Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The lead up to Christmas has been filled with activities and excitement for the kids. First up was putting up the Christmas tree, both Johnathan and Susannah were eager to help out. Not a real tree this year, they don't last long in the Doha climate.

Then we had the compound Christmas party where Santa made his first appearance. The kids had a great time playing with their compound friends and the parents also enjoyed themselves with good food and company.

After that, there was the Australians and New Zealanders in Qatar (ANZIQ) Christmas party at the Doha rugby club. There were many activities for the kids including an egg and spoon race, sack race and three legged race (David and Monica even gave it a go!). There was also an Australia vs New Zealand tug-of-war where the Australian men demonstrated their awesome strength and snapped the rope twice. Finally, Santa made his second appearance arriving on a golf cart with about 100 kids chasing after him.

On the 18th of December, David and Johnathan started their holidays commencing with the Qatar national day and then Eid. On the first day of the holiday, Johnathan's friend Bethany came around with her parents for a Christmas movie night where we watched "The Polar Express". It had Johnathan sitting on the edge of his seat for much of it.

Then on the 20th, Nanny Helen and Poppy Paul arrived. Johnathan has been beside himself with excitement and having great fun playing with his grandparents (and Susannah is warming up to them as well!)

Last night we went to Christmas Carols at the "Singing Dunes" outside of Doha. It was a very nice evening with several hundred people in attendance. Santa made yet another appearance, receiving guests in his "grotto" (a tent in the desert). A big bonfire was lit and everyone gathered to sing carols - a very unique experience.

We want to take this opportunity to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2008. We hope to see many of you next year - wherever in the world it might be...

The Last Two Months...

It has been a long time since the last update, time flies and life is busy as always. A few of the highlights from the last couple of months:



Halloween Party
At the end of October we had a party for all the kids in the compound. All made a great effort at dressing up, played lots of fun games, and went trick or treating afterwards. Needless to say, Johnathan and Susannah were on a long term sugar high!

Out on the Water

In early November we left the kids at home with Dolores for the day and took a trip on one of the dhow boats out to one of the islands near Doha. It was a relaxing day, swimming in the sea, enjoying the sunshine, and indulging in a bbq and few drinks with friends.

Also in November, the Class One powerboat racing came to Doha. It's one of those sports you know nothing about until you just happen across it in a place like Doha. They were awsomely powerful boats, with two 900HP engines typically. Very loud and very fast. Johnathan enjoyed it...

International Day at Johnathan's Kindy
At the end of November, Johnathan's school had an international day. All the kids dressed up in their national costume, took in some typical food from their country, and had a big parade. So, we put Johnathan in a t-shirt with a kangaroo on it and provided some homemade buscuits in the shape of Australia patriotically iced in green and gold!! It turns out that in Johnathan's class there are representatives from South Africa, New Zealand, Denmark, Qatar, Malaysia, Lebanon, Brazil, India, and more. It's quite a mix and a great experience for him.

Weekend in Dubai

Also at the end of November we flew to Dubai for the weekend. What an amazing place! We'd been told that Doha is a bit like Dubai but only around 5 or 10 years behind - we now think it is more like 20 years. It's a very big city which is getting even bigger at a rapid rate (the worlds biggest construction site). We enjoyed our weekend, shopping in the mall of the emirates (with the indoor ski slope), taking in the sights of Dubai, and catching up with Sylvia, a friend from Monica's days with Microsoft in Copenhagen. We will definately be back for more visits, much more to see and do there than here in sleepy Doha...

Johnathan's Sports Day
Yesterday it was sports day at Johnathan's kindy. He participated in many events including target throwing, balance the bean bag on the racquet, obstacle course, running, the long jump, and our favourite, five strides (how far you can go in five steps)!

Susannah is Walking
After nearly two months of dabbling with walking, Susannah finally decided two days ago that it is better than crawling and has taken it up full time. She is very proud of herself!

Susannah's First Birthday

Today Susannah turned one!!! It is hard to believe a year has gone past since we welcomed her into the world. We had a party for her, like Johnathan's in the compound club house. With about 20 kids in attendance from about 4 months to 7 years there was chaos but everybody had a great time. Susannah knew she was the special girl today and had a ball.

Long Weekend in Qatar

Last weekend was the end of Ramadan which is celebrated with Eid ul-Fitr, an occasion with important religious significance, celebrating the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory, peace of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity.

It is also a long weekend. David had three days off work and we decided to stay in Qatar for the weekend, as it is getting cooler there is now opportunity to get out and about.

At the start of the weekend, David and Johnathan went on a trip across the desert to the Inland Sea which is in southern Qatar and forms part of the border with Saudi Arabia. The girls stayed at home as we were not sure if it might be a bit rough for Susannah with the 4WD-ing over the dunes. In hindsight, it would have been ok. Johnathan was not actually impressed by the 4WD-ing but his dad had a lot of fun. A few hours were spent at the beach (which we called Johnathan's beach), the water was crystal clear and the temperature perfect. There was virtually no-one else about so it was also very peaceful. The return journey home took a bit longer than anticipated as a couple of people needed help to get there cars unstuck so we took in a desert sunset and also got to see all the locals come out to play in the desert after their Eid celebrations. Crazy 4WD-ing, quad biking, and motorcross riding with no apparent regard for their own safety or that of others. We are told that people are regularly carted out of the desert in an ambulance!

Then at the end of the long weekend we went on a camping trip, this time with the whole family. We went to Zekreet, a small peninsula on the west coast of Qatar (only 1.5 hours drive from Doha). It was a very quiet spot with no-one else around apart from the seven other families we were camping with! There were lots of kids and lots of fun around the camp fire. Johnathan and Susannah had a ball and slept really well. Their mum and dad did not sleep so well but still enjoyed the trip - we are all looking forward to more camping trips in the future.

Holiday in Kiev and Istanbul

During September, we travelled to Kiev for Andrew and Tanya's wedding. After a slow start (tip for parents - avoid 1:30am flight departures where possible) we had a great time. Kiev is an interesting city - the years of Soviet influence are much in evidence but there is a sense of change about the place and western influence is well underway. Of particular interest, perhaps more for David, was the tendancy of Ukrainian girls to wear incredibly short mini-skirts and very high stilletos!

The wedding was fantastic, the bride beautiful and the groom scrubbed up ok as well!!

Much fun was had by all. We got to meet many of Andrew's Australian friends as well as his parents and their friends, quite a large Adelaide crowd meeting in Kiev! We also met Tanya's family and many of her friends from Ukraine, all very friendly with a great sense of humour. It was also an opportunity to catch up with many friends we hadn't seen in a while, in particular Andrew and Cathy Clennett who we hadn't seen for two years.

Sight seeing in Kiev could be a bit challenging at times, the city is not very well suited to pushing around the Phil and Ted's double pram and the tourist industry is not a particularly well oiled machine yet. We mostly took it easy, we found a park near the hotel with a good playground and other amusements for the kids.

We attempted to go on a cruise on the Dnipro river but it could never seem to get enough passengers to satisfy the captain to depart (not helped by the fact that people gave up and left - as we did - while new people got on). But we did get the captain to get this great photo.

After saying goodbye to old friends and new, we departed for a few days in Istanbul. We didn't realise how big the city was but it is a fantastic place. We stayed in a small hotel near the Sultanahmet mosque and felt quite at home with the Sydney, Down Under, and Southern Cross Hostels right around the corner! There are a lot of aussies travelling through Istanbul, not surprising considering the historical connections between the countries. We found that there are many carpet shops in Istanbul and every trick in the book was used to get you into the shop to look at their range of carpets!

The hotel breakfast room had a great view of the Sea of Marmara as well as the Sultanahmet mosque and Haghia Sophia so it was a pleasant start to the day.

We had a very enjoyable stay, taking in the sights and took a cruise up the Bosphorus.

We also discovered some of the playgrounds in Istanbul to keep the kids amused.

After four nights, we were ready to get home after a fantastic holiday.