Ecuadorian Food Festival

Two extremely popular Ecuadorian chefs wandered into Doha and my taste buds are appreciative.  We attended the Ecuadorian food festival on Friday night and were not disappointed.  Good food and great company.

Ceviche station:

We are gearing up for more tasty meals because tomorrow is Jonathon's birthday!  Happy birthday Jonathon.  Thank you for being my best friend and adventure teammate.

Culture Shock Repeat

We experienced culture shock all over again after being back in our comfort zone (aka the US of A) for a month.  We found ourselves asking to same questions we asked when the moving van arrived 15 months ago.

1. Is driving like that legal? 
2. Cereal is HOW much?
3. Why is that child awake at midnight?
4. Where does the line start? No lines here?

There is a culture shock cycle that I summarized from here.  It is similar to ex-boyfriends/girlfriends.  After a while, you forget the bad things and remember the good things.

Stage 1: At first everything is new and exciting.  You think moving was the best decision ever.
Stage 2: The excitement wears off and you start asking "Why?"
Stage 3: You criticizes everything and everyone.  You want to get on the next returning flight.
Stage 4: Just accepting the new environment.

We tend to jump back and forth between all the stages.  I like to call it an emotional roller coaster.  It doesn't make me feel so crazy when it has a fun name.  The plus side is that all our friends here have experienced the same emotions and we can laugh about our craziness together.

On a lighter topic, Jonathon discovered the go kart track this week.  I promise we went with friends, but all those pictures turned out blurry.

In Qatar you might pay full price to watch half the movie.  For those complaining that the "Wolf of Wall Street" is too long, then please come watch the movie here in Qatar.  With censoring the movie is only two hours instead of three.

censorship-of-wolf-of-wall-street

Happy birthday Mike and Jonathon.  I know you will be celebrating together in spirit.

When Jet Lag Kicked Our Butts

We had a wonderful marathon trek through the States and arrived back Saturday morning about 2 in the AM.  (This is way past my bedtime.)  We weren't too tired, but knew we needed to try to sleep.  We climbed into bed and woke up 11 hours later.  I'm pretty sure that is the #1 rule with jet leg, don't sleep until 2 in the afternoon.  Rule breakers in da house.

I'm not even sure how that happened.  We slept on the plane and strategized about beating jet lag.  Basically overcoming 11 time zones is for party animals.  

source

The awesome thing about jet lag is that you get to be wide awake at 3AM and really tired at 3PM.  It is very helpful in the office setting.  No sarcasm involved, I have honestly enjoyed going to bed at 8PM and not feeling like a loser.   

We were feeling well adjusted by the weekend when it would have been appropriate to take an afternoon nap (as opposed to my office desk during the week).  It rained half an inch and we took that as a sign to take it easy.  We avoided the flood by decluttering our house.  You would be proud of my tuberware drawer.  Oh, these aren't the grand adventures you want to read about.  Okay, well we are working on our 2014 vacation schedule.  Check back later.

This week we did enjoy the things we missed while on vacation by eating record amounts of hummus and shawarma.  I was also thrilled to be greeted by 65-70 deg F running weather.  Look Mom, no coat.  

 

Happy birthday Trudy.  We hope Barney and Munchkin sing to you.  Happy birthday Grandpa Lyle.  We hope your day is full of smiles.

Happy 2014

Happy New Year!

(awkward leg alert)

We made it back to Doha, but before submitting to reality we made our final stops in Southern California and Nevada.

Once upon a time in a fair away kingdom, two jesters gathered with comrades to celebrate the hanging of a new calendar.  Rejoicing followed.

And we lived happily ever after.  The end.  

Happy birthday Mandy!  I am so glad that I got to see you.  You inspire me everyday.