Catching a cold in the desert

Well, I managed to catch a cold in the desert. My head is bunged up and i didn't get enough sleep. Apart from that, everything is fantastic.

On Saturday I ran for the first time in the dunes and it was brilliant. Mountains of sand dive straight into the sea and running across the crest of the dunes is an experience not to be missed. Saturday evening I had dinner on the terrace at the gold club, watched a movie and then fell into a very exhausted sleep.

On Sunday morning, by cold had gone to my head and I was very snotty. So, instead of running, I explored Doha. First to PCONE, which as the name suggests, sells pcs. I must admit, looking round pc shops is a bit of a hobby and this one had a pretty good assortment. I then moved onto what supposed to be one of the best book shops in Doha, but there wasn't much choice, so it looks like I'll be relying on Amazon. After the book store I had a good look around the city center shopping center. I think the best shop is the hobby shop, which sells lots of radio controlled cars and helicopters etc... I had lunch at Starbucks, then went to explore Villagio, which is a shopping center with canals, gondolas and a very realistic sky. After walking around for a while admiring the designer shops, I had dinner at TGI Fridays for 8 euros. Finally, I went home and hung out with my better half on Skype for the rest of the evening. Then finally a little after midnight I went to bed, with the alarm set for 06:30 (another short sleep).

Running home

I got my race number for the mds today. I'll be 745.
After yesterday's fun trip home, I decided to run home today. It's a little over 9kms, which I covered in just over 50 mins with a heavy pack. I have a bit of a sort throat, probably from the airco, or from the very heavy exhaust fumes. I hope it goes away tonight. I'll run home again tomorrow evening, then eventually I want to run too and from work. I opened a bank acount today, which was a strange experience. A representative from the bank came to our office and guided us through the forms. I'll be getting a checkbook and credit card and I'll be paid by check on the last day of the month. I'll have a current account in which I always have to have more than 1000 euros, otherwise I have to pay interes (no wonder they make a lot of money here). It will be wierd taking my paycheck to the bank every month. I hope I never accidentally drop it...
Well, it's almost 23:00, so time to read a little, then get some sleep.

First day at work

In Qatar the weekend is Friday and Saturday, so I had my first official day of work today. Compared to UPC (my previous job) it was quiet. My meeting schedule was empty and I was able to concentrate on the job at hand. I think it will be a great eye opener working here, out of the bureaucracy of a large corporation. I met a potential new employee who was interviewing for a job in sales and we had lunch together. He gave me a lot of good tips and introduced me to a couple of people working at QTEL, which is the main Qatar telephony and internet provider. I left the office at 17:30, and Kate, who works as our PA, gave me a lift to "City Center" which is supposedly the 5th largest shopping center in the world. I then waited about 20 mins for a taxi in a very long queue, then sat in a traffic jam for a very long time, eventually getting back to the hose at 19:00. That's a hour and a half to cover about 7 kms. Tomorrow, I'm going to run home. It should take me about 40 minutes, so I'll add another 5 kms or so on the end. My legs are feeling a lot better now that they're back in action after a couple of weeks of neglect and I can't wait to run again. For now, it's time to read a little and then get some sleep.