Hi,

I can relate to you, being a Malaysian born Singaporean Chinese, it is really really lonely here in Qatar. We cannot join in any other 'close' conversations with the respective groups and we speak only English.

There will be nice people but they are far too few.

As for the housing preference, they should be accomodating to foreigners but being the 'landlord' they have the final say. I can understand the desire for their own kind to live in close quaters. But this does not mean that others should not be considered.