Doha Parents

       I know I have mentioned to many people, and possibly even on the blog, about how Qatar felt more like home last year once we got more involve in our ch u rch community.  We were fortunate to join a small group of people who honestly have become family.  Mark and I are blessed to not only have our parents in the States, but also our "Doha parents", as we refer to them.  They have opened their hearts and homes, while giving "parental" advice along the way, this past year and several months.  

  They are all from the South and some of the most wonderful people I know.  I honestly can't imagine our time here in Doha without them in it.  Our small group is about 15 in total, give or take a few,  who have all touched our lives deeply.  We have been truly blessed to have met such wonderful people here.

   To celebrate Valentine's Day, Mark and I went out to dinner with our Doha parents.  It was a wonderful evening filled with delicious food, great views from the restaurant, and many laughs. I hope one day all our parents will meet (USA+Doha), but for now, here is are a few pictures of some pretty amazing people! :)

The "other" side

I'll be honest, there are several things I enjoy about living here, but many things that I don't agree with or respect.  One of those things is how the workers are treated here.  It truly breaks my heart, as they are living away from their families who they now only see once every 2 years, to work 70+ hour weeks for very little money (maybe a few hundred dollars/month...and I'm not exaggerating).

I was able to see where the workers live about a month ago and it was absolutely devastating to see the other side of living here.  It was a slap in the face for me to think about my complaints that I have.

There is a article that I saw on Doha News tonight that I wanted to share.  Although some of the videos are not filmed here, it is a good representation of the life here for workers...at least for part of their day.   If you have time and want to get a sneak peak at different side of life here, feel free to check out the link.  These are people who could really use some prayers, as I honestly don't know how they work the hours they do for such little pay.  I have such a deep respect for their dedication to serving and providing for their family from afar.

http://dohanews.co/videos-aim-to-increase-empathy-for-low-income-workers-in-qatar-gcc/


With Love,

Kristin

The Dental Saga is Khalas (pronounced halas in arabic= finished)

   So, I'm happy to report that I am now a "proud owner" of a new permanent filling in my tooth.  It ONLY took 5 trips to the dentist, two of which were to make appointments...quite crazy.  This was by far my best trip though.  I got there 45 minutes before my appointment, as they tell you to get there 30 minutes before.  They were able to get me in early and were able to quickly tell me that I did not need a root canal...what a relief! That was not an experience I was hoping to face here.  I managed to get my filling and be back in the car at the time that my appointment was supposed to start.

   Anyways, the dentist didn't even need to numb my mouth.  She drilled the temporary filling out and put in the new one. I asked for my record, but she wouldn't give it to me.  All I know is that it was in my lower left 6 tooth and she put in a composite filling...I guess I'll wait to see what Dr. Gordon says whenever I see him next.

  She says if it breaks again, I'll need a crown, but I won't worry about that until it happens. A bonus to the entire situation is that I didn't pay a thing...so, my X-Ray and filling were FREE! Although it was a pain to go in so many times, thank you public health care.   ;)

~ Kristin

If it doesn't make sense, it does in Doha

   After being here for over a year, we have come to find many things that honestly just don't make sense.  Don't get me wrong, overall we have been pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoy Qatar and have absolutely loved our time here.  We can't help but laugh and sometimes just get plain frustrated at some of the things here though, but that goes for anywhere.

   With that said, one thing we have learned is that if it doesn't make sense to the average person, it does here.  I can't fully explain it other than us having numerous situations where we truly question why something has been done a certain way and not another, etc.  A good example is my dental experience these past couple of months.

  The night of Qatar National Day (December 18), my tooth broke, luckily with no pain. It being at night and a national holiday, nowhere was open and we were flying out the next day for Thailand. So, I put going on the dentist on hold until we came back...there in which my saga truly begins.

  The day we came back, I researched who to even call to set up a dentist appointment.  I have a health insurance card, but couldn't tell you anything about my "coverage", but saw on the back of the card that my medical clinic was number 56. In my head I questioned what did 56 mean and where was clinic number 56? It would only make sense for there to be a name with the clinic number or something to help me figure out where my clinic was...NOPE, nothing.  Luckily I found an expat blog that gave a link to help match the clinic number on my insurance card with the location and name of the clinic.

    I then called to see if I could set up an appointment to see the dentist.  The man on the other end said to come in before 11:00am and they should be able to get me in.  I was a bit surprised, but considering it was over winter break, I assumed maybe they had some more availability and I didn't think much of it.  Boy was I wrong... I made sure to get there well before 11:00 am, and walked up to the counter to inform the woman I would like to see the dentist.  After her realizing I did not have a current appointment and that it was not an emergency (my tooth was not bleeding or swollen, to my knowledge), she told me I needed to make an appointment.  I was a bit frustrated, as I was told I would be able to get in that day, but clearly the man I spoke to meant I could make an appointment that day.  My main question was, why couldn't I have just done this over the phone? In my mind that is what would make sense...not here though!  Instead we had to drive 15-20 minutes to the health clinic to just make a sticking appointment...why?! I was thoroughly annoyed to find that they could either schedule the appointment for 2 weeks at that point and I would have to miss school (which I hate doing!) or at the end of the month.  I sucked it up and chose in 2 weeks... At this point I'm already missing my dentist, Dr. Gordon, back home, but reminded myself that at least this will be cheaper (hopefully!).

   So, two weeks passed and I left two-three lessons early from school, which was annoying in itself because other teachers have to cover for me, and I hate that they did because this wasn't an emergency.  Anyways, I had called the local taxi company 2 days prior to schedule for them to come and pick me up at school.  I get outside 5 minutes before they should arrive to make sure I was ready to go when they came.  I later realized that didn't matter at all...I waited and waited and waited...15 minutes pass and I called the company to check on the driver.  He "is 5-10 minutes away", which in Doha time could be anywhere from 15-30 ish minutes.  I was quite upset as I was then going to be cutting it close.  Another 10 minutes pass (20 minutes passed the scheduled pickup time) and I call again to find that the driver is looking for my flat.  I LOST it and gave the driver quite an ear-full... I was specific in telling them to pick up at our school and time, at this point I am going to be late.  The driver's English is not the greatest, but he could definitely pick up that I was angry.  At that point I nearly broke down right then and there at the gate to our school near the guards, as all I wanted to do was get into a car and drive to the dentist myself.  I am used to not driving for the most part, but this was a tipping point for me.  I was going to be late for my early check-in, but called another private driver to pick me up.  They came within 15 minutes, which was now 5 minutes from the time my appointment needed to start.  I told him my situation and was on the verge of tears.  He then drove like a crazy man to try to get me there as fast as he could.  People already drive crazy here, but this was another level.  I was gripping the door for extra support.

     So, I get there 15 minutes after my appointment should have started, 45 minutes after I was supposed to arrive, and the woman at the desk told me it was cancelled, because I was late.  The tears began just running down my face as I was so frustrated for so many reasons...being late (I HATE being late), not having the luxury to just drive myself, missing school and then it being for nothing, not being able to get my tooth fixed, and honestly just wishing I could go to Dr. Gordon to get it fixed. A couple of Arab men came up and spoke to her, and I don't know if it was something they said or the fact that I was crying, but she told me she would talk to the dentist to see what she could do.  During this time, the driver was waiting for me to see if I would get an appointment or not.  The dentist agreed to see me, but when I came in she clearly was upset I was late even after I explained the situation.  She was only able to give me a temporary filling, which only lasted a week, but it was free so no complaints... The dentist told me to make an appointment soon so that she can put a real filling in.  When I was done, I went back to make an appointment and the woman told me they were full for the rest of January and would not start taking appointments for February until January 25th.  I didn't have the energy to even argue or question it at this point, but inside couldn't help but AGAIN question WHY?! THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Anyways, luckily the driver remained in the parking lot and was able to take me home.

   Fast forward until January 25th when Mark and I went to make my appointment for February.  I had learned I can't call, so we decided to go right after tutoring.  He had a meeting that night, but I was thinking in my head we'll be "in and out", again, I was WRONG! You would think I would start to begin to anticipate these things.  We walk up to the counter to make an appointment, and as soon as the woman realized I didn't have a current appointment she handed me a manilla card with the number 3 on it.  She told me she was on #5, and would go to 30 and start over.  My mouth nearly dropped with confusion and needed her to reiterate that I had to wait in line to just make an appointment.  I looked at the 15 other people waiting and asked if they were all waiting to make an appointment.  I saw heads nod and I was in disbelief yet again.... Mark and I walked to the back and sat down in the hard black chairs and couldn't help but laugh at the absolute ridiculousness of this situation.  We were both in good spirits about the whole thing, but just couldn't believe we had to wait in line...grr!! After 35 minutes of waiting we finally heard #3, and we quickly shot up out of our seats and walked to the counter.  Although the wait was annoying, she was luckily able to get my appointment to be over our February break, so then I would not have to miss school.  We walked out of in a bit disbelief at the situation yet again, but relieved to have the appointment made.

   Well,  that brings us to today, when I went get my filling.  I honestly didn't get nervous about having someone other than the infamous Dr. Gordon work in my mouth, until I sat in the chair.  I first had an X-ray to see the full damage and the dentist didn't seem too concerned about what she saw on my X-ray.  She gave me an anesthetic, which I later found to not be enough... The shrilling noise of the drill/whatever dentists do before putting in the filling was quite annoying.  The pain from that process was quite intense at certain points and I was gripping the chair and whining through part of the process.  Yes, I was "that" patient, but I couldn't help it.  I was glad I at least managed to keep my mouth opened the entire time instead of clamping it shut.

   As much as I love the dentist, there was nothing about this experience I could say I enjoyed.  To make matters worse, the dentist told me there was a lot of decay and it was worse than she originally thought.  She is concerned that the damage is too close to the root, so she gave me another partial filling (not sure if it's the same as before or not), and told me to come back on Sunday for a follow up appointment.  She wants to see how my tooth/root does with temporary filling this weekend and will give me a permanent filling insh'allah (G od willing) on Sunday.

    So, now I have to go back AGAIN and am not sure when this saga will end. :( I'm quite frustrated at this point, as I just want this to be taken care of.  Luckily, the dentist was able to get me an appointment for Sunday night, so I don't miss school, but can't tutor.  She indicated I may have to get a root canal, but she will know more on Sunday.  Fortunately, as of now, a few hours after the anesthetic has worn off, I don't have any pain.  Based on what she said, as long as I'm not in pain, I will not need a root canal...at least that is what I'm hoping.  On the brighter side, we have yet to pay for anything.   I don't think we truly should, considering the problem hasn't been fixed permanently yet, but would have assumed I would have paid for the X-Ray.  So, I'm a bit nervous for the "final" appointment to see if they slam me with a big bill or will this all be "taken care of", because I am going through our "insurance"/public aid.  Time will tell...

Wow, this is really long...I'll go ahead and post now, and keep you updated in a separate post after Sunday.

To be continued...

Qatar National Day Celebrations

       Qatar National Day is December 18, so we celebrate at school on the 17th.   Several weeks before National Day, banners will begin to be hung from buildings throughout the country that have the picture of the current and former Emir.  As a school, we also hang the banners and then have an entire day celebrating Qatar.  On this day, students and teachers are encouraged to wear the national dress and we have an assembly where students perform dances, songs, etc.  As a year group, we had rotations where each activity connected with Qatar/arab culture.  My rotation was musical chairs to Arabic music.
    This year, Mark and I went and bought the national dress to wear on National Day and to have as a souvenir. It was an interesting experience wearing the abaya, as I even wore the hijab that covered my face and hair.  In Qatar you see a few different ways that women cover; Qatari women will wear the black abaya (covers clothes) with hijab (covers hair), some wear the abaya, hijab, and cover their face with either a black cloth or the older women wear a metal face plate (not sure the technical term).  Other Muslim women from different countries will wear similar things, but it will be colorful or they will just wear the hijab to cover their hair and wear conservative clothing.
   My class consists of about 8 or so Qataris and the rest are predominantly Indonesian, Malaysian, Egyptian, South Korean, Filipino, etc. So, they are used to seeing women wear the national dress, but many are not used to their parents wearing it, especially for those who actually showed up on National Day.  It was an interesting experience wearing the abaya and hijab as I got a better idea of how people look at you and treat you.  Several teachers thought I was a parent before I said anything.  My kids didn't even recognize me when I came up to the line-up in the morning, and they were all in complete shock and a bit scared.  I'm not going to lie, it was entertaining to see their reactions.  I had several students tell me they wanted me to take it off right at the beginning and wanted to be able to see my face again.  Some students just looked at me and laughed, as they couldn't believe it was me under there.
       Other students came up to me in the morning and spoke Arabic to me thinking I was an Arabic teacher wearing national dress that day.  There was one student in secondary  who came up and told me I wasn't Qatari, because I have green eyes and not brown.  I was impressed with how observant he was.
      Overall, students and teachers appeared to feel uncomfortable and honestly, I did as well.  I didn't like covering my face and can tell you that it gets very hot wearing it.  I can only imagine how the women do it when its 85 degrees + outside.  I thought it was interesting to see how others reacted and were a bit stand offish, and it makes me think of how I am when I am around women who are completely covered.  I am happy to talk to them, but make sure they initiate the conversation, as I typically don't know who it is.

    It was a great cultural experience and gave me new perspective.

Mark and I when we got to school in the morning...ready to celebrate National Day in our national dress.

The kiddos in my class...many didn't come this day.

The fire department came to show off their vehicles... (I took off the face cover in the afternoon)

Thailand for Christmas

For Christmas this year Mark and I went to Thailand for 10 days.  This was a trip that Mark has been wanting to take, but after watching "The Impossible" a couple of years ago, I've been a bit hesitant.  It's a great movie by the way, it's based on a true story of a family who were separated during the Tsunami  in Thailand 10 years ago.  

     Anyways. after talking to several other people in Doha, they all told me how wonderful the country is and we opted to go for Christmas this year.  It didn't take long for my somewhat jittery nerves to dissipate and for me to begin being extremely excited for our trip.  I found an amazing tour early on in the planning and began to be even more excited than Mark for our trip.  Below are some of the pictures we took throughout our trip.  We had an amazing time and would love to go back some day. 

Christmas gift to each other was our trip to Thailand.  We traveled to Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, and Bangkok during our time in Thailand.

We started our trip in Chiang Mai.  Mark surprised me and had the hotel decorate our room for my birthday! :) 

Tuk Tuk...one option of transportation in Thailand

Us on the Tuk Tuk heading to dinner

We learned the first night that when something on the menu says spicy, that it is far too spicy for our palette. Neither of us could even finish our meal.

Our tour of a lifetime (which I have officially named) was day 2 of our trip in Chiang Mai.  Although it was not labeled a private tour, it was just Mark and I with the tour guide, Billy, and our driver.  We started our tour going to the local market and Billy showing us different foods and buying some for us to eat throughout the day.

After the local market we went to an Orchid Farm, which was absolutely beautiful. It was interesting to see different orchids that were different ages/sizes.  

We then headed to Tiger Kingdom.  It was a bit scared when we first got there and when we entered the cages with the tigers.  We opted for the package to be with the big tigers and had minimal expectations going into the cage.  I thought we would just pet one tiger and that would be it.  Fortunately, we pet several and although we were both scared and a bit hesitant to pet the tigers at times, it went really well and no harm was done.

They told us they liked their belly rubbed, but I was pretty scared to attempt to rub it like I would our dog, Mandy, growing up.  Mark was holding the tail and I was surprised the tiger didn't mind.

I love these pictures, especially the fact they make it look that we were in a "disagreement", but in all honesty, I'm freaking out a bit inside.

On our way to a temple cave, our driver stopped at this local stand that was making and selling bamboo sticky rice. This is a winter dish and was absolutely fantastic.  It tasted so good, I wish we had bought more when we stopped. It was interesting to see them cook it.  The sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk (yum!), beans, and a little bit of sugar.  They put it inside bamboo and then cook it over a fire, then remove some of the bamboo pieces.  When you eat it, you peel back the bamboo to enjoy a log of yummy sticky rice.  

Mark and Billy as we are waiting for our sticky rice to get done.  Billy was a great tour guide and we enjoyed spending the day with him. 

First temple cave...we walked through a couple of caves during our tour that had a temple inside. 

Temple #2 

Enjoying our bamboo sticky rice while enjoying the views at the top of the hill.

We stopped for lunch and again enjoyed the views of our surroundings. 

It was time for our white water rafting portion of the trip.  This beat up truck pulled up with the raft on top and we thought we would help take the raft off and go down the hill into the river when it arrived.  Mark jokingly asked when it pulled it if we should hop on top, and to our surprise they said yes.  This was probably the more unique method of transportation we took in Thailand.

Getting ready for our white water rafting adventure

Although it was a bit slower than we what experienced over the summer in Salzburg, and we had far fewer people on our boat, the views were gorgeous along the route and we enjoyed it very much.

To end our tour of a lifetime, we rode elephants throughout their elephant farm.  It was an exhilarating experience, but was quite frightened that I would fall off and get stepped on by my giant elephant.

Bringing our baskets of bananas to feed the elephants

We were practicing how to get on and off the elephants and giving them commands, as they are spoken in a special language.  

Our journey riding the elephants bare-backed begins...this was a great way to end our tour!

We bathed the elephants as part of the tour.  Both Mark and I made sure to pay special attention to not get too close to their feet, incase they got up. 

Billy prepared some local fruits for us to enjoy for a snack before driving back to our hotel.

When we returned from our tour, the Sunday Market down the street from our hotel had just begun.  We immediately changed and headed out to enjoy the local foods and products from the Thais. This is where we truly began to see how far the dollar truly goes in Thailand.  We bought quite a bit of stuff, but paid very little in total.  We had a great time!! 

Mark was so excited to find his ratchet belts for dirt cheap...we've been looking on our trips for them, but hadn't had any luck.

Sushi heaven...YUUMMMM!!! 

This was our breakfast while in Chiang Mai and loved how she only made her smoothies with real fruit and no syrup or anything.  These were the best smoothies I had our entire trip. The smoothies cost about $1 USD.

During our last full day in Chiang Mai, Mark and I walked around the Old City and explored the temples and checked out another local market.

We visited the only silver temple in Thailand.  Unfortunately only Mark was able to go inside....

We went to the temple for their 5 oclock prayer and witnessed the giving of the alms (traditionally happens in the morning, but is when people give gifts to the monks) and their prayer ritual.

We couldn't think of a better way to end our time in Chiang Mai than to experience our first Thai massage, which we did for a whopping total of $6 USD per person.  

Green curry is one of my favorite Thai dishes

We landed in Koh Samui and thought their shuttles from the airplane to the airport were cute.

Mark continued the theme of having our room decorated for my birthday. :) 

Mark unfortunately didn't like his "fresh" ribs as much, but my fresh red snapper with Thai spices was delicious. 

View while eating breakfast each morning...pretty great way to start the day.

It was common to have Thais cooking meat and corn on the beach to sell.

We enjoyed several massages during our time in Koh Samui while listening to the waves crash and enjoying the beautiful view.

We saw tons of Christmas trees throughout Thailand. :)

Christmas Eve <3

Christmas Eve Dinner -  Mark had steak and I had Barracuda...both were excellent and cheap.  This meal was around $25 USD for the two of us, and was considered one of our "more expensive" meals. ;) 

We found a local church that had English services to celebrate Christmas. :) 

We were fortunate enough to Skype with both of our families on Christmas.  The 12-13 hour time difference made it a bit more challenging to figure out a time, but it all worked out well.  The connection was a bit fuzzy, but was wonderful seeing and talking with the family. Christmas doesn't feel the same when you are away from family and somewhere tropical, but enjoyed the Christmas trees and music playing everywhere we went. 

Thai cooking class - I can't wait to try this at home now! :) We made Pad Thai, Stir fry, and Red Curry.

We went to the street market for dinner and I discovered the best spring rolls I've ever tasted in my life, and they were a total of $1.  Anytime we ate street food, we spent less than $10 USD for the two of us to eat dinner.

Both of us were book worms on our trip and finished a couple of books each during our time.  It was so relaxing; I love sitting by the pool/beach and reading a good book.

We were leaving Chiang Mai and heading to Bangkok to finish our trip.

This was by far the most shopping we've done in the past 2 years...but we loved it! The prices were cheap and it was just fun to look at all of their stuff.  When we arrived in Bangkok we immediately dropped off our luggage and headed for their weekend market.  It was MASSIVE and took several hours to go through. Mark is holding my dresses as I continued to shop in the picture above.

It was so nice to have strawberries again!! They are hard to find in Doha and when you do they are extremely expensive.  So, I tried to get my fill in Thailand.

Mark and saying, "just one more tie?" He found GREAT deals on belts and probably bought a total of 10 for no more than a total of $30 USD. We felt like such high rollers, hahah!! :)

The Bannon's recommended this restaurant to us and was a great recommendation.  It was delicious! 

Mark had Thai wings and I had Massaman Curry.

Our hotel room in Bangkok was quite small, but couldn't complain about paying $25 USD/night.  Our bathroom was by far the funniest though...we walked and and saw the shower head was right when you walked in.  The picture above is me looking at the shower head trying to figure out how this was going to work.  The main thing to remember was to get the toilet paper out, or we were going to have a soggy roll to use.

Day 2 in Bangkok we used the ferry quite a bit to get to the different sites and enjoy the views.

Palace

Enjoying the ferry ride with this handsome man

We climbed the top of Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). The climb down was far scarier than the climb up.

I'll be honest we were a bit hesitant at first to go see the reclining buddha, as we weren't sure "what the big deal was about it". It didn't take long for us to see why this was a tourist attraction when we looked inside and saw this MASSIVE buddha statue.  The pictures don't do justice, but we were in awe with its size.

We took the ferry on our last night in Bangkok to enjoy the sites lit up.  IT was a gorgeous night and we enjoyed the ride.  We originally thought the ferry turned around after about 20-25 minutes, but an hour after continuing down the river we realized were were definitely mistaken.  Luckily a worker came up to us, as we were the only tourists on the ferry at that time, and told us to get off at the next stop because the ferry was nearing the end of its route for the night. She informed us another ferry would take us back in would be there in a few minutes.

We got our picture with Santa Claus in the Columbo, Sri Lanka airport on our way back to Doha.  :) 

We had a fantastic time and is on our list of places we would love to travel to again someday.  I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel like we have this past year.  

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I'm looking forward to what 2015 has in store for us, as it will be another year of adventure and transition.