"Midterm" Break

So, although we are not quite halfway through our 2nd term, we just finished our week long "midterm break".  It was originally supposed to be the following week, but the SEC (Supreme Education Council) decided to change it to last week a couple of months ago.  They actually extended it to a two week break for the country, but our school fought for the one week in order to avoid having to extend our school year.  Luckily, Mark and I were not planning on traveling anywhere, so it didn't impact already purchased plane tickets and such, as it did for others.

Considering we just went somewhere in December, it was nice to stay in Doha for this week long break.  We wanted to give you a snap shot of what we did this week.  Mark already posted about the concert and I mentioned our trip to the ER.  Otherwise, it was so nice to get school work done, spend time with friends who also didn't travel anywhere, and just relax.

Museum of Islamic Art Park Bazaar 

Park Cafe' to plan our trip to Istanbul...I love the view. :)

We may be in Qatar, but that doesn't mean we can't watch the Super Bowl and enjoy junk food. 

Purchased the NFL ticket so we were able to watch the game the following day instead of 2:30 am our time.  Thanks to Tory and Maureen who let us connect our computer to their TV to watch the game on the big screen. 

Spring Festival at the Souq

Iranian Restaurant at the Souq -  (left-Mark and I, middle-Maureen and Troy (our Canadian neighbors), back-Suzanne- (another Canadian teacher), right-Cecilia (South African teacher--she's also teachers Year 5)

The flushing out of the ear--thankfully after 30-45 minutes Mark could hear again!

Date Night - Enjoying an Italian dinner and some shopping

Gulf Adventures Desert Tour - Dune Bashing (pictures don't do justice)

This was really our faces at certain points of the trip.  I would look down and just see a cliff and if we went slightly to the right we could just roll the SUV.  It was such a thrill and our driver did a great job; he was a lot of fun! 

Sand is covering the windshield -- We are going down a dune at this point--it feels like we were on a roller coaster in the dunes.

"Home is wherever I'm with you" 
We may be 1000+ miles from what we once called "home", but no matter where we are, Mark is my home. This has been such an amazing journey and I'm so grateful to experience this with my best friend. We've had our challenges, but prayer and strength from our Father has helped us each step of the way.

Mark and Majid (dune bashing driver)

Dune jumping

Being silly :)

It was scary to jump off the end of a dune

Just got to the camp and are enjoying some Chai Karak (tea+milk) 

yummy food in a cute tent--we were sitting on large pillows on the ground.  This place was adorable!

Let the sand boarding begin

A natural

As Mark would say, "We're making progress"--he's excited to hopefully get me on the slopes for some snow boarding.

Mark teaching me how to board and helping be down the hill~

This is what happened when I went down by myself...haha! I made it most of the way without falling. :)

Let the games begin -- we spent the afternoon playing games - ping pong, darts, foosball, and chess 

The desert trip was amazing! I have to thank my student's dad who works for Gulf Adventures who gave us a complimentary full day desert tour.  We hope to go with friends in a couple of months and hope it's warm enough to swim that time.  

We finished the day by meeting up with some friends to watch the Winter Olympic opening ceremony. Overall, we had a great week off and are trying to get our heads back into "school mode".  Our next "midterm break" is in the middle of April and we will be going to Istanbul, Turkey for the week.  

~Kristin