Job Discussion Forums

[wilberforce]

There are problems everywhere. This is just a sign of the times. Most vandalism is just bored teenagers with nothing much to do. One solution would be to have a public beach with recreation facilities like they do in Abu Dhabi. There are no public beaches in Qatar. They also need more sports facilities and playgrounds in areas where there are a lot of apartment blocks.

The recession is causing hard times for a lot of unemployed desperate workers so keep your car doors locked.

[toughcookie]

I lived in Al Zuhoor complex and sat TV hookups were available and free or charge, unless you wanted pay channels. Internet hookup is free if you can live with the slo-mo dial-up connection provided by QU. Electricity and water are billed to you; they are not expensive though. After paying an initial deposit of QR2,000 (pretty steep...) the bills came every two months or so and were quite affordable.

About dishes and pots, those are not provided and you will either have to bring them over or buy them there. There are quite a few places to choose from for shopping. If you're housed in Al Zuhoor, the mall is close by and it has a Carrefour hypermarket, a Home R Us store and a few other store choices for pots and pans etc.

Al Zuhoor is only about 20 km away from the QU campus but at rush hour it could take as long as 1 1/2 hours to get there in horrendously dangerous traffic. Things improved some even before I left as new roads opened. Still, beware of demented Qatari drivers!

Will you have a choice in accommodation? Probably not if you don't have connections with wasta at QU. It will be luck of the draw.

Good luck to you!
TC

[stickleback]

A good place to live, apart from the horrendous trek to work. Just leave early. Too bad about the vandalism; those kids need to be reined in. Their parents sleep while they screech and shout. They used to drive m nuts.

[thursday12]

Agreed. Da vandalism is bein dealt wid. The security people ain't so sleepy. Some people askin ta move ta Bin Nasser in Gharaffa but I heard one lady got broken into coupla years ago; someone broke her front door when she was outta town. Dunno what happened. So no place is really safe. Like the man sez, it sure is a sign 'o da times.

[wilberforce]

Try living in Mushairib or Nagma. These QU guys shouldn't complain. There are worse places to live in.

[cowpoke]

A couple of questions:

Are we allowed to paint the walls in the QU accomodation? Are there any rules about this? How crowded is this Zuhoor compound? How many people actually live there? How has the vandalism been contained?
Is there enough parking space or do we have to fight for it?

[wilberforce]

A Gulager once painted the walls of his bedroom black. It was very
doomsday. He was severely depressed and did a runner a few months later. As a rule, I don't think landlords like it when you paint the walls but I have been in homes where rooms were painted. I suppose the best thing would be to repaint it white when you leave. Most places are white or beige when you move in. Don't choose a dark color. It took 5 coats to cover the black.

[squirk]

Al Zuhoor is a mess. It's close to shopping if you're into malls but it takes at least 1 hour to get to the university campus, that's why some people prefer the afternoon shift -the traffic is going the other way.

The place is stark, a few trees here and there. Some graffiti and a lot of kids, noise, smells and sometimes litter. Some teachers are moving out, they are taking the housing allowance and finding their own accomodation nearer to the campus so they don't have to deal with the traffic and the noise at Zuhoor. The university offers around 6 or 7,000 QR so you can take the allowance and find your own place. A lot of people are careless with their kids, sometimes they're still out on the street at midnight. And I don't mean teenagers - young kids!! Some of the teens are rowdy and there have been break-ins. It's not a very nice place to live. If you're a new teacher, make sure you ask for accomodation at one of the Bin Nasser compounds. They are much closer to the campus and the villas are real nice. Al Zuhoor is not recommended. The university should rent more compounds closer to the campus so that people don't have a crazy commute every day. Some of the drivers here are completely off their heads. Some of us have been tossed out here like rats on a sinking ship while others, like mice with cheese, get much better accomodation.

[squirk]

[lollaerd]