Doha Lately

Well, we have been back in Doha for almost a month and have had quite a bit going on.  The first week I basically spent at home getting unpacked, laundry, and getting over jet-lag.  I didn't really have much mental capacity to do much else.  

The second week back was kinda spent in the expat life mourning period.  You suddenly realize you aren't "home" anymore, you are back in the land of sand and start having to try to remember what life is like beyond the essentials of living.  During this time, your first instinct is to hibernate, curl in a little ball, and feel sorry for yourself.  But having gone through this period many times over the last 3.5 years I know that the only way to snap out of it is to get back into the swing of life.  As in, get out of the house.  So of course I jumped back into women's bible study, had lunch with some friends, and took Jacob to a new place in Doha called "My Gym".   I must say, activity really does help!

Now on to this new activity Jacob and I get to do together called "My Gym".   It's a company really similar to "Little Gym" and actually there are quite a few of them in the USA.  We go for 1 hour a week and get to sing, dance, do gymnastics, and play.  Our first week was kind of an eye opener for me.  Jacob of course was great with running free and playing.  He was NOT so happy when it was "circle time" and we had to actually sit and listen and then follow directions.  I realized my kid has no experience with organized play time.  It was in that moment that I decided to join and that this would be a weekly activity.  The Gym here in Qatar has a great staff with about 6 staff members leading and getting the kids through each task.   The two times I've been there have been about 10 kids aged 1-2 years old.  We have worked on balance skills, tumbling skills, hanging on the bars, etc.  Our second time Jacob did a much better job of being happy and participating during circle time.  I'm really happy to have found a place in the Middle East to get do something like this with Jacob. 

My parents gave Jacob a big race car playhouse for Christmas but since it was so big we decided to ship it straight to Qatar.  This meant that Jacob didn't get to "open" this gift until well into January.  Micah brought it home from work (where stuff gets shipped to) and it sat in our foyer for a few days.  Jacob kept looking at the picture on the box and pointing to it like "hey, I want to play with this".   Finally we decided one night after Jacob went to bed to put it together.  He absolutely LOVES it.  He plays in it all the time.  He loves the doors, the car tracks, everything. Thanks Nana and Papa!  Sorry we got all the "thank you" hugs from Jacob.  We will pass them on.

Recently my friend Ali invited Jacob and I to join her and her little girl Tilly to the Museum of Islamic Art park.  It was my first time to visit the park and I was pleasantly surprised at the niceness of the park.  The park has paths that wander along the water with views of the Doha skyline.  We took a nice stroll through the park before stopping and letting Jacob and Tilly just play in the grass.  Jacob's running made some of the guards nervous that he was going to fall in the water.  Don't worry, I never let him get that close.   I throughly enjoyed the morning getting to be outside, enjoying something new in Doha, and getting to know a new friend a little better. 

This is back tracking a little but Jacob and I arrived to the MIA park a little early and were told to go "drive around" till it opened.  As I was driving I realized it was a good time to stop on the Corniche (water front) road and take some pictures of Doha.  

Happy New Year!

We actually celebrated the New Year in Wagoner with Micah's family.  I didn't take pictures but we still had fun!   We didn't do anything overly excited but we did enjoy a fun game of Cranium with girls vs. boys.  The girls got together and decided to let the boys win to help out their egos (if you know me, you know this would never actually happen because I hate to loose).

Micah and I also spent the first week of the New Year in Houston before heading back to Doha on January 10.   It was a pretty great start to 2014.   As a gift to Micah for Christmas, I had planned a night away while Nana and Papa kept Jacob.  We had dinner at the Melting Pot and spent the night at the Westin Galleria.  I picked the Galleria so that we would have time to do our last minute shopping and exchanging stuff before heading back to Doha.  Also of course because it is close to the Melting Pot.  We had a great time and I think it was Micah and I's first time away from Jacob for that long together.

We were also blessed to get to meet Susie & Darrell's new twin babies before we headed back.  Easton wasn't in the room when we were visiting so we really only met Emerson but it was so great to get to congratulate them!   They are the cutest little things.

After that we spent most of our time finishing up packing, eating at our last minute favorite restaurants, and enjoying our days with family.  At last we were on the plane headed back to the land of sand.