It’s time to bust a few myths. I’m so sick and tired of expats assuming that qataris are all rich clones.

Few things I always hear, “oh but Qataris get so many benefits”, or “qataris have super high salaries”.

Where do people get these facts? Did they just see a couple of Al Fardans or Al Thanis and assume that we are all of the same economical background?

40% of Qataris can be considered to be in extreme debt. This means that 70%+ of your salary goes towards repaying loans. Why do they have loans? 1) because they try to keep up the image of being as rich as the 5% of the actually rich population. Or 2) they don’t really have the salaries that expats think.

Graduates start off with a salary of 15k depending on the job. Those without a degree have salaries as low as 5k.
15k sounds pretty good right? Well then you haven’t lived in Qatar. Half your salary goes straight to accommodation, a huge amount to support family, another huge amount to bills (qtel comes to mind as a wallet sucker) and the list goes on.

Oh but what about the land? Free utilities? The salary you get from the government? You get the land after you graduate and get a degree. You are placed on a waiting list. You can’t choose where the land is. You can’t build and sell the property because its not yours until they say it is, yep the government can take it away.

Utilities? I get free water and electricity (capped) once I get married. If I’m single then no. How much do I save? Nothing because I’m not married yet and pay bills, but once I do, I’ll save 300 qr.

Free salary???? Are people insane? No Qatari gets a free salary, unless they’re from the royal family or something. We have a pensions system though just like the UK or US.

What about the education system, its so cheap for qataris! When I was in UK my tuition cost 10k and i’m talking pounds! British students paid 1,300. Countries took care of their citizens. I got that.

What about the almost free medical system? Guess what! Mexico has a better health care system than the US and medicine is dirt cheap too!

Let’s put this all together now.
Ok I graduated and got a job. Let’s say that its 18k a month. I live in my family’s house to save some cash. I decide to get married finally. I go to my love’s family and I’m asked where I’m going to house her. Oh… Um well Ill get an apartment. It’s not the norm but lets say they agree. I put her in a fully furnished apartment in ZigZag which costs 8k. Alright got 10k left. Now I have to give my wife her monthly salary. It’s 2k. Ok got 8k left. Now it’s time to pay bills. Phone, Internet, petrol, installments for a car, and a bit here and there. Let’s assume it’s 4k. Ok I have 4k left to cover groceries, home insurance, some entertainment, general shopping, etc…

Do you see where I’m going here? In this scenario, life is pretty ok isn’t it? But have I demonstrated that I’m a rich Qatari? It’s all relative. (I’m still quite a lucky person in life to be born a Qatari of course. Something I definitely appreciate).

Seems to me that people should be going back to their awesome democratic countries and demand more from their governments than getting all anal about how ‘great’ a Qataris life is.

So at the end of the day, separate fact from fiction. I’m off to bed under my silk sheets. Oh! Need to brush my teeth with my diamond encrusted toothbrush first.. almost forgot.

Night night.

I was sent email about a fantastic article by Qatar Visitor about a question which they asked themselves. Qataris are known for being well groomed, so how did they take care of themselves back in the day before the skyscrapers, lambos, and super shopping malls?

Here’s a snippit:

“Back in the days before oil, Qataris made clever use of nature to aide them in keeping clean. They made soap out of the leaves of lotus trees, which they would dry and grind and mix with water to wash themselves with. They also used a soap-like substance called dhiyya, which was made of fats. Dhiyya was also used to wash clothes.”

Read more on what they had to say http://www.qatarvisitor.com/index.php?cID=412&pID=1665#ixzz0nekAxyFx It’s a very good read!

I just wanted to show an example of how people need to just sit back and relax a bit. There’s this new show that’s been playing during Ramadan called “Hearts for Rent”.

“A Qatari soap opera which explores the impact of the high rents on a Qatari family has attracted harsh criticism as viewers saw the series as “unrealistic drama distorting the image of Qatar” by exaggerating the fallout of the crisis on the Qatari citizens.

The Hearts for Rent series, which is being screened by Qatar TV since the beginning of Ramadan, highlighted the woes of modernity on the post-oil family and social systems in Qatar and exposed new flaws in the community through a Qatari family who, under the pressure of the rental crisis, was forced to leave the Doha city for Al Khor coastal town to live in a tent.
The series, produced by Qatar TV, came under heavy fire from different directions.
According to viewers, the problems it sought to tackle were said to have been “hyped and exaggerated”.” GT

It apparantly seems that the producer got some bad attention!

“Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed al-Buainain, a prominent Muslim scholar, criticised the series, saying that it went to unreal extremes in dealing with the impact of the rental crisis on Qatari families.
“Under no circumstances, a Qatari family could accept living with bachelors in one house. I do not deny that renting prices were soaring beyond the residents. But our government is providing every citizen with a plot of land and a loan to build his house,” Sheikh al-Buainain told a congregation during Friday prayer.
“I do not see any use of this series. If a citizen is living in a rented house and does not know how to manage his life affairs, then it is his own mistake and hence his problem. It should not be turned into a public debate and given all of this time of screening,” the scholar added.”

This isn’t a DOCUMENTARY, it’s a Soap Opera! If we wanted to get technical. Yes Qatari’s get land, shall we put up our tents on the land? The loan that Qataris are given is 600,000 QR can you build me a house for 600,000? A Qatari has to be MARRIED to qualify. So if I marry a woman I have to put her somewhere while that house is being built don’t I? Put her with family? Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I want to live with my life alone. Oh it’s MY fault then? Well we’ve just proved that it’s possible now didn’t we!

“Another viewer saw the drama as “not logically coherent” and focusing only on the gloomy side of modern life in Qatar.”

Are you freaking kidding me? It’s a SHOW. Nobody watches Batman and says “there’s no way that thin flimsy rope could pull him up a 100 storey building. And that rope must be at least 1,000m in his pocket”. It’s TELEVISION. If the show was all happy and super smiley people were running around, is that ok? There has to be darkness for there to be a reason to have light.

They did not even dare to tell their friends and colleagues about the address of their new abode.
Ghassan A., a Palestinian expatriate, who viewed several episodes of the series, said it is full of contradictions and exaggerations.

“A Qatari cannot live in a rented house with bachelors. If we took it as a comic relief, it is okay and can be accepted. But as a serious behaviour, it is unrealistic. How come that a father who owns a shop and three of his four daughters are getting handsome salaries but find it difficult to rent a decent house,” he added.

Wait what? Why not? It’s not against the law to live with a bachelor… Just because it’s not common, doesn’t mean they can’t… And as for your final question Mr. Ghassan, if you were watching the show, you’d know that they are in debt. If I get 1 million riyals a month (yes it’s a real salary I really do get that! /end sarcasm) and I owe 2million riyals a month to debt companies. I’m still making a ‘handsome’ salary but I can’t afford anything!

A Qatari columnist also yesterday slammed the series as “incoherent drama”, saying that it did not reflect the reality of things in the country at all.

“The series is full of mistakes and contradictions. It depicted our society as one whose citizens are suffering and being forced to live in tents set up in desert,” Ahmed Ali said.
“It is sarcastic that the series present the Qatari citizen as if he was a homeless and refugee. I challenge the lead character (Abdul Aziz Jassim, a Qatari actor who played the role of Rashid) to give me evidence showing that there is one Qatari who does not own a suitable house in the country,” Ali added

I can’t believe this guy works for a newspaper and he doesn’t read the news. A few months ago there were stories of some Qataris living in their cars! Before that there were those Qataris REALLY living in tents. I win Ahmed. What’s my prize? You know what, wait a minute… I don’t own a home! My cousins don’t own homes! I got my land though, let’s all go pitch some tents

Read the rest of the article here

If only being a Betta fish was a compliment. I’m sure you’ve seen them, they’re the beautiful deep red or deep blue fish often in bags in Aqua shops. I’ve always seen them, but I had only connected my people to that species when I was thinking about office politics.

I’m the type of person that just wants to get  along. I want to work hard, prove myself and get somewhere in my life. I hope that there’ll be those that notice the pride I take in the work that I do. I have no ill-wishes for anyone and I don’t get involved in gossip. My office environment is predominantly expat. All of them are great individuals. Besides myself, there’s one other Qatari who’s younger than myself, but mashallah he studies hard.

I had just been sitting with a group of friends when we had come onto the subject of my office. “How many Qataris are there in your office?”, I was asked. “Just myself and another bro.”, I answered. “That’s good.”, one said. “Why?”, I asked, listing a few ideas in my mind.

“Qataris just can’t get along most of the time when they’re in the same office”, I was told.

Let’s return back to the subject of Betta fish. When you put more than one male in the same tank, they fight. Each wants to prove his ground and become ‘king of the hill’. Territory, after all, is the ultimate goal. In most cases, when two fish see each other, they’ll puff up and stick out their fins. One will usually back off in defeat, even then, the dominant one usually nips at the defeated one ‘just in case’.

I haven’t had much experience in various offices but I do know that office politics exists anywhere. As a person, I’d never do something to harm another individual to get somewhere. As I’ve said I want to climb to the top because of my strengths not because I’ve had to climb over someone and drag them down.

It was just a thought.