idea of the cost of things.
1 QR (Qatar Riyal) = approx .35 cents CAD
Apartment Life
I was fully expecting an expat compound with a pool. We do not live in a compound though, the school placed us in an apartment building in the area of Bin Omran. Its a couple km from the Ocean- in fact we hadn’t gotten a good glimpse of the ocean until this past weekend but I will talk about that later. I’m not upset about our apartment. It’s a 4 story building. We are on the second floor in a corner unit, so our view looks onto the street. The apartment is WAY BIGGER than I was expecting so that was a nice bonus. Don’t get me wrong, its not huge! But it is larger than the quaint 2 bedroom house we were renting in Kelowna. It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a separate spice kitchen. I say separate because the door closes. I’ve never seen a kitchen with a door! The kitchen and powder room are in the middle of the flat. I’ll use the word flat because thats what its referred to here. I guess thats a British thing. I’m not sure. Anyways, There is a cut out going down the whole building right in the middle. Sort of like an atrium, but no one goes in there. The purpose of it (I’m assuming, I have not asked) is so the air conditioning units can be placed in every bedroom (an “outside wall”) Also, despite the fact the kitchen and bathroom are in the middle of the flat- there is still a window. The main reason being for ventilation. There’s a fan attached to the kitchen (and bathroom windows) to draw out the smell of spices. So I flip on the ventilation switch when I’m cooking and the fan turns on thats in the window. Make sense? I’m sure without this feature, the hallways would smell like curry and cooking. The purpose of the fans attached to the windows in the bathrooms are for moisture. So, instead of them being in the ceiling, they are built into the window so it is sucked right outside. Ok, wow. That was a lot of explaining. Keep with me, I’m trying to paint that picture for you but I think I will go ahead and take some photos so you can see for yourself. Back to details of the flat. It is fully furnished. We have a love seat and 2 large sitting chairs in the living room with a coffee table, 2 end tables, a desk and of course the tv stand with a decent sized tv.
The kids are used to sharing a room. I was worried about the bed situation but turns out they each have their own bed. Holden has a single toddler bed and Hattie-Mae has a full sized bed. It’s not quite a single, but not quite a double. They have 2 8ish’ tall armoirs for their clothes (Ceilings are at least 12′ high in here) and a vanity with a mirror. Their window looks out to the street like the living room.
Andrew and I have a huge room with a king sized bed, 2 armoires the same as the kids, a vanity and bed side tables with lamps. It’s really everything we need. I should mention that every piece of furniture in here is cherry coloured wood. It is my least favourite so it is not appealing to me. Even the doors and door frames are all cherry coloured. The bedding isn’t appealing to me, it was maroon and brown. It was actually depressing me so I bought a white duvet cover and charcoal grey sheets from IKEA because I felt I needed something of my own. I had also packed my accordion peg rack, a couple wall hangings and a macrame plant hanger which I am so thankful for. Qatar IKEA prices are on par with Canadian IKEA, FYI. Because every building here is just cement blocks, I couldn’t use a nail and hammer so I bought little sticky hooks at the store. I also bought myself a couple plants on my birthday because plants make me happy. The plants were less than $15CAD combined to give you an idea.
Oh, and our neighbours are a family of 4 from the UK with 6 and 3 year old girls who have grown to be the kids friends. Amila is in Hattie-Mae’s class which is really nice for her.
Rent Cost = Free for us however the school rents a block in our building (there’s quite a few other colleagues from Andrews school) That being said, the block rate rent cost is around 6,000 QR. 2 of Andrews colleagues are a married couple who live in “The Pearl” which is a high end area of town. They get a living allowance of 6k Riyal EACH and pay around 7,500 QR for a one bedroom flat. The Pearl can be upward of 15,000 QR. So I would say the cost of rent/mortgage here is substantially high compared to Canada in general.
Food: Groceries
I was a bit nervous about what food would be available at the grocery stores. It was silly to be nervous because we’ve been able to find what we like. There is a convenience store/market right beside our building and one across the street. We can grab bananas, fresh veg and anything we need in a pinch. Prices aren’t too inflated which is nice. We have a mid sized grocery store at the end of our street called Stop and Shop. It’s 2 levels. It has almost everything we need. Our favourite places to shop are a quick uber ride away. (which is a whole other topic, but to save you from the lengthy boredom- Uber has been a great way to commute places for CHEAP. We can get anywhere we need across the city or to the local hypermart for $2-$6CAD) Lulu Hypermarket is a $2.50 uber ride (each way) and I can shop for cheap there. They have EVERYTHING and you can always find what you need. Instead of paying the hefty international prices of brands we are used to, we stick to middle eastern brands. They also have weekly deals which is nice. Carrefour is also a large hypermarket with anything and everything (think of a wal mart type store) It has taken me a good month to really figure out where and when to get things like where the best veggies are. Most vegetables are not grown here as its a dry desert so prices can be inflated but I’ve learned the best ones to get. Unfortunately broccoli is around 24 riyal per kg compared to cauliflower which is 3 riyal per kg. We are here to save money, so I will choose cauliflower from Iran over broccoli. We’ve been a big fans of the french green beans from Africa. They are super affordable and tastier than the ones found back home. Bananas, mandarins, lemons and limes are all affordable- lemons more so than back home! I can get an entire bag of them here for $1CAD whereas they would cost me almost that for one in Kelowna.
Milk 2L jug = 13 QR. Bread = 3-6 QR. Eggs,2.5 dozen = 8-15 QR
Water service. So, the water here is desalinated ocean water. It’s the most common for people to get water services which is what we chose to do. We can still cook and brush our teeth with the tap water, but its not necessarily something we want to drink…just in case. We opted in to a water service for 220 riyals which is approx $75 which includes 22 10L bottles of water delivered every Monday. So they gave us tickets. When we need a refill, we place the jug of water outside our door with a ticket and they replace it with a full one. We could have rented a water cooler but Andrew and I don’t love cold water so we opted for the free hand pump. Essentially the water cost us $3.50CAD per bottle including the delivery. Not bad in my eyes. We go through one jug a week so will be buying more tickets after 20 weeks (started off with 2 jugs to swap)
Food: Dining Out
We have so many options for dining out here. So far we have stuck to local “holes in the wall” which has been incredible. The area we live in isn’t the beautiful glorified classy area of town. It is where a lot of the locals live that are here supporting their families back home. Predominantly Indian, Pakistani and South East Asian. So in turn- a lot of the places to eat directly around us are family owned and run. I feel like we are getting a true experience living where we are and absolutely love it. One of our favourite places is “Modern Indian”. Let me tell you it compares to NOTHING you’ll see in North America. The first time we ate there is was packed with local Indian men (Majority of the people in our area are men. I think this is because they work here and send money home to their families but I am not positive) They legit don’t serve food here with utensils. Unless you’re white. In which case we did have to ask for them and they were plastic. We got the kids butter chicken thinking it would be a simple dish they could enjoy. WRONG. It was the spiciest butter chicken I’ve ever tried LOL. They did have an assortment of Chinese food on the menu so we got them vegetable noodles and they ate it up! The FRESHEST and best paratha is only 1 riyal. Which is about 30 cents. It is so flakey and fresh. I can’t even describe how good it is. 3 main dishes and 2 freshly squeezed mango juices was about $20CAD. Modern Indian is the place Andrew and I grab take out from now on nights we don’t feel like cooking after the kids have gone to bed. 2 dishes and 3 paratha costs $7.65CAD. That is a win in my books for the most authentic Indian food I’ve ever had. We’ve become fans of a Turkish place that has the best chicken shwarma and hummus. You really can’t beat the prices. A family meal there also runs around $20. The kids really like it so that is a win.
As far as traditional modern restaurants, we have yet to explore. There is a huge culture around food here and Doha has some of the best places for foodies. There is Opal, by Gordon Ramsey and world famous Nobu amongst the four seasons, Hilton and high end restaurants all over the city. It is quite popular here to pay for weekend brunch, sit and enjoy for hours. We have yet to do these things as y’all know the main reason we are here is to pay off that debt. However, living rent free will allow us to indulge occasionally when we see fit. Plus, I’m waiting for Andrews bank to send us the info on an app called “Entertainer” which is a paid for app (425 QR) that gives 2 for 1 deals and discounts on hundreds of attractions and restaurants around the city. We are getting one complimentary through the bank.
One of Andrews grade 11 students gave him a list of places to eat at with specific items to try. We’ve hit up one place so far but are excited to work our way down the list. The place we tried was a Yemen (Yemenese?) restaurant at Souq Wakif. Wow. We were blown away! The food was different than anything we had ever tried. The kids loved it too!
Activities + Attractions
The weather is still hot here. It is cooling down ever so slightly and we keep hearing in a month it will be perfect to explore! Until then, we’ve done Souq Wakif 3 times (which warrants its own blog post) I could go there weekly- it is so fun. We’ve done the National museum of Qatar and many malls. There is SO MUCH MORE on our list to do once the weather becomes bearable to do long outside day time activities.
National Museum of Qatar:
Holy moly, colour me impressed! The architecture was designed to look like a desert rose, a naturally occurring crystal found in the desert. Beautiful lines and curves of the building, inside and out. Very modern feeling inside with “floating” displays through glass displays. The museum explores Qatari culture through past and present. From geography and land history of natural resources such as pearl mining and oil to traditional fashion throughout times. We learned about when the Al Thani family (Royal Sheik) came to be in Qatar and who play a huge part of Qatari influence. It was a place our family explored with our neighbours for 2 hours without anyone getting bored. There were lots of projector installations along the walls and interactive activities for the kids and adults to enjoy. We will definitely be back to explore the national museum. The icing on the cake was that it was free because Andrew had proof that his Qid (Qatar ID) was in the process of being approved.
Malls:
They are plentiful here! Most of them are 5-6 stories tall with a plethora of North American and British stores among Arabic stores. Most malls have some sort of kids amusement area. Skating rinks, bowling alleys and 14+ screen movie plexes are common in any mall around here. We haven’t even made a dent of really exploring them although a favorite so far was the Italian themed mall Villagio with built in water canals and boats. Villagio had an entire wing of luxury couture shopping. From Gucci and Fendi to Chanel. You name it, they had it. Most exclusively we saw local Qatari men and women shopping in them. Although they wear the traditional abaya and thobe- they LOVE their designer wear. Most local women have expensive luxury purses, sunglasses and shoes. I’m sure they wear designer clothing under their abaya but only in the comfort of their home.
Culture, WC and other random conclusions.
As you likely know, this is a Muslim country. Athaan (call to prayer) plays throughout the day from before sunrise till after sunset. Prayer times are based on the cycle of the sun, so change daily. You can hear the call over loud speakers from near by Mosques. It is a beautiful thing I’ve come to love. At first it was very different and new to me, but after being here a month, I’ve grown to get used to it. Even at 4am- most mornings I sleep through it. I will note that the call is performed by a keeper of the mosque and have distinguished different calls by different men. I enjoy the one where it sounds more melodic and musical.
It is not required for myself to cover my knees and shoulders however is appreciated and a way for me to respect the culture so I do. I have one dress that goes slightly above the knee and will wear it out and about daily life but would not wear it to a place like Souq or a museum.
Muslims don’t drink and they don’t eat pork. Therefore, those things are not available in the stores. In fact, a LOT of the curriculum Andrew teaches is censored. Sometimes pages in books are glued together or blacked out. Alcohol is available in most of the international hotels and some restaurants in the city core and I learned that expats can purchase it. You need your Qid and a notice from your sponsor to apply for a permit to purchase it. One of Andrew’s colleagues purchased a couple bottles of wine for me. I had the pleasure of having a glass of wine the other night after an entire month. It was worth the wait. Alcohol is taxed here by 100% so it is not something I will have all the time. Special treat! For reference, I believe the 2 bottles of wine (red from south Africa, white from France I think) cost him around $40.
WC = Washroom/commode.
Did you know you’re not supposed to put toilet paper down the toilets? Like… none at all. No. Not even after a poop.
They have these hand held bidet sprayers called a shatafa. It took a while to get used to… Let me tell you without going into too much detail but Andrew agrees- feels refreshing after doing your business especially after a hot walk outside. LOL.
I could continue writing but I fear this is already way too long. If you made it to the end I need to congratulate you. It probably means you are actually interested and I thank you for that! If I missed anything, which I’m sure I have.. please comment with any questions below and I will be sure to get back to you. Depending on the amount of questions I may just blog about it. So if you have any pressing questions or are curious about anything, please speak up.
Until next time, Assalam Aleykum (Peace be upon you) xx Kerry-Lee
