Fog in the Forecast

Leaving my apartment building.  None of the buildings behind are visible.

Just when I thought the weather never changed in Doha, we received a bit of fog in the mornings this week.  It was actually quite pleasant to see a change.  I even had to turn on my headlights on my way to school.  The fog was also the reason I decided to leave early on Friday and go run along the water on the Corniche.   

So foggy...

Fridays are great days to take pictures while driving because no one is on the road!

The Museum of Islamic Art is right there.  Don't you see it?

By the time I had finished running, it was already clearing up.

It was fun watching all the fishermen enjoy their day of rest.

Doha.

This is My Life...

School, school, school.  That is what is going on right now in my life.  Sometimes I don't think I will ever have time for anything else.  Why did I become a teacher again?  Despite all the ups, downs, and never ending obstacles, I love my job.  I could not see myself doing anything else.  How could I not enjoy hanging out with people like this?

Dancing to "Waka Waka" by Shakira.

Learning about Colombia.

Learning about Venezuela.

Playing "Pato, pato, ganso."

Learning about the Mayans from none other than Ms. Houston herself!

Listening activity in Spanish.

Doing research for their Mayan projects.

Presenting their conversations that they wrote.

Being goof balls! :)

Busy at work on their ABC books.

More of the Venezuela presentation. 

It's the Small Things...

As you all know by now, I run.  On Saturday, I went to run in the evening at Aspire Park.  As I was making my way around the big loop, I saw this little girl playing in the grass.  She could not have older than 10 years old.  She had a long, beautiful, black ponytail and she was wearing a bright pink shirt.  She must have caught sight of me coming because she preceded to run across the field onto the path where I was running.  She had one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen.  She would look ahead for a little bit and then flash me her beautiful grin.  I said said hello to her, but she never said anything back.  She just kept running and smiling.  I should have tested out my mad Arabic skills on her, but I was enjoying our moment of smiles and running together.  She soon tired out and went back to play with her family.  Nevertheless, I had a running buddy for a brief minute or two.  So, like my title says, it's the small things in life that make a huge impression.  I was really wanting my camera in that moment, but perhaps it is best just left as a great memory in my mind!  It was precious.  So thank you to my little, mysterious, running buddy.  You helped to make my day a great one!

Aspire Park at sunset.

Happy Birthday Kristen!

Just this past weekend one of my best friends celebrated her birthday.  I did try to call her yesterday, but she often tends to not pick up the phone! :)  Just kidding Kristen!  I hope you had a wonderful day and celebrated well with your new husband!  We have been through a lot throughout the years and have created such great memories!  You know you have a great friend when you can just pick up where you left off!  Love you KK!

Kristen got married the day before I left to come to Doha.  Even though I couldn't be at her wedding, I was there in spirit!

Last summer, we all were able to enjoy being together for Mari's wedding!

BBF!

Well Being Awareness Week

Last week in the elementary schools, we celebrated Well Being Awareness Week.  This was a first time event for the students here at ASD.  The whole week was started off with an assembly in the gym and a quick lesson in zumba!  In order to help the students with their exercise logs and help the school embrace this great week, I took my Spanish classes outside to play some fun games in Spanish.  We played "Pato, pato, ganso" and "El gato y el raton."  You might know these as "Duck, duck, goose" and "Cat and Mouse."

5th grade.

5th grade.

2nd grade.

1st grade.

3rd grade

4th grade

2nd grade

4th grade.

Turkey Central

All the Fremont girls in Doha were able to get together for some tasty food at Turkey Central.  Who would of thought that 12 years later we would be meeting up for shawarmas in Qatar.

All I can say is YUM! :)

Shawarma meat.

The bread oven.

My friend Ann Durham, who has been at ASD for five years now, also documented this in her blog:  http://anndurham.blogspot.com/

All the Fremont girls got together for lunch at Turkey Central.  Thanks for the photo Ann!

On a side note, since ASD is so large, I still have to check out Ann's blog to find out what is going on in the middle/high school.  They have been up to some really neat things this year!  She has a great post about the weather in Doha and the massive cloud we encountered.

Museum of Islamic Art

Jen and I also went to the MIA!  I finally got to see all the exhibits.  It was so great to be able to spend some time reading up on all the wonderful history.  It brought back lots of reminders and memories of one of my favorite history classes at CMU (The History of the Middle East) with Dr. Robertson!

Here is a brief array of some of the pieces that the MIA has to offer.  I have some of the building itself since it is also a beautiful piece of artwork.

This is a turban helmet from Turkey from the early 16th century.  It contains a small stamp that indicates it was once kept in the Ottoman arsenal of St. Irene where arms and military regalia taken as booty by the Ottomans from Christians and other Muslim armies were stored.

There are lots of different pieces of jewelry from throughout the centuries.

It was so fascinating to see the progression and changes throughout the centuries as different groups of people had control of different parts of the Middle East.  There are so many different cultures that are documented and represented here.

In the fist pictures that I posted from this spot, the skyline was very clear.  However, on this day, it was VERY humid!

Jen really enjoyed the museum because she was able to really apply and put different things together from what she had learned in India.