Whoa! Rain is in the forecast!

Weather Forecast for Doha, Qatar

Currently
78°
Blowing Dust and Windy (and yes it is)

10-Day Forecast
Tonight
Rain Late
68°
70 % of Precip.

Thu Mar 26
Rain / Thunder
77°/67°
70 % of Precip.

Fri Mar 27
AM Light Rain
79°/68°
60 % of Precip.

Sat Mar 28
PM Light Rain
82°/69°
60 % of Precip.

Sun Mar 29
T-Showers
81°/68°
40 % of Precip.

Mon Mar 30
Mostly Sunny
82°/67°
10 % of Precip.

Tue Mar 31
Sunny
81°/65°
0 % of Precip.

Wed Apr 01
Mostly Sunny
83°/65°
0 % of Precip.

Thu Apr 02
Partly Cloudy
83°/67°
0 % of Precip.

Fri Apr 03
Partly Cloudy
82°/67°
0 % of Precip.

Weather.com
Last Updated Mar 25 04:27 p.m. Local Time

WHAT IS THIS?

HOME

I am back in Do-ha-ha after a much needed break at home in Washington (Seattle for a little over a week for the NASPA conference and LASIK surgery (no more glasses!) and then Sedro-Woolley to kick it with family for another week). So my bloggy blog needs an update. Here ya nerdfaces go!

Flight over via Amsterdam

Flying all fancy like in business class and using those fancy lounges at airports is quite illuminating. Talk about privilege galore - nothing but upper middle class or above white dudes who are not very nice. Studying the isms at an airport would be an awesome PhD disseration. If only I could get funding to pursue it... For instance, "Instead of fowl for your appetizer, we have duck. Our apologies for the inconvenience," said one of the flight attendant. See what I am talking about? This girl would much rather eat french fries. But KLM has the best juice, specifically their OJ! I had at least 10 servings of it in damn champagne glasses. I could not get enough of it! And they have these delightful little waffle chips. They would be amazing with ice cream!

Seattle

I realized the Pike Place Market is just as good as nearly any souq, bazaar, or market I have been to on my adventures around the globe. Many people seem to have an urge to travel across the seas to experience such a thing when we got probably one of the best in the world right in our backyard!

Good to be back in the Northwest. Loved seeing friends...and I got a good fix of much needed love, support and laughs! Ate a lot of Dick's - one or two cheeseburgers (depended on how hungry I was) and a milkshake (would rotate between the three flavors). Walked a lot...and I loved feeling the fresh cool air. Rode the bus a lot (as well as chased after it when I was running late, but I always seemed to catch it). Got a good helping of Mexican food (Agua Verde, La Carta De Oaxaca, Cocina Esperanza...). Shopped at Value Village (I would shop there even if I was a billionaire). It was all good!

The NASPA conference was excellent. Received some much needed professional development and subsequently some good intellectual stimulation. I went to many great sessions and our presentation on our sustainability efforts, even though I was a bit frustrated with our preparation process, went quite well. My favorite session was actually the opening event with Dr. Bernice Berry. Lessons pulled from her amazing talk:

1. Find your purpose and live it. It is your calling.

2. The answers lie in our stories.

3. Laugh. And express gratitude.

4. Ubuntu - "I am because we are."

5. To receive love, you gotta give.

The last photo of me wearing glasses! I am smooshing the Space Needle! My note to all folks looking for a great photo of Seattle: Go to Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill. It offers amazing views of the city.

Here is my Syracuse buddy Idriss making fun of me with some stupid glasses he sported for nearly two days.

I think God is sending me a sign. I always seemed to notice the British Air flight coming or going over Seattle during the six years I lived there. And I noticed it nearly daily on this trip! See photo as evidence. And THEN when I was in the Sheraton for various meetings for NASPA, I ran into the crew on three separate occasions! It is a sign, but I cannot figure out what it is supposed to mean. And, look, blue sky in Seattle!

Lasik was TRIPPY. It did not hurt (except my pocketbook...), but since I have a serious thing about shit (sorry...) near my eyes (and thus why I never wore contacts or you never see me with lots of eyeliner), it was at times an agonizing experience for me with all the poking, prodding, drops... And the actual procedure had me thinking I was a patient in a messed up alien experiment. But I am now so glad I did it because I can see perfectly!

The Syracuse versus Connecticut game was EPIC. My dad and I watched it in our hotel room in Seattle after my surgery (yep, I could see...but I was sporting the sexiest googles ever). Six overtimes and SU pulled it off! But I hated seeing the frequent replay of Devendorf's amazing shot at the end of the original game that ended up not counting. Felt like ESPN was rubbing it in that, while amazing, it was no good. But they battled it out until the end and came out on top. And now it is time for March Madness! Too bad I will be limited to recaps from the web. Errr...

Sedro-Woolley

Home! Spent time with mis padres, but most of my time was spent watching TV with Ruby and Otis (their two dogs) since my folks were busy with work. I also took care of stuff, particularly concerning my finances, I cannot do in Qatar. I also went through all my shit (sorry...) in storage. I cannot wait to get all that stuff out of there and actually use it in a place of my own. This girl has an urge to put down some roots. I am tired of being a nomad. However, I could never live in Woolley. Within a matter of days, I was bored out of my mind. I love my folks, but I cannot live in the exburbs again. But it was still really nice to just do absolutely nothing since I am constantly working in Doha.

The trek back to Doha via Amsterdam

The trip back was more of the same, but I had a longer layover in Amsterdam and thus I went into the city for a few hours. I heart Amsterdam. But before my field trip to Amsterdam, I watched the movie Twlight to try figure out what all the dang fuss is about. It was watchable, but nothing great (and frankly the lead actress annoyed the crap out of me). But what I could not get past was the portrayal of Forks, WA (where the story is set) as a diverse community when in reality it is a very homogeneous place. Do not believe me? Check out the most recent census (it is pretty bad). ANYWAY, the Netherlands might be utopia for me - bikes, trains, wind turbines, cool architecture with lots of light and plants (regardless if the structure is old or new), excellent food... It is just so darn efficient and frankly I feel like it simply has its shit (sorry...) together. If I was into urban planning, I would study there. But I am not. But what I do have is an amazing sense of direction. Seriously. I had no map and just went off my memory/what I felt was right and found everything perfectly (the little place with mad good poffertjes, the bike store with cool bike toys, the flower market...)! I am like a human version of Tom Tom or Garmin! And it was so great to watch Amsterdam wake up on such a beautiful day! However, since I have been to Amsterdam before, I did not take many pictures, but here are a couple:

Nice shoes, my friend. Why do guys think white shoes, especially with SWEATPANTS, look good? You could be the hottest dude on the planet, but you will ruin it for me with white shoes.

Darth Vader and Batman about to battle it out. The nerd in me found this absolutely amazing. This is exactly why I love Amsterdam.

I dedicate this photo to Michelle in memory of our exploits on bikes (as well as our feet) around the Netherlands in July 2007. Those were the days...

The end.

Coming to America

I am coming home TOMORROW! It does not seem real (except for the big pile of stuff in the middle of my apartment that I need to pack). I am not sure I will believe it even when I am actually making the long trek back (via Saudi Arabia and Amsterdam...two places that could not be more different). There has been so much back and forth for months about if I would be able to make the trip or not. I finally got my plane ticket just last week. Why am I going? I am attending the NASPA conference in Seattle (home!). I will get some much craved professional development and I will also be presenting on QF's sustainability efforts. And then I am extending my stay for a little over a week to just have a dang break! This girl needs one! The plan thus far is to:

1. Go to Dick's Drive-In at least once to get my fix of two little perfect cheeseburgers and a milkshake

2. Go shopping at Value Village

3. Eat Mexican food in some capacity nearly each day

4. Spend loads of time with friends and family (hit me up!)

5. Work on my finances a bit - do my taxes, put some dinero in my Roth, buy some stock...

6. Organize some of my stuff in storage

7. Ride a bike

8. Get Lasik - 12 March is the big day

9. Enjoy a beverage or two

10. Go on really long runs outside

And then I head back to Doha on Friday, 20 March. Nooo!!! But little momma will be moving back to the States this July!

What a good weekend!

This weekend was actually a pretty eventful weekend! And here is why:

I played a soccer/football on Thursday night. I was asked by a colleague at Carnegie Mellon to play on the Doha Rugby Club's soccer/football team for this ladies tournament happening at Aspire (the fancy sports training complex). I said yes not really knowing what I was getting myself into because I just wanted to friggin' play some ball. And by not knowing what I was getting myself into I mean walking into the stadium and feeling like I was on another planet. Everything is in Arabic. All ladies, no guys (BTW I could never imagine not having my dad at one of my games...I respect the culture, but it is so sad). Lots of staring by local women at the unusual sight of a few Westerns in their presense. And Security takes your mobile so you cannot take photos (it is like a coat check, including receiving a number for your mobile (mine was number 174) to reclaim later...and then they put it with the thousands of other phones in a few suitcases in the corner). And they do these fancy introduction of everyone before the games (when they called my name I totally did a funky curtsey...it rocked compared to the serious Nazi-like salutes of nearly everyone else...you gotta have fun, people, in an environment like this!). But we lost 1-0. It was so frustrating! We were way better than the other team. I am not going to lie and I know I sound full of myself, but I could handle about three of their players at a time. But you cannot win games on your own own and we defeated ourselves almost immediately. Many of my teammates were intimidated (I am finding not much really freaks me out nowadays thanks to my time here in Qatar). Plus, since we (except for little me) were bigger, I think many of my teammates were afraid of doing damage to one of our opponents. I do not mind losing if you give 100%, but if you do not, I get REALLY frustrated. I even tried to create a little magic in the second half to help us get more shots on goal by colliding with players on the other team, especially down on their end, and then overdoing a fall to get a call (I think I could win an Academy Award for acting out these falls because they are done just right - I do not act like I get injured or cry or anything like that, I just use my small size to my advantage). But it was still a very cool cultural experience.

And then on Friday I took a few students to the American School of Doha to volunteer at their Friendship Festival (do a green audit and then help out with games and such). ASD might be the nicest K-12 school I have ever seen (I think it kind of looks like a cruise ship) and thus I do not know why they need to do fundraisers like this. I just hope the money raised goes to scholarships to help kids whose families do not have the means for such a great education. But volunteering nevertheless was a lot of fun. I ate a lot of ice cream and ran the bowling booth. My booth was very popular with the kiddies. I even roped in two kids - Alexa (5) and Sebastian (6) from Venezuela - to help me run the booth. They made sure others stayed in line (because usually there was a line), they helped me collect and deliver balls, they loved counting the number of pins out loud to let the kids know how many pins they successfully knocked down, and they REALLY loved cheering on the other kids. We were a great little team. One of my favorite moments of the day was when Alexa asked me where I was from and my answer was, "You tell me." She then said, "The North Pole!" "Not quite," I responded. Then Sebastian said seriously, "Russia." I finally told them the United States and in unison they said, "Really?" It was great. Being around kids is good for the soul, or at least my soul. There is supposedly a couple great pictures of the three of us at work and so if I get them, I will try to remember to post them.

And THEN yesterday I went on my first and likely last (because it is starting to get really hot again) desert trip. I went with a colleague who works at Texas A&M and some of his friends from his church (many who were at the ASD Friendship Festival and remembered me: "You did bowling yesterday! My kids could not get enough of that!"). They go out to the desert at least once a month (but usually more) and thus I felt I was in good hands (in fact, the two leaders of the group (there were nine SUVs total) are I guess pilots for the Emir and thus fly Qatar's equivalent of Air Force One). It was quite bumpy at times, but a whole lot of fun! Here are some photos:

Off we go!

It kind of randomly reminded me of skiing...

Made it! There was a really steep dune that a couple of the SUVs had trouble going up. But in the end everyone got up it. We got up it in our first try with power to spare. I learned it is good to have a light SUV with a powerful engine.

Now I think this is a dope picture of me on top of a massive dune. Thanks, Justin!

About to go down a really massive dune. Yikes!

And down we go! It does not look that steep from this angle, but it is. Trust me. But I would have loved to sled down it.

Driving through one of the flat areas.

Stuck! The sand in some spots can be really soft and thus a heavier SUV needs to be careful or it could get stuck...and that is exactly what happened to this guy. But that is why you go in groups with experienced folks who know how to remedy the situation.

Just a picture of some of the dunes. I used a setting on my camera to intensify the color.

That is Saudi Arabia across the Inland Sea! Ahhhhhh!

I think it kind of looks like the Badlands of South Dakota (minus the water).

Time to play in the Inland Sea and BBQ it up!

The water was so clear...and kind of cold (I was surprised that it was not super hot). But it felt so good!

Me in my bikini. Swimming in the waters of conservative Qatar. With ultraconservative Saudi in the background. And a sand/duststorm is developing. Am I the only one who finds this picture amazing?

Driving home. Nothing but flat desert!


So that is that! And in 24 hours I will be on my way to the airport for a trip HOME!!!