Qatar Medical Commission

Yesterday was my day to venture to the Qatar Medical Commission to make sure I was not bringing any terrible diseases into the country. I heard it was quite the experience, but nothing can prepare you for the madness that is the Qatar Medical Commission. I would compare it to Ellis Island. The place is crazy packed and chaotic. Anyone who is trying to get a resident permit must go. Anyway, women and men are separated with the children staying with the women. Therefore, even though there were more men, the women's side was a lot louder. However, since we (there were about 5 of us who are new Education City employees) are all from the West, we get the process expedited. Room after room was full of women primarily from Asian countries. They were going to be there all day, we were going to be there a little over an hour. But then there was some thingy and the female workers decided to worker slower or something (a sort of boycott) because they were overwhelmed with all the people and thus we were brought to the men's side. So here I was getting my papers processed while hundreds of men who had been waiting all morning looked on. Then it was off to get my blood tested and have an X-ray taken. The blood test was simple, but the X-ray was very entertaining. The woman who was running the show was this woman who reminded me of a babushka. She would just yell at you, but you would have no idea what she was saying. She also liked to poke and grab. I about slapped her when she grabbed my necklace to tell me to take it off. I thought she was going to rip it off! Then she attempted to feel me up to see if I had a bra on with an underwire (the concept of personal space does not exist here)! But I quickly figured out what she was about to do and thus found myself yelling back "Lady, tank top! No touch, no touch, no touch!" (which was true, I was warned a head of time to wear a tank top under my shirt so I would not have to go topless or something) and she moved on to her next set of boobs. Then she would move you along by basically slapping your ass. So overall it was quite the experience and I am glad it is over. The whole thing was so bizarre and nothing like I have never seen before. Having a lot of privilege usually bugs me out a lot, but I was quite thankful during this experience that I did not have to spend more time at that place. What a zoo...or nightmare!