Fast fwd five months and here we are…
I was just rereading my last post about arriving back in Doha from last summer’s trip to China.
http://sjmanniex.tumblr.com/post/9734503495/doha-stuck-in-the-sands-both-literally
It’s strange to read about how I felt back then, because things now have changed quite dramatically. Life suddenly picked up the pace, shortly after I wrote that last post in September 2011. I haven’t blogged since then. Until today. And, far from getting out of Doha as soon as possible, I decided to stay. As often happens when living abroad, my feelings towards this city have changed. Reflecting on why this happened I came to the following conclusions. It’s not about the place, but it’s all about the people. Doha itself is a city that doesn’t immediately captivate. It’s dusty, dry and dull on the surface. But if you dig a little deeper and get out and about, there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye of the casual observer.
During the last week of September 2011, opportunity suddenly came and found me. I had spent that month job-hunting both in Doha and beyond. Nothing had come up. Not expecting anything much, I responded to an internet ad for “English speaking Account Managers wanted for small PR agency in Doha.” I met my current boss, she hired me right away and within a matter of days I’d started working for Snow Comms.
Snow Comms is an up & coming PR and events management agency run in Doha by an energetic Greek lady and her husband. They are both very nice people and I count them as friends as well as colleagues. The work is interesting although at times manically disorganised and chaotic. I’ve picked up a ton of new skills and enhanced some existing ones, from writing press releases to social media strategy, newsletter writing, copyediting, events management and attending endless client meetings - often with CEOs of major international organisations. PR is a new field for me and it’s been a steep yet enjoyable learning curve so far. Indeed, sometimes I feel like the demands of the job are too much to handle, especially during this month. We’ve been handling some client accounts for the 2012 Qatar Motor Show, which is an incredibly prestigious and important event. Working an average of 12 hours every day with no weekends is tough, but the end is now in sight and hopefully some semblance of work-life balance will soon be restored. I really miss the gym, walking on the Corniche and meeting friends in Souq Waqif.
I’m sad that I’ll miss out on my trip to Sri Lanka (booked months ago on impulse during a Qatar Airways 3 day sale. By a stroke of bad luck the timing clashed with the Motor Show), but am planning to book new flights there once the Doha events calendar has calmed down, most likely after April. I’m also hoping to find time this year to do some travelling around the safer parts of the Middle East region. Oman, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain are all on my list. I’m fascinated with the idea of visiting Israel, but less fascinated with the thought of that notorious Israeli entry stamp rendering my current British passport practically useless throughout the rest of the Middle East.
Funnily enough, Snow Comms had reason to ponder that very issue a couple of months ago. We were pitching for an international client that wanted to organise gala dinner events in six Middle East locations: Qatar, Oman, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. We happily prepared our proposal, and it was only when discussing the logistics of Palestine that we realised only one of our team, my Greek/Cypriot boss, could feasibly visit Palestine and easily return to Qatar afterwards (she has two passports). The rest of the Snow team, Lebanese and Moroccan passport holders, are barred from entering Israel. As a British citizen I can enter, but with only one passport I would risk encountering difficulties with Qatar immigration. Anyway, as it turned out, we only won the pitch for two of the locations - the hassle-free Oman, and Qatar itself.
And the great thing is, despite the stress and the demanding nature of events and public relations, after all those years since uni spent in unsuitable jobs, I think I’ve finally found it - the career I’ve been looking for.
So 2012 should be a year of triumph.
