Mon 6th – #7 Heart Starter (or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bacon!)

(At this time, I have no reason to explain why I am unable to remove the underline from this entry - it came up like thatwhen I copied & pasted it..? Even switching 'off' Underline did not work - it's a wonder I've even been able to create this!
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Story time – guess I should fill you in on other details about Qatar. There’s no bacon! There, done!

Well, this morning was the first time I needed Food! Hangover food! Had bought basic supplies along with everyone else – resulting in us ALL buying bread, milk, butter (we think) and other assortments. Now, I found in the deli section something that looked like big salami and also bought eggs. I tell you what, scramble some eggs with 100% Authentic Cows Milk (that’s what it says on the bottle), cook some bread that turns into a rock as soon as it comes in contact with air, spread what I think is Philly Light Cheese Spread (the label is familiar but I still haven’t quite mastered reading Arabic!), whack on a thick helping of salami masquerading as bacon and you got yourself a decent hangover cure! Combine that with a glass of the strangest chocolate milk I’ve ever tasted (and you do know that I know ALOT on that topic!) whilst sitting on your front steps in 37deg heat at 0930 and you now know why I’m sitting here typing to you in my air conditioned room!

Ah, it’s definitely an experience here! LuLu’s is this massive supermarket where we went for our original shop. It has everything! My favorite being the oil aisle. And here, it’s pretty much “Why buy a sensible size packet when you can buy BULK!” It felt like we were buying the snack size version of everything. We all scattered and started picking up stuff. Everything is imported – they grow basically nothing here. There’s apples from USA, Fiji, Lebanon etc. The nurses at HQ have said that extra vitamins are needed etc. cause things travel for ages to get here and loose some of their nutritional value! Prices are crazy – depending on what you want but the cost of living is pretty much even at the end of the day. A tiny head of iceberg lettuce is about $11 (Aus) and a can of coke about 60c! Slabs of VB are 125R (bout $50). They do hot meals on site for 27R with a drink and sandwiches for 15-18R. Definitely cheaper to bring food from home – which we’ve got the luxury of being able to do. The ancillary costs is were savings could possibly be made – like taxis, toys, clothes etc.

The roads here are hectic to say the least. It’s “I’m coming onto the road or going to cut across 5 lanes of traffic…..Now!” With a slight beep of the horn, off they go! And the roads are either empty – 120km all the way or it’s grid lock! Parking – not a problem. Nobody will steal your car (or anything) or they’ll have their hand chopped off! Anyone want a C Class Merc? A nice & shiny BMX? Lexus..? You can hear the thought process of “Here I am, I want to go in here so I will stop. It’s OK, nobody will steal my car”. People honk but the driver will just wave as if to say, “Thank you for noticing my car!” Swerving is all the rage. Don’t have enough lane? Have half of mine? Take it all, I insist! I was dumb enough to sit in the front seat on the way to Rydges last night. Never again. It feels like some kind of crazy arse simulator as they drive on the opposite side of the road and as such the car controls are reversed! So here I am in the front seat, feeling like I should be driving with all the road rules reversed (or torn up as the case may be) with traffic beeping away. My favourite was the Truck…quite big, quite heavy & quite angry at our little taxi. It’s horn was a lot less subtle and my pants a lot less clean!

Well, Monday has come to a close and we’ve been a quiet mob tonight. Adam & I broke out AFL on the PS2 – never before have we mashed keys (who reads instructions?) as much as we did tonight in our first foray into the game!

Today was pretty cool, a few of us went off to get fully accredited within the larger Games Community rather than just the Stadium/Ceremonies people. 5 people (not from my area) were left behind because the driver had to leave! The ‘skilled labour’ as they’re called officially or Smurfs as they’ve been nicknamed – not by us – cause they’re dressed in blue overalls and wear white hats. Hence why I think our guy today just up & went! Despite yellings from further back in the bus and at least 2 people visibly chasing the bus the Smurfs have obviously had it drilled into them to be punctual and not to let the games fall behind schedule. These guys do EVERYTHING. Building the villages, assisting with the bump in, repairing roads and shuttle bus drivers, you name it. We then returned to the Stadium where we saddled up to go and explore our positions and find out what needed touching up etc.

Me & Kevie suited up (by putting on our safety harnesses) and proceeded to climb this 70m high arch. About 15-20m off the ground the entire temperature dropped by about 5deg and there was this great, fresh breeze. We got to my position first – a great calf workout and the view was fantastic. Doha is just flat, all around. There’s a few tall buildings but nothing really over 4 or 5 stories. What I would classify as Doha CBD has a few standard skyscrapers but everything is so flat so you never get an idea of the scope of the city. There’s also very little colour. Majority of everything is sandstone or white. To get an eagle eye, panoramic view was spectacular. Anyway, instead of climbing down and going around to Kev’s, we went OVER the arch! All nice and safely and at the peak it’s just one of those moments. People have already requested copies of photos that I haven’t even taken yet! Fools! Oh yeah, I may now be called Dolphin – kinda fits in with my family name. All due to noises I was making (on purpose) in the pool last night in relation to the ceramic dolphin mosaic we have on the pool floor. Today some of the other domes and some of the site managers started calling for Dolphin over the radios…! If it sticks, I can accept it – hey, I‘ve been called far worse.

Was the first real work we’ve done since arriving and it was nice to get out and actually feel like we were earning our cash. Very hot & sweaty when we came down as we (Kev & I) had to physically move our spots around and rerig some of the scaffolding to make the domes even remotely usable for the show. When we arrived, I could dome the entire front row of the opposite side of the Stadium and nothing of the performance area…! Hmm! We were up there for a few hours but at that height where you’re completely at ease but every extra sense and energy is at high alert, it goes by pretty quick. Very hot & sweaty upon hitting solid ground again & you could literally feel your calf muscles vibrating from all the walking up, over and then back up & over the Arch steps. We got to my spot in 6.5mins. A time I plan to beat each day.

Tomorrow (Cup Day for you) will be hot as we’re onsite from 1400 onwards & Kev & I still have a chunk of work to do on our spots before we can comfortably start rehearsals. Haven’t gotten burnt yet – there’s always a first! Pretty much everyone has crashed or gone their separate ways tonight. We’ve only been in the country for 2.5 days but it seems like at least a week as there’s SO much to take in & we’ve all pretty much been right alongside each other the entire time. Everyone silently saw tonight as a chance to take some time out. Still can’t reclaim the free Net – very annoyed! We can apparently get wireless out at HQ in the café area. May have to give that a crack over the next couple of days.

A few of the boys in our compound have found this toy shop that sells toy rifles that shoot little pellets for $20. Myself & Adam witnessed what can only be described as ‘boy fun’ as we sat on our front steps and watched 4 guys running, ducking & dodging. There should a few new players over the next day or so…! Just whilst in Qatar…! Promise!