It has definitely been a while! I'm sorry for the dealy but honestl, it mostly has to do with the fact that nothing too exciting has been happening. I'd like to shy away from boring posts as much as possible so what can I say? It's about quality, not quantity people :)
I went to Bahrain for our Eid break. Just a couple of days to visit a friend there and we had a great time! I was a little (make that a LOT) jealous of her fabulous housing. Puts mine to shame, but I was also able see a place that was so similar to Doha and yet was different enough to allow me to appreciate Doha more than I did before. I guess it mostly has to do with the fact that Doha is starting to become my home and it was good to come back. :)
One of my favorite things that I did over Eid break (other than sleeping in, of course) was going to the Four Seasons for High Tea. This was really an amazing experience and if you haven't seen the pictures on facebook yet, you should! A few of my friends and I got all dressed up and went to the Four Seasons where they sat us in this lovely windowed corner where you could look out onto the beach and the gulf. There was a couch, with a couple of chairs and an amazing tea selction-from what I could tell. I don't drink tea. :) We ordered our tea (coffee for me-it was SO YUMMY) and it all comes as a full service so we ordered two services which meant that we got two trays of the delicious treats they brought out: some of the best scones that i've ever had, smoked salmon sanwiches, chicken salad, biscuts, cheesecake squares, and my favorite, this lemon cupcake with lemon sorbet on top, covered in meringue! Can't even explain... Not to mention all the fabulous toppings: english butter, lemon curd, jam, clotted cream. We all felt so special :) It really was a fabulous time and just another treat that I get to enjoy by living out here. I'm so grateful for experiences like this one and I can't wait to share it with people when/if they come visit!
Eid ended all too quickly, but it was good to be back with my kiddos. They really are a joy to teach and just talk to. They have all come to love and root for my beloved Hawkeys (the brainwashing was an enormous success and I think the length of time it took should go down in the record books)...well almost all. I still have a girl who likes to sport her Ohio State t-shirt now and then...we've had some serious discussions about it. She's so stinkin' cute though. Just imagine how cute a little girl would have to be so that I wouldn't care that she's wearing an OSU t-shirt...that's pretty cute. But you know it's catching on when this happens: I'm walking around, checking on the kids as they do their math problem of the day and see that one of my students is sketching the Hawkeye symbol in his math notebook instead of working on the problem. Now how mad can I really get? He was sitting right in front of the flag...I understand the pull. My response went something like this, "Faisal, not that I don't appreciate what you're doing, cuz I really do, but it doesn't exactly count as math. (insert cute, Faisal-like, grin here) Get to work please." I then walk back to my desk, trying not to laugh.
We've been getting back into the swing of things at school and one thing I love is that there's always something going on. People have been throwing fun parties and get-togethers, Alli and I decided to start a book club, it's all good! Alli, more than me. But we decided that there'd be no assigned reading. We'd just get together, make some great food, and talk about the latest book that we've read and why we liked it. First meeting is this Thursday! Alli and I have also started a little tradition known as "French Toast Friday". It's a lazy day we have where we watch movies, I make french toast, we order chinese and just enjoy the day. It's a fabulous wa to enjoy the day since it's too hot to go out. We just had a "Facuty Follies" show to raise money for Pakistan. The people of ASD put on a fabulous show. So much so that I didn't even mind being at school on a Thursday night :) Some other things going on just in this month: book club, the "Babes of the Bin" party (us girls getting together here), the 3rd and 5th party, the ASD progressive dinner, Miss Saigon featuring many of the teachers at ASD, the pumkin patch and Halloween Carnival, and---get this---the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner! Yup, I'm goin Canadian for the night and enjoying some much-missed traditional goodies. They may celebrate early but most of the food is the same. Lauren said that the only difference is that many of the dessert will be maple desserts (Ross' maple candy, Krisin & Missy? Yup, I can't not think of that Friends episode either)...so much fun!
One MAJOR change since Eid is the driving. People weren't kidding when they said the driving would get worse after Ramadan, but I honestly didn't know how that could be or what it would look like. That is no longer the case. It takes Katie and I (yup she drives cuz that's right, I've now not been able to drive for over a month now...thanks, Sheik-dude) on average, at least ten minutes to go down one block and through a round-about. And that's with someone directing traffic. I long for and miss the days when I could get to work in 7 min, not to mention the fact that I have to wake up and 5:45 to ride with Katie. I'm not sure if it's sad or just freaky that it doesn't faze me anymore...but I'm so gratedul to Kaite and love our morning rides together. I'm also not gonna lie- I've been more productive now too :)
All around, things have been great here. I've even been able to decorate my dining room and living room a little bit. It's slowly becoming home, but I'm still counting down the days, all. I'm so grateful for the wonder freinds and support I have here, but I still miss home terribly. You know it's bad when you see a Target article on yahoo.com and just the arial photo of the inside of a Target store brings tears to your eyes...yup, that happened. You all have no idea how many times I wish I could just go into Target and shop the dollar section! Thankfully, the time is FLYING by. I have so many things to look forward to like my trip to Rome in November which has now become quite the excursion. Word spread quickly and now Alli and Katie are coming too...I finally have people to travel with! I've also planned a stop-over with in Paris on our way home for Christmas. (It feels weird just saying that!) Clicking "purchase" and getting my ticket home was such a fabulous moment. It hasn't all sunk in yet, but everytime I don't want to get up for work, I think of Paris and Rome and remember that work is the reason I get to do all these amazing things! So it's not so bad :)
I hope I've done well catching everyone up...I know it's strange that nothing too funny has happened to me in the last few months, but I promise I'm not leaving anything out. I'll leave you with this little tid-bit: It's still riduculously hot and humid. Cooler, but still hot. I miss my Vegas dry heat, I miss the autumn like I always do this time of year and darn it! It's October...I'm tired of sweating!
Later y'all!
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