Qatar…From Afar: One Flew Over the Kookoo’s Nest

Following the twelve-day ordeal in a Qatari jail, when my flight to Kathmandu landed, the first thing I did was to let friends in Qatar and friends and families in Nepal know that I had indeed safely landed in the city (see image), relieved to have left behind the craziness that can be Qatar!

Here’s what I mean by that:

Qatar Academy

A post I made about ten months into my stay in the country:

About the kind of students we had at Qatar Academy. (Incidentally, “phase” should read “faze” and “Half a billion” in the post should read “half a million”!)

What’s a Nepalese teacher or a construction worker to students some of whom are able to drive vehicles such as these to school?!

The following post gives you an insight into the thinking and attitudes of, I venture to say, many Qatari male students towards girls and women.

The news article shared in the following post is about the removal–under pressure from locals–of a YouTube video of a flash-mob performance in Doha. Until I arrived at Qatar Academy (QA), my teaching involved a lot of music, dancing and conversations and discussions about religion. Of course, I didn’t do any of that with QA students; I was instructed by my supervisors NOT to do any of that early on in my teaching stint at the school.

If you read the article, you’ll understand why!

Another post which encapsulates the attitude of the local students towards workers from the (Indian) Subcontinent.

The following post provides a window into the way Qataris I encountered think.

About General Practices, Attitudes, Rules etc.

The following may–just may–be the source of some of the problems in Qatar! (Click here for the original post.)

And when money is the cheapest thing around, why not get anything you want?!

Like a cheetah for a pet?! (Click here for the article.)

…And spend $5k on luxury goods per month?! (Or get luxury cars for their ninth grader?) (Click here for the article.)

Since you cannot participate in events such as these as readily and easily as foreigners are able…

Or when you can’t go out for a drink or two…

…or legally buy alcohol… (A Liquor Permit is available to only expats making above a certain amount.)

…and when you can get a tank of gas (petrol) for the cost of a bottle of beer anyway!

And if as a female teacher you are banned from not only bars, but also from teaching at boys schools…. (Click here for the article shared in the post.)

And the following I always found amusing. (Click here for the article in The Peninsula Qatar and here for the Reuters.)

Migrant Laborers/Foreigners

To begin with, a post about the demographics of the country. (1.7 should have been followed by “million.” The current population of the country, if I am not mistaken, is just a little over two million!)

In other words, the Qataris need all the expats–unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled–it can get. But, the way they are treated…you would think otherwise!

Catch 22! Really! You’ll have to read the article to believe it! (The individual featured is most likely NOT from the Indian Subcontinent.)

If you are a migrant laborer, then this is the kind of vehicle you are shuttled around in.

For migrant laborers–most of whom are men and by themselves–not only is there restrictions on movement in and out of the country and between jobs, there’s also restriction on where they can go in the city. (Click here to read the article.)

Is it any wonder then that we have the following situation in the country?! (Click here to read the article.)

There you have it!

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