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.