Middle East Halloween

Our compound had halloween for the kids last night.  The donut challenge, bobbing for apples, mummy wrap, and candy scavenger hunt.  The kids had a blast and tore up the neighbourhood for an hour of so afterwards all hopped up on sugar.  I must admit, Halloween at 30C with sun is much different than Halloween at 10C with rain.  However, there is something to be said about hoping for the best weather but expecting the worst and then braving the Canadian elements.  Enjoy the pics!

Delivery guy

Chicken shawarma anyone?

Help for India

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting.  I am watching the traffic on our blog site.  To date we have had over 2000 visits!

As you probably know, two weeks ago a massive cyclone hit the eastern coast of India.

Here is a link to an article entitled, "India's Cyclone Phailin leaves trail of destruction".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-24510464 (copy and paste the link to your web browser)

Ali is one of our security guards at school.  This guy smiles and waves to us every morning.  He is such a nice person!  Ali is from India and he is the only income earner for his entire family.  He had made arrangements to be married over the Christmas holidays, but his plans were dashed have due to the financial burden left by Cyclone Phalin.  The cyclone destroyed his home and his family is currently living in a shelter with many others who have been displaced.  Of course, the situation is compounded by the sub-standard living situations that existed in many parts of India prior to the arrival of the devastation cyclone.

So, my wonderful wife took it upon herself to hold a bake sale at school today in support of Ali and his family.  Muffins, cookies, brownies, and a whole bunch of other goodies were sold for 5 Riyals a piece and an incredible 6300 Riyals was generated ($1735.00 CAN).  This will certainly have a big impact on their recovery and we can't wait to give Ali the good news!

Ali, keep on smiling :)

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

5am wake ups
9A Homeroom
9A/9B/9C Geography
10A/10B/10C Geography
10A/10B/10C Business
Grade 11 Standard Level/11 High Level Geography
Grade 12 Standard Level/12 High Level Geography
All new preps by the way...
Report cards due next week
Basketball games and practices
Rental car can't be returned until speeding ticket is cleared
Sporadic internet service
Family time
8pm, shut er' down.
Spare time...PRICELESS!

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

If a dog is not allowed to roam free pooping and peeing in people's backyards, should the same rules apply to cats?

The other day, I took Nate and Aislyn to the pool for a swim.  When we were done our swim, I dried Nate off with our towel that was hanging on the clothes line in our backyard the previous night.  I then dried myself off.  And then I took a wiff of something oddly familiar...hmmm...it smelled like cat pee.  It was cat pee that I wiped all over Nate and I.  Wonderful!

I am very pleased to report that I have not had cat poop or pee in my backyard for eight days.  I think that the 30 plus cats in our compound have finally realized that they are are not welcome at Umm Sulal Villa 16.  Various techniques have been employed including an orange peel, cinnamon and coffee concoction from David Suzuki's web site, water guns, vocal techniques, my right foot and finally a broom.

Meow :)

Smile and wave...

Here is the "hypothetical situation".

A family of four goes for Thanksgiving dinner to a colleagues house.  The family parks their car in a housing compound a short distance from the host's house.  Approximately 30 minutes after their arrival, the compound manager comes to the house and is somewhat angry.  So the visiting father, lets call him Ted,  goes outside to find that his vehicle has been blocked in by two vehicles.  There is a curb to the right, an SUV to the left and a Mini parked behind his car.  Unaware of the parking protocol at the compound, Ted patiently finds the owners of the vehicles and is essentially verbally accosted by the women of the house.  Yelling and swearing, the woman is incensed by the fact that Ted would park his car in front of her home without her permission.  So Ted, being the guy that a he is politely introduces himself and asks that she move her vehicle so that he can right his wrong.  She replies by saying that she will not be coming outside for 10 minutes.  All the while there are several cars that cannot get into or out of the compound because her SUV and Mini are blocking the traffic in both directions.  Horns are honking and blood pressure is rising, but Ted just keeps on smiling.  So since the women wouldn't be ready in 10 minutes, Ted asks her if she can be ready in two!  She then slams the door in Ted's face.  Ted thanks her for that and then he walks over to her Mini and lets the air out of her front right tire.  Ted takes great pride in what he has done.  He thinks to himself, I hope that she has a pump in her garage, because getting to work in the morning might be somewhat difficult.  Ted smiles and waits.  Eventually, the cars were moved and Ted returned to the Thanksgiving dinner with his family and friends.  

Ted is a happy man.

The Souq

We took at trip to the Souq last night.  It is the same as the Farmer's Market in St. Jacob's, just Middle Eastern style.  After trying to get a parking spot for about an hour, we finally made our way through the bustling corridors and and found a place to eat.  We had a nice meal with the kids in the roof top of an International Restaurant with a French name.  Too funny.  The food was good...hummus, tabbouleh, pita bread, kabobs, etc.  We walked through the Souq for a couple of hours and then spent an hour trying to get out of the parking lot.  Having hopped the curb with or car, I didn't have a parking ticket which caused a little bit of a problem for us.  We ended up paying 5 Riyals.  Pretty cheap.  The traffic is a nightmare here and it gets the better of you.  For example, I was trying to turn left in the parking lot.  Five cars would not let me in, and the last guy, he just rubbed me the wrong way.  I opened the door and just stared at him...I mean stared at him.  Linds corrected my judgement.  Good thing!  I was ready to strangle the dude.  Anyways, here are some more pics for you to look at.

The Museum of Modern Islamic Art...who knew!

Ham 1 and Ham 2.

Old wheel barrows used to move stuff around the market.

The Hookah or the Shisha...an Arabic tradition.

The Leap of Faith...

Yep...that's Aislyn!  Without Mom's permission of course.

A 9 story drop in only a couple of seconds.

Our trip to Dubai

We had a great time in Dubai.  The first night we stayed in a nice hotel just outside of the city.  We took the train down to the Burj Khalifa.  At 828 m, it is the tallest building in the world.  We went down to the Dubai Mall at night and managed to see the dancing fountains.  Check it out on You Tube.  The water cannons dance to the music…very impressive.  The next mooring we went to the roof top pool at the hotel which had a great view of the downtown area.  Our next stop was the Atlantis Resort on the Palm Jumeirah Island.  It is the island that looks like a palm tree when viewed from above.  The resort is a top notch facility with all of the stuff anyone could ever imagine doing.  The lazy river took 45 minutes to ground around and it had seven rapids that we floated down too many times to remember.  Aislyn and I snuck off to do the water slides including the Leap of Faith.  Ais really had to go pee, so I told her the quickest way down was on the biggest slide in the world, and she did it!  What a crazy kid.  The aquariums at the resort were incredible and we ate like champs that whole time we were there.  There was even a Kid's Park so that Linds and I could have some time away from the kids.  Very nice place that we would for sure go back to.

The one thing that I noticed and our cab driver pointed out is the fact that everything is fake.  Amidst all of the human made environments, there is a lack of natural space.  Heck, we stayed on an island shaped like a tree.  There is one natural space where birds migrate but you need to book a visit weeks in advance.  I am constantly reminded of how nice Canada is and how lucky we are.  All of the material stuff in the world cannot replace natural stuff.  It is just not the same.

Burj Khalifa at night.

At the Atlantis aquarium.

Nate and his buddy Mr. Grouper!

Amazing little creatures.

It is a massive aquarium!

And we're off!

It is 11 am local time and we have just finished packing for our trip to Dubai.  The Eid holiday has started and we are ready for some well-deserved R n' R.  The other night we ventured to the other side of the tracks and found some great shops.  In particular we found a sweet Turkish Restaurant.  The guys there were very nice to us and the kids.  They made fries for Ais and Nate and fixed Linds and I up some Turkish tea.  Linds spent some time with the girls the other night and our neighbour invited us over for dinner last night.  We will upload some photos once we get back.

Out for a desert walk.  It's hard to believe, but the kids love it.

Funny kids!

Some more pictures.

Sawing logs on the Dhow boat, Doha skyline in the back.

Playing in the dirt.

Our local mosque.

Out for a walk in the desert.

On the Dhow.

Some pics...just learning how to post! Oh, and we JUST got internet!

The Lock Bridge, outside the Louvre.

Ah...Paris.

On the bow of the Dhow.

Our compound pool.  Got out the other day and 36C felt cool!

Off to Dubai

We are off to Dubai this Saturday for four nights at The Atlantis.  Here is the link to their web site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrEazmUNts0&noredirect=1

This will be a very well-deserved family vacation.  The 5am wake ups are slowing us down and it will be nice to just hang out with the Nater and Ais for a few days, uninterrupted at a fantastic hotel.  We will take lots of pics and post them to the blog once we get back.

Ed

Get yer' used car here!

This past Sunday I spent several hours on Salwa Road trying to find a car for us to buy.  Salwa Road is the hot spot for new and used vehicles in Doha.  I stopped at a VW dealership.  The supervisor was trying to sell me a VW Toureg W12.  Two V6 engines side by side under the hood.  450 HP and 650 Ft. Lbs. of torque.  And...only one of 500 made.  A) We don't have the money and B) Good luck finding parts for a car like that in a place like this!  After that quick stop I headed over the Car Chex to have a 2006 Range Rover inspected.  If you can imagine a parking lots without lines and too many cars all heading in the wrong direction on either side of the lot, you will almost imagine the chaos that I was part of.  The cars were quadrupel parked. At one point, I was stuck and a local behind me was honking his horn at me.  Where the heck did he want me to go?  Patience is thin here, just like the common sense and courtesy.  So once I got to Car Chex, I had the car inspected and it had so issues.  At present, the guy who we are thinking of buying the vehicle off of has taken it to a garage for repairs.  We will see what will happen.  On my way home, I got a little lost.  It took me almost and hour and a half to get home and four traffic jams.  What a nightmare.  By the time I got back to our compound, I was wiped and went straight to bed.

Wish us luck.  We still have a rental!

Ed

Country and Culture

An Aboriginal guy said to me a little while ago, I think about it a lot, it reflects the whole human race.  And he said, "You know brother, there is culture and there is country.  Country will always take care of itself, whether the culture is good or not". - Xavier Rudd, Musician

I am pretty sure that I am living in a country that typifies this!!!  The culture is pretty bad here. We were ice skating tonight and I think that every obnoxious kid in Doha was there. From littering, to standing on tables, to getting in fist fights, we saw it all. And to top it off, a 18-20 year old pushed Nate off the bench to put his ice skates on.  I said to Ais, "Did that guy just push Nate?"  She said "Yes".  I shared some words with him and he said, "Is he crying?"  I took the high road, but use your imagination as to what might have been floating through my mind.

This is a crazy place. There is a new vehicle all smashed up on the side of the road everyday.  People drive like maniacs. They bud in front of you in line.  They don't hold the door open. They don't say thank you.  The list goes on and on.

I take great pride in imparting my values on my students.  I have talked to them about paying it forward. About asking people how they are doing. About stacking the chairs for my buddy Iqbal at the end of the day. About turning the lights off when the room is empty. Perhaps these little things will sink into the mind of one kid. Who knows?

We are off to a beach club tomorrow with some of the new staff. A much needed break for Linds and I. These 5am starts are catching up.  One more week of work and then a week off. We are going to Dubai for five nights. We are pretty excited to check it out!

See ya,

Ed