The Great Canadian Snow Ball!!!

We recently were invited by some great friends to The Great Canadian Snow Ball!! Pretty much every country has their own ball each year put on either by the embassy or a group of people from that country. So, we took the opportunity to get jazzed up and went out to the Ritz for a night of dinner, dancing!

The cocktail room was pretty impressive.

Our table, the place setting up close and the different provinces of Canada

I sang "O Canada" in order not to be ousted from the Canadian Ball but my other American friends made fun of me...I was just trying to be patriotic for our neighboring North American Country :)

Friends, only 50% of them are Canadian

They took the dessert seriously.

Eric's new friend...he flew in from Dubai just for the ball! Of course Eric was grilling him trying to find out information for our upcoming trip to Dubai.

:) Between the two of us, we've got the "dress code" of white, red and/or gold covered. People did take it seriously though. One woman, who looked gorgeous, had an entire gold sequin dress on with a white boa and a red hair extension. Any other person couldn't pull it off, but she did. She had the most beautiful silver hair. I wish I could have taken a photo but thought it would be a bit awkward.

Love this photo.

Another Jennifer and friend from the American School.

Sunam, Tara and me...not a bad photo...except for Rob's scary face! Jimmy is laughing in the background.

Lauren and Rob-the Canadians and the reason we were at the ball. Lauren was on the planning committee...yeah Lauren! Next ball is the Canadian Thanksgiving in October :)

Diehard Canadians Karolee, Lauren, Rob and Chad.

Twins

Me and Lauren....Getting silly with the camera
Much nicer

At this point, we did much more dancing and those photos are just not even worth sharing. We ended the night around 1am with a free cab ride home provided with the purchase of our ticket...not a bad deal! Looking forward to the next ball :)

You know you're in the Middle East when.....

I have been posting "Random Doha Tidbits" on my facebook page to give people a taste of life here. I also did it in France. One of my friends here was laughing so hard about one of my "tidbits" that she sent me this. You probably won't "get" it like we get it (and we both agreed, we're definitely not "there" yet on a lot of these things) but it was still too good not to share with you all so you have an idea of our life here :)

Happy Reading!

You know you've settled in the Middle East when..............

You're not surprised to see a goat in the passenger seat or camels in the back of a truck

You think the uncut version of "Little House on the Prairie" is provocative

You think every one's first name is Al

You need a sweater when it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit

You expect everyone to own a mobile phone

Your idea of housework is leaving a list for the houseboy or the maid

You believe that speed limits are only advisory

You expect all police to drive BMWs or Benz's

You believe that the definition of a nanosecond is the time interval between the time the light turns green and the time that the guy behind you begins to blow his horn

You can't buy anything without asking for a discount

You expect all stores to stay open till midnight

You understand that 'wadi bashing' isn't a criminal act

You make left turns from the far right lane

You send friends a map instead of your address

You think that "Howareyou" is one word. So is "Mamsir"

You think it perfectly normal to have a picnic in the middle of a round-about at 11pm

You know exactly how much alcohol allowance you have left for the month

You have a moon phase predictor on your computer

You never say Saturday instead of Friday or Sunday instead of Saturday anymore

You accept that there is no point in asking why you are not allowed to do something

You expect queues to be 1 person deep and 40 people wide

You realise that the black and white stripes in the road are not a zebra crossing, just bait to get tourists into the firing line

Seeing guys welcome each other with a kiss and hold hands while walking no longer distracts you

You carry 12 passport size photos around with you just in case

You can tell the time by listening to the local mosque

You think its a good night if there are fewer than 10 men for every woman in a bar

Phrases like 'potato peeler', 'dish washer', 'coffee maker' and 'fly swatter' are no longer household items but are actually job titles

You start to say "Insha'allah" when you actually mean "No f-ing chance!"

Habibi isn't just the ex-president of Indonesia

You overtake a police car at 130KM/HRA

Problem with your car AC or horn is more serious to you than a problem with the brake.

Workin' Girl

Hard to believe it's already been 3 months since we moved to Doha! Our time in France at times seems like a distant memory and then other times like it was just yesterday. We are so grateful how beautifully we've settled in here and made some great friends. It really feels like home.

Some things that I think have definitely made it much easier for me at least is that I've been able to work. In France, I was unable to work outside of the home. I helped a bunch with the family business but I really craved being able to have that drive of going to work.

Moving to Doha, I got started right away and got connected with the American School here. From March 3 on, I have been subbing in the Elementary School. For those of you that know me well, this was normally my worst nightmare. I couldn't handle elementary school students! but when the school called me, I was so eager, I jumped at the chance! I started off with a 4th grade class which was a great way to ease in to the lower grades. Day after day, the substitute scheduler and I have developed a nice rapport and she began scheduling me to work every day! I even got offered a job as a 2nd grade teacher! ---unfortunately, I had to turn it down...for a number of reasons the biggest one being that we just don't know how long we'll be here. It wouldn't be right to do that to the kids or me. The principal was ready to call the top dog of Eric's company to find out when we'd be leaving but I luckily talked him out of that! Since I've been subbing every day, I've become one of those permanent fixtures in the school. Most of the teachers and administration know me and it's just been a great way for me to get my "school fix" without being tied down to a full time job.

The American School here is just amazing. The facilities are second to none. I remember a conversation with my neighbor (he's 10) and I said, "wow, that swimming pool at the school is just so impressive." He responded with, "which one?" Seriously? Which one? There are mac laptops for all and the opportunities these kids are afforded is just incredible. Let's just say, there are never any problems because of budget or lack of money. It's a mix of kids from all over the world but mostly from the States and European countries. There are also some students who are locals and from around the Middle East but it is definitely and "American School" vibe.

My biggest concern with not having a job in the teaching field was that I was not going to keep my resume up to date so I have been searching for a part-time job that enabled me to keep subbing when I want because I really enjoy it, but also keep teaching ESL a few hours a week and still have time to help the family's business, of course wedding plan :) So, I recently took a job at a local language school for just a few weeks. Since I am leaving June 1, I am only able to work until then but the class goes until June 20 so they hired me for the first half and another teacher for the 2nd half. I was a bit hesitant about the school so I figured this was a way for me to try it out without having to commit long term.

So, I am teaching several hours a week a small (10 students) class of all male local students. All of the students go to a local school and are learning English as a requirement. They all speak Arabic and have been taking English for a few years. They are intermediate level learners so it's not terribly difficult to communicate but it's an incredibily different place than at the American School. They are all male and they're used to much more differnt style of learning than I am used to teaching. I am also required to teach out of a book that is provided by the school. I am trying to add my personal touches to the class and make it fun for them. It's a fine line here with females and males and it's still a reality that females are not as respected as males. It's definitely been an interesting experience thus far and I'm starting to build a relationship with the students which has been instrumental in getting them to open up to the idea of learning English.

Wainwright House Newsletter

Not sure if we've shared this with everyone so we figured we'd post. This is the Newsletter that our wedding venue: Wainwright House recently published for the Spring 2010.

When Eric and I were looking for the perfect wedding venue, we were really searching for someplace that felt meaningful and had a connection to us as a couple. Soon after our engagement, Eric decided we MUST go home to celebrate (I had just flown in from NY 3 days before we got engaged so the thought of taking another trip across the pond sounded a bit ridiculous, but those of you who know me well, know that this type of thing is exactly up my alley :) So, we went home for a whirlwind two weeks of celebrating our engagement and finding a wedding venue. In France before our trip, we began searching (via the internet b/c we were in France :)) for the perfect venue for our special day. During a random search, we found Cornerstone Caterers and found they were affiliated with Wainwright House. We viewed the site and immediately felt it was

1. too good to be true or 2. booked solid . We visited a few places just for comparison...and of course, as soon as we saw Wainwright, that was it.

So, we fell in love with Wainwright because of it's historical significance and it's beautiful location on the Long Island Sound. Once we found out that it was built after a chateau in France, we had to visit. Read below....

More Photos of Chateau de Raincheval

Thanks to Jennie and Eric

(photo, bottom right) for visit-

ing Chateau de Raincheval and

taking these wonderful photos

to remind us about Wainwright

House’s magnificent inspiration.

So to be honest, this place was not easy to find at all! We left Paris on an early Saturday morning in November and drove 250 KM to the Picardy region.

Some of the long roads we drove to find Raincheval!

Finally, a sign to show we were gettng closer!

The road leading up to Wainwright

There is not a lot of literature on the web about Wainwright as it's not actually a Chateau that people can visit. We ended up in a small town which clearly did not have Chateau Raincheval. We stopped for a bite and to get our bearings, and somehow, two hours later, we found Chateau Raincheval in all it's glory.

We stopped outside to take some photos and found the owner (it has been in his family since the 1700s)! He first was just speaking to us...he spoke no English so to try to explain to him that there was a chateau built in NY after this one was quite a feat! He went in to get his wife and they invited us in for drinks, snacks, and a tour! They shared all kinds of photos with us and we showed them the website for Wainwright in NY. They had no idea there was a look-alike in NY!

The family crest

Really old family photos

Looking at family photos with the owners Isabelle and Patrick (sitting is their neighbor who ended up being our translator)

Now on to a tour of the house....

Sitting room

Their kitchen

Some of the grounds

The view of the back of the house where their daughter had her wedding the day we same day we got engaged!

Us :)

Part of the barn

View of the side of the house

View of the house from the carriage house window.

The carriage house which was renovated into a beautiful apartment

Gardens in the front

View from the front of the house

With our gracious hosts, Patrick and Isabelle

Back to Paris we go!

The Pearl and Education City

The Pearl Qatar... From the website:

The Pearl-Qatar, A Riviera-style man-made island developed in an exclusive environment in Doha,Qatar and the Middle East's most glamorous address, covering 400 hectares of reclaimed land, is Qatar's first international urban development venture.

Entrance to the Pearl

Of course, everything is over the top and it has loads of high end stores and car dealerships. It's not uncommon at all to see a Ferrari or Maserati driving around in Doha...usually with someone who looks waaayy too young to be driving it!

Yep, pretty incredible.

Another typical....yacht!

More views...

My parents :)

Shopping, shopping, shopping galore!!! It was too crazy how many shops there are here. It's still pretty empty-peoplewise-so hopefully for the sake of the shopkeepers, it picks up! My mom and I singlehandedly went into approximately 70% of the stores (and surely drove Eric and my Dad crazy :)) on this man-made island in search of a Mother of the Bride dress...no luck! Luckily she found the perfect dress the week she returned :)

Taking a break from shopping inside.

Next stop: Education City!

Education City is a part of the Qatar Foundation which was started by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned. To read more about the Qatar Foundation and Education City visit: www.qf.org.qa

It's an absolutely beautiful section of Doha that has a building that looks much like the tree from the Qatar Foundation logo. It houses all major universities such as Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown and others.

These signs are everywhere in Doha with different words to inspire people.

In the distance, a message in Arabic.

Saw this on the way home....just too good not to post :)