Stay-cation

Eid al-Adha or Second Eid as it is known to expats is a four day holiday here in Qatar which had a weekend in between, meaning, most people got a six day break.  75% of the people leave Doha which makes driving here nice for those who stay.

If you can believe it, John worked as little as he had to and we did some fun things this last week.  It started Wednesday with a coffee and exploring Lagoona Mall, the mall closest to our house.  We haven’t done this since we first came to Doha.  

Thursday started with a trip to IKEA to get office furniture for John’s new office space.  After lunch we rented a yacht and speed boat leaving from the Pearl and took the New Image Senior management and their families on a trip out to a close by island for a BBQ and swim. 

Friday we went to the Jazz club after it had been closed all summer and some waiters we know are still there.  Our friend Richard is now in charge of the music.  We also met the singer Chanel from New York.

 

Saturday was a quiet day until we realized the cleaning lady wasn’t coming (see was off too) and then we had to clean the apartment, luckily we had cleaning supplies!  After John cleaned the balcony we watched the sunset with wine and cheese.  Later that night we watched Eid fireworks from our balcony. 

  

Sunday the Turner family invited us over for a proper English Sunday Roast complete with meat and chicken, gravy, potatoes, vegetables and Yorkshire Pudding followed by a delicious apple crumble.  

Monday was a bit back to normal as I did the grocery shopping and John worked from home.  Now we are getting ready for our trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai for John to work and have some meetings.  I’ll write about next week!

Back in the Swing of Things

Hi friends, it's been a long time.  I have been back in Doha for just over two weeks and I am about settled in.  Jet lag is about gone, but the high heat and humidity really take it out of you.  Stella and I get up at 4:30am for our morning walk to avoid the sun.   

I have gone to all my regular grocery stores and have navigated the new road layouts and construction (they are taking out the Round Abouts.)

I have started another year with AWA and this time I am organizing the book club.  I hosted a round table at our first AWA meeting, so I got to meet most of the members and there are a lot of new people.  At this meeting you also get to see who is not coming back to Doha and who is still here and I realize just how many people I know.  I am also helping with the AWA Pillow Project (stuffing, not sewing) we make pillows for breast cancer patients who have had a mastectomy to help ease them.

I have also started taking Yoga.  A lady in the next tower teaches the classes so I am able to walk over.  Sundays is Core Yoga and Wednesday is a little less intense but still both are a lot of work and I am pretty sore.  My trainer will be back in October and once the weather cools off I will start with my gold lessons again.  

Oh, and last night we had some friends over for dinner. So as you can see, I am keeping busy.