local time: 8:50am

I got the happy news this morning; they found my luggage! Now I have clothes to wear to work tomorrow!

I found a place to get my SCUBA certification. I'm so excited I'm getting ahead of myself with all the additional courses I want to take. I've already done an experiential dive in the Red Sea so I'm ready to just start with Open Water certification. The others I'm interested in are Ocean Buoyancy (because I had some issues with hitting the floor everytime I breathed out), Fish Identification (they have some kind of conservation project going on), Underwater Navigation (seems like a natural thing to want to know), Underwater Photography (bet you can't wait for these photos!), and Wreck Diving (which first requires Advanced Open Water certification).

That's all for now. My day has only just begun and I'm sure some new adventure awaits. OH - and I got invited to my first house party last night, yay! He has a liquor license too, so I'll finally get a beer! Ciao.

local time: 3.33pm
temp: 111 degrees

I just woke up which is a very bad thing. I wanted to sleep in today but I certainly didn't mean to sleep this long! It's not helping the jet lag. Today is 'Saturday' for me. Their weekend is one off from ours. Friday is the holy day.

I was grabbing some very expensive sunscreen at the store last night when I noticed...they sell Playstation2 and Wii at the grocery store! You can just take it off the shelf along with the games, no locks. The Wii cost 1,599 rys and the PS2 cost 529 rys. So that's $445 and $147 respectively. Pretty much the same. Score :)

I'd love to give you a tour of my home and surroundings however my camera cord is in my luggage. My luggage which is missing. They don't even know what country it's in. They tried to track it and it literally says, "unknown location, tracking continues". I just moved here and 98% of the clothes I own are in that bag. I think they give it 10 days before they finally say 'we lost your bag'. Qatar Airways said they wouldn't give you anything for delayed bags if you live in the country. I don't' know what BA's policy is, hopefully I'll hear something soon.

Meanwhile I just bought a headset so I can use Skype to make internet phone calls. If you want to talk to me for free, you can do the same :) The only thing we'll have to consider is the time zone.

Oh, I did get to see Transformers last night, which I enjoyed. I thought it was especially sweet when the opening scene said "Qatar-the middle east" and people in the theatre started clapping. Movie theatres here are relatively the same. With the exception that people don't really make lines to purchase so it's a little chaotic. Also a screen shows the seats and you actually choose them. They are assigned seats! They were big and red and super-duper comfy!
Ciao for now.

Today we attempted to clear more HR paperwork but things run a little slow around here. I submited my medical papers, filed for an employee badge and handed over my passport to process my visa. The latter makes me a bit nervous. I don't like being without my passport.

Tonight 2 of my co-workers and I are going to see Transformers at the City Centre. It's a complex that houses 14 theatres, a bowling alley, enormous grocery store, restaurants, and an ice skating rink. Who knew!? Then hopefully when our movie is finished our bags will have finally arrived and we can pick them up from the airport.

We got these serious looking phones installed in our offices today. The guy gave us a 5 minute lesson how to use them but I'm pretty sure I didn't make it passed 'press the envelope for voicemail'. I've got plenty of time to figure it out. I don't even know how they want us to answer them.

We have a 'tea boy' in our office that checks in on you as soon as you arrive and periodically throughout the day. Today I had a glass of mango juice. I took a picture, which you'll get to see at a later time when my camera cable arrives. We've already been joking about all our 'historical moments' together, so I have somehow become the group photographer. Guess it's a good trait to have a camera attached to your hand eh?

I learned something about Islamic burials last night. Mohammed had pointed out a cemetery. I told him I would like to see it in daylight. I have a thing for cemeteries. I think they are peaceful, I like taking photos and drawing them, I like to think about my life and remind myself to LIVE in the short time we're given. Mohammed was explaining to me that they bury people very quickly here because it is a greater honor to the deceased. Also they feel you should leave the world the way you entered, naked. So they have a special person to wash the body, then they simply cover it with a white sheet. This is how they present it for viewing. Then a narrow hole is dug with another hole inside of it. I'll try to draw to explain:

They place the body in the smaller hole, then cover it with earth bricks, then fill in the main hole with dirt.

Also, they don't mark the graves with names because you don't visit cemeteries to mourn. You may mark it so you know where one is but you would not go there to 'talk' to that person. You would go to a cemetery to think about your life and how you want to live it and to talk to God. I thought this was very similar and interesting.

I'm reminding myself to tell you the story of the red car. Mohammed told me today and I couldn't stop laughing. Some things just get lost in translation you know :)

Um, yah so I just got a call from my future boss. I have to leave MONDAY!!!! Holy crap. I'm not done packing. I'm not done taking things and putting them into storage. I think I'm going to vomit. Some how they processed my visa on the contingency that my police clearance will be OK. So kids, I guess this is ciao time. Until we meet again.

So here I am in Doha, Qatar. Transit time: 26 hours. I flew Buffalo to Boston to Londond to Bahrain to Doha. The best part is 2 of my 3 pieces of luggage made it with me! I had to laugh though because neither of them really had my clothes in it. I packed so fast and chaotically I had no idea what would be. Perfume, books, a few shoes, a blanket, tea lights/oil holder/burning oils....no matches :P

No matter, I'm hooked up to the net now and my 3rd bag should arrive at some point. My apartment is nice and not the gross grey/blue one I was shown during my interview! I'm pretty exhausted so I'm hoping they will let us get out of here for today so I can go take a nap.

Oh, and it's so hot that you don't have to use hot water to take a shower. The sun warms the water in the pipes! Yowza. More later, with pictures and such.

Thank you for all the well wishes!

local time: 3pm