Celebrating Change

On October 25, Qatar formally launched its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. It is the first Middle Eastern country to volunteer itself to host the premier sporting championships. The night was celebrated with revelry and capped by a fireworks display. However, it wasn’t the celebration or the bid itself that struck me most. It was the logo and the theme behind it that got my attention.

The main logo is a representation of the aldahma flower but for those who know how to read Arabic, the logo is a calligraphy of the phrase “Doha 2016”. The theme is “Celebrating change”. As soon as I heard the theme, a question popped into my mind: “Do we really celebrate change?”

Change is often met with doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, fear and other negative feelings. It may be met with enthusiasm at first but when hard choices related to that change start to unravel then uncertainty sets in and confidence wanes. So why celebrate change?

The day after the launch, some expats here were already having mixed feelings regarding the bid. Although many were rooting for Doha to get the IOC nod for this once in a lifetime event, still many were worried about the increase in rent, worsening of traffic and rise in cost of many basic commodities this effort will bring. Fresh in the mind of many was the situation caused by Qatar's hosting of the recent Asian Games. Many hoped rents and food prices will go down after the games but it never happened. Thus to many this bid was not a cause for celebration. Change really brings the best and worst in people.

In my life, there have been a lot of changes. The first big change I can remember was when I first went to school. I was a brash, confident young lad but with a real love of studies. Then came my decision to enter the seminary, not really sure if I wanted to be a priest but I wanted to find out. After several years I found out that it was not a life for me and I left the seminary. However, I immediately found out that secular life was a bit too fast and too worldly a life for me and I struggled to keep balance for myself. I was trying not to be a loner but also not go into the happy-go-lucky man of the world. It was a hard and trying time but somehow I went through it and managed to keep my balance.

My first job was a big change for me as well. It was my first taste of independence. I wasn’t taking any allowance from my parents and I had my salary all to myself. I could sustain my own vices and I can buy whatever I want if I can afford it. My decision to leave that company and try to join a multinational company was another big change. I was being offered a supervisory role but I deemed this new company had a better culture. And indeed it had and I stayed 16 years in this new company.

But then things didn’t go well during the last years of my stay in the company. For the first time in my life I was experiencing burn out. My salary was getting my family nowhere and my career was in hiatus. I was asked to “dance to the music” so my career will go somewhere. But I’d rather keep my dignity intact than dance to their tune of musical chairs. It was a nerve racking decision but I did it and now I am here.

However, the most important change in my life is my decision to have a family. It was the biggest decision because it affected not only my life but another else’s life. All these years changes have only affected me but this time it was a change that affected the lives of two people – me and my wife. And with the birth of our son, then this change now affects a third life. This is the biggest change in my life because from then on every decision has to take into consideration two other innocent lives.

Change is always there in our lives. Whether we meet it with fear and doubt or embrace it wholeheartedly with enthusiasm and hope is really up to us. Looking back into my life I could say that there were a lot of changes I dealt with anxiety and negative feelings and there were those that I embraced with excitement. I now believe that each part of life has prepared me for what I face today and whatever struggles I may face tomorrow. For instance, my life in the seminary has prepared me for a life of an OFW.

And going back to theme of Doha’s application to host the Olympics, I agree that we should celebrate change because with each change we only get wiser and stronger. We should embrace it and nourish it. After all, the only constant in this world is change.

My first off-road driving

Ramadan was supposed to be a light work month for us. Being a Holy month for our Muslim brothers, and Qatar being a devout Muslim country, work hours are limited to 6 hours per day. My company has set our work hours from 9am to 3pm. However, this Ramadan proved to be a very hectic month for me. I even had to work on weekends on a few occasions with no OT pay. Yes, thanks to my exempt position, I don’t get extra pay for hours worked beyond normal office hours. Well, anyway, it keeps me busy during weekends so no worries, for now.
That is why when the Eid holidays came and the company declared a 3-day holiday, I had to find some diversion to unwind and to relieve the pressures of work the past month. Luckily, I have some expatriate friends who have been here quite a while and were happy to welcome me into their holiday getaways.
We had a late afternoon swimming and barbeque along the beach in Al Wakrah, a district just outside Doha. There was a lot of food for the barbeque but we did not get to enjoy swimming very much. It was low tide that afternoon and we were already a kilometer from the shore and still we were wading to a knee high sea water.
And it got worse as the night went on. The previously leg-high water receded to ankle deep. Some people who were also on the beach, especially the kids, amused themselves by catching the small fishes trapped in shallow pools and rocks left by the retreating waters. Some tried to catch the fast running crabs and even some of them dug for shells. All the catch either went to their coolers or directly to the grills lit about the shore. However, it was a good night of stories and eating with new found friends.
So we were still unsatisfied with our night out at Al Wakrah and a few of us from the group thought maybe we can go out on a late evening till early morning and enjoy swimming on the early morning high tide.
But a trip to the seashore near the Sealine Beach Resort in Messaid turned out to be my first taste of driving a 4WD off-road on the desert sand. My first venture into the soft sand with my Mitsubishi Nativa got me stuck in just a few hundred meters. I was so nervous I forgot to shift to 4WD. ‘Eager beaver’, I thought.
During the night I tried to move the vehicle again so we can fix the tent between vehicles. Again the soft sand took the better of me and I got stuck on it. Putting some wood under the tires to get traction did not help. I was thinking to myself, “What do you do now you first time off-roader?” Luckily some experienced Qatari 4WD drivers who were playing with their Toyota Landcruisers and Nissan Patrols on the sand dunes came to our rescue and taught me some tricks of the trade. But since I got stuck so much we needed to push for the van to wiggle its way out of the hole it dug for itself. As soon as the vehicle got off and running, there was clapping and cheering and handshakes all around.
And we did get to enjoy swimming on that dark night. The water was warm and it was amusing to see the planktons reflect a blue light as you move through the water. And up in the sky there were billions of stars now visible against a dark night. A few shooting stars would be streaking out from time to time. It was back to Biology 101 and Astronomy 101 for me and I enjoyed it.
When morning came I became worried with the coming tide. It was coming near the shore where our vehicles were parked. So it was time to move our vehicles. But this time the sand was already wet and now we did not hesitate to call out for help. Again, many came to help and cheering and handshakes where everywhere after the van moved out from its precarious place by the shore.
What struck me during this trip was the voluntary action to help fellow drivers who are in need of assistance. I also noticed the non-stop patrol of a police team in a 4WD whose primary task is to assist drivers in distress. This spontaneous camaraderie of people really made driving off-road something to be enjoyed and not feared.