When Life Gives You Lemons....

During the winter break Heavah was desperate for things to do. She was also anxious to make a little cash. Economics are dawning on her and she is ready to play the game. After a long brainstorm session she decided to start selling lemonade.

Below you can see her 5 sample cups. She feels one must try the product before he or she commits. She also conducted a focus group to decide what a cup of lemonade was worth. She went from 5 Riyals ($1.50) down to 2 Riyals (.50 cents) per cup--much to her dismay.

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Her final challenge was finding customers. It wasn't until she moved her picnic kiosk to the clubhouse that she really made hard cold cash. 500 Riyals ($150. USD) to be exact. It helps to have wealthy expat neighbors who have a soft spot for cute white girls.

Since the lemonade stand Heavah held a yard sale for all the clothing I was going to donate. She is also brewing up an idea for a cookie business. She is ready to go, but I am not sure I can commit. She plans on visiting the neighbors, providing samples, and taking orders. It is serious business.

Heavah's goal? An iPhone.

That's a whole lotta lemons and cookies. * iPhones in the Middle East are approximately $950. USD. And yet, we are closer to China. Hummm.....

My Sanctuary

Remember this carving Axel did in Nepal? I finally stained it and made it into a headboard. The pictures don't give you a full appreciation of the carving itself, but the bed turned out quite nice. I am happy with it. You can also see the sheep skin Axel and I bought at the souq. I love it, and so does my dog.

I also had a Potterybarn chair copied while I was in Nepal. I love it. It holds all the reject clothing for the evening. Isn't that what a bedroom chair is for?

I realize the room is in dire need of paint color. I am holding out. I keep thinking a move is around the corner. I may just paint the walls anyways. The minute the room is complete, the movers will be coming. That's just how my life works.

Al Fardan Preschool

Preschools in Doha can easily run around 6K a year per kid. I got suckered into sending both Heavah and Xavier to preschool in Dubai, but soon realized that they were not doing long division or quoting shakespeare by the end of the year. I was not going to pay a college tuition for Dona to go to preschool to learn her alphabet and colors. Plus, I adore Sedona and can't stand the thought of being away from her for too long during the day. Golden children do that to you.

In protest to the huge tuition fees, several moms and I formed a preschool coop. It works out great. Six cute kids, all in close proximity, and all Mormon. Each mom has a week- Mondays and Wednesdays-and we have a schedule but really encourage flexibility and the use of our talents as moms. It is perfect and the best thing for Sedona. The kids love it and it really isn't that excruciating for me, when it is my turn.

This week I had the letter 'S'. What a great letter. There are so many easy ways of getting kids excited. We had a superhero day, ate strawberries and soup, and did some serious sponge painting. It was pure three-year old bliss.

Tomorrow I will be doing 'season's. We will plant seeds and make fake snow. It should be a low key day considering that in the evening all the moms will be boarding a plane for Goa, India (except for Michelle who is nauseously gravid. We will miss you!). In many ways the preschool has been great for the kids, but it is especially great for the moms. This will be really true after we arrive home with tanned skins and stories to share.

Namaste.

Boy's Night

Heavah was recently invited to a compound girl's party. I was excited to have one less body in the house because Axel was out for the weekend. The news of this party didn't go over well with Xavier and he pleaded with me to have a few boys over to watch a movie. I was distracted and listened with only half my brain. The other half was screaming, "Hello? Are you listening? A few boys in place of my fairly low-key daughter? Don't do it! Don't do it!'

When I finally went in the house this is what I found:

11 boys all under the age of 9

To be fair, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. A little sugar, a Star Wars movie and an impromptu pillow fight took care of the evening just fine. It was better than emotional breakdowns and nailpolish.Oh, how I love boys.

Zam Zam

Our neighbor happened to bring over a jug of water to share. Apparently, the water was brought by a student who did a Hajj to Mecca. According to Islamic belief, the water began to gush out of the ground after Abraham's son, Ishmael, began kicking while crying of thirst. It is regarded as a miracle and still has a steady flow of water to this day.

I must admit the flavour was different. It felt thicker than regular water, like milk. Many people claim it has healing qualities.

Here's hoping it cures toddler naughtiness.

Stake Conference

Another perk of compound living?

Stake conference without those hard, cold metal chairs.

Oh, and kids upstairs playing with toys.

Compound Baby

Do you see the cuteness? Warm fuzzies everywhere.

I am still trying to get used to compound living. The communal feeling here is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Neighbors are constantly on the street chatting, people are always looking out for my children's safety and well being, and meals are continually delivered to each other's home. It is such a warm environment and I know I can handle this kind of living while Axel is always out of the country. It is the perfect scenario for our lives at this time.

We recently had a baby born at our compound and the welcome could not have been warmer. Denise (AKA Compound Queen) organized and delivered the sweetest baby shower. The room was draped with adorable girly ornaments and the lunch would rival any international cuisine buffet. It was an excellent reprieve while one of the compound nannies watched our children next door.

I still feel like I am cheating the true international life. This type of living is a joke. I have warm showers, continual electricity, and friends living 30 seconds away. What more could one want?

Disappointed, Again

100% must have a different international meaning in Qatar.  Just repeat what you read yesterday and that was my day.  'One more hour' turned into 'one more day' by 4 o'clock.  The bottom of an Filipino's soul is not so trustworthy these days.  

However, for your viewing pleasure, this is what Asa did two days ago to our highly prized family-sized box of Grape Nuts (difficult to find and 9 bucks a box).  

What did I do? Swept it up and put it right back in the cupboard.

"Where's My Bed?"

We received word that our furniture had arrived! This happened over a week ago and every day since we have been told it will be delivered 'tomorrow'. After much disappointment we were finally told it was going to happen today-90%. Those were good enough odds that we told the housing complex that they could take their furniture away. Today was moving day!

The day went something like this:

9am - Moved out all furniture except a select few items.

11am - Hauled everything away so the shipment could arrive.

12pm - Expected the shipment because it was supposed to arrive.

1:30pm - Called the delivery company to find out when they would show up. Reassued that it would come 'in an hour'.

4pm - Called Sbarros Pizza for dinner. Still no furniture.

5pm - Advised that our stuff will, in fact, come tomorrow- 100%. 'Definitely, Madame, from the bottom of my soul'

5:30pm -Helped children create a makeshift haunted house with flashlights and all. Provided scary noises that echoed in our hollow home. 'Tis the season.

7pm - Begged neighbors for cushions and made a indoor campsite.

9pm - Wondered how I will survive tomorrow with all my sleep deprived children.

Making Our Mark

We were in the house less than 12 hours and the destruction began.  Heavah and Sedona decided to play a little game of tag.  Sedona had a great idea of locking herself in the storage closet.  The only problem is she did not have the dexterity to get herself out of the closet.  

After leaving her in the room for well over an hour hoping she would gain super strength and turn the key, we shamefully called the maintenance service thinking they might have an extra key.  Not so.

When they arrived they first tried to disassemble the lock:

No luck.  Without any warning they began to bash the door to pieces.  Desperate measures...

Which resulted in feelings of this:

 

...and this...

We needed to make our house feel like ours.  Who needs centerpieces and art when you have children who can make every inch of the home theirs?  Bashed doors and all.

Al Fardan

                              A stand alone in a compound 

Axel and I were determined to move into a home near Axel's work.  Traffic in Doha is a beast and I didn't want the little time that Axel had in Qatar spent in a car.  An hour is precious for our family when you consider he is gone 4 days out of the week. 

After looking at a number of homes we came up with nothing.  The perfect place (or at least seemed to be perfect) was fully occupied and we were running out of ideas.  On the way home from work one day a Real Estate agent brought Axel to an Al Fardan compound.  The Al Fardan compounds have an excellent reputation.  I wasn't too sure about compound idea.  It just seemed too close for comfort. 

 

Before the agent brought Axel to the compound he had this really strong feeling that this was going to be the place.  The minute he walked in he knew that the house would accommodate our family just fine.   It was where we needed to be, no denying it.  I had no idea why, but it was the place. 

I went to church on Sunday to tell people we were moving into the Al Fardan complex only to find out that we have 3 LDS neighbours!  All our children are close in age and we are all either across the street or right beside each other.   In fact, a Muslim family down the road said, 'We can't believe that there are more Mormon families on this street than Muslims!'  It was then followed with, '...which is great because we share a lot of the same beliefs and moral standards.'   It has become our little Utah in Doha.

So far, it has been surreal living here.  If you close your eyes and ignore the daily prayers on the loud speakers from the mosque, you can easily pretend you are in some American suburb. In fact, we were here for only a week and we were invited to a October Conference dinner while the broadcast was on TV.  Our kids play outside with their friends every evening and our doorbell is always ringing.  It has been such a stark difference to what we experienced in Nepal.  They both have pluses and minuses, but I think this is what our family needed for this time. 

Here are some visuals of the house.  The pictures are of the main floor.  I will send others as we get our stuff and after my weekly maid cleans the rooms. 

 

The Office

Downstairs bathroom

Kitchen

 

Living Room 

Dining Room

I know this is the right place for us now and I also know it won't be long before we are packing this place up to head off to another country.  I desperately miss my life in Nepal, but for now, this will work just fine. 

Beverly Hills Towers

No doubt everyone thinks I am dead or have given up on this whole blogging thing.  Not so.  I wish I had some exotic tale about how I just returned from an trip to Siberia and helped raise wolves, but no, I have just been transitioning.  We don't have all our needs, but the most important one of all arrived yesterday: an internet hook up.  Try going without the internet for two weeks.  No pretty. 

We made a sudden move from our apartment two or three weeks ago.  I don't know, I gave up counting.  It was a full day of packing and cleaning while I had all 4 kids at home because of the dumb old Swine Flu.  It was an interesting day.  The kids decided that it was their final chance to really make a mark on their territory.  Couches, chairs and walls were all coloured and painted by my Picassos.  Reminder: Never rent to a family like ours!

Beverly Hills Towers was a fine place to live for a month.  We had some outlets that helped me not go stir crazy (sometimes I was successful, sometimes not).  Plus, the place was called Beverly Hills Towers isn't that where all your dreams come true?  Or at least make you feel like plastic surgery needs to be in your future.   I didn't feel like either were true.  Dumb name for a decent establishment. 

It had a kiddie gym.  You know, for all those fat kids who need a treadmill to keep them at a healthy weight.  I have no doubt that in the real Beverly Hills they have something like this.   I had to take advantage of it while I could.  Asa was getting plump and Sedona still has thunder thighs.  They slimmed down, but not to my liking.  I am looking into a personal trainer for each.

 

Along with the exercise equipment, there were plenty of Styrofoam chairs to throw around.  As usual, every time someone walked by the window and peeked in they had to caution me that Xavier was doing something dangerous.  Sometimes I looked up from the game I was playing on my phone; sometimes not.  

It also had a Business Center and a Billiard Room, which was never utilized.  We did have the children run loose in each room for a diversion.  It kept them busy for 20 minutes and gave heart attacks to patrons. 

This is where we spent most of our time.  How many times have my children peed in this pool?  I cringe to think of it.

They even had a poolside restaurant that was open during Ramadan!!!!  It was known throughout the city as the 'restaurant open during Ramadan'.  It doesn't take much to be famous in this city.

Another place I would spend my mornings when Axel was actually in Qatar:

Finally, the place known as, 'The kid pool where kids aren't actually allowed to swim, but they do, and it is really warm'.

Beverly Hills Towers is now in our history.  It will be House #11 for Axel and me since we have been married.  On to better things...

and a preview of what is to come:

Ahhhh... home sweet home!