A week in the desert

Well, I have been out here in Qatar for a week now. The work has been quite interesting and the days have been rather busy. Jon and I haven't really had any time to take in any sights, until last night when we went to an outdoor market. It was very nice and relaxed, loads of people around but no one seemed to be in any hurry; the weekend had started and time to relax and enjoy some good company (weekends starts on Friday). I took some pictures but alas the camera didn't really do any justice to the place, all the pictures are too dark for posting here. Jon had a lot nicer camera and took some shots as well, perhaps he can share some of these once he is settled in back home (he took the overnight flight back to the UK after the market trip).

Week two starts tomorrow. We are working with OWB, Discoverer and Portal to come up with a proof of concept as well as training the client in using these tools. The team is very enthusiastic and eager to learn so the work is very enjoyable. The working hours are rather different from what I am used to; Start at 8 and then take a break at around 15:00 and then start back at around 19:30 and work until about 22:00. In between, it's back to the hotel, lunch and perhaps go to the gym. With the different rhythm, I seem to have lost close to 5kg here (or is it just because of the lack of beer ? :)) in just one week. Somehow I think I will manage to find these lost kilos when I get back ...