Preparing for Hell

I used to enjoy the best weather back in Davao--no typhoon, no drought. In the summer, the hottest temperature would be at 36°C but it could drop to 20 or 18 on some nights. But last week, I had a preview of the Middle East summer. Standing on a treeless sidewalk with the noon sun beating down on me through a cloudless sky, I only had two thoughts going through my head--one, God bless me with a taxi soon, and two, I'm never marching out in 45°C again without sunscreen. Doha's temperature isn't the only thing heating up though; with changes in the office taking place, it looks like it's going to be one sizzling summer.

The thing about Doha is that, public transportation sucks (this city could use a few jeepneys, if you ask me). And anything connected to public transportation (ie waiting shed etc.) is close to nil. It took me 20 minutes to get a taxi and 2 hours for my baking skin to go back to its un-red and un-sore state.

My mom's boss arrived last week to discuss business with my boss who conveniently went AWOL the day my mom's boss came to Qatar. I was left to attend to them. And with no transportation availble for our use, I found myself volutarily reheating my already lechon-crispy skin.

My boss only resurfaced a day before my mom's boss decided to leave. By then I was already well-done and ready for the Ati-atihan festival.

I've been spending a lot of time out of the office because of our guests, which is a good thing cause the boss wasn't around anyway and there's no use moping around the office and listening to the pissing contest of my officemates.

When my boss finally arrived from wherever he went, he dove straight to business and fixed a lot of things that have been left hanging.

First, he settled some things with my mom's boss. Now, they have a sound agreement and it looks like their rocky relationship is back on solid ground.

Then he reaffirmed his promises to me and which he also put into motion. He started to get rid of my roommates. To do this, he asked that the double-deck beds be removed from my room (tonight is the first night that I have the room for myself).

He also gave me an increase as promised. I don't know if he's still going to hand me the salary he "saved" for me in the last six months cause he said I've been getting my requested salary all along but he kept half of it each month so I'll have spending money in case I want to go home.

It seems that everything is pointing up but it also looks like there's hell to pay.

He booted off my roommates but now, they're questioning why I get to have my own room while they sleep on the sofa. Perhaps I can tell them that they can write their own resignation letter and hope that the boss will give in to their demands as well. Or if they weren't such shitty roommates then I wouldn't have minded them being around.

I got my new "high" salary and the boss was right. He told me that I would spend everything once he gave it to me in full. And I did. I shopped a lot. I'm down to my last five hundred QRs and I still have a full month to go!

The boss also confirmed my new role as the office's banker. I'll be leaving my post at the reception counter and move to a real office, the one with a door and a nice mahogany table with a leather chair. With great power comes great responsibility. The task at hand is daunting. I'm not good in Maths or Accounting and my Arabic is limited to six letters. How then can I balance sheets, keep books or write receipts?

It's all happening quickly but my mind is frozen (or baked). I haven't written the minutes of the meeting that my boss has requested since a week ago. I haven't even blogged for a long while. And with all these is the rising temperature (a radio jock announced that it hit 50°C today). If I'm going to hell I might as well get used to the heat, I suppose, but for now, there's hell to go through this month, I'm quite sure of that.

After this adjustment period, I might need a good break. To where, I don't know. I need to reboot, restart, refresh and keep it cool for the summer.