Happy New Year! I hope you are having a wonderful beginning to 2013. We must be playing nicely with others, because we are making lots of new friends. (No need to worry long term friends reading, none of these new friends are better than any of you guys.) This past week we were Mr. and Mrs. Popular.
Thursday night some friends in the compound had us over for game night. We played two new-to-us games, Wits & Wages and Trans Europa, and we played the beloved Cribbage. I hope game night will be a reoccurring event. I'm a nerd and have no shame in admitting that game night was a blast.
Friday morning (holy day in Qatar) we went to church for the first time since we got here. The church was nondenominational and very low key. A villa has been turned into a sanctuary and there is not an official pastor, so members of the congregation lead the service. It feels more like a bible study, but the fact that services are held is impressive to me. There are many countries that are primarily Muslim where other religions are not allowed to meet for worship.
On Friday evening the men played cards while the ladies gathered in another villa and chatted the night away. Then on Saturday we went boating with a co-worker and actually swam in the gulf in December. It was definitely chilly, but we are enjoying the sunshine and lack of snow.
Last night we rung in the new year at a friend's party. Doha doesn't celebrate New Year's Eve like the United States. There weren't any fireworks, countdowns, or disco balls being dropped. Most companies did not give their employees the day off today, but it was a holiday for us. Today we enjoyed our vacation by sleeping in, cleaning (yes, I'm expecting you to be impressed because I cleaned 5 toilets), and then watching some matches at the Qatar Tennis Open.
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| Trans Europa Board Game |
Friday morning (holy day in Qatar) we went to church for the first time since we got here. The church was nondenominational and very low key. A villa has been turned into a sanctuary and there is not an official pastor, so members of the congregation lead the service. It feels more like a bible study, but the fact that services are held is impressive to me. There are many countries that are primarily Muslim where other religions are not allowed to meet for worship.
On Friday evening the men played cards while the ladies gathered in another villa and chatted the night away. Then on Saturday we went boating with a co-worker and actually swam in the gulf in December. It was definitely chilly, but we are enjoying the sunshine and lack of snow.
Last night we rung in the new year at a friend's party. Doha doesn't celebrate New Year's Eve like the United States. There weren't any fireworks, countdowns, or disco balls being dropped. Most companies did not give their employees the day off today, but it was a holiday for us. Today we enjoyed our vacation by sleeping in, cleaning (yes, I'm expecting you to be impressed because I cleaned 5 toilets), and then watching some matches at the Qatar Tennis Open.
We are looking forward to even more adventures in 2013. We hope 2013 finds you in good health and is filled with happiness. Happy belated birthday Jay. Thanks for letting me watch 100+ hours of Sopranos with you so I can be paranoid for life.
I think I am more impressed that you have five toilets.
ReplyDeleteThanks girl—happy new year to the both of you. I am not sure how I got away with anyone else wanting to watch the Sopranos with me. However I think it has something to do with you being awesome (and only a couple years of counseling as a side effect).
ReplyDeleteMeg and I have enjoyed catching up with you via the interwebs and look forward to hanging out with you soon.