Mistakes expats make in Qatar

Hello everyone,

Did you make any mistakes when you first moved to Qatar? What were they?

How did you address your mistakes? Did you learn anything from them?

With hindsight, what would you do differently?

Are there any tips you could give future expats in Qatar to help them avoid these kinds of mistakes?

We look forward to hearing from you!

Priscilla

I don't think i made any, except financial mistakes , got a little into the consumption spree every body is suffering from here and got many things i didn't need, lol

As always tere some advantage and disadvantage in any country.
Advantage of Qatar is tour company which provides 3-4 hours working day or smth 2 hour working day and 3-4 days off during the week (for tour guides and tour coordinators), safety and climate (summer all around the year!!!).

Disadvantage is for sure  very very very extremely expensive food and accomodation in Qatar (((( bcs not always accomodation can be so gorgeous espessialy after working contract inEgypt where usually companies provide huge and very clean 1 or 2 bedroom studious ((((

Here is exampale of accommodation condition for tour guides in Abu Hamour District, where usually we have got at least 6-8 people in one room smth 10-14 and 1 WC for 3-4 rooms((( smth u have to wait 30-45 minutest in the morning in the long queue to reach this WC ((((
youtube.com/watch?v=JvY449nO3UA

youtube.com/watch?v=8NaLFcditaY

Dear Priscilla

With the time flowing away you will remark that the most important things you learned were from mistakes.

Mistakes are necessary and you hardly can avoid it.

Only through experience you learn what is good for you and what not.

Remember this all days, so you can cheer up your friends and maybe one day our children that they only can win and not loose in doing mistakes.

Trusty

As to the question of mistakes, well...I hope I haven't made any and trust that I won't be making too many in the future! I'm only 11 days into my stay here and all I can say is, so far so good! Some sobering reminders to take into consideration, which I have observed:
1. Getting your driver's license is a nightmare and expect to be using taxis for a very long time...I'm talking 3 - 5 months!
2. Do not trust estate agents' online photos of apartments to let. These are drawn from a catalogue of standard staged apartments and do not depict the actual unit you would be moving into...
3. Doha is not a pedestrian friendly city. Do not cross any road without looking twice and three times and do not expect vehicles to stop when you are on a pedestrian crossing! People from right hand drive countries remember to look the correct way when crossing! Might sound silly, but I made that mistake a few times...
4. Do use Uber, it is a lot cheaper and the fare is known before hand. Some fly by night operators would charge as much as 80% more than Uber!
5 Most important, coming from a violent and crime ridden country...it's safe! I've been in some grotty parts of the city alone and never felt one bit threatened, in fact you see a lot of women walking anywhere on their own!

That's about it... cant think of anything else! Good luck...

Did same like expat.classic... in addition to renting an unfurnished place, had to buy full house furniture and made many house renovations to feel like home; paid a lot and will loose it all if I move out...