On the fifth day of Ramadan, I had iftar with my office mates - a farewell for one of our colleagues. Our colleague, AY is leaving the company and joining a government agency in Dub4i. Good luck AY!
Here are some photos of what I ate that night.
~ M T @ Q4t4r
~~ Sadd, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
This morning, I received an attachment by email from my previous business acquaintance. The title is written as “Dr.Phil’s Test”. Am not sure whether this is actually a test developed by Dr. Phil since there is no reference made to him at all. Anyway, currently been a very “busy” [read: nothing much to do] person in the office, I answered all the questions. I scored 36 for my answers and here is what the score means.
Let’s see how I fit in the description….Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful and practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you
realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it
takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken.
They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest.
Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return.
Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken.
Kelakar Seram... yup.. that's the quote for the day. While walking home from the gym with MM, I continously teasing him on the words he used in the conversation. Obviously there are differences in usage of words between Singaporean Malay and Malaysian Malay.
During the staff meeting, another bomb was dropped. This time, the only manager in my project will be leaving (for good) a day before me flying off for my Eid-ul-Fitr vacation. This is definitely sending an early signal to most of us in the project -> be prepared! With this manager departure, there will be a wide gap in the management, with a Managing Direct0r on top and the next senior level would be Senior C0nsultant! Obviously not a good sign.... I need to fast forward my plan... hmmm.... another decision to make and I hate making decision especially involving my life and career!!
~ M T @ Q4t4r
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
On the first day of Ramadan, I broke my fast with just dates, a banana, 
a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of orange/pineapple juice. That sufficed for me to last until after the Terawih prayer.
Picked Zals up and went to the mosque nearby, Jamek Bilal bin Rabah for Terawih prayer. We were actually early since I wrongly looked at the Prayer Time Schedule. Luckily for iftar, I broke my fast after the actual time ~ around 5.35pm (supposed to be 5.30pm, however, I scanned the wrong row in the Prayer Time Table, I thought Maghreb was at 5.23pm yesterday).
The Isyak prayer started around 10 minutes after the azan and the Terawih continued right after the Isyak prayer. Unlike in Malaysi4, there has never been a group do'a led by the Imam after each prayer. The Terawih here in Q4t4r (as I frequented few other mosques in D0ha before) has always been 8 rakaat only with 2+1 witir. In between the first four rakaat and the second four, there is a short tazkirah. Depending on the Imam, the tazkirah can last from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. At the mosque I frequent, the tazkirah is always around 10 - 15 minutes. The whole prayer (from Isyak till witir) finished around 8pm.
Zals would like to try Chil!i's in Q4t4r (I guess he just wanted to check out the price - betul tak Zals?), so there we went. I had a guiltless chicken pasta while Zals could not find his way how to eat the chicken pita sandwich! [LOL..LOL]
Dropped him at this residence after the dinner and I drove back home. Amazingly, the traffic was not that bad last night. I was anticipated worse - it is normal for Ar4b families to go out at night during Ramadan. I bet the coming weekend would be terrible....
Yes.. I survived the first day of Ramadan and missed my daily gym routine....... The iltizam for the rest of the Holy Month - at least..at least.. five times a week at gym....
~ M T @ Q4t4r
~~ Sadd, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
Today, 23 September 2006 is the first day of Ramadhan in Q4t4r. We only have 29 days of Syaaban as opposed to 30 days experienced in Malaysi4 this year.
It caught me by surprise since I did not anticipate Ramadhan to start on Saturday. I was having a light snack at McD0nalds after gym session with MM, a Singap0rean in D0ha when I received the news on Ramadhan.
At home, watched a live-telecast of terawih prayer from Masjidil-haram in Makk4h. It was a wonderful feeling watching the prayer since the S4udi TV translated the meaning of each surah read by the Imam during the prayer into English. Watching the live-telecast reminded me of my Hajj time.. One day, I will be there again....insyaAllah...
Ramadan Kareem to all......
~M T @ Q4t4r
~~ Rumaillah, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
Have you experienced impulse buying? hmm..i just did! While my other colleagues were out for farewell lunch for one of our staff at Al-Hamr4 Restaurant, I went for a stroll in the mall area of R0yal Pl4za. I didn't go since I wanted to taste the finger lickin' good and moreover, last night I had a big meal with Zals.
Gues? outlet is on sale. Tomorrow is the last day of sale. Bought myself a long sleeve tee and a kind-of cargo pant. All together for QAR175 - a 75% discount! That's a bargain!
~M T @ Q4t4r
~~ Sadd, Doha
~To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~
As usual, I have a bowl of oats every morning to get that level of cholestrol down.. (in fact, I am not even know what my cholestrol level is anyway!). Just want to eat healthy.
Since we moved to our office at Royal Plaza, I have been craving for something to munch every 3-4 hours... So today, my colleague bought me a dozen of Dunkin Donuts.. , yes, she bought me a dozen of doughnuts! Giler ke apa minah ni... Actually, I was joking with another colleague about eating Dunkin Donuts and this colleague of mine went to tell her. So, she got me a box of it!
Bila orang dah bagi tu, ambil je lah.. so I chose my donuts "wisely"... Took three of them (remaining are still in the pantry), ate two and save the best for last... the pink one... hehehehe (I wish there was a rainbow donut)....
~ M T @ Q4t4r
~ Sadd, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
Last weekend, my friend who was on business trip to Dvbai and Bahra!n did a stop over in D0ha. It was great to have him back - this only means I got to eat my favourite sambal tumis ikan bilis. Yes... I asked him to cook that for me. We had a great time and since he had been to D0ha for a week last April, there was nothing much to do. See, now you know why D0ha is soooo boring!
I picked him up from the airport after 10pm Thursday night. The QR flight from Bahra!n was delayed for 30 minutes.. exactly the same duration to fly between DOH and BAH. The airport was not crowded and it was full with South Asians waiting for their sponsors to pick them. I was approached by two newly arrived passengers, one from Sudan and another Sri Lanka. Both asking me to make a call to their sponsors. The sponsor for Sudanese seemed to give the wrong number or switched off the phone. Lucky for the Sri Lankan since the sponsor is on the way to pick him up.
Inside the terminal, few more groups waiting to be picked up. The Daew00 seemed to be the most responsible - giving each of the newly arrival with a jacket with the company logo. One person giving a briefing while the other representative is waiting for more arrivals.
Another group - supposed to be working with H!lls & H!ggs (if I am not mistaken), still wandering inside the terminal. No representative from the company was there. Poor them!
Few women, most probably coming to work as maids, sat at one corner. Also waiting to be picked by the agency.
To tell you the truth, for me, this was not a pretty sight. These are humans, just like everyone else. They may be less educated than others, but they also must be treated with respect. Their tickets are arranged by the respective sponsors and they should know when their future workers are arriving. But yet, they still fail to be at the airport on time. Imagine those future workers with limited (probably not at all) English/Arabic wandering in the terminal. I wish I could help them.. [sigh...]
p/s: Yesterday, QR received its first A340-600 (HGW).. the world's longest plane (~75m in length).. and they also mentioned that the dedicated terminal for the First and Business Class passengers will be opened end of October. Hope just in time for my next trip balik Raya - so I can share some photos!!!
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Sadd, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
As expected, after the deadline has passed, the client did not sign the invoices. So, we were told by our big boss that we have to clear the client premises before 1400hrs. We can go back home and report to duty on Sunday at our town-office.
That basically it. We delivered the ultimatum and the client refused to abide it. The big(ger) boss is going back to the US tonight. Frustrated. Fly all the way to Q4t4r to meet the client, but the client didn't turn up for the meeting (despite of scheduling the meeting in advance).
Personally, I don't know what kind of mentality that these Ar4bs adhere to. Anyway, here I am at home, nearly 4pm (GMT +3). Tonight, need to go to the airport to pick up my friend.
Shall I go to gym now? hmmm.... decision...decision...decision....
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
Today, we had an extraordinary staff meeting (wow.. amcam extraordinary general meeting lak). There was an update on the issue that we are currently facing with the client. Remember in my previous entry on the big(ger) boss from US is here to iron out the issues.
Well, they (big and big(ger) bosses) and project sponsor and his merry men from the client supposed to have the meeting to discuss the issues yesterday (Tuesday). All the quorum attended the meeting except for the Project Sponsor himself. He sent a representative and being in Arab world, the representative can only hear and provide feed back or response, not decision. Unfortunately, on my company side, we wanted decision.
So... the big(ger) boss has made the decision! Sort of the tribe has spoken lah....
The big(ger) boss wrote a letter to the Project Sponsor and Head of our client... One of main issues was the invoice. Dah tiga invois dihantar, satu pun tak dibayar lagi. Semua sekali dalam linkungan tiga hingga empat juta Amerika dollar. Banyak tu. So, kalau dia orang tak sign invois tu by tengahari esok (Khamis jam 12 tgh), we all akan pack semua barang and be in the comfort of our office or apartment. Maknanya, hari Ahad minggu depan, tak siapa akan datang kerja kat client site. Semua meeting akan dibatalkan and kerja untuk projek ni akan berhenti. Our leadership kat US pun setuju dengan decision ni.
Aku sebenarnya prefer projek ni cancel je. Bukan apa, asyik delay je. Pah tu, kalau meeting ngan client, ikut suka hati dia je nak datang atau tidak. Macam mana nak buat decision. Aku boleh buat decision untuk them, tapi, tak nak setuju. Kalau boleh, nak disekeh kepala sorang-sorang tu! Tapi kan, kalau betul-betul they tak sign, masalah jugak kat aku. Mana project aku nak pergi nanti. Kat Malaysia, company aku tak de project. Kat Singapore, my home office, kebanyakkannya Commercial Services (mostly consumer products, telco and heavy industries). Line aku Financial Services and Public Services.
Rasa-rasanya terpaksa le aku transfer office to US under Emerging Market. Kawan aku dari Chile tu, dengar khabar nak ke Central atau East Europe... Best gak tu. But not my line.
Tengok lah macam mana...finger cross!!!
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
This morning, the cuff-links that I ordered were ready for collection. However, since I am working today, I went to collect it from my jeweller, Thoufeek only after office hour.
Here is his shop, Al Mahfooz Jewellery. His shop in Doha is the second branch after Bahrain. Originally from India. He is getting married next year and I love teasing him about it. Typical me. :-))
This is the third item I ordered from him. The first one was my garnet ring on 18k white gold. Second item was a pendant for my mum's birthday. And the third is this cuff link. Not for me but for my friend's birthday. He is coming tomorrow for a weekend after a business trip to Dubai and Bahrain. Actually, his birthday was last July 19, however, since I have left Malaysia in early July, we were not able to celebrate together.
The shape of the cufflink supposed to be a crab, a sign for Cancer (June 23 - July 22). This cuff link was made with 18k white gold and a pair of ruby and a pair of garnet. Ruby is the birthstone for July and garnet is for January.
This was a last minute decision. I got the idea only last week. Then I rushed to "my jeweller" and as usual, being me, I "forced" him to complete it according to my deadline. So much of being in the Project Management for most of my employment years!
I can see the disapproved face on the goldsmith when I set the deadline (Thoufeek is not the one who crafted this. It is done by another goldsmith). That goldsmith, also an Indian, not even looked at my face... Well, did I care? Nope.. I didn't.. I paid for this and I am customer. And customer (especially me) is always right!!
Today, it was a boring day at work. Everybody is back to the client site after the holiday yesterday. So, the place became a little bit noisy. And I am back wearing business attire - no more jeans and t-shirt.
Our big(ger) boss from US is in D0ha for a meeting with our client. There are some issues need to be ironed out.
Normally, on Sundays, we have a staff meeting. Since it was a holiday yesterday, we had the meeting today. Unfortunate for me, there was not enough chair (since I went for Zohor prayer first) and I (out of the blue) decided to sit on a GLASS coffee table. What a big mistake... the glass broke!!!! Aarrghhhh.... that was embarassing!!! The first words came out from my mouth "Sh!t.. Do I have to pay for this?" well, am still alive and more importantly, my bvtt is still fine... still se+y as usual.. ahaks....
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
One thing I forgot about being in Doha on a public holiday is .. "avoid the shopping malls by all means"...
And that was exactly what I did not do.. I went to the City Center for my lunch today. I have been going there all this while. Never expected what in store for me this afternoon.
First... parking. The double storey car park was full with cars coming from all directions. Forget about the one way street, no parking, no waiting, no spanking...ooppsss... It took me 15 minutes to find a parking, the furthest from the main entrance (which is not bad huh... but on normal weekdays, I manage to get the parking almost immediately!).
Noticing the crowded mall, I decided to go to the East Food Court. Still packed, but not as packed as the West Food Court (I concluded that this is due to no McD, Kudu, Subway and Diwayinat Bukhari on the East side).
Ordered a yogurt chicken grill from Shater Abbas. After 30 minutes of waiting, no sign that I will get the food. Walked towards the counter, asked for my order and as expected, they lost my order!! Aaarrgghhhhhh.... yelled at them (well, this is not typical me... but when you are hungry nothing is impossible!). And I noticed that they gave me somebody else order of the same grill. I felt sorry for that customer - but what the heck, I was hungry!
That was lunch. Before that in the morning, I missed my usual half boiled egg and my creamy chocolate shake. No thanks to waking up late...
That was breakfast. A night before, after my daily gym routine, I felt hungry. Drove to the "hole in the wall" eating place for a cheap kebab. Since it was still early (around 6pm), they have not yet started. Frustrated.. drove back home and on the way, I remember there was a seafood place that I had lunch with my Sudanese friends before. Stopped by and ordered one grill fish (yes, only one small fish). To my dismay, I was told they don't grill one fish. If I want, I have to order two. What the *&#$???? Fed up, I walked out from the place!
Drove back home feeling really really mad.... and end up having a bowl of instant noodles!
Come to think about it, may be I need somebody to be here with me... does not matter whether he or she ... good looking is a must, great body is very much appreciated :-)) -hmmm... lain macam je bunyi iklan ni.... hiks...
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
Today is one of the public holidays in Qatar. Other holidays are Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha. September 3 is Qatar's Independence Day. I think it is the 35th official "birthday".
As for me, today is not a holiday since I am following Singapore (my home office) public holidays. And here I am today, at work (client office) wearing t-shirt and jeans! Luuvvvv it.....
This MAQ logo is designed by En. Ismail, a staff with UEM Qatar.
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
This photo was taken during the previous company gathering kat Awana Kijal. Every year the companydid a weekend trip to any local resort (which require us to fly there - PD, Melaka, Perak tak main le, dekat sangat) for all the employees to bond with each other. Ye le.. majority never been in the office.. Kekadang tu, kalau jumpa pun, we not even know we were in the same company.
Out of 8 in the photo, only 2 still with the company. Others have left for greener pasture... (hmmm... greener pasture? not so sure about that..).
It has been nearly seven years since the photo was taken. I miss my youthful face :-)) Dah tua rupanya aku ni ye.... and all my friends too... where ever you are, let me remind you that I treasured every moment we spent together... Miss you all... datang le jalan2 kat Qatar ni pulak - as long as I am still here!
~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha
~ To Travel Is To Discover Onelself ~
