Freedom Post: Part 2

So here is the story, and I hope that this is the last time I am going to tell it, because I really want to put this behind me. But I have to put it down on paper. I would like it to serve as a warning for some. For others, it will hopefully just remind you to be grateful for living in a country where "fair", "equal", and "human rights" are phrases that mean something.

Brody began to go to school when he came to live with us in Qatar. We knew that in order for him to be able to attend, he would have to get the residency permit I referred to in Part 1. We immediately go in touch with Human Resources at my school and at CNAQ to figure out what to do to make that happen. Brody (and Paul) were living in Qatar on tourist visas, which had to be renewed every 30 days until the RP's were processed. This was a very involved process. Paul took a low paying job that promised to sponsor him so that he and Brody could get RP's. Brody's mom spent money on lawyers to get forms we needed. My sister went out of her way at 9 months pregnant to help us send birth certificate, marriage certificate, and guardianship papers to Ottawa for authentication and then to Qatar. With Qatar's terrible postal services, this was no easy task. We pinned our lives and our hopes on this advice that we were given, so that we could all stay together as a family, and live in Qatar.

At the beginning of June we notified the head honchos (directors of the school) that the paperwork we had been waiting for and sending them endless emails about would finally be forthcoming soon. At that point, they called the principal of the school and told her that Brody would not be allowed to receive my medical benefits or other benefits, including tuition to attend Qatar Canadian School. I was shocked and mystified. After all, we had been working for months to get Paul and Brody RP's done so that they could get medical insurance and so that next year we could all stay in Qatar. I asked for a meeting with these people to understand why there was suddenly a problem. The principal and vice principal were called to attend the meeting with me. I took a copy of my contract with me. In it, my contract explicitly states that dependent children, and it stated children OR stepchildren would receive my benefits.

At this meeting, the Financial Head Honcho brought his own, FORGED version of my contract, that did not list stepchildren as qualifying. Despite the fact that I had the original job offer email, the Director of the School and the Financial Guy refused to honour my contract, accused me of writing it, and said they had never seen it before. Everyone who was hired the same year as I was, had the same contract by the way, with this same phrase. They lied to me and said that stepchildren are not recognized in Qatar. This is an out-and-out lie. They told me "too bad" and I could take them to court.

I pointed out that my qualifications make me a valuable employee. They agreed. I suggested that they should find a way to make this work...maybe a raise to cover the tuition cost, for example. They said they would think about it, then three days later, said "no". This was on about June 6th. By June 8th I had found a new job in Beijing. The school there was willing to write directly into my contract that Brody will receive free tuition and fees. I gave notice that I would not be back.

On JUNE 16th, with less than two weeks to the end of the school year, I received a 16 000 Qatari Riyal bill for Brody's current tuition. This amounts to about 4400 Canadian. I flipped out at our HR lady at the school and said there was no way I could pay this. Why, I asked would I be charged tuition for a child that you say is not my son? After all, if he was, he should get tuition. If not, why would I be the one to pay his tuition?

The principal was called in next and put through a trying ordeal where she was told that she was too blame for this mistake. She went away expecting to pay the 4400 the next day herself. After driving her to the bank that night, I woke up the next morning determined that this was completely ridiculous. After all, the principal relied on the HR department of our parent company (CNAQ) to do its job.

On June 19th I sent an email to the Head Honchos that stated simply that it was immoral and unethical of them to charge the school principal for Brody's tuition. I erased the sentence that said what I really wanted to...that they should stop trying to EXTORT this money from me...or her...or anyone... Within two hours, Brody and I were commanded to leave school property immediately and not return. Then came horrible days. In Qatar, your employer is your sponsor. They decide if you get to leave the country or not. Ever. I had no idea what they would do to me if I did not pay this bill. As this was the first time that anyone had ever mentioned such a possibility, we did not have even close to that amount of money.

Eventually what they did was withhold my final pay to recover the 16000, which left me with a paycheque of 400 dollars Canadian for June and July. As I had only two days to catch my flight out of Qatar at this point, I had no choice but to accept this, and be grateful to be leaving the country. There were so many more lies told that I can't even stand to list them all. Brody was never allowed to return to the school, even after the money was paid.

Now I am living off the charity of my mother and friends while I wait for my new job in Beijing to start. Obviously my four hundred dollars is long gone. I had to renew my passport this week, which now costs 120 bucks.

Basically, the people who make financial decisions at QCS do not ever step into the building, and the ONE that does is just a spy and snitch. They freely admit that they do not care what happens there, and the only time they do shell out cash is when they are forced to in order to keep their "Alberta Accredited" designation. They short-change the students at the school constantly, who are good kids. They screw over the staff again and again, despite the fact that they are talented teachers who deserve better. And because the "sponsors" are nationals, and we are just expats, there is LESS THAN NOTHING that we can do about it, but accept being cheated and lied to. It is not uncommon at QCS for teachers to not receive promised pay at the end of the year, for example.

This story is even more complex than what I have described, but frankly, I could write a book about the corruption that exists in this place. We were even advised by good Qatari families, that what was happening to us was very wrong and shameful. I do not believe that all of Qatar is like this. A lot of people have great experiences with employers. But CNAQ and QCS are places to AVOID AT ALL COSTS as far as I am concerned. The head administrators are completely untrustworthy. They aren't running schools. They are running, what they hope to be, money MAKING ventures.

Ok, I am exhausted. I have many positive things to say in upcoming posts. We are all back safely in Canada and are eagerly awaiting our next adventure in Beijing.
In spite of the disaster that happened to us in Qatar, we all still would not change a thing. We met wonderful people, made close friends, and saw beautiful and fascinating parts of the world.

Travel you Fellow Teachers. Just do your homework when choosing an employer, and then check it again. And again.

I am grateful to be Canadian and to live in a land with...um...contract laws...and freedom, and people who believe that all people deserve to be treated with equity.

The Freedom Post: Part 1

In case you don't know me or haven't read my blog before, a brief summary before I begin. I am 37 (eek) years old, and a Canadian. I love travelling, though I am not yet well-travelled. I lived in the United States for five years, and a few different places in Canada, including Montreal, but most of my adult life I have lived in Calgary, Alberta, where I taught high school for nearly a decade. Lately I have travelled to some dream destinations in the USA, like New York City and Hawaii. I have also been to Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, London (UK), and most recently, Dubai (UAE). For the past ten months I lived and worked in Doha, Qatar as an art and drama teacher. I moved there alone last August, and shortly after I got married (2nd husband) this past December, my new hubby Paul joined me, followed shortly by his eight-year-old son, Brody.

I left behind a career with the Calgary Board of Education to accept a position at Qatar Canadian School for several reasons. Primarily, I wanted to travel and not just as a tourist, but live abroad to truly experience another culture. I was offered a few different positions, but the job at QCS seemed like the best decision for me. The benefits were good, the weather sounded great for a sun worshipper, and there were lots of school holidays that would potentially allow for even more travelling, to places nearer to that half of the globe.

Before I start to tell the sad part of my story in Qatar, I would like to explore what I gained from the experience, and why, in spite of everything, I would do it again. I believe that moving abroad is exciting but also incredibly challenging, even when you are moving somewhere like Qatar, where everyone speaks English to some degree. I identified stages that I went through, and that I saw others go through.

Stage 1: Excitement/Vacation Stage
When I first arrived in Doha, everything was strange, new, exciting, and cool. The light switches went the other way, the doors opened the wrong way, people were dressed strangely, and acted differently. I went around the area, exploring cool spots to eat, shop, and play. I went to the beach after work and congratulated myself for being daring enough to move to this strange land all alone and enjoy the exciting things I was experiencing. I took a bajillion pictures and splashed them all over this blog and all over facebook.

Stage 2: Oh my God, what have I done, I really live here!
Around the 45 day mark, I started to go through Stage 2. I was going to work every day, just like you would anywhere, and having less time for cool adventures. I was starting to find the same things that I had once enjoyed, really annoying, like the insane way people drive, or the rude way that Qatari's treat all other people like we somehow exist to serve them. Rather than eating out constantly, I was struggling to grocery shop in a foreign land where grocery stores are something of a mystery, and much of what I wanted was astronomically expensive, such as $60 for a small container of wild rice. I was starting to really miss my friends and family. While I had made lots of new acquaintances at work, I wasn't close enough to them yet to feel really bonded, and I was living in a hotel due to a housing problem. While it had a very beautiful view, I hadn't had the opportunity to settle and establish a home, and this did not help at this stage at all. I tearfully called my boss once, my fiancé once, and my mom more than once, to declare that I was coming home to Canada, only to change my mind the next day. This stage does not last more than a week or two IF you handle it the right way. I called up some of those new friends and went out to the beach and dinner, had real trusting heart-to-heart talks with new friends, and tried to have fun. This was an excellent solution and carried me to Stage 3. If you do not handle Stage 2 well, you will likely bail out and go home.

Stage 3: Acceptance
At this stage, I mellowed nicely. I began to enjoy my job, developed closer relationships to new friends, sent some notes to old friends, and started to think of Qatar as my home. I got a car and learned the city much better. I joined clubs and bought pictures for the walls. I had parties in my home that made it feel happier and found a nice balance between going out and staying in. I started to make decisions about the next school year, and plan and take vacations.

Stage 4: Love It or Hate It
This stage seems to go one of two ways. You either start to foster a deep and abiding loathing for your new home and vow to get what you can from the experience, but bail as soon as your contract is up, OR you decide that, despite its inconveniences and quirks, you are falling in love with your new home and can see yourself spending more than one year. I fell into the "love it" category at this point. By this point my husband and stepson had joined me in Qatar (he was going through Stage 2) and we had been given a villa in a compound where other families live. I realized one day as I walked around, saying hi to neighbours and friends, that this really felt like home and that, despite the annoying and dangerous drivers, the pollution of all kinds, the class system, the frightening nature of living in a kingdom state where your employer holds the key to your freedom, and the discomfort of wild sandstorms, I wanted to try to stay for at least another year, maybe longer. Due to my enthusiasm, and the support and love of our friends and colleagues, Brody also hit the Love It Stage really fast and Paul followed quickly as well. We decorated the villa and made more plans for trips and parties. We made plans to stay for as long as we could. Unfortunately, not long after, things went spectacularly to pieces.

One of the challenging aspects that you must understand is that in order to live in Qatar for longer than 30 days, outsiders must have a sponsor, usually their employer. This entity allows you to have a Resident's Permit. Without a Resident's Permit, you can not have a bank account, get a driver's licence, or even a SIM card for your phone. Basically, you do not exist. So when you move to Qatar, you immediately begin the terrible process of getting this "RP" completed. Besides having a sponsor who owns your life and decides whether, if ever, you get to leave the country, you also need fingerprinting, blood tests for AIDS and syphilis, blood typing (which they do wrong) and a chest x-ray. When Paul and Brody arrived, we began the RP process for them, which was doubly complicated because I am a woman. This is where the story begins to get juicy and ugly, so I will end this already long post for now. Part II will come on July 3rd, once Paul and Brody are safely on their way to Canada.

Seven months later

 

 

It has been such a long time since I sat down to this blog. December 1st. I was getting ready to go home for Christmas. So let's see...yep, I got married and Paul turned 40. I met his son, Brody, and we got along well. That was a nice surprise. I had a lovely Christmas with my family and found out that my sister was pregnant. I closed down my Calgary apartment and put everything in storage with the help of Paul, some of our friends, and my poor, loving mother. Then I came back.
Then, after some drama at the border, Paul came to Doha. That was pretty fun. I did lots of things I did when I first arrived, but did them again with Paul. January in Doha is actually chilly after you've lived through a summer and fall, but we made it through a crazy night of desert camping in a sandstorm with our friends who are total TROOPERS. It was a bit crazy, but none of us will ever forget the cold sand whipping at us as we attempted to ride camels, smoke shisha, and stay warm. One of the absolute highlights of this year for me, that one night, snuggling in an Arabian tent with my best buds, surrounded by tentsful of friends and colleagues.
THEN...I finally got to move OUT of Ezdan hotel and into an apartment in Al Sadd called "Y-building". I just loved it. It was new-ish, spacious, modern, and had a GREAT kitchen. It had bright windows and was situated in such a funky neighborhood. I got a car and finally tackled the Doha traffic. I've been in three car accidents this year...but I have learned to know the city like I never would have if I had cabbed it all year.
THEN...Brody joined us. Paul's little boy came to live with us in Doha. There is so much to say about that. It was so cool but so very, very difficult at first. My adult life has been completely self-focused thus far. Really, I mean, I try to be good to my friends, but all day and all night and all my cash has been always spent according to my own will and needs. I tried really hard and I loved Brody's little personality right from the start, but it has NOT been easy to adjust to being a stepmom. However, it is four months later now, and I have to say that I think Brody is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. At first it was really hard for me to become a family gal, but I feel really grateful to have so much love in my day-to-day living. Just as when I travel with students, I love to see the world through his eyes.
Because Paul and Brody have had to keep renewing their tourist visas every 30 days, we have had some wonderful trips this semester. Not so wonderful was Bahrain. We did find a very cool waterpark. But cabs were a fortune, the city was ugly and smelly, and there was taxes!! The picture above is from a delicious Indian restaurant that we went to twice on our trip. It was in our hotel and was delicious.
For spring break, we had an amazing trip to Sri Lanka. I posted pics all over facebook. It is so beautiful there. We stayed in Hikkaduwa and visited Galle. We played in the ocean and at farms with turtles from one day old to 100 years. We saw and even fed elephants, and went for Ayurvedic treatments. We stayed in an adorable hotel. It was inexpensive, beautiful, and relaxing.
Most lately, we did a quick trip to Dubai, which was so quick that it was a tease. I was very impressed with Dubai in the brief time we were there, and we had a nice time together as a little family.
Now it is almost time to leave the middle east. I will leave that story for another post. It is a juicy one, and I will send it from Canada when I am back in the land of free speech and so on...

Countdown to the holidays and what's happened in between

In case you haven't noticed, I have not used the blog as much as I thought I might. I blame this largely on the ease and speed that facebook offers. I post pictures there for storage purposes, but also to share them with friends immediately, and as it is so simple to comment on who, where, and what, I seldom post pics here. As journals go, a public forum is not that effective either, so I tend not to use my blog as a journal.

Anyway, I do feel that "someone" ought to talk about what it is like to live and work here in Doha, Qatar, so I try to update when I can. Above is a picture of a very lovely day we had here on November 9th when CNAQ chartered two dhows. Dhows are traditional wooden boats. They were once used for pearl harvesting, but that industry has died out here, and the boats are now used to sail tourists and locals around the Gulf. We left on a Friday afternoon, and motored (NOT sailed) out into the water for quite a ways. There were dates and fruit on board. We chatted and enjoyed the sun. We anchored out in the water, the two boats side by side and dove or jumped or eased our way into the salty waters. It was nearing the end of comfortable swimming season for me. I am a wimp, and if it's not bathtub warm like it was when we got here, I am not too interested. The water was fun, and while there was swimming off the boat, there was chicken shawarma on the boat, all as the sun set. When the sky was starting to turn dusty orange, we headed back to the mainland. By this time, those who like to partake of the elixir of insanity did so, the music was brought up to the top deck of the boats, where cushions and carpets were pushed aside to make room for the dance floor. We boogied back to shore, and enjoyed gorgeous vistas of the Doha night sky.

Night is the time when the city comes to life. Perhaps it is due to the hot sun, or leftover habits from tribal tenting days, or a combination of both, but the pulse quickens at dark. People tend to sleep late, breakfast lightly, nap some more...Then at about 4pm, one to two hours before we lose the light, the city starts to yawn and sit up. Shops either open or reopen (some open in early morning hours, such as 7-10am and then close again). The souks and markets throw back the shuttered doors and lay out their wares. The intensely wild traffic starts around 3:30 and doesn't stop until...mmm...2...3...depending on the night. Malls are open til 10 or 11 or even midnight, so are many souks and smaller shops. There are movies that start well after midnight, and restaurants in the artsy Katara that don't even open until 8pm. Eating heavily and late is common. Children are always along for the ride, and it is normal to see them passed out from exhaustion on benches, in strollers, or wherever they can catch 40 winks while mom and dad party the night away. Children, after all, have to get up for school in the morning.

I have a love-hate relationship with my job. I love my coworkers and the demands, as I have said, are significantly less than at home. However, the pay is bad if you have to send money home to pay bills. It is adequate salary to support oneself, but the fantasies of saving tons of money are not likely to come true UNLESS you have your master's and can work at CNAQ itself, or another university or college. That is where the real money is in education in this country, not in school teaching. I also love the intimacy and community spirit of the small staff at QCS. Everyone takes care of everyone else, with only the occasional lapse into selfishness (as we all tend to do from time to time). The only thing is, that the school funding situation is mind-boggling. Money seems to always be an issue, just like at home, only worse, because no one tells you how much you are allowed to spend.

Two weeks from right now I will be arriving at the Calgary airport, if all goes as planned. I am so looking forward to the loving embrace of home and family. Time to go teach Junior High Art.

dealing with doha qatar...good, bad, ugly

What else do I write about? How about what it is really like here. I had a tough weekend. I had great people around me who are becoming my very close friends and who are always kind and fun. I had a bad weekend anyway. On Thursday one of my really great high school students had said, "Miss, they trick teachers into coming here, promising culture, and then you get here and find out there is no culture." I laughed, but I had to think about that one a lot. I pulled out my empowerment staple, "Eat, Pray, Love" and thought, this is not what I signed up for. The thing is that it is almost impossible to learn another language here because everyone speaks English. And Qatari people are very private, so it is hard to get to know anyone but westerners. The city is so NEW, that there is not much even in the way of historical architecture.

I was feeling down. Then I realized a few things. This is the normal adjustment time for culture shock, and that is what I am now experiencing. Vacation's over. I LIVE here now. Opportunities for travel and culture have happened, and will continue to do so. I am going on a State Mosque tour Friday for good ness sake!
I got chased down the street by a man who wanted to take me for a ride, but people with more experience taught me what to do about that one. I am learning how to ignore the unwanted attention and use the blonde hair to my advantage when I really need a cab. I am learning to balance going out to eat camel or lentil soup or mystery curry, with evenings where I just stay home and read a book and eat buckwheat pancakes so I don't get too worn out.

School has been a little tough because the Supreme Education Council (pictured directly above) has commanded that we teach Islamic, Ararbic, and Qatari History. That, combined with the requirements to get the school accredited by Alberta Learning has caused complete upheaval and strain on the leaders and teachers and kids. But slowly and surely we are working it out. Now I team teach Grade 5/6 PE, teach 7/8/9 Art and 10/11 Drama. And I am the visual and dramatic arts resource person for elementary. And I like it. All of it. Each day is an experiment. The kids are good. The staff is good. The rest sorts itself out.

I was frustrated because I couldn't get my fingerprints to show up and thought my residency would never come. Now they have worked. Still waiting on residency, but one more frustration has passed. (New people: Olive oil your hands for days before you go...moisture is good). I was frustrated because I didn't know how to transfer money home. Now I do. The key is ETERNAL patience, and a sense of humour, and LETTING GO of things that I would usually classify as uber-important. The key is to be grateful for a fiance who I miss, a mom who I miss, a sister who I miss, and is home planning ALL the details of my wedding for me. I focus on gratitude for the fact that I have friends and family at home who send me messages of love and support. I am so blessed to have that. I am so lucky to have this experience. I need to enjoy every moment while I can. I had the opportunity to go home. And I turned my back on it. This is amazing. This is too good to miss.

Remember how fast university passed and then soon felt like someone else's lifetime? The present fades so quickly. We must cherish it.