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.