Hi Everyone!
The Asian Games have begun and the road in front of our house is finished! The big hotel with the flame on top has been "fired-up," we can see it from our house. We were able to see the amazing fireworks display from our bedroom window on the opening night. A lot has happened in the last month. We celebrated Halloween - the girls went dressed as cave people. Simple dresses made from an animal print fleece blanket; complete with bone clubs and Eve in her "Pebbles Flintstone" hairdo. We had trick or treat on the compound, had to explain it to the Danish and French who were not sure what it was all about, but quite a few people decorated and passed out candy. I really had to search for pumpkins, which I finally found at the wholesale market. This is where you have to haggle over the price and all of the veggie and fruit sellers try to get you to come to their stand. I think I wound up paying roughly $10 for two decent sized, but oddly shaped pumpkins. They were more brownish orange on the outside and the skin was very very thick and hard to cut. The inside of the pumpkin however, was the most brilliant orange I've seen.
For Thanksgiving, we had a progressive dinner with the other American families on the compound. We hosted drinks and appetizers, Ann and Warren (the Drs. I mentioned last time) hosted the main event and Kelcey and Thierry (he's French, but we forgive him) hosted dessert and have a big TV and a sports package so we could see the football games. I made roasted shallots and carrots and snow peas. If you read Kelceys blog, "the doha daily" http://kgrandsire.blogspot.com/2006/11/doha-daily-112706.html you'll find out why I had to make snowpeas instead of greenbeans. You'll also see a picture of Tessa. As an aside, Kelcey has done a superb job documenting our compound and a lot of what goes on around here in Doha. There are photos of green village, the torch hotel, Khalifa stadium and the giant shopping cart.
I broke and dislocated one of my toes a couple of weeks ago. I ran into a wall while racing through the house at midnight, in the dark, to get a crying Eve from her bed before she woke up Eliza. The walls of our house are made of cinderblock & concrete and I knew immediately that it was broken. I hobbled into our bedroom, handed Eve to Rob, hopped down 25 steps to the kitchen, where I got a bag of frozen peas for my foot. I then sat in the kitchen floor with my peas and nearly fainted. I'm not sure if it was from the pain or from the realization that I would have to seek medical care in Doha. We went to a private small clinic where they xrayed my foot, but the orthopedic doctor was off duty. They sent me to Hamad Hospital, which is the big state run hospital where Warren works. The orthopedic dr wouldn't see me because it was only my toe. So a nurse taped my toes together gave me some really lame pain meds and sent me home. Ann informed me the next day that they won't give pain medication, other than tylenol or advil, unless you are staying in the hospital. Went back to the private hospital in the am. The orthopedic dr. was in; he removed the tape and said that it had been taped wrong at Hamad. I go back in two more weeks for an xray to make sure it's healing properly. It's feeling better and is not crooked anymore, whew. The hospitals have separate mens and womens waiting rooms. However, the cashier for women is in front of the mens waiting room, so they all stare at you when you are paying. No wonder the women cover themselves from head to toe.
We are coming back to DC for Christmas. We should arrive Dec 15 and we leave the 6th or 7th. It is a long long flight and the kids will be jet lagged, but I know Tess is excited to see her grandparents and her "green house." We're bringing our nanny/maid with us. She'll be a great help and she's very excited to the see America. Her name is Nebiat and she's from Ethiopia. She is a godsend. She helps so much with the children and has become very attached to them. So we're thrilled to show her the DC area, although I don't think she's ready for the weather. In Doha now, it is in the low 70's & 60's, super nice in my opinion, but poor Nebiat is freezing. The guards at tessa's school are in wool overcoats and the Qatari's are wearing leather jackets over their thobes. I wonder if they wear thermal long johns too?? Their legs must be cold as well? Anyhow, we're really looking forward to the visit and I can't wait to step out into weather where I can see my breath. Frost, ice, joy!
We will definately see some of the asian games events. The tickets are super cheap, 10qatari riyals, approx $2.75, will get you a multi-event day pass. I think Tessa might have the patience to see gymnastics. And if not, no huge loss. I am interested to see Kabaddi and Wushu. Kabaddi is an Indian, team-version of tag and apparently the team chants "Kabaddi-Kabaddi" during the match. Wushu is a Chinese martial arts that uses weaponry like broad-swords, spears, and whips. Not joking, these are Asian games sports. I jokingly ask Rob why the Asian games doesn't have camel polo with a human head as the ball. He said that's only in Afganistan. But if the games can have Wushu and Kabbai, which sound country specific to me, why not human-head camel polo??
Really looking forward to seeing everyone and a refurbished and dazzling SAAM.
Much love-
Patti
PS - Happy 3rd Birthday QP
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