It’s been an interesting six weeks.  The job continues to go well, did a triathlon, teaching observation and oh yeah, I bought a BRAND NEW CAR!

Finished a Triathlon / Fell off the Fitness Wagon

Nov. 14 – I successfully finished a ‘sprint triathlon’

Swam 500 m
Biked 20 km
Ran 5 km

I haven’t been too active since.  Work got hectic and I regressed to some old dietary habits once the stress really kicked in.  Going sugar-free doesn’t mean eating sugar like it’s free.  Overall after-work language courses and teaching responsibilities caught up to me.  I have certain responsibilities to fulfill and deadlines to meet before  I can go to the gym.   I also strained my should two weeks ago which makes time on the elliptical a non-option.  I’d like to be down a few more kg before I start running and biking regularly. Thankfully my shoulder is better now so there aren’t any excuses left to hide behind.

Quiet Movember

I grew the moustache solo this year.  The news and social media has been completely dominated by political situations at home in Canada and abroad.  My parents donated as did one person who chose to remain anonymous.  I went in to get a general checkup and the dreaded prostate exam last week – however to do proper blood work for checking liver and kidney function I will need to fast for 12 hours prior to going in to the doc.  So I’ll be heading back there next week some time when Doha’s traffic settles down to get my medical checks done.

Classroom Observation

Classroom observations always seems to aggravate some teachers.  They resent prepping a lesson that they feel is not an authentic representation of their day-to-day teaching.  This doesn’t particularly bother me.  I prefer to think of these obligations as teaching demos.  A glimpse into what my classroom would look like if I was teaching 12 hours a week and lacked all the administrative responsibilities that go along with the job.  Doing it this way also makes me review my teaching practices, write up a full lesson plan and get creative.  To me doing a teaching demo is like doing a workout for your teaching skills.  No surprise then that I got the max score for my efforts when the lesson was reviewed.

My New Car

I was hanging out with a friend a few weeks ago and we were talking about cabs vs cars.  My view has been that it’s cheaper for me to take a taxi when I need to go somewhere.  I had been mostly using Uber up to that point.  It’s  more expensive than the metered-taxis but far more pleasant. One out of three or four exchanges between me and the metered taxi driver would go something like this:

Me: Hello, I’d like to go to Villagio.

Taxi Driver (TD): Ok sir.

Me: (noticing he did not turn on the meter) Could you turn on the meter please – I need a receipt. (This is a lie – but I’m trying to be diplomatic here)

TD: No problem sir, you tell me how much.

Me: Just turn on the meter please.

TD: Just tell me how much.

Me: TURN. ON. THE. METER. (Start opening the door to get out)

TD: (turns on the meter)

The rest of the ride is now nice and awkward. Other great interactions include the drivers trying to hide the fare on the newer touch screen meters and then over-charging the fare at the end.  If you go with the private drivers who hang out at mall entrances trying to get people for rides you wind up with a situation like my very last ride with those guys.

Private Driver (PD): Need a ride sir? Good Price.

Me: How much for sports roundabout?

PD: Twenty-five sir.

Me: Ok let’s do it.

PD: (at the end of ride) 35 sir.

Me: You said 25!

PD: No sir 35. Really 35.

Me: Fine take your money. I’ve got a car now and that’s the last time anyways.

I find these interactions unpleasant enough and I am pretty good at avoiding them.  I couldn’t imagine driving for a living here and having to spend my days pulling stuff like that on other people.  It’s the main reason why I switched to Uber as much as possible.  However these were the aggravations I was willing to put up with to save a buck until…

My friend asked me if I was sure about whether or not I was saving money over having my own vehicle and now that I was uber it was actually really easy to track my expenses.  Turns out I was spending over 2000 QAR per month on taxis back and forth to work and such while living here.  The cost of my own vehicle (new) would be 10000 QAR down and 1650 per month.  A quick bit of math revealed that I’d actually save money over using the taxis by getting my own vehicle.  That settled it.  Now I have a car.  I’ll blog more on how that’s going next time.