Doing Without in Doha By Lisa L. Kirchner

For an idea of what it is like to live in Doha, Qatar, please read Doing Without in Doha By Lisa L. Kirchner

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/30/
AR2009013001892.html


From the article:

It was Thursday, the Friday of the Muslim workweek. I needed to leave behind the five long days I'd spent at my marketing job in Qatar and wrap my hands around my lifelong love, a Dairy Queen Buster Bar. That it was February made little difference; as I careened through Doha's life-threatening traffic, my car's thermometer hovered around body temperature.

"Finish!" the girl at the drive-through announced, smiling and blinking at me in the late-day sun.

After two years of living in this Persian Gulf country, I could interpret her meaning easily: They were out of Buster Bars. I was living in one of the world's fastest-growing economies, but this was not my first reminder that deprivation lurked. A month before, my husband of four years had boarded a plane and then informed me over the phone that he was never coming back. Now there'd be no cold comfort, either.


Anyone who lives in Qatar knows what the girl said...she probably didn't say "Finish!" in English, she said "Halas!".

For an urban dictionary definition of the word, see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=halas%27ed

My questions for the author would be:

I thought in Qatar the wife is sponsored by the husband, and when the husband left, she was left without a sponsor and so would have to leave the country, even though she was the one with the job? How was she able to stay in the country to finish her contract without her husband's sponsorship?

Also, I thought as an American you have to pay taxes on your income, even if you live abroad. How could her job be tax-free as it says in the article? Tax protected, maybe, but not tax free.

And lastly, how did her husband leave the country so quickly and without her knowing? I thought you had to give the Qatari government notice, especially if you are married...see first question.

If you have questions about this story, like I do, here is an email to send questions and comments:

E-mail: XXFiles@washpost.com

For more information about the author go to:
http://www.lisalkirchner.com/ or http://www.lisakirchner.blogspot.com/