Jason’s Travelogue

I was prepared to have little to nothing to do in my free time here. How did I know?

Ever person I’ve met seems to love to tell me that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do in Doha.. that I will most likely be very very bored.

However, knowing this tidbit of information and maintaining a go-get-em mindset, I’ve managed to rope myself a new hobby- scubadiving.

As of this day, I am certified PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Open Water Diver. A beginner, true, but on my webbed feet way to deeper and further depths and cooler sea life (I want to see a shark and a giant turtle. Preferrably together, and even better, fighting a duel to the death for supremacy). Not a cheap hobby, I’ve had to dip into my Qatari piggy- well not piggy, that would be haram (forbidden)- bank.

My instructor is a husband-wife duo, John and Patty Sellhorn, who work for Rasgas in a northwestern town of Al Khor. I am also in the Al Khor Dive Club, one of the few who live in Doha. They are quite the pair of characters- extremely friendly, extremely jovial, and extremely tanned with cool (matching) dragon tattoos. Working with them has been a pleasure. I also have two other classmates- Ralitza, a Bulgarian instructor of English and an amateur food critic and Zoey, a South African high school student with an American accent despite never having set foot in the States.. Having scuba buddies made carpools much more funner.

So I have no cool pictures of myself diving, but I will soon in the future. I can now go out on weekends and join various clubs, mostly the Al Khor crew, to go beach/boat diving. Which is extremely exhausting, and I usually sleep for the rest of the day, but also extremely exciting. I see lots of fish (including these cool blue angelfish that love bananas, right out of my hand! Pictures someday…)

Doha ain’t bad, folks.