14-Jan-2013 First Days of Class

Ok - so much has happened since last Friday that this could be a book!  Let's start with the mini mixed doubles tennis tournament!  Picture this, I have windpants on with running shoes and one racket - no bag and no balls!  John is in shorts with running shoes and no racket and we show up to check in for our match!  Luckily, we made a friend (Franc) from the Netherlands and he was so kind as to loan John a racket.  So we met our opponents (who were very nice) and we start to warm-up.  As we warm-up, one of the local pro's climbs onto a chair at the edge of the net (where the chair umpire would sit - if one were present).  As it turns out, he basically becomes our standing chair umpire and we also have a line judge in one of the far corners of the court.  I really didn't think these matches were that serious but hey what do I know, I'm new here!  So we start the match and it looks like an easy victory for our opponents.  We are down 1-3 and all of a sudden, the tables turn and we start our comeback.  We ended up winning the set/match 6-3 since these were single set matches!  It was quite the victory and John and I actually played well together.  The chair umpire actually overruled our opponents on one of John's serve.  The girl called it out but the umpire said it was in!  I agree with him! This Friday, we play 2 more matches and that will determine if we move into the finals which will be the following Friday!  The good thing is that our stuff did arrive so now we actually have our tennis rackets and court shoes!  Also, on a side note, I still haven't heard anything back from QTF regarding my membership or my entry into the major tournament here!

Yes - you read correctly!  Our stuff did arrive on Sunday.  The movers were actually waiting for us when we got home from school around 3:00.  They were great!  They unloaded all the boxes and then even unpacked them and removed all the shipping materials.  All we had to do was put stuff in its place which took about 5 hours but that's better than I ever expected.  We still have the office to setup but for the most part, a majority of the items we shipped are organized and put away.  It is so nice to have a fully stocked kitchen again!  I think the best thing that we did was ship all the kitchen stuff that we used the most at home!  It sort of brings a sense of peace when you can cook a meal, using your own recipes and pots and pans, etc.  I'm also happy to report that everything seemed to arrive in good shape.  Also, it was quite the sight seeing the three movers (who were a bit smaller than typical movers in the states) lift this 225lb smoker off the truck and carry it into the back yard.  As they were getting it off the truck, they almost dropped it!  I thought I was going to have a coronary.  The following thoughts went through my head - we used up 1/4 of our shipping allowance for this thing, it survived the thousands of miles to get here, it passed customs, only to be dropped while being unloaded!  Luckily that didn't happen! It was a good thing John was waiting out back and didn't see this event almost transpire. The 3 men quickly regrouped and finally wrestled the pit into the backyard!  We may try it out this weekend provided John can find some suitable lump charcoal!

Now you may be thinking - how have the first days of class gone!  Other than the fact that John has adopted the Qatari driving habits already, I'm happy to report that they have gone really well!  So what did John do?  Well for someone who was never an aggressive driver at home, he has really started branching out!  So here in Qatar, when you stop at a stoplight, you may sit there anywhere from 3-7 minutes depending on how far back you are in the line.  So the other morning, we were coming up on a light that was just about to turn red and John immediately exits the main road and starts driving through the parking lot of the strip center adjacent to the road.  He comes to the end of the parking lot and whips back onto the main road!  I was shocked so he turns to me and says, "we missed that light".  I was thinking - yep - I'm seeing a new side of John - I'm going to call him "John Andretti".  Ok - getting back to classes, the girls in my class have been fun to get to know and I look forward to the semester.  What amazes me the most is that most of them have seen more of the world in their 20+ years than I have in my 36 years.  I was asking them about places we should make a point to visit.  It was surprising that the most common answer was Thailand!  Apparently, we have to visit the "night market" and the "floating market".  I really didn't have Thailand at the top of my list but it is moving up quickly.  Of course the most other common recommendations included France, Italy, Dubai, Egypt and Turkey!  I could live with seeing any and/or all of these places.  I think we are really going to have a good semester.

In other news, we were able to visit a local American favorite with the Mahlmann's over the weekend.  This was our first time to eat out since our arrival and it was quite the experience.  The name of the restaurant is "Ric's Kountry Kitchen".  It is owned and operated by an American family and I will say it is truly down home cooking.  It seems that quite a few families make it a habit to eat there at least once a week!  John and I both truly enjoyed the experience.  It seems their claim to fame is their breakfast and they do serve bacon but they claim it is beef bacon.  Some folks say it tastes offly close to pork! Hmmm....we went for lunch so we will have to return for breakfast sometime and judge for ourself!  After eating at Ric's we went to a shopping area outside of town and visited the larger Mega Mart!  It was really nice but the groceries are a bit more expensive!  The funny thing was we did find Bluebell!  Even though Bluebell doesn't ship to this country, somehow it makes its way here occasionally.  They only had one flavor so we didn't purchase any but we will be on the lookout for it in the future.  The other thing to report is that we may have resolved the bed issue.  We visited a home store and found a memory foam pillow top.  It definitely makes a difference and we probably paid as much for it as we would have if we would have purchased a new mattress but we were told this was the best way to go.  So far, it has been good but I'm still not convinced we won't purchase a bed at some point in the future!

Well, I think that is all I have to report at this time.  It has been requested that I video the driving here and take more pictures so I will make it a point to do this soon.  I'm still a bit leary about where I can take pictures.  I haven't taken my big camera out yet because I fear it will make people uncomfortable so I'm only really taking pictures with my iPod but I may break out the big camera this weekend!  I hope you are enjoying the blog so far.  If there is something specific you want to know about, feel free to add a comment and I will try to respond! One more thing - the picture below is of our actual villa!  Good night!