Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Past 5 Months: Brace yourself...it's a long one!

I always knew I wouldn't blog unless I had something really great to write about...that, paired with the craziness at ASD added up what you see here: the last 5 months of my life all in one neat package :) 

December/January- Before I'd even left for Christmas break, I was already dreading coming back. Upon coming back to Doha in January, I knew it would be a long four months until our next vacation; the same amount of time I'd been in Doha when I'd had two breaks. It would also mean 6 more months until I got back to the States again. Getting on that plane in Paris, I was so close to being home I could taste it! (Paris was amazing, but I'll never delay my trip home again.) Words can't describe what it felt like to step off that plane in Chicago and hear, "Welcome home". It would've been special even if I'd only been returning to the States from a vacation, but I was returning from my first little adventure and those words sounded a thousand times better than what I'd imagined. My first stop? McDonald's for a real crispy chicken sandwich with bacon :) I got my food, found my spot at the gate, updated my facebook status, and then proceeded to take out my State-side phone (how I missed it!) and call everyone I could think of. It was a great moment.

More and more wonderful moments followed: landing in Bismarck and walking out of the gate to see my best friend standing there with the big Kristin smile I know and love, seeing a text from Jeromie that said, "Forget your bags and get your butt out here!" (he was waiting at the curb), the longest (& tearful) hug I'd ever gotten from my parents, the list goes on and on. What I loved most about coming home was how normal I felt. I wasn't out of place, I wasn't waking up and randomly wondering, "How did I get here?", there was carpet on the floor, pork in the fridge, I was home.

When we all went our separate ways after the New Year, I began to realize that I wasn't dreading going back to Doha the way I thought I would. I had a life there to get back to. Students, friends, a job I love... this realization was a huge blessing.

February- It's been mostly life as usual with the occasional historic moment woven in. To be in this area of the world when Egypt claimed their freedom, to speak with the mom of one of our students who's Egyptian and hear her relay what her family back home was seeing, hearing, praying for, going through, was an honor. The honking from the streets went on for hours and it's a day I won't soon forget.

March- This month was filled with both great joy and great sadness. The great joy being that my best friend, Kristin, popped up on facebook and told me the long-awaited moment had finally come. She was engaged!!! The next morning, I woke up at 6:00am to talk to her on the phone (now, THAT is love) and I was smiling the entire time!
Unfortunately, this month also brought tradgedy. Being international means that the horrible disasters in Japan and New Zealand hit home in a big way and make the world feel so much smaller. The former director of ASD, along with many other friends, family, and collegues of ASD teachers and students are in Japan now. We have many staff, families, and students from New Zealand as well and the effects were felt throughout the school. In typical ASD fashion, the awesome kids stepped up and asked "What can we do?" and that question resulted in ASD Compassion week: a week filled with fund raising events like Compassion Walk (pics on facebook). I'm proud to say that of the little more than $15,000 that was raised by all of ASD, almost $10,000 was brought in by the elementary school. Woot-Woot! 

April- Two words: SPRING BREAK! Spring break for me meant going to Thailand and attending the wedding of two great friends, Sanam and Jimmy. This could've been an entire blog post (that was my intention), but the pics on facebook pretty much tell the story. Click here to see videos depicting the the most amazing wedding event I've ever experienced. 
April also meant Easter and living in Doha, I was curious to see what Easter would be like. Friday morning is when I attend church here. It's the "Holy Day" in Qatar so I've had to grow accustomed to going to church on the first day of my weekend. That's odd enough, so now try celebrating Easter and getting into the "Easter spirit" on Friday morning...weird. Long story short, my Easter ended up being me singing some praise music on my ipod and listening to the Easter sermon from Bethel online and I've gotta say, it was pretty fantastic. My friend Alli's mom made us an amazing Easter dinner and suprised us with Easter baskets! Il felt like a kid on Easter morning and I thank God daily for putting people like that in my life. April also brought the biggest change of all...my parents finally sold their house and will close at the end of May. It's still hard to wrap my head around all that this means, but I'm also grateful that my parents have finally sold their house after so long and pray that God will show us all His plan for this new stage in their lives. Please keep them in your prayers as they have three weeks 'till closing, a new life to start in many ways, and a house to purchase in Bismarck. Ohhhhh the craziness!

May has finally arrived and I officially have a little over 4 weeks left. There will be lots going on here at ASD so hopefully there will be some fun things to share soon. I have no intention of waiting another 5 months to blog, so no worries! Thank you to those who stuck it out and are now reading this last line :)