Disaster strikes Qatar...

I lost my liquor permit. Seriously, I have no idea where it is. (edit 17 December: I found it! I had forgotten which jeans I wore the last time I went, put on my cute jeans for the club the other night and there it was, yay!) That little card is the only thing that gets me into the Qatari liquor store. Instead of panic, I am trying to focus on the positives. For example, while looking for it, I found: two bobby pins, Uncle Tom's contact info, 150 Indian rupee, 6 riyal worth of Pizza Hut coupons, a DC metro card, a peppermint Cert, and about 82 American cents.

Another positive - I get an opportunity to post in my blog about the complex process of buying alcohol in this semi-conservative Middle Eastern country.

First, you have to get your liquor permit. This requires a letter from your Human Resources Director stating where you work and what your title is, where you live, whether you are single or married, and how much you make per month. You then fill out a form repeating most of that information, and adding your contact information and religion. You take the letter, the form, your passport, and QR1000 ($274.74) to the liquor store, where you have an interview. My interview was pretty much the simplest thing ever - they saw an American passport, and I had put "Catholic" as my religion, so they didn't ask me anything really. Just processed the paperwork. Then they took my picture and gave me a little blue card (this is what I have lost - so sad!) Encoded on this magical card is your permit limit - the amount of money you can spend at the liquor store per month. It is proportional to your salary, for example I get QR2000/month to spend. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I've never come close to this amount).

Some other interesting facts:
~ There is just the one liquor store in all Qatar. It looks like a duty free shop inside. Apparently, a permit used to come with a specific day that you could shop on, and people without permits could accompany people with them. They now allow those with permits to come any day, but no one else is allowed in the store.

~ The store in closed on Fridays (like Sundays in Pennsylvania) as well as for the whole month of Ramadan. Luckily, they triple your allowance for the month before Ramadan. I didn't have my permit yet then, but from what I hear every expat in Qatar was there the week before Ramadan. We even have new friends because of the hour-long line to check out (Hi Mark!)

~ The store is owned and operated by Qatar Airways, the official Qatari airline. Pretty sure this is how they manage to turn such a sweet profit. Oh wait, that could be also be the US$400 it costs for the half-hour flight to Dubai. But I digress.

~ Judging by how long the Pakinstani guy in front of me was in the office, I think that the interview is much harder if you put "Muslim" as your religion on the form. Also, Qataris aren't allowed to get permits, but this problem is easily solved by giving their Indian driver a letter that says their salary is 30,000 riyal/month.

~ And finally, the Emir recently gave the Catholic church some land on the outskirts of Doha to build a new church. Where is it? About 2 minutes from the liquor store. My first thought: "Now isn't that stereotyping." Second thought: "Actually, how convenient!"

Ok, I feel a bit better...