Office Supply Artwork

No last minute trips to Europe this week, so here is my weak attempt to entertain you.  I know I get excited easily, but I was pretty impressed with the latest artwork at the mall.  It is made from sticky notes.



 

Shake It Up

We didn’t want to be too predictable, so this week we shook it up and even keep ourselves guessing.  I made my first trip offshore and spent the night at our platform.  It took about 25 minutes by helicopter to reach the platform. 

 

 Source: offshore-technology.com    

Around 4pm on Wednesday, Jonathon learned that he was headed to Brussels, Belgium on the 2am flight for work.  He enjoyed the cold weather for a few minutes, but then his fingers froze and he wasn’t as jealous of our friends in all the glorious snow storms.  He endured the cold and went sightseeing so he could provide these amazing photos for your viewing pleasure.

 

  
 
 

 

 He came back with waffles and chocolate.  My husband is a smart man and knows how to keep me happy.  Who knows what next week will hold for us, but we are looking forward to the possibilities.  We hope you have a great week too.      

Abu Dhabi

Happy belated birthday to Jonna!  We celebrated in your honor all week long.  We hope you had a fun filled birthday.

Last Tuesday, Feb 12^th was a holiday in Qatar.  It was Sport’s Day; a day to promote being active (and decrease obesity).  I support any holiday where we get the day off of work.  We celebrated by sleeping in and going to the beach.  In order to at least say we did something active, we played volleyball, Frisbee, and nerf football (American football, the kind we are too often reminder by the Europeans that you actually play with your hands not your feet).

This past weekend we had a grand time in Abu Dhabi.  Abu Dhabi is located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is only a 35 minute plane ride away.  The UAE is a country made up of seven emirates each governed by a different emir.  Think of it as seven different states each having a different governor.  Abu Dhabi and Dubai (where we traveled to in December) are two of the seven emirates.  The two towns are only 80 miles away from Dubai.

(Look who learned to use a photo editor.  This is a real blog now!)  We really enjoyed our time in Abu Dhabi.  We were uber tourists and went on the Big Bus Tour.  It was a great overview of what Abu Dhabi has to offer.

The Emirates Palace Hotel is a seven star hotel and cost about $3 Billion to build.

 

 

 

Chris, these are the building from the article you sent Jonathon. 

We toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque main prayer room.  This Grand Mosque is the largest mosque outside of Saudi Arabia.  It can hold 40,000 people.  There is a time block in the morning between prayer times when non-Muslims are able to visit.  We had to remove our shoes and I wore Harry Potter’s invisible cloak.    

 

 

 

 

 

Kelsy Potter

Now that we feel settled, we have the travel bug.  We are looking forward to many grand adventures over the next few years.  We are planning our first large trip to Malaysia in April.

The Honeymoon Stage Is Over

You guys are in for a real treat, because I think I’m particularly funny today.  To escape the endless humor, please select the red X in the upper right hand corner of your screen.  Consider yourself warned.

Lately I’ve been having a lot of 1^st world problems.  If you aren’t familiar with 1^st world problems, they are problems that people living in third world nations would love to have.  Some examples are, “This morning Starbucks was out of soy milk so I had to get skim” or “My fingers are too big for the keyboard on my new I-phone 12.”

I was complaining about one of my 1^st world problems to our board gaming friends (who lived in Oman prior to Qatar).  Here is a dramatization of our conversation: 

Me:  Does your dish washer work well?  Ours never gets the silverware clean. 

Gamer: (full belly laugh) Are you adding salt to the dish washer?

Me: No.  I’m not stupid.

Gamer: (more laughter) You need to add salt.

Me:  (blank stare)

Gamer: Seriously you have to add salt.

The villa showed me up again.  Gamer #1 showed me the secret compartment where you add salt to the dish washer.  I still have no clue why you need to add salt, but I don’t care one little bit because my dishes are oh so sparkly now.

The intent of this post is not to be negative, but the initial moving high has worn off and I am starting to miss simple things that I really used to take for granted.  Things I miss:

1. Obviously all of you
2. Swiffer
• You can only buy mops and buckets here, but the mops stink.  The mops look like the ones the janitors used in your elementary school.  There aren’t any of those fancy mops that fold in half and squeeze out the water.  You have to squeeze out the water but twisting it in your own hands.  Mopping takes ten times longer without my Swiffer friend.  Treasure your Swiffers people, treasure them.
3. Spin and yoga class
• Some times kicking your our butt isn't as good as someone else yelling at you. 
4. Maple syrup
• There actually is maple syrup here, but it costs about $15 per cup.  No maple trees in the desert.
5. Pulled pork sandwiches
• To be fair, I have missed pulled pork sandwiches since moving away from Lawrence, but since pork is forbidden it makes it seems so much better.  I seriously had a dream about Vermont Street BBQ.  It was beautiful.
6. Running being normal
• There are so many things different about running.  People stare at me when I go running.  It is not as common for females to run here, but since sidewalks don't exist I am forced to go run in the most popular park along the ocean.  This park is full of people who like to stare at me.  I can't run in shorts.  On warm days my sweat evaporates automatically and I am just left with a layer of salt clogging my pores. 
7. Sundresses
• I will miss these more in the summer months.  My knees miss sunlight.
8. Seasons
• I'm jealous that I'm not in the monster storm on the East coast. 
9. KU basketball
• Some mornings we wake-up and are able to watch some hoops while eating our cereal.
10. Easy communication

 Last night we embraced the fact that we lived in Texas for three years and did some two steppin' at the Texas A&M Boot Scoot.  There is a branch of A&M in Doha.

 

 

Yes, that is a huge container of salsa between us at the table.  We were very happy.

 

 

I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night, And Party Every Day

Jonathon's birthday was on Sunday and we celebrated in style.  Happy birthday to the greatest hubby ever.

 

 

 

 

We meant business

 

Reminders that we live in Qatar:

Our view at the roundabout

 

Camels hanging out next to a parking lot

 

Birthday Party Weekend

Tomorrow is Jonathon's birthday so we started the party early by going to the Qatar Masters tournament which is on the European golf tour.

The weather was really nice and we got to watch some riveting golf.  My favorite part was when a ball was hit into the crowd.  There were bleachers set up at the 18th hole, or you could walk the course and follow around a specific golfer.  We aren't true groupies so we just watches various golfers.

 

Since we had to be so quiet during the golfing, we were given adequate time to be loud at an after party.  FYI, Natasha Bedingfield is not washed out.  She is rocking out at Masters golf tournaments in Doha.  It reminded me of dancing around the apartment with Meghan.

 

 

My knee made a full recovery, so this morning I did a little of this:

 



 



Okay, that picture was misleading.  It was just a half, but I PRed!  If you want to PR you should run this race, because it is the flattest race ever.

 

 

Jonathon was at the finish line to capture my sweaty glory.  In my head I looked a lot more enthusiastic than that.  Now we are off to partake in more birthday celebrating.

Payback

It is payback time.  While we were in Houston I got to travel internationally with work and now the tables have turned.  This morning Jonathon hopped on a plane headed to London and left me in the dust.  I know it is a work trip, but I am still jealous.  He will be back in time though to celebrate his birthday on Sunday (hint, hint).

This post is short and sweet (because there is a picture of chocolate).  We were busy this weekend, which wasn’t a bad thing.  We had our routine game night and softball game, but added a few new social events.  Being popular is exhausting.

I was shocked myself, but it was actually pretty chilly here the beginning of last week.  It was 54 deg F.  Don't trust the date the car says.

 

 

 

Friday we met some friends at a brunch.  Brunches are very popular here.  All the hotels have a Friday brunch that is all you can eat (and drink) for three hours.  Some people were warriors and really made every minute count.  We were newbies and still need to tweak our strategies.  I ate way too much. 

 

 

We went to the Hyatt and the brunch was served a short walk from the beach. 

 

 

 

 

 

I was extra impressed that they had a milk chocolate AND white chocolate fountain.  I should have spent the entire time at these beauties.  Jonathon was too busy getting a sugar high to look at the camera.

 

Saturday we attended a cooking demonstration and then got to eat the meal we just learned to cook.  We learned to make sweet and sour pawns and caramelized duck.  We wear fancy pants now.

Happy belated birthday to Grandpa Lyle!  We thought about you lots and hope you had a great day.  Happy early birthday Mike!  Badger where?