What OFWs Usually Do on Weekends in Qatar

In Qatar, weekends are different. Official working hours start on Sunday to Thursday, while the weekends are Friday and Saturday. After 5 working days, OFWs spend the weekends to relax, go to the malls, or do activities they couldn’t do during the work days.

The following article showcases three OFW vloggers sharing what they typically do during the weekends. If you’re planning on working in Qatar, then these videos should give you a sneak peek at what your life might be like during the rest days. It should be comforting to know that you won’t always spend your time in Qatar doing work. Leisure is just around the corner, and you have a solid Filipino community in Qatar who will make days off more fun.

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How OFWs in Qatar Spend Their Weekend Days off

Participate in Sporting Activities

Filipinos love participating in or watching team sports. Two team sports, in particular, have a special place in our hearts: basketball and volleyball. When OFWs came to Qatar, they brought this passion for sports along with them, and organized team sports activities for all Filipino workers to participate in.

In the video above, the OFW took part in a Volleyball tournament. As you can see, it is a well-organized tournament, complete with referees, uniforms, and a solid fan-base cheering the players on. The sports activity is also hosted in Sportzone, an incredible sporting facility in Doha.

After participating in sports, the vlogger and her friends decided to go home, take a bath, and proceeded to visit their friend who just finished getting surgery at the Hamad General Hospital, Surgery Specialty Center. After that, they went to the house of one of their friends, had a night out eating and chatting, and probably singing karaoke which Filipinos really love doing.

General Cleaning

Some OFWs in Qatar use their weekends to clean their house. In this particular video, the vlogger mentioned that general cleaning is a routine for her during weekdays or rest days. We can see how she cleaned the floor using a vacuum cleaner, cleaned the bathroom, mopped the floor, wiped the utensils, and furniture. Cleaning your house is really one of the more productive ways you can spend your days off, and for some people, it’s a way to get meaningful exercise and actually engage in a therapeutic activity.

Shopping

This video shows a Filipino family in Doha spending their weekend shopping at City Center. Shopping and doing groceries is a family activity that can be enjoyable here in Qatar. The malls are so huge, clean and beautiful, and there’s so much to do other than buying stuff.

Lockdown Situation

The video shows that due to the current health crisis the world is facing, OFWs are having no work, and so every day is like a weekend, not by choice, but by necessity. The vlogger agrees that while home quarantine can be sad sometimes, he agrees it must be done so that the virus will not spread further.

The vlogger adds that grocery stores and pharmacies are still open anyways, so they still have access to essential goods. Moreover, he adds that Qatar is a nation that can rise up automatically after this pandemic, and lauds the efforts of the Ministry of Health to contain further spreading of the virus.

Indeed, there’s so much to do in Qatar during the weekends. Aside from the activities mentioned in this article, Qatar has many parks, resorts, tourist destinations and adventure spots that you will surely enjoy going to.