Settling in AND the promise of wheels!!!

As of tomorrow, we have been in Qatar for 1 month.  So much has happened, including experiencing  some of the stages of culture shock.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least.  Unfortunately, I got a monster head/chest cold that lasted all week and even kept me home one day...blergh!!!  Feeling tons better and now it appears Jon is heading for the same diagnosis :(. Really hoping the kids stay healthy.  Adam started swimming class and is doing fantastic at the 50meter laps...it's insane how far that is to me...exhausting.  Jay was invited to his first bday party and had a lot of fun.  Jay is really starting to make some connections with some of the kids his age and enjoying all of the playing that goes on around our neighborhood.  The compound is made up of mostly expats so these are the kids that he's met here and also goes to school with them.  He has a couple of Arabic children in his class that he enjoys as well, but due to extremely large families and time that is spent with them, it's not as likely for there to be play dates outside of class.  The boys learned how to write their names in Arabic while in their Arabic classes last week... I am quite lost with the language and letter system but am sort of trying.  Most people speak English everywhere we go so that is very convenient.  Jay won a "caring" award at school during an assembly for all of KG & 1st grade.  I was so proud and so was he.  The only boy to get one out of 5 recipients.  Caring is one of the pillars of the whole learner that is taught at school thru IB PYP (international baccalaureate primary years program). We have finally been told that it looks like we will be taking our sign and road test for our driving licenses!!!!  Omg... This is sooooooo exciting...to be on the verge of independence!!!!  Another difference is that we are only able to purchase our alcohol/pork permit later in the term so we are looking fwd to it.  There is only one place in the entire city to buy these items and how much you can purchase is directly correlated to your monthly income. Very interesting!  Imagine Wisconsin on this system, during Packer season.  Jay was given a bike by a neighbor and is riding around with his buds, feeling quite cool. I made the mega trip to ikea and finally got us on the map for dishes, glasses, enough forks and spoons, and hints of color to contrast all of the white.  It's starting to take shape around our house/condo but it still needs a few more touches to start to feel like home.

Excuse me, has hell officially frozen over?

Lots going on this past week, and we are definitely ready for the weekend.  After last weekend's antics of blood, stitches, hospital ERs, and the anticipation of starting new jobs, new school, and new friends, we were pleasantly surprised to have made it through the first week relatively unscathed.  Jay limped his way around and was extra tough through the pain of his poor toe.  Adam was extra supportive and independent in a lot of ways, making it easier on the rest of us who needed it :)  It was so nice to actually be working in their school and running over to peek through the window or check in with a classroom staff to see how everything was going with my guys :)  What a relief it has been to be right on campus with them.  Jon is right up the walking path at the senior school about 5 min. walk, so we're quite the family pod before and after school.

The mornings come awfully early around here, 5:00am and on the bus to school by 6:15.  Phew. The boys are making friends, melting hearts, and finding their way which is all we can ask for.  Adam starts swimming class next week in the school Olympic sized swimming pool after school and Jay may take on something else as those darn stitches are cramping his style in the pool.  Adam had a rough spot on day three as I received a call from the school nurse...he had puked in the cafeteria, or ran to the bathroom puking, or was also still puking in the nurse's office.  I only knew that puke was involved and I was not looking forward to my poor guy's condition.  But like everything that has come our kids' way so far, he was a champ and overcame it like it was it small potatoes. Of course ibuprofen, hugs, snuggles, and lots of Mom sympathy helped too ;-)

We realized half way through the day yesterday that it was September 11th.  WOW!  All the emotions and memories of where we were and what we heard and how we felt all those years ago.  Who would have ever thought at that time that 12 years later we would be living in the Middle East.  Not us, that's for sure.

We went downtown Doha to check out the City Center mall and some of the downtown.  It was a nice trip and we found a nice restaurant to enjoy.  I did make a major boo boo on this trip, however.  It is very much frowned upon to show public displays of affection, even with your spouse, and I totally forgot and gave my man a big hug and smooch at the ice cream counter.  HOLY CRAP!!!  I remembered at the last minute and so did Jon and we quickly separated and walked apart for a bit, feeling extremely self-conscious. Whoops!!!

There were a few rough nighttime tuck ins and talk of a pet came up numerous times.  PET???  NO WAY!!!!  I mean, we've had a gecko lizard, two hermit crabs, fish, beetles, frogs, and dead mosquitos over the years, and most recently, a cockroach that went right back outside.  Jon inherited a couple of turtles in his classroom that the boys named Toff and Airo (The Last Airbender Cartoon) and I was hoping that was going to do the trick, but this Mom is soft and desperate.  But I do not do animals, people.  I can barely take care of myself and my family, let alone a hungry, hairy beast of sorts that doesn't use the toilet, wear a diaper, eat it's own waste.  BUT...a woman I work with (self proclaimed "cat lady") rescued a cat from school grounds, took it to the vet for all the bells and whistles, and asked if we would be interested in taking it in.  ME???   Cat???  Animal of any kind???  Thinking of my kiddos desperate to love and adore a furry friend, I caved and said, "sure".  I mean come on, did the Vikings win the Super Bowl or something?  That is the only way to explain this phenomenon.  Hell has to have frozen over.  We will see though, it's mostly a trial basis to see how everyone reacts allergy wise and how the cat responds to kids.  Will keep you posted.

Jon's new buddy

Proud Papa

Proud Papa #2

Phy Ed. Day

Aren't they beautiful :)

No alcohol mojitos

Dinner Downtown

Hanging at the clubhouse game room...can't swim with stitches.

My limping, stitched up adorable 1st Grader :)

FIRST DAY of School 9/8/13 Doha, Qatar

Sunset with clouds

Blood, sweat, tears, but not necessarily in that order.

It is Hot!!!  How hot you ask???  DAMN Hot!!!  106 today with nights cooling down to 95.  Things have been moving fast and we are trying to catch our breath.  School starts on Sunday and we are doing our best to get our rooms/curriculum AND our boys ready for a new school, culture, schedule,all without a car as there is no public transportation here.  We aren't used to being so dependent on others so we are adjusting to this new feeling of helplessness when it comes to getting from point A to point B.  The boys continue to thrive in their new environment and we couldn't be happier for them.  We hope to have a drivers license in the next week which will be quite an experience, so we hear.  Only American expats have to actually take a road test while everyone else just shows their license from home and gets one for here.  Fingers crossed that all goes well with that because the roads and driving here is enough to give a person a heart attack!!!  Speeding, round abouts everywhere, blurs whizzing by every which way...it's enough to make me cry. But I plan on being a pro in no time.    We had a dinner to go to for work last week and the boys had a wonderful babysitter by the name of Rebecca.  They are requesting that she come back again and loved that she played games with them and was a lot of fun.  We loved that when we got home at 8:30, they had brushed their teeth and were sound asleep in bed.

The weekend is upon us and has been quite relaxing.  The boys found their very own cupboard space on our ridiculously empty kitchen which made for extra fun just when they thought they had run out of creative mischief.  I had coffee with our awesome upstairs neighbors, Cherie and Anthony, getting more of the scoop on shopping, kid activities, clinics, and Emergency room info, just in case.  AND boy oh boy was it ever a good thing because Jay was playing laser tag with his friend in the house when I returned and sure enough, he mysteriously split his adorable toe open, with blood everywhere. Poor baby!  We still haven't a clue what happened outside of his toe turning to hamburger, but Adam is determined to solve this mystery.  We went to the hospital straight away and are awaiting the little man's stitching of his toe back together.  It's really not that bad but this Mama sure feels some serious empathy for her brave boy.  On a positive note, we know where the hospital is and are experiencing a new part of the city :)

Work dinner with our New Zealand colleagues

Got my MacBook Pro from school and am loving it

My office is under construction and will hopefully be ready to go by Sunday.  I'm so excited to actually have my own office :)  

McDonald's at the mall

Riding the bus with their buddy from New Zealand

The cat who lounges outside of our house.

Cupboard Fun!!!

More friends from school child care.  

Toe Mishap

Dinner Date

The stitches

The finished product

Al Ahli hospital was like a hotel....quite nice.