I’m a (white) English ex-pat. Fairly well traveled, I’ve been to about 45 countries (some of them 20 or 30 times), though all in Europe, Africa and North America (prior to visiting the Middle East). Anyway, as I hadn’t visited any vastly different cultures before I came here, there were plenty of culture shocks.
I learned how to drive very badly (corrupting all that I had learned some 13 years ago), took those new skills home with me on a couple of holidays – caused some chaos, and then learned how to driver safer in every country in the world. I think it was a period of adjustment.
I learned a lot about patience. I thought I had mastered that before, but things here can be so different from my past life experience, it took some extra patience and understanding. What’s more, getting exasperated here doesn’t help any, so being chilled is good for the soul! Here’s a key thing that I’ve learned it’s been life-changing – I’d like to share it with you (all readers) for your own benefit. This is gold dust….
Somebody’s opinion (or actions) may completely defy all logic (in your opinion) and you may rave about how mad/crazy/stupid they are. The fact is, that their opinion is equally as valid as yours, even if you cannot understand or agree with it. Now if you can get that logic inside your head, and really believe it, you’re level of understanding will be much bigger, your frustrations much lower and your life much calmer. I learned it from experience, and also from an amazing training course from a professional trainer, who challenged many thought processes and explained how we react to situations based upon our lifetime of experiences. I tell you what, my life has been better for it. I still occasionally get frustrated by other people’s actions, but far less often.
I’ve learned to be satisfied with less to do. Okay, optimistic will tell you there’s lots to do in Qatar, but just as many people will tell you there’s very little to do. Quite simply, after living in London (UK) for 5 years, Doha is very lacking in excitement. True, you have to try harder and search harder for thrills. I’m NOT opening a debate on what there is to do in Doha, that would go against the reason for this post. I’m merely sharing my experiences.
I’d like to say that I’ve got to know and to get on with Qatari’s. That’s probably what you’d like to hear too. However, I’ve had very little opportunity to converse with Qatari nationals, therefore my main interaction with them has been on the roads. Need I say more. I am open minded and intelligent (so as not to assume bad things about people without getting to know them, and not generalizing), but this negative experience of encountering dangerous driving, and being on the receiving end of racism from Qatari nationals, has not helped me to build a fond image of local people. Can I speak this freely here in Qatar? Hmm.
I didn’t learn too much about other nationalities, the UK is very diverse anyway, so I’d had plenty of exposure to that.
I did gain a deeper understanding of Islamic lifestyle and principles – man, you’d hope that a person would learn more if living in a Muslim country.
I also learned that the Western media portray a false image of ‘the Middle East’, or the MidEast as the Americans annoyingly call it. They definitely like to keep the ‘Them and Us’ feeling going on – and make out that the middle east is unstable, dangerous, and oppressive. It serves Western governments well, even if they’ll never admit it. Even the more free thinking and liberal countries of this world have propaganda in the press – it just takes an intelligent eye to spot it – think about who’s influencing what’s being reported and listen carefully to how it’s phrased.
There’s probably lots more I could say, but that’s plenty for now. I’d appreciate other people’s reflections (NOT CRITICISM) of what I’ve said, particularly Hussamf who sarted the post.
I’m a (white) English ex-pat. Fairly well traveled, I’ve been to about 45 countries (some of them 20 or 30 times), though all in Europe, Africa and North America (prior to visiting the Middle East). Anyway, as I hadn’t visited any vastly different cultures before I came here, there were plenty of culture shocks.
I learned how to drive very badly (corrupting all that I had learned some 13 years ago), took those new skills home with me on a couple of holidays – caused some chaos, and then learned how to driver safer in every country in the world. I think it was a period of adjustment.
I learned a lot about patience. I thought I had mastered that before, but things here can be so different from my past life experience, it took some extra patience and understanding. What’s more, getting exasperated here doesn’t help any, so being chilled is good for the soul! Here’s a key thing that I’ve learned it’s been life-changing – I’d like to share it with you (all readers) for your own benefit. This is gold dust….
Somebody’s opinion (or actions) may completely defy all logic (in your opinion) and you may rave about how mad/crazy/stupid they are. The fact is, that their opinion is equally as valid as yours, even if you cannot understand or agree with it. Now if you can get that logic inside your head, and really believe it, you’re level of understanding will be much bigger, your frustrations much lower and your life much calmer. I learned it from experience, and also from an amazing training course from a professional trainer, who challenged many thought processes and explained how we react to situations based upon our lifetime of experiences. I tell you what, my life has been better for it. I still occasionally get frustrated by other people’s actions, but far less often.
I’ve learned to be satisfied with less to do. Okay, optimistic will tell you there’s lots to do in Qatar, but just as many people will tell you there’s very little to do. Quite simply, after living in London (UK) for 5 years, Doha is very lacking in excitement. True, you have to try harder and search harder for thrills. I’m NOT opening a debate on what there is to do in Doha, that would go against the reason for this post. I’m merely sharing my experiences.
I’d like to say that I’ve got to know and to get on with Qatari’s. That’s probably what you’d like to hear too. However, I’ve had very little opportunity to converse with Qatari nationals, therefore my main interaction with them has been on the roads. Need I say more. I am open minded and intelligent (so as not to assume bad things about people without getting to know them, and not generalizing), but this negative experience of encountering dangerous driving, and being on the receiving end of racism from Qatari nationals, has not helped me to build a fond image of local people. Can I speak this freely here in Qatar? Hmm.
I didn’t learn too much about other nationalities, the UK is very diverse anyway, so I’d had plenty of exposure to that.
I did gain a deeper understanding of Islamic lifestyle and principles – man, you’d hope that a person would learn more if living in a Muslim country.
I also learned that the Western media portray a false image of ‘the Middle East’, or the MidEast as the Americans annoyingly call it. They definitely like to keep the ‘Them and Us’ feeling going on – and make out that the middle east is unstable, dangerous, and oppressive. It serves Western governments well, even if they’ll never admit it. Even the more free thinking and liberal countries of this world have propaganda in the press – it just takes an intelligent eye to spot it – think about who’s influencing what’s being reported and listen carefully to how it’s phrased.
There’s probably lots more I could say, but that’s plenty for now. I’d appreciate other people’s reflections (NOT CRITICISM) of what I’ve said, particularly Hussamf who sarted the post.