A new semester, a new year, a new routine...

Hello all,

I hope you don't mind that I've switched sites.  I hope that this blog might be a bit easier for me to work with and Nelson is also able to add posts to it himself.  I'm using a blog in my classes this semester, so this will make it much easier for me to access and maybe remind me to write more often.

It's starting to warm up with March approaching.  Most days are getting into the 80s now.  It's still quite comfortable with some beautiful ocean breezes, although we have an occasional dust storm.  The worst part of the dust storms is that it gets in your eyes, feels gritty, and if you're outside long enough, seems to glue your eyes shut!  We have survived!  

I have a new building that I'm teaching in and a new office.  Nelson has promised to come and take photos so I can show everyone how wonderful it is.  I love having my office in the same building where I teach!  EXCELLENT!  Unfortunately, although the building itself is completed, some of the amenities are not.  We do not have a kitchen area to refrigerate food or heat it up and there is no printer yet.  There is also no AIRCON.  You know what I mean!  AC!  Air!  Air conditioning.  So, as it warms up outside, it warms up even more inside!  One day this week it got to 82 degrees in one of my classrooms!  That is a bit uncomfortable!  However, I have my trusty little fan that I wear around my neck and I was able to buy a small desktop fan that helps move the air at least around me.  I feel so badly for my students in their abayas and hijabs.  

In any case, I have a great group of students again.  Always have a few that like to talk a bit much, but I always love my students, even the ones who frustrate me the most!  I am teaching an overtime class in the Psychological Sciences Department.  I don't know why it is in that department.  It's teaching English to Teacher Assistants in Doha.  I have a large class and they are pre-intermediate level, but they are a bit different from teaching the Foundation Program students.  So, two days a week, I drag my butt out of bed to be at the university by 8 a.m. to teach them for two hours!  Driving to work in the mornings is totally different from driving later in the morning!  Since Nelson has to fix the muffler on the jeep, I have been riding with my friend, June Arber, who is also teaching one of those classes and we share our lesson plans and ideas and pass the time together on the killer commute.  

Although we are getting back into the routine of things, we miss home already and I'm already counting the days until our summer leave!  It officially begins July 3rd!  About 125 days!  :)

Nelson is hobnobbing with all the horse people in Doha and is hoping to soon find gainful employment in Doha, perhaps at the Racing and Equestrian Club or Al Shaqab Stud.  My horsey activities have been curtailed for various reasons, but we are still trying to purchase Hattan and stay involved in endurance and the horse community here.  I will let Nelson elaborate on his job search if I can get him to write on the blog!

Please leave comment, send e-mails or call.  The U.S. number calls us here through our computer, and we can also call out (unlimited) to the U.S.  It's really a cool deal.  Cost us $40 for a year and we can renew for another 5 years for $60.  If you haven't heard of Magic Jack yet and have broadband DSL internet service and make a lot of long distance phone calls, you should check it out at www.magicjack.com.  It's a great deal for us!

Take care and keep in touch!