Quick update

We're back from our fabulous trip to Greece for Eid and there is lots to share, many adventures to describe (why yes, we did almost drive a Fiat-sized car down a staircase on a Greek island!), and so very much to say about the food (the FOOD!), but suddenly, I don't have time for a travelogue at the moment.  School has started up again, the PTA is taking off, I've gotten a new assignment at church (online Seminary teacher, for those who know what that is), AND, biggest news of all, I've gotten a job!  It's only for the next 4-5 weeks, a freelance editing gig for a local organization, but they are on a very tight schedule, so I will be working more than full-time for the next little while to meet their deadlines.  I know, what?!  Something has gotten in the way of my busy blogging and television critiquing schedule?  Say it ain't so!  Alas, I will be MIA for the next little while, so I will just leave you with the following:

(SPOILER ALERT) So far I have seen very little of the fall TV season, but I have to say I'm disappointed that it's the Mormon character who kills someone and then commits suicide on the premiere of Quantico.  And why did he do this, you ask?  Oh, because he slept with a 14 year old on his mission in Malawi, got her pregnant, took her to get an abortion, and then kept the secret until he cracked under the pressure of day 2 at the FBI academy.  So many sighs, my friends, so many sighs. There are not enough words to describe the many ways in which this whole scenario is wrong.

And just a taste of Greece to tide you over, though there will be more to come, of course:

The Frankish Castle on Paros.

Typical architecture on Paros.

I had to get a new hat and new sunglasses at our first stop because
I somehow lost both between Doha and Athens.

On our way to the Parthenon.

Still going...it was a long walk up the Acropolis!

Very sweaty boys at the end of that day!

Enjoying one of our favorite meals, a giant pile of meat in the market!

The Kerameikos cemetery, one of our favorite places.

Up close and very personal with lemurs at Attica Zoological Park outside of Athens.

Favors and blessings

Time to accentuate the positive after that last post!

As I explained in an earlier post, our new neighbors did us a huge solid by volunteering to take us and our malfunctioning car to the repair place.  Earlier that week, when we first met at our bus parent meeting, I had offered to take them to school to get their uniforms one day and then again the next day for orientation and meeting the teachers.  Because I was going anyway.  And because they didn't have a car then (the day they drove us was the first day they got their new car).  And because moving to Doha is HARD, especially in the beginning (and sometimes in the during), and I remember what that was like and want to help ease the way in for nice people so they will feel inclined to stay.  And, in the end, it turned out to be fortuitous that I had garnered good will with these people since I ended up needing their help with the car and the boys and not only were they there, they volunteered!

At another point in that same week, another long-time neighbor asked if I could pick up some uniform pieces for his son when I went to get ours because his son and wife were still out of town and would miss the uniform buying period.  And of course I said I would, because I was going anyway, and I know how difficult it is to get off work to make it to these during the work day events.  I did mention that our car was in the shop (for the first time), so I wasn't sure which day I would actually go uniform shopping and our lovely neighbor offered his second car if we needed it, which was just so very nice of him.  We ended up using his car to transport ourselves to the repair shop and back, and we were very grateful, and then we had to take our car in the second time, on a Thursday night, so the car would be gone for at least the whole weekend, and our neighbor offered the car to us again to get us to church and then for as long as we needed it while his wife and son were gone.  And there his car sits, in our driveway, helping us out a jam while our car languishes in the repair place for an indefinite period of time.

Meanwhile, recently at church, the husband mentioned during one of the many "introduce yourself" sessions we have at the beginning of each school year here that he was going to stay in Doha as long as his job was worth it or his wife could stand it, whichever came first.  And a wonderful gentleman came up to him afterwards and asked how I was, how we were, and then volunteered to babysit the boys so we could take some time out for a date.  What was, again, absolutely nice of him and something we will obviously appreciate.  Long ago, when this man first arrived here, we took him to church a few times when he was carless and here he is now, offering the thing we need in the moment we need it most.

The husband gave me a pre-school blessing along with the boys and blessed me that I would recognize the people put into my life to help me and, I have to say, I've been happy to see these lifesavers for who they are.  Your network of friends, neighbors, and colleagues seems even more crucial when you're an expat, and I'm grateful for these and others who have helped and are helping us along the way!

Lows and blues

When I came back to Doha from the States last summer, it was a hard reentry.  I told myself it was because we hadn't even been in-country a full year yet, so perhaps we went back "too soon" and that was why returning to Qatar felt so...raw.  But then I went to my sister's wedding in February, and, even though I was only gone a week (which included 48 hours or so of travel time), I felt that painful reentry shock again, perhaps even worse than before because my trip had been so busy and short.  That time around, at least, I noticed something was wrong much more quickly than the time before, but that still didn't stop me from feeling incredibly cranky (PMS didn't help), wanting to spend (and actually spending) long periods of time in bed (only some of which was because of cramps--I come from a long line of sleepers: when the going gets tough, I sleep!), socially hibernating, and endless negativity.  I wasn't eating well or thinking very clearly.  The poor husband was seriously considering not letting me go back to the States ever again!  And yet, summer rolled around again, and off we went, this time for even longer than before, ten full weeks.  And now we're back, and once again I am feeling...a little off kilter.  I'm busy, don't get me wrong, but also somewhat unsettled and a bit...discontented.

This same sense of letdown happens even when we take vacations to other places where we don't see family or old friends, though to a lesser extent.  Those post-holiday blues are a little more understandable, actually: I spend a lot of time planning our trips and while we are taking them, I am constantly ON, shepherding us from place to place, cheerleading when things to awry, managing expectations, adjusting plans as needed, etc., so as soon as we get back and all that ends, it seems natural that I might take a few days to just chill.  But a few days is not a few weeks.  And these longer episodes are not me relaxing but rather retreating, burrowing, and hiding.

So, what does that all add up to?  To me, it sounds like a (perhaps not so) tiny little bit of depression.  You see, I'm no stranger to occasional bouts of the blues, and I have to say that being an expat has seemed to result in more frequent bouts so far.  I have never cried as much in my life as during my first two months here, not even after a stroke and a miscarriage!  I wondered if I would ever stop crying, but eventually, of course, I did.  And I am not crying now, or even sad, per se, it's just a bit of a downer to come back to all the craziness here after all the relaxation of the summer.

Because it was so very relaxing this summer!  Even when it was marginally stressful or aggravating, it was relaxing, because it was predictable, recognizable stress, the easy kind of aggravation to deal with.  I was only back a few weeks when the permanent knot between my shoulders disappeared entirely; it was sooo great!  And now...it's back, as the insane, unpredictable, mind-boggling stress rears its ugly head.  Boo!  And now the stress is even greater as we have found out that the hospital is facing an uncertain future.  Some lay-offs have already started to happen and the pace will only quicken, so we don't even know what will happen when the dust settles.  Lots of uncertainty abounds and I can do absolutely nothing about it!

So, what to do?  Expat blues blogs (yes, they're a thing!) tell me to "increase my self-care" and "find a new interest."  Yeah, not so much for me.  "Do not isolate yourself" works since that's impossible. I've got lots to do, which might now include downsizing a house in addition to the PTA and the library. "Go workout" is good advice whenever and yes, I've started that now that the school schedule has settled.  "Pick up a camera?"  Meh.  "Eating healthier" is part of the plan...just as soon as we get back from our Eid break trip to Greece (scheduled and paid for before all this happened).  "Give yourself something to look forward to." Actually, I do have some work to do for our Greek excursion, so there's always that: cope with the current place by planning the escape to the next place may not be healthy or recommended, but it's totally me!  And finally, "write it down" is what I'm doing right now--score!

So I'll keep you posted!  And good thoughts and prayers are appreciated!

School's in session

The first day of school finally (FINALLY!) came.  I thought it would never arrive.  The bus situation in the morning went relatively smoothly, but, before we headed to the bus, we got the requisite "morning of" pictures.  And here they are!

J super smiley!

Yawning--did I mention we got up at 5am since the buses
leave at 6:15pm?  Yeah, yawns all around!

E said "I hate it when you wet my hair and I look 17!

Which camera do we look at?

They can never keep their hands off each other!

J even got to take a picture of Daddy!

When did my boys get to be so big?  Not quite 17, but getting there!  I still don't love uniforms, but they certainly do make for sharp photos!

The first day of school turned out to be a mixed bag: E LOVED his day, even though his classroom teacher hasn't gotten her residence permit sorted out so he has been with his teaching assistant and his PE teacher for the time being.  J, on the other hand, had a DISASTROUS first day with many, many tears after school and emailing and calling between me and his (new to the school) teacher BUT he did rally and the second day was a smashing success.  Whew!

Seattle's best (Summer 2015)

Shortly after we arrived in the States, we took a side trip to Seattle to see my fabulous friends L and P and their child D.  P and I went to college together and L and I went to grad school together and then they got married and then I haven't seen them since, which was all sorts of tragic so I was so happy we got to see them and the kids got to meet!  And, of course, as I always say, all roads lead to Seattle!

We just went for a long weekend, but it was all sorts of fun, even if it was unseasonably hot for part of the time.  We walked a lot, ate a lot of frozen yogurt and fabulous food both at home and out, played a bunch, and talked and talked and talked.  Sigh.  Loved it, all of it!  And I didn't take too many pictures because I was having too much fun!

Look at the water!

A troll!

Love the captain pose at this playground near the beach.

We went to see the locks and the salmon.

They were being dragons taking over the castle.

Public sculpture is awesome!

In the giant glass ferris wheel over the water--so fun!

Don't let L fool you with her smile; she's terrified of the height. 

Near the market, happy as clams...

Until they realized the wall was covered in chewed gum: blech!

On our way to the airport.

Love the love!

Life goes on Doha-style

So today was new student orientation and meet the teacher day at the school(s).  We are not new students, of course, but we needed to be there for that meeting to introduce the PTA, so we were.  In total, I think there were maybe 12 new students attending, if I'm being a generous estimator, though I know there are at least that many new students in our compound alone, not to mention those in other compounds.  So...not well attended.  But, on the plus side, at least there was orientation at all this year, so there's that!  So many, many baby steps.

Then we were off to meet J's new second grade teacher, Miss S (we do first names here--it weirds all the newbies out and is a good barometer for me for how flexible the new folks are).  Miss S commented on the first name business but didn't insist the kids call her something else, so that's a middle of the road reaction. We'll see what she does next. She did manage to make J and his classmate L laugh while chatting with them, so that was a point in her favor.  She did seem to know her way around a classroom, so I'm waiting with guarded optimism to see what shakes out for him this year.  Her classroom wasn't put together at all and was quite depressing, actually, but it's entirely possible she arrived here two days ago and is still sleep-deprived and doesn't have all her "stuff" together.  I'm concerned because I've had some deep reservations about this year for J, mainly having to do with his class grouping.  Until now, the school has kept the Western expat kids together, a deplorable strategy in terms of inclusiveness and diversity BUT a hugely successful strategy for a child like mine, who loves rules and can't abide rule-breakers, since the other classes were filled with children for whom rules are a brand new invention. This year, however, I guess they have decided to break up the band and scatter the Westerners throughout the four classes, a move I support in theory, but I will be interested to see how it works out in practice.  Fingers crossed!

After meeting with J's teacher and seeing some old friends, we headed over to E's new campus to meet his new teacher, Ms M.  Don't even get me started about how far away his new campus is--the school facilities themselves are ADORABLE, but the school is located in the middle of nowhere (and that's really saying something for Doha!) so it's a trek and a half to get there.  But off we pushed with a new girl E's age who moved into our compound over the summer and her mother.  And there we met E's new teacher and if I am meh about J's teacher, I am beyond thrilled about E's.  She actually came to us from the school we were trying to switch E into last year, and she was all sorts of welcoming and engaging and interested and interesting and it was the kind of teacher meeting you hope for.  Plus her classroom was all sorts of bright and fun and playful and looks like the kind of place where E will be very happy.  She also said, when I introduced myself, "Oh, everyone said I was so lucky because I had the PTA president's child in my class!" so points for remembering that and more points for saying it.  I think we'll get along just fine!

And it was a good thing that that meeting went well because quite a few of my impromptu meetings with parents on the way out went less well.  Apparently, everyone was waiting around for a PTA to form so they could complain to someone instead of taking their concerns to the admin directly.  Yaaayyy...sigh. The current set of problems revolve around transportation and since I figured it out for my compound and am now in charge of the PTA, everyone thinks I should do the same for them.  Umm, no, that's not actually my job.  It's your job to rally the parents near you and work it out.  I'm happy to share our information and contacts, but the legwork is your responsibility, not mine, and not the PTA's.  I think I had to say that about 20 times today, making enemies every single time, no matter how much I sugar-coated it.  Double sigh.

And THEN, as we were on our way home, the car AC went out completely.  This is a DIRE event in the heat of summer.  We had had this happen once before and we took the car in promptly, but they couldn't find the problem and then it started working, so they told us to bring it right in if it happened again.  But I had the boys in the car with me, plus I was leading the new family back in their car to our compound, so I pulled over, told them what had happened and was getting ready to give them directions to the houses when they volunteered to take the boys in their car, follow me to the Honda repair place, and then take us all back home.  Which was INCREDIBLY nice of them, and completely necessary since the boys' cheeks were already flushed and E was crying about the heat, so we shuffled them off to their nice, cool car, I rolled down my windows in a futile attempt to convince myself it wasn't boiling in the car, and off we went.  Did I mention the school is really, really far away from everything?  Well, it turns out it is as far away from the industrial area where the car repair shop is as anything can be and still be in the same town.  By the time we got there, I was dripping in sweat, sitting in a pool of sweat, and brushing the sweat out of my eyes so I could see.  On the way home, the wife insisted I sit in the front seat because "look at you; you need the AC!"

Eventually we all made it back, from our very long, very trying day.  I'm ready for school to start so we can just get on with things--hopefully in a car with a functional AC!

Provo Summer 2015 (Part 1)

We began our trip to the US this time and Grandeur and Grandest's house and spent lots of time playing with cousins and exploring during that first week.

Drawing was a popular past time!

J got a new hat!  E also got one later, a real-life cowboy hat because
he informed me he was going to be a cowboy when he grew up.  Since when?!

At the base of Bridal Veil Falls.

Climbing as far up Bridal Veil falls as we could barefoot. 

We made it back down safely!

And we went swimming with our cousins--I love that we are
at the age where I can relax in the shade while they play around
in the water, sometimes completely out of sight when they go on
the water slides.  Amazing! 

We went to see the dinosaurs at the zoo with our cousins.

Lots of love!

And a bald eagle, much to E's delight! 

He even found one of the merry-go-round.

J on the zoo train.

E at the mall.

Playing with sidewalk paint at the grandparents' house.

It was a restful beginning to our big summer, with no schedule and nothing much to do besides play and get over our jet lag, which they managed very well, thank goodness!  And even though everyone around us kept complaining of the heat (and, in fact, those were the hottest temperatures we experienced all summer), to us the weather was a relief after the punishing heat at the end of the school year in Doha!