Hicks, Hipsters, Hijabs, and Hibachis

Do you love vibrant reef life?   Do you enjoy delicious curries?   Have you always wanted to arrive to tropical paradise via sea plane?   If you answered yes to all of these questions then book your trip to the Maldives now!  We couldn’t have gotten any luckier finding Filitheyo Island Resort amidst the hundreds of small island resorts, which was the most daunting part of the whole trip really.  The house reef was phenomenal, the food delicious, and the atmosphere was perfectly casual.  It was the first time we didn’t want to leave an island vacation and here is why. Just a short flight away from Doha, Qatar (about 4 hours) into the middle of the Indian Ocean we landed on Male island and headed to the seaplane transfer desk.  For once in my life I was not afraid to board a plane since it was equipped for a water landing.  I know I know, it may not be the most sound logic.  After a 40ish minute ride above breathtaking ...

Ryan and I took a quick trip to Jordan over Thanksgiving weekend.  We were extremely lucky to get a guided tour of some of the country from our new friend Moayad.  He picked us up from the Amman airport in chilly (by Gulf standards) drizzling weather.  It was nice to see the rain for sure.  We drove the 3.5 hour drive to Petra, stopping along the way to get roadside Turkish coffee, see Roman ruins, and have a quick falafel sandwich.  The landscape changed dramatically from rocky sandy soil, to rolling hills, than mountains and sandstone canyons as we headed south.  It was so different from the Gulf landscape that we have gotten used to, and for the first time I felt like I was in the Middle East.  As we got closer to Petra the rain stopped and the sun began to shine right down on the valley where we were headed. Moayad took us to Little Petra first which was a great warm up for what we would see the next day.  We hiked up a path to the ‘bes...

Winter is here and you know what that means:  scarves, warm blankets, chili for dinner, wine and movie nights. Errrr... scratch that (record sound), not that kind of winter. But seriously, winter is here in Doha and while that might mean temps in the 80’s during the day, I have been able to:  open my windows, wear close-toed shoes, run outside, and I went stand up paddleboarding this past weekend in the Gulf.  I eat lunch outside at school almost everyday and today we had our team meeting in the courtyard.  Isn’t that the funny thing:  put people in a climate where you can’t really go outside for half of the year and then you want to do every little thing outside when you can. I was so proud of myself paddleboarding - I didn’t even fall once and I couldn’t believe it, all of my yoga balancing must be paying off.  Ryan and I took a lesson at 2:30 in the afternoon and 90 minutes later it was starting to get dusk.  The sun sets so early, and ris...

So many things have been rapid pace since I moved to Doha, but I was lucky enough to take a quick break back in September to meet Ryan in Dubai.  He travels there quite a bit sometimes even once a week it seems and since it is only a 45 minute flight it is a nice jet-setting weekend.  The appeal of shopping at Victoria's Secret and the Birkenstock store drew me back to the UAE.  I know my bar was set pretty low but I needed new underwear people! I hit the ground running as I met Ryan at the hotel and we headed out to Dubai Marina where I finally got to meet some of his colleagues and enjoy a $20 glass of wine.  {Dubai prices are even steeper than Doha prices.} The following day we headed out for a Gulf Ski Adventure at Ski Dubai.  Pants, Jackets, skis, and boots were all included in the rental and we even had an Entertainer (their version of an Entertainment book) buy one get one free voucher.  Kathy Graves you would have been so proud!  Th...

A few weeks ago something very exciting happened in 2F (my classroom).  A little lizard was discovered on one of the chairs.  It took everything in me to remain calm but I safely trapped it under a mug while 20 sets of wide eyes stared at me.  Then we proceeded to walk outside and let it go in the sand.  It's never too early to model compassion! directly outside my classroom windows

Two weeks, 10 hours, and 480 QR later, I have finally gotten my Qatari Driver’s License.  The process began with a theory test in which you can only miss 2 questions.  Luckily that is all I missed, although the wording on the test and the pictures were quite confusing.  Honestly I think I might volunteer to help them with the English translation.  Then the following week a bunch of us went back to the driving school/testing center to take the road test.  Unfortunately we were turned away since only 3 people from our group could take the test that day.  Why you might ask?  Who really knows, but that is just the way things are here.  Different from one day to the next.  Don’t let me forget to mention that I had to get up at 4:45 am both of these days and prepare sub plans just in case I wouldn’t make it back to school on time. the "Bin" Girls who tested today Needless to say, when we went to try the road test today (waking up at 4:3...

...you have red flag recess every day since it is above 37 degrees (celsius) ...class is interrupted by a lizard crawling on a chair ...you put on sunglasses to walk to the Upper Elementary School, even though it is through a covered breezeway and 100 meters away ...you find sand in your classroom library, I am talking in the books people ...you talked about a snowstorm today and a handful of kids gave you blank stares All of these things and more are just part of the fun of living and teaching somewhere new.  While it is overwhelming to learn how to do new things at home, school, and more it is still a great time.  Everyone at school has been so helpful with carpooling and making sure we are taken care of but we just have to go to so many places to find things. Someone said it best yesterday:  "This is a city where everything takes place indoors." So I am going to have to explore inside more for sure, and in the meantime I am going to take advantag...