Officialdom

Had my first taste of Qatar officialdom this morning at the Nationa Medical Centre. To get residency we need to have a blood test (checking for HIV and Aids), an xray(checking for TB I think) and another blood test to get our blood group.
There was a group of us newbies from Cognition getting this process done. I'm not good at having blood taken, as some of you know, because they can never find a vein. Well I couldn't watch but it did seem to take ages before he had got enough - I now have a bruise on my arm.
Next was off to get an xray. We had been warned to wear a white T-shirt as the gown they give you to wear is worn by many many others and doesn't look like they get washed often. We had to remove our bra where we stood (luckily no men allowed in this area) and then led to the area to stand for the xray and pushed and prodded into place, - very officious. Each time we went somewhere we jumped the que - which felt a bit weird as there were long ques of every nationality you could imagine waiting patiently in line.