Fall Vacation Planning

So we got our schedule for the 2009-2010 academic year today. Because of when the month of Ramadan lands in 2009, we're going to have some vacation time this fall.

Anyone got the same time off as us? We're always looking to have visitors here or to meet up with friends/family somewhere between Doha and Canada!

Here are our vacation dates for the fall semester:

September 18-26 – for Eid Al Fitr
November 24-30 - for Eid Al Adha
December 15 – January 2, 2010 – for Christmas (officially "Semester Break")

We haven't even though about where we'd like to go, so feel free to make a suggestion. By the end of this academic year we will have seen Dan & Marie in France, Hannah-Lee & Erik in Turkey, Steve & Naomi in Kuwait, and Alaina & the Dewburys in Zambia. For fall 2009, why not insert your name and another country?

(By the way, if your name is included above, you're not disqualified. We'd love to visit with you again!)

Better late than never

A common complaint I hear is that in Doha you find out about cool events the day after they happen. A regular expression that accompanies the reading of one of the local newspapers is "Wow. I wish I had known about that!" In this way philharmonic orchestra concerts, horse races, and linguistic conferences -to name a few- have been missed.

I'm getting pretty used to the find-out-about-it-the-day-after way of life when it comes to local events, but somehow I only found out about World Water Day today. WORLD Water Day - this is something the entire WORLD knows about! I don't know how it happened. I tried to blame it on the time change - that when I was checking the news yesterday morning, it was still night time back in the West so the stories weren't up yet. Of course it's a lame excuse; I'm sure people have been promoting this UN-declared day for weeks now. But somehow I've managed to stay out of the loop.

Anyway, I'm glad to finally have learned about this day when the world's attention is drawn to a serious problem. Since moving to a desert country which has next to no natural fresh water, I've become acutely aware of the necessity of drinkable water.

Please don't misinterpret: I do not want for water in the slightest. On the contrary, in Qatar sea water is desalinated and distributed to each house, as well as poured into "green spaces" throughout the city. (It takes a LOT of water to grow grass and flowers in a desert!) Also, no one seems to encourages the drinking of tap water here, whether because of health risks or snobbery, so bottled water is consumed in enormous quantities. It's actually this abundance of water in a water-less land that has given me a deeper appreciation for the value of water and the inequity of its distribution around the world.

I'm glad there's a day when people are (re)confronted with the realities of life in the far reaches of the globe that the wealthy don't like to think about. I'm thankful for the water that I have easy access to. I'm saddened by the number of people who don't have access, easy or otherwise, to clean water. But I'm pleased that people seem to be taking an interest in rectifying the situation.

Darren and I decided months ago to support an organization that provides clean drinking water for people who need it. We still haven't done it. But in honour of World Water Day, I'm going to do the research, pick an organization and start our support, even if it comes a day late.

Couldn't have said it better myself

One of the writers at Qatar Visitor posted an article yesterday talking about Qatar and the economy. Well, it's actually about how lucky she (he?) is to be here in Qatar during the current economic situation.

As the author says, it's not that Qatar hasn't been affected by the recession, but it certainly has not been affected the way most other countries have. [According to this article, the economy of Qatar is actually expected to grow in 2009.] Because of this, it's easy for us expats to forget about the hardships many people are facing in our countries of origin.

When I hear about people losing their jobs and others struggling to make payments or keep their refrigerators stocked, I'm reminded of how fortunate Darren and I are to have such good, secure jobs (and all the benefits that come with those jobs).

I'm not naive enough to believe that the situation Darren and I are experiencing will continue forever, but at the moment we've been given an amazing opportunity in the midst of a lack of opportunities worldwide. It makes me feel grateful. It also makes me feel accountable. Not bad things to be feeling among so much obvious worldwide need.

(If you're interested, you can read the article here.)

Trip to Kuwait

We had such a great weekend away. The college gave us both Thursday and Sunday off this past weekend, so we took advantage of the break to reconnect with Darren's former youth pastor who is now living in Kuwait. When I say former, I mean former. The last time they saw each other, Steve and Naomi were childless; they now have 3 fabulous daughters, the oldest of whom is 13.

It wasn't a particularly busy weekend though we did see some of the sights. It was mostly a time to visit with friends (or in my case, make new friends), hang out with a family, and get glimpses of a city that's more or less just a bigger, more developed version of Doha.

Here are some highlights from our time in Kuwait, in no particular order:

• meeting a desert lizard up close and personally.
• laughing at the kids telling funny stories about things they'd said or done. My particular favourite was the national anthem Petra made up, "Kuwait, warm and cozy..."
• hearing Steve's amazing stories about his work in Kuwait.
• seeing some really neat sea creatures: sting rays, sharks, jelly fish, sea horses, clown fish, rock fish.
• eating purple yam cake. It doesn't sound delicious, but it was - at least to me. The boys didn't like it so much.
• sleeping in a room covered in teen pop star posters. I didn't realize how out of touch with today's youth I really am! :)
• seeing a white camel. I've seen lots of goldish coloured ones, but this was my first white one.
• going to Ruby Tuesdays. I know it's not very Middle Eastern, but it's hard to beat that salad bar!
• getting a better understanding of Darren's past. It helps that he told Steve and Naomi his life story since they'd last seen each other INDIVIDUALLY. So I got to hear it twice.
• attending a truly multicultural church service on a compound that simultaneously had services going on in different languages.
• watching Survivor as a family. I haven't seen that show since way back in the Africa season - 2000?
• playing euchre, and never losing miserably.
• having meaningful conversations with someone other than my Darren. Of course I love talking with him, but it's good to broaden the circle from time to time!

Darren will provide you with the fuller, more entertaining version of our trip in a few days. For now I'm getting ready to leave again - I'm heading to a conference in Dubai tomorrow night. While I'm anticipating another good weekend, it will be much different from our weekend in Kuwait.

Grandma's Birthday

Just in time for my Grandma's 80th birthday, I've discovered Hallmark's Smilebox application. Since she has recently become an Internet user, I've sent her the slideshow card. I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook