On July 5, 2003, the author landed in Qatar, a newly minted CIO from College Station, Texas. His charge is to design and implement the required IT infrastructure--including telecommunications, networking, computing, and instructional technology--necessary to support Texas A&M University's newest branch campus, Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ). With the exception of centralized administrative systems (student information, financial accounting, budget and payroll, and library services), this infrastructure was to be provided locally by a dedicated technology team in Qatar. The next 18 months proved to be challenging and ultimately fulfilling for the author, leading the development of infrastructure in a culture with values and expectations that differed significantly from those in the United States regarding work, communication, and schedules.