Where on earth is Lauren?: July 2006

The daily life motto in Doha ‘Expect the unexpected’. Completely settled, relaxed in our apartment, the fridge and freezer full to their brim, suitcases unpacked, bedrooms arranged, bathrooms complete with shower curtains, bins, towels, photo frames and ornaments displayed around the apartment and my favorite, my new toy – the home theatre system – our apartment feels like home.

Michel and I host our first dinner party, for 13 people. The Master Chef Michel and I the M’Dtrie – serve 3 courses to our guests. Testing out the sounds of the theatre system, we all enjoy an evening of singing and enjoying the Live 8 DVD, fun, food and laughter fills the room. The song of the evening was by the proclaimers ‘I will walk 1000 miles’ where we all proceeded to sing on top of our lungs. Retiring to bed, I think to myself life in Doha can’t get anymore perfect. …. How quickly I can be wrong!!

At work on Sunday, I received a distraught phone call from Michel; the news that we are being evacuated! Our picture perfect apartment is taken away within a matter of seconds. Michel had received a knock at the door from a man with the information to gather our personal belongings as quickly as possible, enough for the next 3 days and leave the apartment. From within my room, Michel asks me what to pack. I instruct her to just grab my passport, Michel in disbelief continues to ask, “what about clothes, jewellery etc?” I tell her to just grab my passport and get the hell the out. I was only 5 mins away so we will then re-assess. Upon arrival I see scaffolding poles holding the carport roof; it’s an 8 floor apartment block! We find out from fellow tenants that we have two hours to pack our personal belongings and leave. Luckily we had hired our car the day prior, so with this we packed as quickly as possible literally throwing contents of draws and cupboards into our suitcase and bags.

Moving in 40 degree heat, sweat pouring from our brows we carried our belongings out to the car. With no formal communication, the rumors start ‘The owners want us out, the P-party on the roof caused it, the cat doesn’t like us, and the building is being demolished tomorrow’. We pack as much as we can, only leaving kitchen-ware, food, bathroom contents and sadly my new love – the home theatre system.

The stair cases were hectic with everyone carrying their belongings, as we didn’t receive much information about the building or relocation; everyone was carrying as much as they could. The front of the apartment was chaotic, with cars, bags and people. Cars were being filled with suitcases, doona's and even microwaves.

I don’t think I have packed as quickly, well apart from quickly escaping from the hotel in Turkey in 1999 during the earthquake. Now I begin to wonder – is it me that natural disasters follow?
- Turkey 1999 – Earthquake
- Greek Islands 2000 – Ferry crash
- London 2005 – Terrorism attack on London Tube
Then I pull myself together and disagree - It’s not me, it’s the world - it’s a mysterious place.

Thankfully we are temporary relocated around the corner to the Grand Regency. We are now sophisticated refugees, as we pile into the 5 star hotel foyer. This is our new home for the week (though we were only informed we would be there for 3 days). Provided with 3 meals a day, access to the hotel gym, sharing a twin room – we were the lucky ones. Some of our friends had to share beds!

The buffet restaurant is full of expatiates - this is definitely a unique experience to share - Greek, Italians, English and Aussies – all in it together. It’s like Ground Hog Day, as we repeat the experience for breakfast with all the familiar faces prior to heading off for a days work.

Life in Doha is so different, we work together, we live together, play sport together, socialize together at only the 4 bar options in Doha. I use to live a very separate personal / professional life = not anymore!

After 3 days of living out of suitcases, and completely over the buffet food (though I did enjoy someone else cooking for me). We receive official notification from the Director General that we are not returning to the apartments but are being relocated to new apartments in 3 days time. We are instructed to remove all items from the old apartment in preparation for the move on Sunday. Also official communication was that the building had blown out its basement columns and the organisation did not want to run a risk of keeping us in the building therefore the evacuation occurred. Would just have been nice to receive this information on the day it happened to eliminate the now 157 rumors flying around the place. Another unique thing about Doha is the level of communication, its non existent.

Happy to move from the hotel to our new apartments, I am firstly disappointed that its 30% smaller than the last. Second disappointment the lifts aren’t working and we live on the top 3rd floor. Third disappointment, our male friends are separated from us as the building can’t fit everyone. Apart from all this, I rise above; it’s a new apartment, new neighbors, new shopping streets, new beginning.

So in a nutshell - Expect the unexpected and I’ll will never be surprised!

Qatar is a country of opulent wealth. The government has invested millions into developing youth excellence in Sports. This being the foundation to build the world’s largest indoor stadium. I was completely blown away when entering this state of the art sporting stadium. I have had the pleasure of visiting many large stadiums in the world (England, Wales, and Barcelona, Australia) but nothing compares to Aspire Stadium in Qatar. Within the stadiums walls contain – a full size football field, athletics track, wrestling platforms, 25 meter pool plus diving pool, boxing rings, badminton courts, gymnastics hall, plus other sports, offices and VIP areas. With its marble floors, pristine painted walls, and air-conditioning – I had to pinch myself thinking I was in a brand new shopping complex rather than a sporting venue which often conjures images and pre-conceptions of traditional, smelly, concrete, dirty and dusty stadium.

VIP Entry

Football Field

Boxing Ring

Outdoor sports pitch of Aspire. Artificial grass

I had the pleasure of working as the Venue Workforce Manager for one week where the Asian Games held a ‘test event’. A test event is an international competition of multiple sports. We label the event as a test event as we were not only running the event but most importantly testing specific elements in preparation for the Asian Games. This event was in particular testing the sports functionality, technology and the acoustics’ of the venue as being the first time the venue has operated with multiple sports. The event held Boxing, Gymnastics, Wrestling, Badminton and two new sports new to me – Kabbadi (Indian) and Wushu (Chinese marital arts).

Wushu

Gymnastics - Trampoline

At the venue training, I was overwhelmed having to stand at the front with Argyris – Venue Manager to be introduced to the workforce. The workforce were from Asian Games employees, Qatar Sporting Federations and local sports clubs. All in all – this includes the following nationalities, Qatari’s, Greek, Italians, English, American, New Zealand, Sri Lankan, Indians, Pakistan, Jordan, Egyptians, Chinese, Mozambique, Turkey, Syria and Australians. Many of the workforces are residents of Qatar. There is no volunteer culture in Qatar, if you are a non-local you must hold a resident permit to be living in the country therefore we have extra challenges of recruiting volunteers. Most of the workforce was paid, even temporary to ensure the event was resourced.

My first major learning occurred at the Venue Training. Due to the Qatari’s strong traditions they do not mix fun with professionalism. At the Commonwealth Games, we ensured we made the day fun and enjoyable for workforce, however my learning’s from the Aspire Challenge is that seriousness is required for their respect and sense of importance. During the simple ice breaker of asking questions to the participants to win a prize, one Qatari stormed out and yelled at a colleague on his exit that the training was joke and he wasn’t there to have fun!!

Another situation that totally sent anger through my body was when welcoming participants to the evening and directing them where to sit, two men completely and totally ignored (as if I was totally invisible and not there) only for the same two men to ask a male colleague for instructions. I was shocked, angry and annoyed and wondered to myself - oh boy, how am I going to deal with these men mentally, not only for this event but the Asian Games. During the training, both Argyris and I were introduced at the front of the stage as Managers. I did find it overwhelming to be standing in front a majority male audience and in particular Qatari traditional dressed men. At the conclusion of the evening, (we did keep it brief and quick as was difficult to hold their attention for a number of reason and also maybe due to the presenter being an American Female!!). Upon exit, to my astonishments and amazement, both men approached me to introduce themselves. Was this they now respected me due to the position held at the venue? I don’t know but I honestly felt like speaking my mind but painstakingly bit my tongue and shook their hand in greeting.

At the venue, we are responsible for all elements of the workforce, from uniforms, accreditation, shift management, catering, general wellbeing and enjoyment. Another responsibility is to welcome and chat to the workforce – now hard is that for me – NOT!!. To meet so many people from all cultures and try to ensure they enjoy their experience only feels natural to me.

My Arabic has improved, sometimes blowing away a westerner standing next to me when I started to engage in conversation in Arabic to a local. The smiles of appreciation when I spoke their language was overwhelming. In general Arabic is a difficult language to speak as they contain certain sounds that the English language does not have. Never the less, I push on with my attempt and receive great feedback. At one stage, I was sitting with the President of Syria Boxing Federation practicing Arabic sentences – priceless!!

The event was not advertised to spectators, however for testing purposes the organisation invited 4,000 Asian Games volunteers to attend the Finals night to test the spectator flows of the venue. The method of communication (only method as no postal system) is via text message. Therefore we had no idea of how many to expect. To our amazement 7,000 spectators arrived. From a zero spectator event for the week to walking amongst the thousands – the venue was crazy. A major learning curve, though at the time scary, was when Spectator Services handed out free gifts at 7.30pm. At home this would be a very civilized process; however, we quickly learnt in Qatar this to not be so. The crowds of Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans proceeded to crash the tables and police were involved. We were totally amazed by this outcome and have quickly learnt the safer method of distribution of free gifts.

Another learning curve was that Australians in general, hold an immediate friendless towards strangers, however I found that it took until the third day for the workforce of Qatari’s, Chinese, Sri Lankans and Indians to become friendly. After the third day, it was smooth sailing as the workforce recognized our faces.

At check in we enjoyed the daily joy of finding the names on our workforce lists. For example there are many Mohammed, Ahmed, Hamad, Mahmoud… Names often differed, mixing their first names with family names. The Arabs name is made of: First name, Father Name, Grand Father name, Family name… This is why a person’s name can be Mohammed, Mohammed, Ahmed or Arik.

Overall the experience working at Aspire Challenge was brilliant, meeting other functional area employees of Asian Games, experiencing and learning the new challenges of workforce in the Middle East!