Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: Rachel Jackson-Lees, the Kiwi Living In Qatar During The World Cup

Episode Date: November 23, 2022

We chat to our mate Rachel Jackson Lees, a Kiwi living in Qatar about what life is like during the world cup!    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Football World Cup on right now and we're going to cross live to Qatar, a Kiwi living over there, Rachel Jackson-Lees. Good morning, so nice to talk to you, I'm good thank you. It's nice to hear your voice, every morning we'd hear your voice, you did a wonderful job of reading the news on the hits in the mornings and then you left us, you upped and left us. I'm in the middle of World Cup madness now. You realise you weren't married to Rachel, right? Was I not? She was a colleague. She did a wonderful job of reading news.

And she's actually married. Now, listeners, the audience might not know this. You're actually married to Tom McRae. What the hell? The whole time she was married to Tom McRae. He was on News Hub. And then he got a job at Al Jazeera over there. And so you guys, you know, up sticks,

moved the family over there. The kids are over there going to school and how's it going? Oh it's really good actually that you realise that kids are so resilient and you throw at them a new country completely different to anything they know you chuck them in a school they know

absolutely no one, it's a different curriculum to what they were taught in New Zealand go about their day absolutely fine it's adults are the ones that have more of a problem. We could all get on with it like kids do. Yeah, we do. We get rattled. Well, you've got to promise us one thing

that you're not over there reading news with the Middle East Jono and Ben. You promise you would only read news with us, Rachel. I promise. I'm absolutely not doing that. Now, the whole world's attention feels like it's on the Football World Cup, which is happening over there, and Qatar. Is that how we pronounce it?

I need some Qatar lessons, literally, from you. So, yeah, because I read something the other day that maybe we've been saying it wrong. Look, and do you know, it's said all sorts of different ways over here, just to confuse you even more. But I think the consensus from the locals is that it's more like Qatar. So we wouldn't say Qatar like you would in New Zealand. It would be more of Qatar.

A lot of talk about the Football World Cup, in particular the Budweiser situation. Sponsor of the tournament two days before they're told, no booze in the stadiums at the football grounds. What's the feeling there? Yeah, and you know, there are a lot of controversies with this World Cup. And to be honest, there's not a lot of talk about them when you're here. The local media certainly don't report it.

I mean, everybody, there's such a large expat community here, so we're aware of what the world is saying. But the one issue that they do really delve into here is the alcohol, as you say. And while the Western countries might have been reporting, you know, the outrage that they could do this return just two days before the tournament began and suddenly say, nope, there's no beer to be sold at any of these stadiums, people here are celebrating. I mean, there's absolute joy. They don't mind that this happened just two days before.

They never wanted alcohol to be sold at these tournaments in the first place. It is just not part of the culture here, and people are celebrating. Am I right in saying it's an offence to drink alcohol in a public place over there, right? Yes, and to be drunk.

If you're found drunk on the main road, you can go to prison for up to six months for that as well. You can't drink alcohol in a public place. So alcohol is strictly controlled here. So if you were to come and visit Qatar, you would only be able to get alcohol at a hotel. So there's not lines of bars and restaurants like you would find in New Zealand, for example.

There is nowhere obvious that you can see alcohol anywhere. So the only place you can get a drink is in a bar, which is nowhere obvious that you can see alcohol anywhere. So the only place you can get a drink is in a bar, which is within a hotel. So therefore it's concealed from public view. The only other way you can get it if you live here, firstly, you have to become a resident, which we recently have, and that's a whole process in itself. But then once you're a resident, you have to apply for a permit if you want to visit the one alcohol shop that they have in the country. And you guys will be fascinated by this. But you have to get permission from your employer.

So you mentioned my husband. He had to go to Al Jazeera and say, can I please have a letter? Could you please give me permission to go and get this permit, which they granted him. So they write a letter. He takes it along to the alcohol shop. He pays an annual fee and he gets granted a permit. For him to actually buy any alcohol, he has to go in there.

It's not advertised. You don't know how much anything's going to cost until you get there. When you buy what you want, it has to be concealed from public view. So you cannot show this anywhere when you leave. The consumption of it has to take place at the purchaser's house so you can't go to a friend's house and have a beer. You have to drink this at your own

house only. It's absolutely forbidden if you give away some of your alcohols. You can't give it to a mate. You certainly can't sell it to a mate. And to even get this in the first place, you've got to make an appointment so you get a 15 minute window to arrive. If you miss that window, place, you've got to make an appointment. So you get a 15-minute window to arrive. If you miss that window, well, then you've got to go back and make an extra appointment.

That might be in another week's time. Oh, my God. Well, what do they do then if they can't binge drink and make bad decisions? What are they doing over there? Well, I mean, you know, it's their culture. Yes, exactly. I guess probably the question mark hangs over how did it get so far down the track that Budweiser was associated and told they could put alcohol on the grounds.

That's probably the big question mark. So there's obviously a lot of money floating around. Yes, so what I will say, there's so much money floating around. I mean, this is the most expensive World Cup in history. It's estimated to have cost $220 billion US dollars. So what you get for that is seven brand-new stadiums with cooling systems, a brand-new underground train system, which connects all of those stadiums.

You've got the five-star hotels, new roads, new motorway systems. They've upgraded their airport, which resulted in it being voted the world's best airport. And an entire new suburb. I mean, where this World Cup final will be held, there's an 80,000-seat stadium that's built there. Apparently, that was just sand 10 years ago. Now it's an entire suburb.

You've got theme parks, you've got golf courses, you've got the five-star hotels. I mean, Doha has had a complete transformation, all for this four weeks. Wow, jeez, there you go. No supply chain issue over there, obviously. Well done them, well done them. And how...

Let's whip down to the local Bunnings warehouse, Joe. And quickly, how hot is it? Like, are we talking 40-plus degrees at the moment? Oh, when we first got here in July, it was in the 40s every day, and you just don't go outside. I mean, you can't.

But at the moment, it's dropped, and when I say dropped, it's around 30 degrees every day, which is really nice. Oh, Rachel Jackson-Lees, lovely to hear your voice again. It sounds like you're having an amazing time over there and enjoy the Football World Cup. Thank you so much so good

to chat.