Latingirl

Friday, August 17, 2007

Moving experience

Well, this is my first moving experience guys, we are shifting from a semi furnished villa to a fully furnished flat ... huge difference !!!



I have sold almost everything and now I have to start packing basically everything in the kitchen and in the master room, I wish I can be more exciting about it but I am not at all, this whole experience is so tired and the fact that I have to pack and unpack again is killing me, I am just too lazy.



Anyway, my new flat is close to the Gold Souqs, I haven't been there but sound like a nice and small place with a wonderful view of the Corniche and the Emir's offices, swimming pool and small gym are included in the building, I am not sure if this place is going to be close to my work, hopefully I don't have to get up earlier to get there on time ... moving starts tomorrow so wish me luck.



Bye,

Saturday, August 11, 2007

La Vida en Qatar (I parte)
La ultima vez q escribi en el blog fue en Marzo de este ano, a partir de esa fecha no habia tenido tiempo o mejor dicho no me habia dado el tiempo de revisar la pagina ... completa desconsideracion para algunas personas q me habian escrito preguntado alguna informacion sobre Doha, mil disculpas a todos !!!

Bueno, finalmente estoy de vuelta y he decidido que voy a escribir en mi maravillosa lengua materna, sorry a los q no hablan Espanol pero este articulo va dirigido a las personas q estan pensando en mudarse para Doha y espero q mi experiencia personal les sea de alguna utilidad.

No voy a entrar en detalles tecnicos con relacion al gobierno o la moneda, porq creo q la mayoria de nosotros encuentra esa informacion en cualquier pagina web, en mi caso personal encontre muchisima informacion en la pagina web qatarliving.com

Clima
Viniendo de un clima tropical, realmente no soy de esas tipicas personas q se quejan por el calor, el clima de Doha es en su mayoria calido y placentero, desde Junio hasta Agosto es la peor epoca del ano donde el calor llega hasta a 48 0 50 grados centigrados, igual q la humedad ... si estas en la calle sientes q caminas dentro de un sauna, felizmente todas las casas y locales comerciales tienen aire acondicionado, desde Octubre hasta Enero por el contrario hace un poco de frio y el resto del ano es calientito asi como en mi Manta querido.

Vestimenta
Una de las preocupaciones mas grandes q tenia cuando venia a Doha era la vestimenta, se escuchan miles de cosas diferentes, que tienes q taparte toda, q tienes q taparte las rodillas y los hombres, q no puedes usar ropa sexy o sandalias, bueno ... en fin, miles de cosas q son totalmente falsas. Personalmente, yo no traje nada revelador ni sexy por escuchar esos comentarios, para luego de un par de meses darme cuenta q Doha es mucho mas relajado de lo que nadie piensa.

Si, definitivamente hay q recordar q Doha es un pais musulman y q los expatriados debemos respetar su cultura, yo personalmente lo hago cuando voy a los centros comerciales o restaurantes, por lo general uso capris, jeans, camisetas pegadas, zapatillas ... se puede ser sexy sin ser vulgar y andar mostrando mucho. Por otro lado hay q recordar q existen lugares destinados unicamente para extranjeros, digamos las discotecas o bares en los hoteles, y eso es una especie de free zone donde todo el mundo se viste a la ultima moda y super sexy; por supuesto nosotras como latinas no podemos quedarnos atras :) :)

Renta
Este punto es suuuuper importante de tomar en cuenta antes de mudarse a Doha, si la empresa te paga la renta estas 80% hecho!!! La renta en Doha es extremadamente absurdamente exorbitante, nosotros pagamos por nuestra casa QR17.000 que para los q no saben es como US$4.600 sin contar agua, luz, cable, internet y el mantenimiento ....

La construccion esta en auge en el pais, y cada dia hay mas edificios y casas en el mercado, un departamento sin amoblar de unos dos dormitorios se podria conseguir en unos US$2.o00 al mes, pero creo q esto seria lo miiiiinimo, hay bastantes agencias q se dedican a conseguir apartamentos a los extranjeros, pero una buena fuente siempre es el periodico y los anuncios en las paginas web.

Muebles y electrodomesticos me parecen super baratos y de buen gusto, no es dificil amoblar la casa con poco presupuesto.

Transporte
Una de las cosas q no me gusta en Doha es el trafico, esta ciudad esta hecha de redondeles con tres carriles lo cual es terrorifico para mi, ha pasado mas de un ano desde q me mude a Doha y no soy capaz de coger el auto para transportarme por el simple terror de tener un accidente, todo el mundo me dice q soy exagerada y creo q tienen razon, pero prefiero evitar antes q lamentar.

En Doha el servicio publico es terrible, la ciudad tiene una compania de taxis q cuando llamas a pedir uno te dicen (si tienes suerte) q el proximo disponible es en 3 horas, con suerte puedes conseguir un taxi en las calles pero con el calor q hace no aconsejo a nadie tomar esa travesia. Los taxis privados se hacen llamar limosinas (q para nosotros es un carro de lujo verdad?), son mucho mas caras pero estan disponibles de forma inmediata, yo trabajo a unos 20 minutos de mi casa y como ya saben todos ... no manejo .... pues hice un contrato con una de estas limosinas para q me lleve y traiga a diario, la carrera minima con ellos es varia entre QR25 y QR30 por viaje, asi q al final del mes termino pagando QR1.000 ... duele el bolsillo, pero en mi caso es por seguridad.

El trafico es terrible y el gobierno esta al tanto de la situacion, estan trabajando arduamente para controlar los excesos y ultimamente aumentaron las penalidades por violaciones a las leyes de trafico, por ejemplo pasarse una luz roja costaba US$800 y ahora con la nueva ley es US$2.700, que les parece??? carito verdad !!!!

Bueno .... espero q esta informacion sea de utilidad, dejo abierto el tema para la segunda parte, asi les cuento sobre la vida nocturna, los restaurantes, la comida, las oportunidades laborales.

Besos,

Latingirl

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Amigas Qatar

For all my Latin and not Latin friends in Qatar, I am part of the Speaking Spanish Ladies Group or Amigas Qatar.

The group has been in Doha for more than 4 years and is a great source to meet people and have a great time with other latins, the new direction is also covering areas as Public Relations, Projects, Welcomes and more.

Today, we had the first coffee morning of 2007, what a relaxing day !!! I was so pleased to see old friends and meet new ones, the warm and friendship between latins is amazing, I am also very interested in the new projects, at the moment they are helping a group of Nepalies who are trying to legalize their situation in Doha.

Thank you girls, I had a great time today and hope see u soon.

Friday, January 19, 2007




You Are 64% Open Minded



You are a very open minded person, but you're also well grounded.

Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints.

But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line.

You're open to considering every possibility - but in the end, you stand true to yourself.




Your Love Style is Agape



You are a caring, kind, and selfless partner.

Unsurprisingly, your love style is the most rare.

You are willing to sacrfice your world for your sweetie.

Except it doesn't really feel like sacrifice to you.

For you, nothing feels better than giving to the one you love.




Your Birthdate: November 28



You don't just believe in love at first site - you've experienced it.

You develop crushes pretty easily, but keeping your interest is another matter!

You are very prone to love - hate relationships.



Number of True Loves You'll Have: 1



Number of Times You'll Have Your Heart Broken: 6



You are most compatible with people born on the 1st, 10th, 19th, and 28th of the month.

Monday, January 08, 2007

When is enough ?

carriewords

I love Sex and The City, Carry, Charlotte, Miranda and of course the crazy Samantha, I miss all her craziness but what I miss more is her brilliant advises about relationships ...

Call me crazy but I really identify myself with Carry in the last seasons (no way I can be like she is in the beginning ... To crazy for a Latin Girl), I love the show and I remember every one of the chapter and even the dialogues, buy my forever favorites will be this ones :

1.- I loooove the part when Carry goes to the church right after Big's wedding just to ask him "Why not me?"

2.- I love when they are in the coffee shop asking their selfs if the real soul mate exist for each one ... Or maybe our best friends are our soul mates and the men are here just to have fun ...

3.- I love when Carry takes care of Big after his heart surgery and only she notes his different attitude with her (ohhh love I think I cried in this one)

4.- I love when she gets sick right after find out the engagement ring and I love when Eidan propose her in the middle of the street ... (and I love when Miranda gets the ugly and reject engagement ring)

5.- I hate when she meet the Russian guy and I hate when he is so cold with her friends.

6.- Finally, I love when Big find the support of Carry's friends to bring her back from Paris ... And what a final chapter when he rescue her from this cold horrible man.

I thinks these are my favorites, I can write at least 50 moments when I cry watching the serie, maybe I am a very emotional person ... Maybe, but thinking about the serie just make me wonder so many questions in the real life ...

I believe that love is our excuse to make all kind of crazy things, like stay up all night talking on the phone, like forgive things that bother us, like do things that we usually hate (like go to the beach and swim in the cold water) ... I have a few questions now ... When do you thing is enough ? How much we have to sacrifice in the name of love ? How to know if the relationship is real or not or if is going somewhere or not ?

Thursday, January 04, 2007

It's so cold !!

Why is so cold now and when is going to stop???

I like the normal cold weather ... Let's say 15 degrees, I came from a tropical weather and as I am not used to this my body is reacting in a terrible way, I just want to be sleeping, seems like the weather is making me get depress :(

I think these houses are not design to keep us warm and comfortable ... I need a heater !!!

Friday, December 29, 2006

Long time ...

It's been long time since I wrote my last post here, almost 2 months ... Wow the time is running so fast, sorry for that I will try to come here more often, let me review what I been doing all this time.

Firstly, I started working and my new job is keeping me busy for around 9 hours every day, counting the time that I spend in the traffic of course ...

Job is great, co-workers are very nice and the environment is very relaxing, just the type of job that I was looking for, I know I am not making a lot of money but I am not the kind of person who is drive for the $$$, I really enjoy a challenging role and of course I wish be rich some day but for now the most most important is the people around me.

By the way in the same month it was my 31th birthday, Oh God 31 and I feel like if I am 20, is that bad ??? I am start thinking that I am very immature for my age, even one of my co-workers always tell me that I don't act like my age ... Is that bad me asking again ??? I had a great birthday party, I had not idea that I know so many nice people in Doha, thank you everyone to make that night so special!!!

Mmm ... Let's see, working and working ah and going out with my new friends, we had a few great nights out, dinner and some drinks, I was missing that so bad, it won't be never like my old friends, like the old and bored same bar in my city, like the same people that you hate because they know everything about you cause they grow in the same city, it won't be the same but is very very funny and is giving me a breathe of fresh air.

This was my first Christmas without mom, to be honest I did not feel like if it was Christmas, just a nice dinner with lots of presents, but not Christmas ... Not at all.

New Year is coming and with that new challenges and goals, God bless everyone who touch my life and help me in the hard way that I decided to take coming to lovely Doha.