Life in Doha

Now that I'm finally feeling settled and with some form of routine its time for Jake and I to get ready to head back to the USA.  But before that happens, I want to write about life in Qatar vs. Saudi just so that one day I can look back and remember the details.

Lets start with living situation.  Our compound here is no where near as big and glamorous as the one in Saudi.  There is less to "do" on the compound and I haven't even gone swimming in our pool.  We have only a couple small streets with about 45 villas total.   Our backyard is just a little patio with small patch of grass.  However, I really enjoy our new villa.  It has tons of space and I love the layout (except for laundry on the 3rd floor).  The difference with compounds here in Doha is that people are not as confined to them.  We are capable of leaving often and getting out and about is an enjoyable experience.  Which leads me to the next topic, getting out.

Here in Doha not only can Micah drive but so can I!! Being able to drive for me is so freeing. Although our drivers in Saudi were fantastic, I love being able to go where I want ,when I want and if on the spur of the moment I want to stop somewhere, its no big deal.  I love having Jacob's car seat in the car and not having to take everything in and out.  As I've written about in other posts, being able to drive means more exploring time.  We've already taken full advantage of being able to explore the country.

Malls and restaurants here are similar except for one HUGE thing….they don't close at prayer times and are open in the afternoon!  I love being able to shop without checking my watch all the time and my prayer time app hasn't been used since we moved! Hallelujah! Strangely though, I do feel like the shopping selection here isn't as great as Saudi. There are no real hardware stores and not nearly as many American brands.  I miss my Express, Pottery Barn and PBK! Micah doesn't mind this so much because he thinks it saves us money.   When it comes to groceries though, they are even more expensive here than Saudi. I still cook most nights so our grocery budget is insane!  However, if we tried to eat out every meal that would be even crazier.

A wonderful new addition to life is having a place to worship.  We have meetings of Friday mornings and I have a womens group once a week and a mom's group once a month.  All of these groups provide child care which is AMAZING!  It's so nice to be able to relax and have a place for Jacob to interact with other kids. He is great about just walking into the nursery with no complaints.  I just love how confident he is.

Another great new thing is that Micah and I are playing on a co-ed softball team together.  It has been fun to meet other people and play together again.  We haven't played together since college.  I played on a women's league in Saudi but it was 1.5 hour drive both ways.  Now we make it to the ball field in 15 minutes.  Plus, we have a sweet girl on the compound here who babysits which gives Micah and I time just to play and have fun.

Life in Doha is fantastic for Jacob.  Just like Saudi, everywhere you go is used to have lots of kids around so it isn't a problem to bring Jacob basically anywhere.  There are parks that we go to to play and indoor play areas in the malls.  He also has great play space in our villa. As I mentioned before he loves the nursery and is just a generally happy kid.

The hardest part of living here has been missing our friends.  We had such a wonderful group in Saudi that I miss so much!  I'm realizing might never happen again and coping with the fact that life here doesn't lend itself to that type of friendship as easily.  But, we are slowly making some friends and having dinners out to get to know people better.  Hopefully with more time we will have some great friends here too!

Overall I think we will love living in Doha and I can't wait to see what the next few years brings us.

Randomness of Jacob

I have lots of cute pictures that we take of Jacob on a day to day basis that don't really fit into a specific blog post.  So I've decided to basically just post cute pictures of Jacob.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Our new home: Floor 1

I've been putting off posting pictures of our villa until it felt more "finished".  I finally realized that I have no idea when that will be so I might as well post some now.

While Mom was here, we went shopping and bought this piece of furniture and then decorated with stuff we had already.  I LOVE my new entryway.  The first picture is taken from the front door and then looks on into Jacob's playroom. The second picture is taken from the entry to the kitchen.

After the entryway is Jacob's playroom (I took this picture before we had the entryway done).  He loves having his own space in the middle of our living area.  It works out great for us to be able to spend time anywhere downstairs while he plays. 

Connected to Jake's play area is our main living room.

The dinning room is behind the living area with a little spot for our computer desk.  I love being able to work on the computer and not feel out of the loop.  The dinning table, buffet table, and desk are actually furniture that goes with the villa, not ours. All the decorations are of course ours. 

Off to the side of the dinning room is the kitchen.  The kitchen is kinda closed off from the other areas but there is a large open window so I don't feel so isolated.  It does have doors to close it off which I find way more handy than I expected. I love being able to keep Jake out or in depending on the situation. 

We also have a small half bath downstairs. Plus a maids quarters which I use as a pantry and storage. 

Our backyard doesn't compare to Saudi but it is useable and in the shade most of the day which makes it a really nice place to hang out. Since the picture was taken, I have rearranged and gotten some plants to make it seem a little more green. 

I actually really enjoy the layout of our villa.  It feels much more homey and logical than our villa in Saudi.  I feel like there is a lot less wasted space which is nice. I think we will enjoy living here the next few years.  Our villa is actually 3 stories so this is only the first floor.  I'm really not ready to post pictures of upstairs yet.

Layover with Heather and Luke

When we lived in Saudi, every time we flew back to the USA we would leave the compound at 2am, fly to Doha, and then leave Doha at 9 am.  This makes you completely exhausted before you ever even get on the 16 hour flight to the USA.  So my friend Heather, from Saudi, recently decided to get to Doha the day before the flight to the USA and spend the night with us in Doha.  I was so excited to have a great Saudi friend come visit.  There is something so nice about having a best friend in your new home.  Even though it was short we had a great visit.  She did come while my parents were here but we were ok with hanging out all together and having some fun.

After we picked Heather up from the airport we headed to Souq Waqif to pick up some pottery Mom and I had ordered and then to have dinner. Having Mom with us allowed us to get a few pictures together. We ate at Damasca once again since Dad and Micah had never been there.

We took the boys home and let them play some before bath time.  However, I spent most of my time making sure Jacob didn't push over Luke.  He was trying to give hugs at first but then I think he was trying to push him down like he pushes me over when we play.  Doesn't work so well for a little guy.  Ohh well.  After bath time the boys went to bed and Heather and I spent some time on the back patio catching up.  I'm so happy they decided to do a long lay-over and visit us. Come back anytime Heather!

Visit with Nana and Papa

Every year CPChem has a plant managers meeting in an over-seas country where they have plants.  It just so happens that this year that meeting was in Doha!  We lucked out that Dad had to come visit and of course Mom was able to tag along.  I was very excited to have them here to do some exploring with us and to play with Jacob.  Jacob thoroughly enjoyed the extra love and attention.

Mom arrived on a Monday night a few days earlier than Dad so that we could have more time together doing girly stuff during the day.  On Tuesday we just relaxed and played with Jacob.  We literally didn't leave the house all day.  It was fun just to catch up and watch Jacob enjoy having two people dote on him all day. Wednesday morning, Inez flew in from Saudi to spend a couple days exploring with us.  After picking her up from the airport, we headed straight for Souq Waqif and just wandered around for a while.  Then we met their friend, Susan, for lunch at Damasca.  It was fun day.

Thursday we headed out to explore "Katara Cultural Village".  I had never been here either so I didn't really know what to expect.  It is a very nice area with lots of offices of cultural type things like music and arts.  It has several restaurants, a nice beach, an amphitheatre, and indoor theatre for opera and orchestra concerts.  I think when stuff is going on it can be a very happening place but on a Tuesday morning it was pretty empty.  It was nice to see and explore.  Katara also has a small museum with changing exhibits.  At this time it was the exhibit of "Crying Woman".   It was a very strange museum.  Not really sure what else to say about that. After exploring Katara, we headed over to The Pearl for lunch and a stroll along the water.

We spent Friday the way our family typically does with a late yummy breakfast and church.  After church Inez headed back to Saudi and then later Friday night Papa flew in from Houston.  We were really excited to have Papa with us in Qatar.  Saturday we headed out to show Nana and Papa the singing sand dunes and the desert camping.  Sadly, the sand wouldn't really sing for us this time.

The next week my Dad had meetings during the day so Mom and I had a little more time to shop, decorate my house, and play with Jacob.  We went to a play area at the mall that was the perfect size for Jacob.  He loved being free to run around and play with all sorts of new toys.  Sadly, my Mom's camera is being weird and we don't have the pictures from that day.  When Dad was with us we explored some new restaurants, one fish house that was more interesting than anything else.  When you walk in the door you pick out the fish you want to eat and then they cook it how you ask.  The other was a SUPER fancy, nice, restaurant where I had possibly the best steak I've ever had in my life!  Also, the apple thing is a fully edible, apple pie.  It was a very fun night.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

 We also went exploring one more time.  This time we went out to "Purple Island" which is a little land mass area surrounded by mangroves.  It's a fun short hike from the entrance on what used to be a dirt causeway.  However, many parts of the causeway have been washed out so we had to hike through the water which was actually very fun and refreshment from the heat. Mom had pictures of us in the water but once again, her camera decided we shouldn't want those pictures.  But we did get some pictures on the island side and a couple during the hike.  After the hike we had planned to go find a secluded beach, have a picnic, and do some swimming but Jacob woke up that morning with a runny nose and cough so we decided swimming may not be the best idea.  So instead we picked up KFC, had a quick lunch in the qatar and briefly visited a beach.  It was a fun day exploring.

 We LOVED having Nana and Papa here with us in Qatar.  I wish the visit could have been longer but we will take what we can get.