Boat Day - Rain or SHINE!

Today and tomorrow are boat/pool days. Sophie wants to get brown and so do I. Ahhhh the boating memories. There are so many stories from days out at the island that I would be writing for about a week if I shared them all. Sophie's family has a big fishing boat and we used to have a speed boat so we could go out and spend all day swimming, skiing, kneeboarding, eating Maneesh (yummy), making my Dad sit on the beach while we did silly things on the speed boat, tubing, and collecting hermit crabs that we never took home with us. 

Today even though it did start of with some rain the sun finally came out and it was ended  up being a nice day out on the boat. It is fun to see Doha from a different view. We took a little ride around closer to The Pearl and saw the new beach houses. I love being out on the boat and on the water again!

Trying to get a tan with a fever - I will be bronze!

Wednesday is ladies day at the Intercontinental Hotel and even though I am sick I had to go because I NEED to get a tan. I refuse to be this pale while living in a desert... It is absolutely amazing to be laying on a beach with this view of the Doha skyline. Even though I have been here for months the skyline still amazes me. This country is growing so fast and I don't know how I feel about it. I have said it before but I remember a time when there was NOTHING! Feeling better after a half a day in the sun soaking up some vitamin D. 

Sick Bed - Why ME?

This post is a "poor me" post. Nothing much to say apart from that I have been in bed for 2 days with a horrible cold, and I am so upset with the timing because Sophie is only here for a week! Hello antibiotics and vitamin C!!

Working Hard, or Hardly Working?

After a little "break" from classes it is safe to say that my students have forgotten how  long the days can be. I sneaked this photo of them because I just had to capture how tired, and miserable, they all look.

As the weeks pass I look back and I am extremely proud of how far they have come. They already knew the basic foundations of English but their dedication has helped them improve their skills in all areas. I am so honored to be apart of their learning process and I am so happy that I am getting this experience at Texas A&M. I love it! I love teaching English and I really am going to do it for a while :) Been talking with a friend about possibly teaching in Thailand starting maybe in June because this class will be done and Texas A&M does not have a summer semester. We shall see... I have been researching it all so I hope it really does work out!

I have so many funny stories from the classroom and I have become good friends with all the guys. They joke around with me but they also take the class time seriously because they are very serious about their future and an education at Texas A&M. I really think that the energy of the classroom is something unique. Shelagh (the lady who I am an assistant to) and I absolutely adore them all and we really have them all figured out... their phrases are hysterical, and their hand gestures when they give up make us laugh as well. They have such uplifting smiles and charming personalities which are all SO different it makes the classroom a very positive and fun place to teach in.

Today they bought me a cake for my birthday and I was given a beautiful gold bracelet (posted a picture with my birthday post). So sweet! I really don't want the class to end! We are having such a great time, and I love learning all about teaching English as a secondary language from inside a classroom and not online! Shelagh is such an inspiring person! 

First Visit to Katara...

Today I went to Katara for the first time to meet my Best Friend and her mother for coffee and to wonder around the livestock exhibition. For photos of Katara click HERE. 

It is such an amazing structure... the architecture is unreal! There is a huge outdoor amphitheater made from marble where they often have famous Arabic artists play, and next month they will have a TED conference there. Worth reading about HERE.

We went to the livestock exhibition where they were selling sheep and strange looking goats auction style, got free henna (my favorite), and watched children play some traditional games (and jump rope). Katara is defiantly one of Qatar's gems and it always has art exhibitions going on, it is the home for the Doha Film Institute, and it is a very popular place for not only the tourists but the Qatari people. 

For the official Katara website click HERE. 

23 on the 23rd - I'm GOLDEN!

I love my birthday so I will never say that "this one is the best" because they have all been amazing but I can say this about my birthday this year... Even though I am miles away from my the rest of my family, and the friends that I normally celebrate it with this birthday was a very memorable one. It was fun, unique, and I had a wonderful time thanks to my Daddy, Doha friends, BRUNCH (and the Rugby Club), cheesecake from Toon, and my package from my Mommy. Even though she is miles away she always knows how to spoil me, and to add her special touch! 

I GOT AN iPAD THREE! 

I loveeeeee it, and I LOVE my parents! 

Was not expecting it! 

:) 

And to complete a wonderful birthday tomorrow Sophie arrives and will be here for a week. Can't wait to spend some Doha time like old days with my best friend since Al Ali Kindergarden. 

Camel Racing... The Blog :)

My father has a friend that wanted him to come out to see his racing camels at his camel camp, and then the races. He wants him to give him some advice because he wants his camels to start winning because here in Qatar they give amazing prizes, as well as prize money!

I took photos with a better camera and I hope to upload them all some how in a slide show format because Instagram doesn't capture ALL the excitement. Basically, we went to some training type races for the 1 year old female camels. There were 17 races in about an hour and half. In ordered for this to happen a race started every 3 minutes. The camels line up on the other side of the gate and the just keep on going forward. There really isn't a limit on how many camels can be in one race because the gate is nothing like a horse racing gate (as you can see in the photos below).

The camels used to be ridden by small boys but because of the ill treatment (I will not go into detail), and the amount of illegal boys there were, the camels are now ridden by a box robot with a whip. The trainers follow alongside the race in their cars pressing a button to control the whip when needed. Some even put a walkie-talkie on the camel and scream into their walkie-talkie to tell the camel to "yallah, go, YALLAH, run!" They say that the camel needs this encouragement otherwise he or she will not run.

We rode along with the guy for each of his races and it was fun, even though it is probably one of the more dangerous things to do in Qatar. Driving along with about 30+ other Land Cruisers at a pretty fast speed was fun for me, however, I could see my father pressing his imaginary break and gripping for his life up in the passenger seat. It was even funnier to watch him when we turned around and RACED back to the starting line for the next race... my poor father.

Camel racing can be boring if it is a LONG race because these camels are not very fast but when they are doing sprints like today, and the pace is fairly fast, it is really entertaining. It really is something else, and a good change from horse racing! Glad that I just so happened to be at the farm with my Daddy today because otherwise I would have missed out! 

Camel Racing - The Picture Post!

So I told my students that I got a racing camel for my birthday from my Daddy, and I am pretty sure that more than one of them actually believed me when I showed them the above picture. After shocking them with the truth we are making plans on finding a camel out in the desert to train so we can win a car, or two, and two million QARs. 

Details to come. 

Al Dana Club!

Today I had to get my hair cut and highlighted because boy did it need it and I went to get it done at the Al Dana Club. When we were living here in Doha as a family we had a membership here and if we were not out on the boat we were swimming here. Sara Al Ali and I would always be here causing trouble, having diving competitions, or eating lunch at the bar IN the pool and charging it to our fathers!

Walking though the club made me smile because I was remembering all the good times I have had here. The tennis lessons that ending in tears from laughing so much, or the world pool that you could create if you got 2 or 3 people to swimming around the edge of the circle in the baby pool. Sometimes even after the boat we would come just to jump in the pool after a day of salt water. I can pretty much say that from a VERY early age I was a water child. There is just something about swimming and being in the sun that has always made me happy. When I tell my Mom I want to live in London she always replies "that is so silly, you need to be by a beach, and you have to have sun!" Clearly living in a desert for most of my life has not scared me away from hot days!

I love the feeling a place of your past can bring. Just being there for such a short time helped me remember how fun growing up in Qatar was. It is funny how a simple swimming pool could create so many memories. 

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Dubai in DETAIL!

Walking along the Dubai Marina. 

This just might be one of my favorite/funniest photos I have taken so far! 

Dubai Marina.

Being a tourist in front of the Burj Khalifa.

Yum. 

The dancing fountain outside of the Dubai Mall.

Jumping people fountain inside the Dubai Mall. 

Top of Burj Khalifia.

Fancy Souq indoor Souq. 

So since I am still on a visiting visa my 90 days were up and I had to leave the country so naturally I went to Dubai for the day :) 

I went with my second mother and it was a pre-birthday day of treats. She had the day all planned out and it was a perfect day trip to Dubai. The last time I was in Dubai was years ago for the Dubai World Cup when my father was racing. We would go and spend a weekend, go shopping, and go to the water park! It was always around my birthday so how fitting that my visa run was right before my birthday as well. 

We did so much in just one day! Started the day off with lunch at the Dubai Marina where I had REAL bacon, then took a walk down by the marina looking at all the yachts, and along to the Marina Mall. After that we took the metro over to the Dubai mall which allows you to really see how much Dubai has grown over the years and to see the skyline at a great angle. The Dubai Mall is amazing. I would say it is better than anything we have in the states. So many shops, so little time! It has a pretty cool fountain, a souq style section, and an aquarium - Dubai showing it's extravagance at it's finest! Just outside the Dubai mall is the dancing fountain and the Burj Khalifa (the worlds tallest building). After a day of walking around the city, and two malls, we enjoyed a nice arabic meal after wondering through the "posh" souq. Perfect timing as we just finished our meal we got to see the fountain go off and the water show was pretty amazing as it went along with some Arabic music. I wish we could have stayed longer because there is so much to do in Dubai but all I needed was a day out of the country so that I could come back to Qatar and get another visiting visa. I will have to plan a weekend trip there soon that is for sure! 

Dubai For the Day!

Inshallah!

Inshallah means "God willing" or "If God wills it."

After teaching here for a bit now here is how a conversation between a student and myself normally goes...

Me "Okay so you are going to do your spelling homework tonight, right"

Student "Miss. Catie, Inshallah I will do my homework!" 

Then the next day my student will come in and he has not done his homework. I guess God did not will him to do it that night! 

A special kind of love - too cute!

Feel So Close

Calvin Harris was at the Intercon last night - on the beach - and who says Doha never has anything fun? Was a great night out, filled with dancing, and red bull type drinks. Hopefully Doha will have some more concerts soon... they need to catch up with Dubai and all their musical "festivals." 

Now I need to start planning Ibiza. 

DRESS UP like an MOI guy!

So today I had a little "dress up" session in class. It all started because I wear the arabic head dress as a scarf sometimes. I have about 10 in all different colors, sizes, and fabrics. I personally think they make great scarves. Well the first time I was wearing one to class one of my students said to me "miss you should where it like us, on your head," and another student replied with "yes... you could start a fashion statement." So while we were having a break from English listening the other day I let the guys show me how to wear it in the normal way, but also the dessert style way. I must say, it was fun, and extremely funny! They are really lucky I am so carefree and easy going because boy was I being laughed at! I'm pretty sure my picture was a BBM "post" or "blast" (sorry I only speak iPhone). 

Hope you enjoy my new "fashion," however, I don't think I will make it part of my everyday wear. I actually tell my Dad daily that I want to get a hebeya (women's long black robe) because wouldn't it be nice not to have to worry about what you are wearing? I could wear shorts and a tshirt under it and no one would know but me! It would cut down my "getting ready" time in the mornings by at least 5 minutes, that is an extra 5 minutes of sleep! 

"School pictures"

They study hard...

Bug Stamps? Uh, okay then, I hope to never see that bug in Qatar!

So 4 weeks after I wrote a bunch of postcards I finally made it to the post office to get stamps and I would like to apologize in advance to the people who get the ugly, scary, bug ones and not the cool butterfly, ladybug, or dragon fly. I wanted to ask the lady if I could get a different stamp set but she was kind of rude, and looked like she wasn't having the best day so I kept these gems. Now just because I sent postcards doesn't mean they will get there, and who KNOWS how LONG it will take for people to get them too. I guess we will see. So back to the bugs... all of these bugs are suppose to be native to Qatar and I hope to ALLAH that I never see any of them because some of them are gross, creepy, and dangerous looking. You can't see all of them here but there are some pretty funky beetles that I hope I never see crawling across my bedroom floor, or anywhere near me. 

Texas A&M :)

H.H. The Emir's Sword - Swept it!

Al Shahania Stud Swept the HH Emir's Sword Tonight - it was a great race! Extremely happy for them, and all the horses!