I write now from my king size bed
in my air conditioned apartment
in
my walled-in residence compound
that will be my home for the next seven
months.
Sweet.
Today marks my third full day in Doha, Qatar. The first
was a flurry of orientation activities- meeting, greeting, signing,
emailing, reading, walking, and generally existing in the
dazed-yet-hyper-aware fog that comes with a big life transition. Yesterday gently introduced a few responsibilities that will eventually comprise my job. So far, all of my colleagues are expatriates, and all of them radiate competence and kindness. The students are amazing. I'll save comments until I get to know them better, but it is immediately evident why Dr. Rule prefers the undergraduate morale of Qatar to that of the US.
Although I still have lab safety training on Monday before I can assume my full assistantship, the academic environment is promising. Dr. Gordon Rule, the biology professor from this summer's Governor School of the Sciences, is the Program Director for CMU-Q. His introductory biochemistry course, "Genes, Drugs, and Disease", has twenty-five students. This is down from forty after almost every first-year business major dropped the class. The course material is similar to the curriculum for Gov School, for which I am grateful. Experimental Genetics and Techniques of Molecular Biology is a twenty person lab class moving into the final projects stage. The project I oversee will be distinguishing between different bacterial mutations. Other obligations are still unclear and will likely remain so at least until the end of next week.
All told, CMU has done an incredibly commendable job at easing the transition. They arranged for all the flight and travel accommodations. My apartment came fully stocked with food, kitchenware, bedding, and toiletries. The HR staff is a tremendous resource for navigating the on-boarding and residency process. There are many, many challenges ahead in this job assignment. While I currently feel inadequate for the position, I also feel capable of growing through that inadequacy. Doha is already expanding my sense of the world and my place in it. It's comforting to feel that way, considering I'm only three days into a seven month contract.
This about sums up an introductory post. Future topics include flying business class on Qatar Airways, traffic, university life, and aspects of Qatari culture as understood by expats. I'm doing well and expect to keep doing so, in'sha'Allah. If anyone would like to send mail during my stay, address a regular first-class envelope to:
Chloe Glynn
Carnegie Mellon University - Qatar Office
5032 Forbes Ave. SMC 1070
Pittsburgh, PA 15289
They'll ship it out to me in a big bundle, so no extra postage is necessary. Unfortunately, falcons are way more expensive than anticipated, so nobody's getting cool pets from me anytime soon. The very first animal I saw here was a bird I did not recognize (later identified as a 'bulbul'), immediately followed by pigeons and house sparrows.
It's been a good three days.
Love and hugs from the Gulf!
-Chloe
