Eyes in the Sun

Second day at work.  Took an eye test today as the first step in getting a driver's license.  Got my paperwork from HR and Steven, a driver for Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar(WCMC-Q), drove me and two others to a building in a small compound.

It was blistering hot out as usual(34 feels like 46 with the ~90% percent humidity).  There were throngs of workers outside of the building; not sure if they are doing construction in the area or live nearby.  Some of them seem well adapted to the heat and are barely glistening while others have sweat through their shirt, front and back.

The government building where the eye test was located was a cracked, squarish plot that, from the outside, was nearly indistringuishable from the houses and buildings around it.  We had driven the 15 minutes at the jerkish pace that I have come to realize is commonplace in Qatar.  Hard acceleration from every light and stop that pushes the little four-banger engines into the 6 or 7k rpm range as they gulp down the high octane fuel that is the standard.

The two minute walk from the car into the building burnt my eyes and made my light clothing hang a little heavier on my body.  We walked past a group of sweaty men whom I would later join.  Steven got us three lunch-meat-counter tickets for our spot in line which was an uncharacteristically familiar activity.

From room to room, the odors changed from a/c to sweat and b.o. to a flowery spray that one worker was laying down heavily.  My number, 095, came up on the LED screen and I walked up to the desk.  The only words exchanged between the woman behind the desk and myself were a quick "Room 2" and "Thank you."

I walked over to the lines for the two eye exam rooms.  I got in the queue that I had previously walked through.  This area was near the door to the outside world and was very hot because of it.  I soon became one of the sweaty men I had noticed on the way in.  When my turn arived, I entered a small room with a window a/c unit that was blowing on high, as far as I could tell.  There were two women.  One was wearing an abaya with her face covered and the other a sheila with her face exposed.  The woman with the exposed face ran through a traditional eye test with me and I passed.

I then exited the room, sat with Steven until the other two had finished, and finally, completed the trek, in reverse, back to the WCMC-Q campus.