What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time we were getting ready to board our plane and leave a life we loved in Paris for the unknown Al Zuhoor Compound in Doha, Qatar. . . huh!? It was a quick move (2 weeks from the job offer to demobilization) and very uncertain. Neither of us had ever been to Qatar nor the Middle East and the idea of it was actually pretty scary. Well, as you can tell from our year of documentation, nothing scary about this place. We absolutely cannot believe how quickly we settled in here, gotten jobs, made friends....and especially how much we love living here and how fast one year has gone by!
Our home in Doha is Villa A-33 in Al Zuhoor Compound
Our "official" address is Al Waab/Al Aziziya Al Zuhoor Compound Villa A-33 (yea, this is what we tell shops for delivery--but at least we can get delivery here, in Paris it was never anything short of a fiasco to order in!)
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Our villa in March 2010.
Moving first from NYC (450 sq. feet) then to Paris (1,000 sq. feet), this place felt positively giant! With 4 bedrooms, a maid's bedroom (this is the Middle East and many have live-in maids), 5.5 bathrooms, and 3 family rooms, it is pretty massive. Unlike in Manhattan and Paris, we did not get a choice of housing, we moved in here the night we flew in. At first we thought it was a joke, but as we drove around Doha as days have gone by, everyone lives in large villas like this, it's just how it is here. We've grown into the space downstairs but really only use our bedroom and family room upstairs . . . and the guest room for our only guests so far, my parents.
Since we are considered "temporary" in Doha (anything under two years), the company provided furniture for these massive villas, thankfully! How in the world would we ever furnish a place like this? Plus, the furniture found in stores here is not really our style. Luckily, the company provided us with black leather couches for the 2 downstairs family rooms and a beautiful dark wood dining room table and server. We've got a semi-sleigh bed and dark wood furniture for the bedrooms. We've had to buy things as the year has gone on (we had a book shelf made, and have bought decorative items such as mirrors, etc) but we definitely would not have had the full house we have now.
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February 2011 A little over a year later, we've actually got a tree. Our neighbors swore our tree would never grow. . . it did, and now the gardeners have shaped it rather strangely :)
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Side yard behind the car port - March 2010
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Much more green. . and dusty! - February 2011
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Other side yard - March 2010
Bit of a different view but taken February 2011
Now on to the inside of the house:
February 2010
This is the first room you walk into off the foyer of the house. The ceilings are tall and the walls were bare. So many people have done such amazing things with these houses in their 5 years here. We would have loved to have painted but it just isn't in the cards.
February 2011 (Foyer and sitting room)
Same Sitting Room - February 2011
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Dining Room looking on to Family Room (this was right after our sea-shipment arrived, yes!) in March 2010
(Shout out to Amos and the Cosmos Author Alan Schwartz :) )
Same Rooms in February 2011
Family Room (off of dining room) Feb 2011
View of dining room to the outside (Feb 2011)
Kitchen March 2010
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Kitchen February 2011
Upstairs family room (sea shipment had just arrived)
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This room hasn't changed much
These are all the photos I've got now. I think I'll have to go back and take more for documentation for down the road.
As we said above, we just cannot believe our year in Doha has flown as fast as it has.
This assignment started out as a 6 month stint, then 9 month, now we've been here a year already. We've been so fortunate living here. Eric has had the opportunity to work under some of the best leadership in the company, I've been able to start my tutoring business and we've had other opportunities we never would have had elsewhere. This truly is a "big fish, small pond" type of place.
We know our time here is limited and any day we could be moving out of "Never Never Land" as we call Doha. . . but for now, we're going to enjoy our time here with all the wonderful people we have met and continue to be grateful for all of our blessings. Thanks to all of you who have helped us settle in so quickly and welcomed us to to be a part of your Doha Family.
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