Gimme an E! Gimme a....wait, what was I spelling?

Honestly, I have no idea.  I am in a bit of a fog or funk or something these last few days, largely because I am seriously tired (hey, Jet Lag, punching below the belt isn't--oof!), and life in Qatar is a series of daily adventures that seem to be taking a lot out of me.

Which is not to say we haven't had our small triumphs, because we have!  To whit:

• The boys have largely escaped jet lag after the first two unspeakable days/nights, which is a huge relief.  E is staying in his own bed most nights and can be led back when and if he does get up.  
• Our trip to the vegetable wholesale market was very fruitful (I couldn't resist!), and we cam back with nectarines, plums, peppers, rosemary, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, watermelon, mangoes, and onions for not a lot of money, particularly by Qatari standards (Qatar: where everything costs a gajillion more dollars than anywhere else!).  
• We have successfully gotten J into school and have plans to assess E for his preschool readiness (I'm secretly hoping he fails, to give him some more time to adjust--is that bad??).  In fact, school starts in a week, which is mind boggling!  
• We found a heated pool to which we have access, which is great because the pool in our compound, while the largest pool in Doha, is not yet heated (they say soon!  But they say a lot of things.) and the weather here is a tad chilly, really, truth be told.  I know, it's horrible to call it chilly in the high 60s to low 70s but at that temperature, the water is simply too cold for the boys to enjoy.
• Our house is lovely, a large two story condo with five bathroom and five bedrooms and even a backyard.  We are quite centrally located, or so I've been told (note to self: study map closely!), which will be especially nice when the school commute begins, and the largest bookstore in the city is almost within walking distance!  Okay, not really, it's over a mile away, and there are no sidewalks and NO ONE walks here and it's probably not safe to do anyway, particularly with the kids, but nonetheless, the bookstore is very close!  Huzzah!  I haven't been yet, but I will have a full report when I do!

Of course, we have also had our small annoyances, like our four hour ordeal with kids in tow to get my and the kids' residence permits.  Mine involved a chest X-ray and a blood draw and took a very long time with the kids hanging out in the parking lot with the husband and some other kids and dads while the wives/mothers who had just met got down to our skivvies gym class style for our X-rays.  Eventually, we all went to get finger pricks to be blood typed, and both our boys completely lost it in hysterical crying when they heard they needed to have their fingers poked with a needle.  E was able to pull it together long enough to have his done with relatively little fuss, though he cried pitifully for a long time afterwards that it was hurting.  J, on the other hand, required me to physically restrain him and pry his fists open so the tech could find a finger while he screamed and ranted at the top of his lungs.  Lovely.  Afterwards, of course, both boys admitted that it wasn't so bad, but by then our Egyptian handler had long since written us off.  Oh well!

And starting tomorrow I am going to have to start driving so I can be ready to act as family chauffeur once school starts a week from today.  Wish me luck!  The roads here are crazy, the drivers crazier, and the terror is high.  I will soon be conquering the roundabouts, folks, which I have to do because there are two on either side of us so I can't get home or away without running into them.  Courage!  Into the breach!  Yes!  Or something.....