Karwa taxis: Qatarded?

Background information: When I last called for a taxi to take me to the airport (for my business class flight in May), I was told the night before that the taxis were fully booked for the next morning. Yes, basically, in this country, if I didn't have a husband willing to wake up early to drive me to the airport, I wouldn't have been able to get there. That's how good the national taxi service is. (And yes, I called Fox Taxi too -- and they were also fully booked!)

So today I called Karwa to see if I could book a taxi for our Monday morning flight. Considering schools are beginning to let out, I figured it could be quite busy at the airport and that it was best to book early. The conversation:

Me: "Hi, I'd like to book a taxi for Monday morning."

Karwa: "Sorry, ma'am, we only take bookings the day before. Can you call back on Sunday?"

Me: "But I need to go to the airport, and last time I called at night, you were fully booked the next morning. I can't make an advance reservation?"

Karwa: "It's a problem with our system. We are only booking a day in advance now because we had a problem with losing all the advance bookings. You can try calling back tomorrow because then maybe they can help you."

Me: "So the system is broken now, but it will be fixed tomorrow?"

Karwa: "Maybe."

That's how bad it is -- the Karwa operator couldn't even bring herself to say "inshallah!" Not being able to book a taxi four days in advance to the airport? That's so Qatarded.

That's so Qatarded!

Last week one of our friends here in Doha (Chad, of Grease backup dancing fame) shared with us a new word that perfectly summarizes so many things in this country: Qatarded. In case the supreme usefulness of this word isn't readily obvious, here are a few examples of things this week that were so qatarded.

Disclaimer: My wife insists that I make it clear that by using this word I am in no way disrespecting people who are mentally disabled. That would be retarded.

That's so qatarded #1:
Joce and I went to Al Ahli Hospital this morning for our annual physical (don't dare ask why two people in perfect health would wake up early to voluntarily get inspected by a doctor after drinking heavily the night before- my wife isn't in the mood to discuss this point). Our doctor's appointments were schedule for 10:00 and 10:30, but when we arrived early we were informed that our appointments were in fact at 10:20 and 10:40. Apparently the doctor arrived late and they were behind schedule (at least we weren't the only ones drinking heavily the night before). So we sit and wait as agreeably as we can having not eaten anything in preparation for our blood tests. The minutes ticked by. . . . . I finished reading one book and moved on to another- doing anything to keep my mind off the gnawing pit in my stomach. Jocelyn sat and fumed. Two hours later, we finally get in to see the doctor and have our 5-minute slam! bam! thank you ma'am! checkup. Shockingly we seem in perfect health, though I'm still anxiously awaiting the results of my stool sample. Spending 3 hours in a hospital for a pointless exam? That's so qatarded!

That's so qatarded #2
I read in Qatar Happening the other day that there are talks currently underway between Qatar and the Tour de France organizers discussing the possibility of begining the 2012 Tour de France along Qatar's Corniche. I guess having international starting stages of the Tour de France is in vogue right now, but the thought of starting it in Qatar is ridiculous for several reasons. For one the logistics would be a pain in the bike seat- Qatar has proposed hiring a giant AirBus jet to airlift all the racers and equipment from Qatar back to France (a six and a half hour flight). I'm sure the world class bikers would love the extra challenge of dealing with jet lag. Not to mention that the Tour de France takes place in July, so the temperature on the Corniche will be a cozy 120 degrees. Oh- and most of the people who might be interested in biking will be vacationing elsewhere over the summer, so no one will be there to watch Lance pass out from heat exhaustion. Actually, if that happens he's probably luck- he has better odds of being flattened by a Land Cruiser. So qatarded!

That's so qatarded #3
The other week I needed to renew my residence permit for next year, so our school's HR rep took my passport and ID card to get it taken care of (God help anyone navigate Qatar bureaucracy without a good HR rep!). After a few days the HR rep got back to me to let me know that they had run into a problem. You see, according to the government I wasn't even in Qatar. Their airport records showed that I left for Spring Break and never came back. Despite showing the officials my passport (which was stamped with my return) and my ID, they could not be convinced that I was, in fact here. So I had to go down to the Immigration Office at the airport and show them my smiling face to prove that I was. After a brief questioning about the dates of my trip (which again, were stamped right into my passport) the official agreed that I did appear to be here. It was all just a little "computer error". At any rate, the minor inconvenience for me probably saved me from a major catastrophe- imagine trying to fly out of a country that you aren't officially in. That's so qatarded!

The cost of Qatar living

So recently I have become increasingly annoyed at the cost of living in Qatar. On the surface, living in Doha seems about the same as living in any other expensive cosmopolitan city: high rents (glad ASD covers that!), $7 beers at bars (ouch), and costly groceries (especially my beloved veggie meats). After living in cities for the past 8 years, I've come to expect high prices for these things. But not infrequently you stumble on prices that are truly OUTRAGEOUS, which is exactly what happened to me on two occasions this week.

Occasion #1: I was attempting to purchase a cheap pair of sunglasses to replace my previous cheap pair which somebody stepped on (thereby validating my need to continuing buying cheap sunglasses). As long as a pair of sunglasses are polarized and don't look as ridiculous as my wife's sunglasses (see example on right), I'm happy with a cheap pair. It had already been a few weeks without replacement, and the burning desert sun was beginning to bake my cornea- time to find some shades! I headed to the bastion of all things cheap in Qatar- Carrefour (the French answer to Wal-Mart). To my shock and disdain, Carrefour only sold designer sunglasses about 100 dollars and up. Ridiculous. So I wandered aimlessly around the rest of the mall, but of course all the other sunglasses boutiques also sold only designer sunglasses, for even more exorbitant prices. Finally I found a Sunglasses Hut in City Center, sure that anything with a word as modest as "hut" in its must also have modest prices. HA! Wall to wall designer sunglasses, with a peppy salesman pushing me towards the more "professional choice" of $500 Ray Bans. I did manage to find a small rack of disasters called "Savers", but most of these were hideous female glasses anyway (the kind Jocelyn buys with reckless abandon). So, despite the fact that everyone in this country requires sunglasses to survive, and many here are living on much less than I, Qatar commercialism refuses to cater to the cheap sunglasses segment of the market. But the hunt is not over....

Occasion #2: I heard rumor there was a science supply store opening in Qatar- which is a huge deal for me, because most of our science supplies must be ordered internationally a year in advance... not good for an on-the-fly planner. :) I drove down there today in the hopes of finding some electric circuit components (buzzers, switches, etc) for use in our upcoming 4th grade invention project. I had already tried and failed to find these at Radio Shack, which is apparently worthless here in Qatar as they only sell things you can buy anywhere else (TVs, phones, etc.) When I asked the Radio Shack salesman where I could find circuit stuff he only answered with a blank look and the words "That is difficult here." Indeed. That's way I was ecstatic to find a treasure trove of electric circuit components in the new science store, Trans Gulf Technology Supply. After perusing the ample pickings for a while I selected 10 mini-buzzers and 10 button switches, which I though would compliment our supply back in the lab nicely. They didn't take credit, but I figured from past experience that these simple devices would only cost about a buck a piece (Radio shack lists them both at $1.99 in the States). Wrong! Try 700 Riyals, or about $10 a piece! I was stunned. I know they're are imported and all, but there's no way that even shipping fees can justify that price, no matter where it's imported from. I may start filling my suitcase with buzzers and switches when I come back from the States, if I can mark them up that much.

Why are some things crazy expensive in Qatar you ask? Well, nearly everything in this country must be imported. In fact, according to my new favorite search engine, Wolfram Alpha, Qatar's top commodity exports are fertilizer, natural gas, metals, and oil- not much help to the average Qatar consumer, except at the pump. As a side note, to get a sense of how much the Qatar economy is booming, check out the graph of the value of their exports (also provided by Wolfram Alpha). Qatar's top imports? Oh, just food, cars, chemicals, and machinery. In other words- civilization is imported in Qatar, and it comes at a premium price. Perhaps if Qatar's population continues to boom (currently #4 in the world in population growth, behind UAE at #3- thank you Wolfram) with enough cost-conscious foreigners someone will finally take advantage of the huge market for cheap goods. Until then however, I will be forced to search this luxury-priced landscape high and low for some low-cost lenses.

quarantine in qatar

Yes, yes, I know that I'm contributing to the tragedy of the commons by scooping Tamiflu off the pharmacy shelves here in Doha... but after reading this (American?) traveler's story, of arriving in Doha from New York with flu symptoms and undergoing 5 hours of tests and a 10-day enforced quarantine period, even when he tested negative for swine flu, you can be sure that if I have so much as a sniffle, I will be downing all of my Tamiflu before getting back on that Qatar Airways flight!

Some particularly good excerpts:

"They cleared out an emergency room and turned it into an "Isolation Room" - a room where I spent the next 5 hours of my life. As I did not have all the symptoms of swine flu, their main concern was that it was still early from possible time of exposure- as such they needed to carry out all tests. Also as I was the first person in Qatar to come in with this problem I served as the guinea pig (pun intended) for them to teach the nurses/doctors on what to do if further cases came in. I was quickly surrounded and visited by all the top specialists and doctors in the hospital....

"Even though I do not have swine flu (or H1N1 as its now known), as a precautionary measure, I've been placed under "Quarantine" at home. Which means I'm not supposed to leave my house for the next 10 days until my symptoms clear up....

"Starting in a few days, anyone arriving into Doha will be tested for flu symptoms at the airport....

"The final thing that I was told by one of the doctors on my way out of the hospital -"Young man, unfortunately you seem to be a victim of circumstances."



And just by the way, here's a graphic from the Washington Post on the probable and confirmed cases of swine flu affecting the Maryland-DC-Virginia region. Just as I had predicted, I will be arriving just as things get all pandemic on me.





Photo credits:
Pig face mask, Studio Samira Boon
Swine flu in the region, Washington Post

insights into qatar

I've been meaning to draw attention to this BBC News article entitled, "Trying to lift the veil on Qatar." I'm a fan of any mainstream Western news organization paying attention to Qatar; but at the same time, even though the correspondent tried to show the difficulties of understanding "real" life here and meeting "real" Qataris, there were still some inaccuracies in her article that annoyed me. My list:

- "Statistically, foreigners in Qatar outnumber Qataris by four to one." Actually, it's FIVE to one, but the government doesn't want to publicize that too much.

- "However long I live here, I can't get Qatari citizenship." (says a Pakistani worker) Actually, if he were a fantastic soccer player, he'd be naturalized right away so he could play for the national team.

- "Qatari women dress head to toe in black. Most cover their faces, some even their eyes and hands." Eh, I wouldn't say "most" cover their faces. But it is always exciting to watch the completely-covered faces driving behind the wheel!

- "There are state hangings." (says a Lebanese teacher) Nope. Although executions are technically legal, they have been suspended for years and all death sentences in the country have been commuted.

- "The Qatar-based satellite news channel al-Jazeera boasts that it tells things like they are. But not when it comes to Qatar." Although it has arguably been this way in the past, recently, al-Jazeera broadcast a news report on the unpaid workers here in Qatar. Perhaps they are feeling more comfortable criticizing their host country, especially now that people as influential as Sheikha Mozah have called for increasing press freedoms?

- "We accept everybody. We've worked with Israel in the past. Unlike a number of other Arab states we don't fear Iran, we understand it." (says a foreign ministry official and member of the ruling family) What they don't say: Ever since the Gaza massacre, the unofficial Israeli consulate (and official "trade office") has been shut down and all Israelis deported; and as for "fearing" Iran, all the small Gulf states do to an extent, which is why they banded together to form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981 -- for protection against Iran and Iraq (among other reasons).

- "...the Waqif market - 200 years old but knocked down and recently rebuilt. Here you can buy so-called Qatari antiques from South Asian shopkeepers." Nope, Souq Waqif (which means "old market" in Arabic) was renovated (and in some ways, "Disney-fied"), but was never knocked down. And although yes, there are plenty of South Asian shopkeepers, there are Qatari shopkeepers as well; I've met them. As for antiques, what kind of antiques do you expect from a country that, for all intents and purposes, came into existence a matter of decades ago?

However, this article also had some very real insights, including my favorite vignette:

- "It's wrong to say Qataris are born with a silver spoon in their mouths," schoolteacher Naima told me. "It's a gold spoon, encrusted with diamonds." Naima and her husband Jamil are Lebanese and have lived in Doha for 16 years. They laughed at my determined efforts to get to know Qatar. "Not even Qataris really know what's happening here," they said."

A couple other insights that are worth checking out:

- Our friend and fellow ASD colleague, Ann, recently wrote a post on the "unofficial bird of Qatar," for all you ornithologists out there! (Hint: It's a crane.)

- And in response to a Peninsula article on an imam using the swine flu epidemic to praise Islam's forbidding of pork, Marjorie pointed out that Islam should also have banned "cows (Creutzfeldt–Jakob), sheep (anthrax), cats (toxoplasmosis), rabbits (tularemia), civets (SARS), rodents (bubonic plague), monkeys (dengue fever), apes (ebola), all other mammals (rabies, malaria), birds (Spanish flu, West Nile virus), reptiles (salmonella), mosquitos (yellow fever), deer ticks (Lyme disease) and plankton (cholera)." What a great world that would be!


Photo credit:
Gold spoon, from the V&A Museum, India, 16th-17th century

swine flu and the tragedy of the commons

As an update to my all-expense-paid trip to DC (including swine flu) post from yesterday, I'm going to get a little political science-y on you. Ever heard of the tragedy of the commons? The tragedy of the commons (similar to a collective action problem or a prisoner's dilemma) results when what's best for a group of people conflicts with what's best for an individual. In particular, this tragedy results when individual people, acting in their own best interests (selfishly but rationally) exploit a common resource that leads to the depletion/destruction of that resource, so that no one (including the individual) can benefit from it. The tragedy is that, unless laws are in place -- and enforced -- to prevent this type of behavior, it is bound to happen because each individual person will add to the tragedy by acting in a rational manner, trying to secure their own interests (safety, profit, livelihood, etc.). Wouldn't a rational person realize the consequences of their actions, and thus moderate their behavior? No, because a rational person would realize that all the other rational-but-selfish individuals in society -- their "competitors," so to speak -- are going to exploit the resource for their own benefits, and so it's only smart (at least in the short-term!) to get a piece of the pie before it's all been eaten.

We see the tragedy of the commons in many areas of our lives, particularly in the environment; the over-fishing of our oceans so that some marine life is in danger of becoming extinct is a good example. We also see it in the pharmaceutical/medicinal supply chain when disease -- or the mere threat of it -- sweeps the world. In 2005, when fears of the avian flu were reaching all corners of the world, the only two anti-viral drugs that were proven effective, Tamiflu and Relenza, were scooped up off the pharmacy shelves by people who were not (yet) affected. This created shortages of the drug all around the world that prevented people with valid prescriptions from being able to get their medicine. An individually rational decision -- I should get myself a dose of this medicine so that I will survive if I get sick -- turns into a socially irrational outcome, wherein infected people cannot get the medicine they need, thus infecting more people; and unaffected people preemptively take the medicine as protection, which allows the flu virus to become more resilient to these medicines in the future. The cold hard fact that there is a limited supply of these drugs in the world -- in other words, there is not enough medicine for each person in the world, and if you need the medicine, you might not be able to get it -- leads to an individually selfish but completely rational decision that it's best to stockpile the medicine for yourself first, since there is a chance that the medicine could run out and not be available if you needed it -- which then leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of the medicine, in fact, running out and hurting everyone in the process.

Which leads me back to my upcoming trip to the States. Here in Qatar, it's incredible the types of things you can get without a prescription. Birth control pills are available over the counter -- sometimes just on a shelf -- and for around 36 riyals for Yasmin, that's $9 a pack, much less than even a co-pay with insurance in the US. So I figured that Tamiflu, a prescription-only medicine in the US, was probably available here without a prescription. Considering that Qatar Airways is now issuing masks for all crew and passengers originating from the US, as well as all employees at the Doha airport, and amid rumors of the investigation of passengers with flu-like symptoms, with the possibility of being turned away from entering their destination country, I felt it was in my best interests to see about getting a pack of Tamiflu to bring with me on my trip to the US. I won't be taking it proactively, but if I do come down with the flu while visiting DC, I want to be able to quickly self-medicate myself, both for my own health and so I won't be denied entry back to Doha. I also don't trust the pharmacies in the US to have Tamiflu in stock (again, the tragedy of the commons; see South Florida, where not a single case has yet been reported!), so I figured I'd try my luck in Doha.

This is when I ran into the tragedy of the commons. Yes, I was contributing to the problem, but at least I had a legitimate reason for wanting to get a pack of Tamiflu: I'll be arriving in the US in two weeks, when swine flu is probably reaching its peak (in terms of infection and panic), and I need to be prepared. Do you think that this type of situation affects so many people in Doha that all the Tamiflu would be off the shelves? Keep in mind that the swine flu hasn't come to any country in the Middle East except Israel, and you would think that a Muslim country that bans pigs would be particularly shielded from an outbreak. Yet the first two pharmacies I went to both had been completely bought out of Tamiflu. Luckily (for me, not sure about the world), the second pharmacy directed me to a third, which happened to have five packs left of Tamiflu. And suddenly my mentality shifted.

As a political scientist, it's fun to step outside of yourself and study your own behavior once in a while. I know all about the tragedy of the commons. I know that individually selfish behavior will wreak havoc on the general good. And yet, the fact that it was difficult to get Tamiflu -- when I realized that other individually rational people were protecting themselves (and hurting me) by stockpiling this drug -- made me seriously consider buying all five packs that were left in this pharmacy. I started thinking, "Well, I need one. And Nick needs one. And then our closest friends will need them. I should make sure the people I love have access to this medicine first!" The speed at which I jumped from hoping that there would be just one left for me to feel safe on my trip to strategizing about how many packs I would need to stockpile to save the VIPs in my life was frightening. A minute before I entered that pharmacy, I would have been eternally grateful if someone had said, "Oh, I have an extra pack, here you go"; a minute after, I was perfectly willing to take away another person's chance at peace of mind (or survival).

A couple things stopped me. Yes, the price -- at $50 a pack, it really lets you come back down to reality and say, "Okay, it's not like I know people who are dying of this yet..." And yes, also, a bit of conscience. I know that I'm being part of the problem. I know that I shouldn't have bought Tamiflu before I got sick. If no one did this, then it would definitely be available for anyone who did get sick (including myself). But after seeing the government response (or lack of one) to disasters like Hurricane Katrina, I know that there is a real possibility that help would not be there for me if I needed it, and that I need to be prepared to help myself. How libertarian of me! Even anarchist! And yet, how true; how sad but how true. (For example, disease control experts recommend that governments stockpile enough medicine to treat 25-40% of their population; the highest estimates of the US stockpile are 10%, with some as low as 1%.) So I couldn't stop myself from buying two packs (one for me and one for my husband), but I left the other three sitting on the shelf, hoping that they go to individuals who need them for specific purposes, but knowing that most probably the next overreacting person who came into the pharmacy looking for Tamiflu would buy them all and take them home to place next to the nuke pills, plastic wrap, and duct tape.

So now I feel "safer" about my trip to the US, but also feel guilty, knowing that I am contributing to the problems associated with drug hoarding. And for all of you out there who like to carp on politics and say that you see no use for politics, politicians, institutions, regulations, and the like, here's your rebuttal. The only human mechanism that has been shown to mitigate collective action problems like the tragedy of the commons is that of politics, which is the non-violent way of dividing up limited resources to a needy society. A more perfect political system (which does a better job of regulating resources like Tamiflu) would help prevent tragedies of the commons from happening, and it's something worth striving for.

By the way, does anyone in the US need me to bring them some Tamiflu? ;-)



Photo credits:
Tamiflu, Astrit Lulushi's blog (original?)
Tragedy of the commons cartoon, Dave Coverly
Dilbert comic, Scott Adams

all-expense-paid trip to DC -- including swine flu!

For those of you who don't know, Georgetown has restarted their TA-ships at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q), and I was lucky enough to get one of the fellowships for next year! I am thrilled that Nick will no longer be my sugar daddy, and hopeful that the added structure and purpose to my life will help me get motivated and focused on my dissertation projects.

Besides the monetary and self-esteem benefits of having my own job next year, I am also the lucky recipient of multiple perks. One such perk is soon coming up: an all-expense-paid trip to the US! Despite having lived in Doha for the past year, G'town feels that I need to be flown to DC to participate in orientation about life in Doha -- and who am I to argue? In all seriousness, it is actually wonderful that I get to participate in this, as I will get to meet my fellow TAs, professors, and staff who will be working with me next year, as well as learn a bit about my new responsibilities and meet with a tax consultant. I was also able to book a few extra days in my stay so that I can see my friends in DC (and recover from jet lag!).

This all-expense-paid trip includes a business-class flight on Qatar Airways (here's where their 5-star rating comes into play), which provides me with a fully-flat seat bed, a foot massager, two six-course meals (served on real plates, one course at a time), and of course, the comfort of having six galleys and four lavatories for 42 (assuming it's full) business-class passengers, as opposed to the four galleys and seven lavatories for 293 economy-class passengers herded like cattle behind me. (Check out this seat map if you want to see for yourself; I'll be in the second row of business class, thank you very much.) I can also lug two 30-kilogram bags (that's 66 pounds each) with me if I want (and although I don't think I'll be taking much there, I'll certainly be bringing a lot back, including about 20 cans of pumpkin puree). And last, but certainly not least, when I go to Doha's airport, guess who avoids the central terminal entirely and does a "sit-down" check-in at the premium terminal just for business- and first-class passengers, complete with free food and drinks, wi-fi, lounge, and (for the first-classers) spa treatments and private bedrooms? Yes, that would be moi. Hey, I'm not sure when (if?) I'll ever travel business-class to the States again; I'm going to milk this opportunity for all it's worth! I'm planning on getting to the airport five hours early!! (Am I kidding...?)

The fun doesn't stop with the flights, however. After spending my three extra days with Hastie in her Dupont Circle apartment, I'll be trotting (well, cabbing, since all cabs are paid for) a few blocks over to a four-star hotel that just happens to be one of the highest rated hotels in the area on TripAdvisor. I hope I make it for the free wine reception at 5 pm for all hotel guests... oh, but I guess I'll have several chances to go to this, since I'm there for three glorious evenings. ;-) Since the last few days are the "official" part of the trip, all my meals will be paid for from here until I return on my business-class flight back to Doha.

Wow, sounds perfect, huh? Too bad that the US chose NOW to have a swine flu pandemic sweeping the nation. I've never felt less like traveling to the US than I do right now. No cases reported (yet) in Washington, DC, and on the Georgetown campus, but it's really only a matter of time. I'm sure the entire area will be ready to infect me by the time I get there; and of course I didn't get a flu shot this year (not that this would help, but it would make me feel better about it!). There may be a "bright" side; as one NYT op-ed contributer notes, getting the flu early, when it's less adapted to humans and thus less lethal, could give me immunity for when it mutates and begins rampaging through the human race. So I could be one of the sole survivors in a Stephen-King-esque post-apocalyptic world, a la "The Stand."

But as Qatar's Ministry of Health has just urged people to cancel any non-essential trips to the US and other countries with outbreaks of swine flu, I really don't want to be the American Jew who brings back swine flu to a Muslim country that has outlawed all types of pig. Thanks for raining on my business-class parade, swine!


Photo credit:
Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER seat map from SeatGuru.com (apparently originally from TripAdvisor.com)