Happy Holidays!

Here it is, our third Christmas in Qatar. As always, I miss home, I miss the grandchildren, I miss snow and baking day, and frosty breath, howling winds that require you have to snuggle up close, warming up to the wood stove after sledding....

But here we are....and we will be here at least one more year. Thanks to Skype and telephone and photos, we are able to share Christmas and some of the excitement. My sister, Mary, sent us some peanut brittle and goodies, and more are on the way from the kids and friends. Our little trees are cute and I found 2 gorgeous poinsettias AND a hyacinth at the Omani souks. What a combination!! Winter and spring in one package for me!

I made fudge and cookies this weekend. It's not the same and I felt lost at first...I usually make trees and stars and holly, but wanted to be neutral so we could share our goodies with all our friends and with my students... I just couldn't get in the groove. I was really missing the grandchildren and especially, Mykayla, mostly because of the history we have of cookie and goodie making....so, it hit me....rainbow stars. I am starting a new tradition (mostly because I can't figure out how to make burgundy colored frosting or sprinkles for National Day) of making rainbow stars! :) They are really cool looking. I just wish the grand kids were here to decorate them with me. :)

Today, Santa sent me special messages for them, which I forwarded to their moms. They have all been such wonderful kids, I can't see how they won't get anything they want! :) Justin saw Santa last week and today, Kayla and Kenzie are going to see him at Big Boy in Houghton Lake. Hoping they take photos!

I have a little over a month before I get on a plane and head west to get my hands on and wrap my arms around those kids, my son and daughters, my sister, my horses, my friends....I can't wait! The semester is almost over, 2 more weeks finishing up our syllabus, final exams, grading, a New Year's BBQ potluck, committee work, reporting on my service learning/reading aloud project, compiling results of the surveys, determining the next step, taking part in ELF (English Language Forum), and psyching myself up for another semester, another year beyond this working at QU and living in Qatar. Maybe two if necessary. Let's hope not....

Happy Holidays to everyone. Your continued messages of love and support mean the world to us! Please take a look at our weekend...we spent it at home with each other. National Day is a wonderful show of patriotism here that often goes a bit over the top for us. We enjoyed the extra day off and getting ready for Christmas. So....until next time.....

Hope for the holidays

Another holiday season is upon and although we aren't able to be HOME for the holidays, we have HOPE for happy holidays anyway! Skype allows us daily chats and video conversations with our children and grandchildren, so we are able to share in their holiday spirit and experiences. :) I have booked my flight for a trip home in January (Jan. 21-Feb.4), but Nelson has opted to remain in Qatar to do some fishing and avoid the stress and trauma that the flying and long travels causes him. I think I would walk on a bed of hot coals with nails in them to see my grandchildren. Men are simply more practical. Thank God he understands and allows me that failing. :) I am truly blessed with this man who is my best friend and who loves me in spite of my imperfections and impossible wants and needs!

As always, life is busy for me. I have worked harder than ever this semester in spite of reduced hours (16). My work on the Folktales and Fables Reading and Storytelling Project has taken a lot of my time and energy, not to mention it's one of those things that has been teaching me more and more about "schwei, schwei," or "slowly, slowly." I am an impatient American and find the slow turning of wheels frustrating, but am learning to adjust! My trip this semester to the Japan School of Doha was a huge success once again. Our program director, Dr. Khalid, has allowed me 3 trips this semester as a pilot to see how it goes. In two weeks, two more teachers are going on a trip to a different school. I can't wait to see how it goes and to report to Dr. Khalid. I am very hopeful that we will really fly with it next semester and that he will approve the research I'd like to do connected with it about service learning and reading aloud combined. My students are so energized and full of self-confidence after these trips. I really would like to find out how much it influences their motivation and academic achievements! Fortunately, Dr. Khalid likes research!

Nelson's early Christmas/birthday gift was an RC model airplane. Since my contract was renewed, he is going to need some more activities here! He loves flying RC planes and we have several friends who are also into it as a hobby, so he's hoping to get some of them up here to play with him! We (but mostly Nelson) take a lot of photos, too, so we want to spend some time working on editing some photos for framing for ourselves, or maybe even for sale at shows. We have some really awesome photos that really should be published, even if it's just on someone's wall. :)

So, at least one more year here after I finish this academic year. We just can't afford yet to move home to stay, unless I find a really awesome, well-paying job. Unfortunately, jobs like this in the U.S. don't pay for your housing, your relocation, or give you a transportation allowance or an end of contract bonus (one month's salary per year!). And some of them don't have the health insurance benefits either. There is so much to take into consideration before we can move home and then, I have to admit, we really would like to live and work abroad again and the first two places on our list are Oman and Egypt. We'd like to spend time in both of these countries, living and working for awhile.

In any case, this is my brief, uninspiring update in an attempt to keep up. I'm counting the days to home (42 as of today). I will be dividing my time between the grandkids in Kalkaska and Houghton Lake, a trip to the U.P. to see my sister and a couple days in the Mt. Pleasant area to see friends there, pay a visit to an ESLA meeting (the club I founded several years ago for MATESOL, bilingual and ESL degree seekers), and hope folks who'd like to see me will either understand if I can't get to them or will seek me out in those places. :) Hopefully, our friends and neighbors will keep an eye on Nelson and entertain him some...I think he already has plans for fishing with his Irish fishing buddy, Richard. He is also hoping to hit Dubai with our friends, Michael McKenzie and husband/wife duo, Michael and Crystal Young, who are running a marathon there the end of January! Being apart will be good for us: isn't is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder? :)

Keep in touch, write, call, skype, whatever. We love to hear from home!!!

Happy Holidays in advance in case I don't get back to an update for Christmas!

Maggie

Oh, man! Oman!!

Where to start, where to start! We basically decided we needed to get away. Frustrations with work, with trying to find and buy a horse, homesickness, and general malaise caused us to take a sudden trip to OMAN! It seemed like a good idea at the time! I saw this on a T-shirt as we stood for 3 hours in the immigration line at the Hatta border in Oman. We don't normally travel during Eid holidays because of travel troubles, but for whatever reason, we didn't care. We wanted to get OUT of Qatar and see something NEW and MYSTICAL and MAGICAL (are those the same thing) and DIFFERENT! So, we took our horse money and ran for it! :) ROAD TRIP! It seemed like a good idea at the time!

At 2:50 a.m. on Sunday morning, we flew from Doha to Dubai. Having researched "road tripping" from Dubai into Oman, we had reservations for a car and since we were going into Oman, the nice young man gave us a brand new Yaris (24 km on the odometer!). I bought a SIM card so we wouldn't be without the ability to communicate, because who knew where we might end up or what trouble we might find? We headed for Al Ain to meet our new friend, Lynn and as it turned out, there was no trouble except that we were so tired and exhausted from our middle of the night trip. Although we had no trouble arriving, going through immigration, renting our car and getting out of Dubai, we may forego future middle of the night retreats. :) We immediately had trouble getting on the right road, so did what all Americans do (at least smart Americans with a woman in the car!) and stopped at a petrol station to ask directions. A very nice taxi driver asked us to follow him and away we went. He waved us off at the appropriate exit and we were OFF to Al Ain!

We had a little trouble in Al Ain finding Lynn, but again, a petrol station stop later and we found her with no trouble. We are delighted to have finally met this "online" friend, much like we did when meeting Maryanne in Egypt. She welcomed us into her home and fed us fresh fruit and cheese and tea....she took us off to find a market where we could stock up on food supplies for our road trip! We had a wonderful visit before heading off to our hotel on Jebel Hafeet (Hafeet Mountain/Hill). The wonderful thing about Al Ain is GREEN! Green, green everywhere, unless it's colorful flowers! We LOVED Al Ain and the trip up to the Mercure Grand Hotel at the top of Jebel Hafeet was an adventure. Just the thing we had been hoping for! FABULOUS! We arrived and were checked in with no trouble even though we were early. Our check-in was handled by a nice young lady name Maitha (I hope that's right) who travels often to Qatar and she is going to contact us when she comes again so we can get together for a coffee!

Our room was fabulous....a great view of the pool, the grounds, Al Ain....comfortable and luxurious at the same time. We managed a nap, split a steak sandwich and fried from room service which was absolutely delicious! We enjoyed some time poolside where we met.....you guessed it! A couple of families from Qatar! Go figure!

Our stay in Al Ain was the best medicine ever. We loved it tremendously and can't wait to go back. Our biggest regret is that we did not have time to get together with Lynn again. :( That will be another adventure when we go back and stay for more than one night!!

On the road again, we headed for the border crossing in Hatta (since we rented a car in Dubai, we had to cross the border in Dubai, even though there is a border crossing in Al Buraimi on the other side of Al Ain, because of insurance issues). No problem as we were on a ROAD TRIP and it wasn't that far really! In many areas, we drove right along the Oman border, from where we could see the mountains in the distance. It was beautiful and exciting. We finally made it to the border. We crossed at a checkpoint with an opening in the fence with barbed wire on top and drove past the welcome to Oman sign. We drove past handicrafts stores and cafes and steel workshops and continued on and on and on. Another check point at which they asked us to open the trunk and then waved us on. More shops, bigger hills as we drove deeper into Oman. At least we THINK we were in Oman. :) Eventually, we came upon a traffic backup. We were backed up for nearly 2 hours, after which we stood in lines at the passport office outside for another hour and a half or so. We met some nice people there, and had lots of great conversations, because what else could we do? It was our road trip adventure! After getting our passports stamped by the Dubai government allowing us to LEAVE, we drove on to the next checkpoint at which we waited about 2 1/2 hours for the stamp from Oman allowing us to ENTER Oman. We ended up in line with our friends from the previous checkpoint and took turns helping hold our places in line. Apparently all of this was due to a huge influx of Eid travelers. What normally takes a few minutes, took us a total of 6-7 hours (if you include the traffic backup!). More and more people arrived in line behind us. People started getting pushy. We had to maintain our positions or lose them! FINALLY we made it to the window!!! And the woman working that window announced "Shift change!" We laughed and laughed! It could only happen to us! It seemed like a good idea at the time! :) As we waited for our new processor to take her place, a fist fight broke out next to us as someone tried to cut in line with a fistful of passports. Those in line were having none of that kind of behavior (cutting in line!). Of course, the police and security had to come out and break it up. A nice young man finally sat down and took our passports from us. At first, he couldn't find our Dubai stamp, but eventually did. We were laughing so much by now, that he couldn't help but smile! And so, he waived the visa fee for us....handed us our passports and waved us on! :) As we drove on to Muscat, we saw several small little brownish donkeys grazing near the side of the road: the welcome wagon (or jinn?). :)

From this point on, it was another 4 hours (350 km) to Muscat and our waiting hotel room.....

Break time...this story is taking too long. I will have to write it in sections!!!

TO BE CONTINUED...

The drive to Muscat was long and we were tired, but our room was waiting for us when we arrived. They had several calls from people who would be arriving late. So, we were thankful to arrive and fall into bed! We did agree that the night drive was nice in that we were able to see the Eid holiday lights lit up and the Grand Mosque at night on our way into Muscat.

We slept in until 8 or so the next day. We had hoped to make a trip to Sur, but that was another 300 km and we didn't have it in us to drive that far again. So, we explored the beaches of Muscat, drove around and took a look around. Guess what? Muscat is GREEN! Soooooo GREEN! After exploring a bit and taking a few photos, we settled on the beach at Al Qurm for a swim. The waves were quite dramatic and we had a grand time "wave bashing." It was a LOT of fun, refreshing and enjoyable, which was really the whole point of our trip anyway! We enjoyed an ice cream from the ice cream truck as we sat in the sun and dried off. A small, but loud, cat showed up and wandered around us. As my students had warned me about the jinn (plural for genies, singular is jinni) and that they can take other shapes and I shouldn't make one mad at me, especially around sunset, I decided to share my ice cream. The cat seemed appropriately grateful and moved on.

Unfortunately, our hotel in Muscat was not the best....the internet was awful, could hardly maintain a connection for more than 5 minutes at a time, and the food was even worse! We simply ate, had naps, watched TV and went to bed early so we could get an early start to Nizwa, the last adventure on our short journey!

Nizwa is a town about 90 minutes-2 hours from Muscat in the mountains. To avoid giving you a whole history here in my blog, here is a link if you'd like more info:

http://www.nizwa.net/oman/nizwa/nizwa.html

Our main objective in Nizwa was shopping in the souks and seeing the fort. On our entrance to the souks, we saw several trucks with steers in them. We were impressed that each truck had plenty of room for the steers, a hay bag and water!! That was impressive to me! It's also unusual to see cattle here in Qatar, so we enjoyed the number of cattle we saw in Oman! Unfortunately, the goats tend to roam free along the highways and the byways which meant we did see some roadkill. Nothing bigger than a goat, alhamdellulah! There weren't camel fences along all the highways either!

And so, we shopped: Oman is famous for its frankincense, its silver, its khanjars (traditional daggers), and pottery (among other things, but those are the most famous, I think). The first place sold us some special frankincense and gave us a piece to chew.....it is supposed to have special antiseptic properties and is good for oral hygiene and the digestive system. It has the consistency of gum, a funky, woodsy/citrus flavor, but is not going to be my new favorite treat. It tends to get STUCK in your teeth AND, since it's a resin, if you try to pick it out with a fingernail, it sticks to everything! That flavor stayed with us ALL DAY! No kidding! However, I bought some nice lapis lazuli from Afghanistan there and some frankincense for burning. I can't tell everything we bought because some of it is surprises for family and friends back home. But we have LOTS of photos to share!!! If you are not on Facebook, try these links to see the photos of Nizwa:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=573820&id=620235789&l=e40b583198

Check out the photos of the crafts in the souks. Omanis are fabulous artisans!

The fort was also a huge treat! It's the biggest one in Oman. More info here:

http://www.nizwa.net/oman/explorer/places/nizwafort/nizwafort.html

There are some photos in the link to our Facebook photos that describe some of the special features of the fort and defensive tactics used by the Omani. They are absolutely brilliant!

When we were leaving, there was a festival of sorts going on to celebrate National Day and Eid. Eid went on for 3 days last week and the Omani National Day was the last day of Eid, so it was all especially festive. We bought Omani sweets, popcorn, some Omani flag decorations....and then headed back to Muscat.

I think it is definitely worth mentioning that AGAIN, as always, we met great people here. We met a nice young Canadian woman named Tracy who works at Sohar University. We had a wonderful chat with her and then, the next day, as we were checking out of the hotel, of course, we saw her again. At our hotel! I gave her my information and she has declared herself our official guide in Oman. :) Sometimes I think that the best part of our traveling adventures is the people we meet. The scenery is always different, but meeting great people is something that seems to stay the same for us! It always happens, no matter where we go!

Our return trip to Dubai on Thursday was uneventful. There was no huge line to leave Oman or to enter Dubai and we were able to see a lot more of the UAE. We passed the dunes on Route 1 which remind us for all the world of Sleeping Bear Dune in Michigan, except for how red/orange the sand is!

http://www.offroaduae.com/off-road/routes/dubai---hatta-road-sand-dunes-route-1.html

Even here, with all the sand around us, there was GREEN, which often got in the way of my attempts to take photos of the dunes! LOL However, it was beautiful. The people in the UAE were all friendly and polite, although there was a remarkable difference when we passed from Oman to Dubai in "atmosphere." I can't explain it. It just was. Different. It wasn't just the difference between the dish dashi that Omani men wear and the thobes that Emirati men wear....

There was a long line at immigration when we returned to Doha....seemed a LOT of people were returning from Eid travels that night. But we made it home to Al Khor, safe and sound and are now resting up from our vacation. :) Sorting our pictures and trying to remember everything for this blog has been a lot of work.

We had a delightful surprise when we returned home: my beans and cucumbers and tomatoes had not only sprouted in the 5 days of our absence, but were HUGE already! Our wonderful neighbors had cleaned and swept our "yard," cared for our plants and the house was so clean! :) We are soooo lucky to have such good neighbors!

In any case, it's back to the nutrition and fitness plans of Spark People! A friendly little bird with a sweet song just sat outside my door, begging for more crackers. I can't wait to get my bird guide for Qatar so I can tell you what kind of bird he is!

61 days to home....

The adventure continues....

Life has been especially hectic for me in recent weeks. I apologize for not having updated lately. Suffice it to say that I have survived turbulence at work, in the classroom, on the highway, in the air (not in flight but rather in atmosphere), in my soul, and in general....I have spent some time being sick this past month, which I did not enjoy either and which contributed to the turbulence. The only thing that has helped me remain sane is my darling husband (even when I wanted to smack him upside the head), my/our friends, Skyping and phone calls with my family, and the garden we have been constructing together inside our villa walls. I can't wait to post photos! Getting a horse is on hold right now. But we are thinking about a dog. I am quite certain it is sure that I will be here at least one more year (knock on wood). I have to take care of some business here and at home and money is much more plentiful here, sad to say. In any case, I am feeling better and more positive, and with Eid Al-Adha looming large, we have planned a road trip to OMAN! We are so excited!!

We will fly to Dubai early Sunday morning (3 a.m.) and rent a car, drive to Al Ain, stop in to see/meet a friend there (much like we did when we went to Egypt having been friends with Maryanne for years and finally meeting her)...Lynn is a new friend, a fellow Midwesterner from Wisconsin. We will stock up on supplies like water, fruits, veggies, snacks, etc. before crossing the border at Al Buraimi into Oman and heading for the northern coast. I have heard a lot about Oman and have been afraid to go there for this reason: I might fall in love with it and not want to leave! But it is close and cheap to travel there, so we can go back often if we want. Here is a link for more info until we are able to post pics and report on it ourselves:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oman

My students are a bit worried about me that I might not know a jinni (genie) if I see one and it might cast a spell on me. :) I was advised NOT to pet cats (especially at sunset) as the jinn are known to transform themselves into animals, even humans, or other shapes to trick humans. :) One of them seriously advised that we should not go to Nizwa because this area has a lot of jinn/ghosts. He knows I don't like horror movies. :) They are all so sweet, worried about me. I guess Oman is known for magic and spells. Here is a link about jinns, fascinating stuff really!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn

I'll let you all know if I see any!! :) Don't worry. I will be very careful not to upset any jinns. I'm hoping I'll meet a good one who might grant me a few wishes! :)

Actually, we plan to go where the breeze blows. If we find a place we like, we'll stay (even if it means camping on the beach). If we feel like moving on and seeing more, we will. If we feel like a nap in the sun, we'll take a nap. If we feel like a hike in the mountains, we can do that, too (though not too far!). I plan to avoid the desert...enough of that here. :) I'm also hopeful we might be able to rent a dhow (pronounced like the English word though) and take a spin in the Gulf of Oman. It is said the dolphins like to cavort alongside the dhows, so that would be a grand treat! The thing I am looking forward to the most is the ADVENTURE of a real road trip, seeing what we have never seen before (even if it turns out to be a jinni!). I can't wait. We will only be there 5 days, returning next Thursday. Who knows what we will see, who we will meet, what we will do?

So, stay tuned. The adventure does continue! :)

Al Khor Color Parade

Almost the end of October! How did that happen? It's past my bedtime, but thought I'd make a quick update and at least share some links to photos I've posted on Facebook recently. Those are a good way to keep up even if I don't write a nice long blog.
Another Eid holiday is coming up in a few weeks, so I promise to catch up then. In the meantime, I'll have to stick with putting up some photo links for my friends to stay in touch. I hope it'll do!!
P.S. If you write to me, I write back!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=502530&id=620235789&l=ba1c4c7ad8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=503184&id=620235789&l=4224713499

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=507063&id=620235789&l=815a5a3e03

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=515182&id=620235789&l=2009f61302

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=531681&id=620235789&l=fd87b79128

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=535597&id=620235789&l=f15a871ddd

So there's the photo blog for the last few weeks. Bet you can tell what's important to ME. I promise to update everyone soon on my doings at QU and our doings elsewhere as soon as I have time and something important to report!

Please do write and keep in touch when you can!! Hugs all!!

Living forward and living a good story

"Most people like to own things: land, luggage, other people. Makes 'em feel secure, but all that can be taken away. In the end, the only thing ya really own is your story...just tryin' to live a good one."---Drover from the movie "Australia"

This last month has been rough for us here in Qatar. First we went through the "adjustment" to the weather here, the time change both mentally and physically, and simply switching routines entirely, not to mention missing the kids and grand kids. It's like going "cold turkey," as they say! To top it all off, my brother died at the age of 68 and Nelson's mom died (a week later) at the ripe old age of 84. Both had suffered a long time with debilitating illness. Nevertheless, it was still a hard blow, losing them so close together and being so far away. We did not go home...we went to see them when they were living and that is what was important to us. We can offer our families our love and support from afar. But it was still depressing, in spite of the fact that we are usually upbeat and happy people.

While death and dying are a part of life, what goes on are the lives of the living, who must make what they must of what is left of the person who dies, their body, their possessions, their money, their legacy....what they don't realize is how closely their "stories" are tied to the story of the one lost. Hopefully, what that person has left is a good story, and the desire of the survivors to live a good story as well. You can't take it with you, can you? In any case, I want to say bravo to those who respect the wishes of the dead and shame on you to those who don't. I plan to spend my children's inheritance before they can AND may very well leave the rest to charity! :) Nuff said!

What does all this have to do with anything? It has to do with leaving your story, leaving your mark on the world, writing your own epitaph. I do wonder what my epitaph might say someday and keep in mind, someday can come tomorrow, next week, next year, or in another 50 years. Today, my students read about people who live in the mountain ranges near Iran who NORMALLY live to be well over 100. We talked about how old we want to live if we can be healthy and take care of ourselves. Some of my students reported having living relatives up to 110 years old! However, they all seemed to recognize that today's society and habits are changing and that the future for healthy longevity is not good. No matter. I want to live a good story. My life isn't about getting what I want, but wanting what I have. If some other good things come about for me, wonderful. If not, who am I to discount the blessings in my life? Tonight a friend from Qatar posted this on Facebook: "Maggie and Nelson are one of the coolest couples you could ever meet." How did we become this couple? We aren't hip, we don't dance (though I had a good time rocking out to a lot of my favorite songs on the radio today...is that still a useable term? Rocking out?), and we don't do anything to try and be cool. We just are who we are. Nelson is passionate about horses and horseshoeing, our family, photography and me. :) I am passionate about teaching and reading, our family, horseback riding, and Nelson. We haven't had the best of luck with our health, but sometimes we have to make our own luck....I am going to live to be older than 68. That is one thing I have decided and am very determined about, something positive I can make from my brother's death. The day after he died, I walked out the door at 5 a.m. (because I was still exhausted at 8 p.m., going to bed early, and jetlagged) and thought about my health during a 20 minute walk as I watched the sun rise. I walked back in, sat down at my computer and found yoga exercises on Youtube. Then I spent a few hours that day becoming acquainted with www.sparkpeople.com. I haven't looked back...I've lost 8 pounds, I have more energy, my clothes fit better, I have fewer aches and pains, I am more flexible, and I feel as if I can really do this. Nelson has joined me to some degree, but I cannot force him to do yoga or ride the bike machine. He is eating better and has lost 8 pounds also. I am hoping to set a good example and that the rest will follow. I want him around for a long, long time! We have a LOT left to do in this world. I don't know exactly what it is or where it will be: Qatar, the U.S., somewhere else maybe....we love Egypt. I want to go back to Chile. I want to go back to Jamaica. I want to research reading and service learning. I want to bestow my love of reading to others and my belief that literacy can accomplish many things in this world and solve a lot of the world's ills. So much to do, so little time. Even if I do live to be 100, I don't think I'll be finished!

So, forgive my ramblings tonight...it was an especially wonderful day for me. My blessing included:
*many of my favorite songs on the radio, all rocking out ready
*high energy level
*wearing clothes I have not been able to wear, and throwing out some that don't fit
*lessons that went well in my classes
*excellent students who are truly striving to be the best
*the deep respect and love I feel for my students, every one of them (even the ones who drive me insane!)
*my friends who publicly declare me cool
*my kids who take time to keep me in touch with their lives
*my grandchildren who giggle with delight to see me on Skype and push and shove each other to get my attention so they can read me a book or just show me one
*my husband who stoically does the dishes when I am at work even though he hates it
*a sister with whom I can talk for an hour and never run out of things to say

And that's just a fraction of the blessings I enjoy in my life. Last night I dreamed about my mother (she died in 1998) and she was truly my best friend and was my best example of living a good story. Perhaps it was her presence in my dream that precipitated my marvelous day, but I felt her with me all day and could see her in my mind, smiling and nodding her head at me (she never speaks to me, only smiles and nods, even when I ask her burning questions...apparently she thinks I know the answers). I think maybe she understands and approves. Of course, she was the one who sent me on my first trip to Chile when I was 17 years old! When I later became a parent of teenagers, I wondered what she was thinking! :) Maybe she knew all along where I was going...

Good night all. I have missed my self-imposed curfew of 10 p.m., but since my other blessing today was that I finished my lesson planning for the next two days, I can sleep in a little extra before getting up and heading off to work!! Stay tuned for the next episode!

Maggie

Like sands through the hour glass...

...so are the days of our lives. Well, at least that sand seems to move faster than the last two weeks has for us! Since when did I become an early riser? At first, it was jet lag, but even now that I'm sleeping all night, even going to bed earlier if I'm tired, I am still waking up before 5 a.m. I half wonder if those jack hammers aren't a part of it. Although they are to the north of us now, I swear I can feel the vibration of them in my body in the early morning hours. This morning it was 4:40 a.m. when I woke up. I managed to go back to sleep although I have watched too many Friends episodes lately and Phoebe's damn song, Smelly Cat, keeps running through my head! I hate when you can't get a song out of your head!!

On Sunday, I woke up quite early (4 a.m.) and decided to go for a walk...the humidity was down, it was a cool 84 degrees.....and then when I got back, I decided I wasn't going to just "think" about doing yoga anymore. I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired all the time, not just bored! So, I found some yoga online and practiced it and did it. I went to Spark People again and signed up and got busy on a diet and fitness regimen. Today is day 4. All I can say is that the yoga feels pretty good. I can hear and feel the vertebrae cracking in my back when I stretch and feel the muscles stretching....they are sore at first, but then the next time, they are more flexible. Flexible is good. So, I'm going to try and keep it up. Tracking what I eat has been a huge eye opener. But I'm developing strategies for eating when I'm hungry, not bored, and eating only until I'm full and then stopping. I'm amazed at how much I've been eating when I wasn't really even hungry!!
My blood sugars are staying steady, even though I am still eating a lot of carbs. Go figure!!! I thought I'd have to cut carbs completely out of my life! So far, so good....I've lost the water that made me swell like a balloon and drinking plenty of water has helped me flush a lot out of my system. I'm trying to lose 20 pounds before I go home again in January. :)

On a sad note, my brother died last week, We've been expecting it for awhile. I went home in April of 2009 when it looked like he wouldn't make it. He made it alright! So, I got to see him several more times. He was a grumpy older brother and I was the baby sister who could never do anything right and basically annoyed the hell out of him. But he was still my big brother, and my cowboy hero (even though I wanted to punch his lights out more than once), and I will carry all fond memories of him with me.

I will start teaching again Sunday and I can't wait! I have been so bored. There is only so much reading and researching a teacher can do without her students. :) I am sure life will get hectic, and I am a bit worried about keeping up this new diet/fitness routine, but I prefer hectic to watching the sand in the hourglass, which is sort of what I've been feeling like lately....the bright spots in our days are when we have e-mails from friends or family or when we can chat or Skype with the kids and grandkids. Kayla has started back to school (1st grade) and has started a kids' soccer league and she just bubbles with her news. Mykenzie has started talking up a storm and is so enthralled with her papa. She likes to see me, too, but if Papa gets up to go do something else, she wants to know where he is. :) She's so cute. I don't get much of a chance to Skype with my peanut boy, Justin. I hope that will change, but you can only pester a busy parent so much, I guess. :) And since Jenny is probably too busy to read my blog, that won't change anytime soon.

In any case, please write. Please call. Please chat. I'll be back after classes start with all my news!

Home again, home again!

And so we return once again to the Middle East. It's still here, same as ever--hot and hot, tan and brown and dusty, and during Ramadan. I will be happy for Eid to start in a day or two. Thursday, I think.

Our summer was fast and furious, too short and too busy. I am afraid we disappointed a lot of people we wanted/hoped to see. It was just physically impossible for us to get to everyone...living here in little Qatar has made us painfully aware of how vast and large Michigan is! And that's just thinking in terms of the lower peninsula! We wore a path in the roads between Kalkaska, Hougton Lake, Vogel Center and Midland, with a couple on the way side trips to Mt. Pleasant to see Joey and one trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes for our annual beach day, which is usually held on my birthday, but which we pushed back so my sister and niece and great nephew could come. That brought my total visits with her (my sister) to two. :(

My photos from our summer are all on Facebook. I have not taken the time and energy to put them elsewhere on the web because I simply don't have extra of either commodity. I apologize for that to my friends who prefer to remain Facebookless. :) It is what it is.

The grandchildren are growing oh-so-fast. Mykayla especially seems to be growing at an alarming rate....she has so many questions. She could be a life coach!! Her parents were especially generous with the amount of time they allowed us to have her which was wonderful, but also a double-edged sword in that it was doubly hard to leave again. Thank God for Skype where we are able to keep up with each other regularly, to see each other, to talk and laugh. I got to see all her new school clothes the other day and Kenzie's cool new shoes. Today she starts her first day of first grade. I can't believe it. But we'll have lots of time for her to read me stories on Skype. Mykenzie tends to be more interested in visiting with her Papa than with me, which is ok, too. She has a wonderful fascination and love for Nelson and I couldn't be jealous of that if I tried! Justin is proving to be a precocious and strong-willed child! Oh, did he give us a run for our money this summer. His favorite word is NO, of course. We are hoping this is a terrible twos phase and not a true predictor of his childhood to come. Poor Jenny has her work cut out for her!

In any case, I will make an effort to post some of our favorite summer photos here for all to see. It is going to be a fabulous fall semester....I am teaching on the men's campus again, am doing some action research and implementing a reading project for Student Services...lots to keep me busy. I will update as often as possible. Please write and keep in touch. Letters from home, either electronically or by snail mail, are more welcome than you know! As a reminder, here's our address:

Maggie Mieske, Lecturer
Foundation Program, Department of English
P.O. Box 2713
Doha, Qatar

The first ten days home in Michigan

We survived the flight home, all 17+ hours in the air plus layovers and arrived safe, sound and exhausted. We were so glad and thankful for the hotel room we had reserved in advance.

So far, so good, although we have been plagued with similar problems as last year with a well pump seized up and frozen water pipes last winter, so our home away from home away from home has been sleeping in the horse trailer at Joe and Carrie's. I've actually enjoyed it and being with the grandchildren is delightful.

Nelson's mom is not doing so well in the nursing home, but I think she was pleased to see us. We have been to see her twice and plan to go again Monday. We are making every trip count, trying to see as many people as we can (and managing to throw in a horse shoeing or trimming in between to help with finances). We spent Justin's birthday going to see the Blue Angels at the Traverse City Cherry Festival. Justin is growing so fast and talking so much. He can and will say and repeat everything he hears adults say!

So far, we have seen the Blue Angels at the Traverse City Cherry Festival on Justin's birthday, celebrated the Fourth of July (although I am ashamed to say I was so tired, I went to bed early all three nights it was celebrated here and missed it...I think Joe, the son-in-law saved a few for later), and have bathed and groomed my horse, although (SADLY!) I have not ridden him yet. He is complaining loudly about it every day, too, whinnying at me indignantly when I go out to give him hay or grain. It has been soooo hot and muggy that I have used those days for the bathing and grooming. That is good, too, and even though he would not admit it, Malik loves beauty shop. Max's turn is next! It was so hot today, I jumped in the pool with the girls, clothes and all! Tomorrow it is supposed to cool off and the riding will begin! Mykayla has had a lesson on her steed, Max, although she is not impressed with some of the things Nana makes her do to improve her balance or Nana's insistence that she control the horse instead of vice versa! She would prefer we get on and get going down the trail!

Stay tuned. It's past my bedtime. I'll write more of our adventures later!

Spiralling UP!

I have been so busy on Facebook that I have neglected the blog! My apologies. I could kick myself for not blogging every day. So much happens and then it's hard for me to go back and remember everything, especially in chronological order!

My last blog was about our anniversary last month. At that point, I believe I had 3 weeks left in the semester. So, that is where I will start....finishing the semester. This has been one of the absolute best semesters I have ever had as a teacher. Most semesters are memorable in one way or another. This one has been especially memorable for many reasons, too many to really count. However, one of the most significant events in the semester was a class trip we took to the Japanese School of Doha to read aloud to elementary students. I have been wanting to do this for soooooo long, since I got here, but nothing ever came together quite right, and quite honestly, it was scary for me. I wasn't sure how the students would react, if it would be successful, or simply a huge failure. Some of my students complained that they'd rather stay home and study, but I reminded them it was regular class time and I'd have to mark them absent if they did. They reluctantly agreed, figuring they were at least getting out of the classroom. :) Well, they were sooo fabulous....everything came together as it always does when I plan trips like this. They read their stories aloud, had to switch out some for new ones when they didn't work, used all their strategies I had taught them in the semester, empathized with these kids, acted out the stories with voices and sound effects, laughed and had a great time (much to their surprise!).....it was amazing! Absolutely amazing. Always makes me want to cry when they tell me how it made them feel. I swear I could see their self-confidence soar in front of my eyes. Reading motivation is a huge issue here (as it is in many places in the world) and the strong oral tradition/storytelling tends to de-emphasize its value at times. In any case, in light of the success of the trip, I submitted a proposal to the Student Services Committee in the Foundation Program of Qatar University and am hopeful that this fall, I will be working on a larger scale with more teachers taking students into schools to read aloud, sponsoring a reading/book day, etc. Reading aloud and service-learning are such natural companions. I seem to have a lot of support from my colleagues. So wish me luck! :)

What else? So many things! I have been participating in a life coaching program with a colleague this semester and have just completed 11/12 sessions with a "coach." It's a fabulous experience really....NOT counseling but a wonderful way to set goals, reflect on life and make decisions for yourself....a coach is more of a facilitator, asking questions that are sometimes not so easy to answer, requiring some serious thinking and sometimes, soul searching. But I have seen positive results in my life. VERY positive. I have more peace, I am more able to let things go which turns out to be a form of "compartmentalizing." It's fascinating! She asked me what my compartmentalizing looks like (before we actually gave it that word!) and what I "see" are boxes of various sizes and shapes and colors and decor into which I put concerns or issues that I can't deal with immediately. They get stacked neatly, and sometimes, even fit inside each other. Nelson tells me HIS boxes are like those rows and rows of boxes you see on TV shows like Cold Case where all of the unsolved cases are lined up with the evidence and papers and all stuffed in there. He says this is why he procrastinates so well....it's easy to "lose" track of his boxes. :) He is sooooo funny! I also feel I have been able to achieve "equanimity" in my life....a better balance. At least one daughter has remarked to me that she senses the change in how I react to things like bad news, or stressful issues with our family. I will definitely continue coaching this fall and have been looking at programs to take an online course to become a coach myself. It's the perfect complement to what I already do!

I submitted a couple of good proposals to TESOL for the conference in New Orleans next March and am hopeful that at least one will be accepted. I am also joining and getting involved in more organizations like the International Reading Association, the International Coaching Federation, the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement, and looking at some others. So, who knows where I may attend or present next? I attended a wonderful lecture yesterday on Action Research at QU and am going to a one day conference here on the same on Saturday. I am at this junction where so much seems to be coming together and fitting together so nicely.....I am not used to that!

My friend in Afghanistan has asked for my help and advice in getting his school going there. He is now working for the National Solidarity Program and trying to help his country rebuild and improve itself. I am not exactly sure what my involvement will entail, but it is my sincerest wish and hope that someday I will travel there and see the fruits of his labor. As I said in my last post, sometimes it has seemed as if this experience in Qatar will be "it" for us, that we will then go back to Michigan and settle down to our real lives. But more and more, I think this is just the beginning for us....there is so much to see and do in this world. I would say the world is my oyster, but I don't like oysters. :) However, it is ripe for the picking and there is much I have yet to harvest, to learn, to see and do....I wish I had started this journey when I was younger, but I'd rather start late than never!

We also have a lot going on at home this summer.....Jenny is taking Max and Malik so we will be building a barn and putting up fence. Jenny is getting married, so that will be a huge, happy event! I can't wait to get there and get with her and her sister, Carrie, and start "planning" more stuff...the little cool fun stuff! There's also a 3 day family reunion in there somewhere! :) We have riding to do, LOTS of riding....it is our hope and wish that Nelson will finally ride his mare on the trail this summer. Mykayla and I plan our first 25 miles on the Shore to Shore ride and I may even try a 50. My physical fitness leaves a lot to be desired lately....too hot to go walking outside and although I have a stationary bike/elliptical exercise thingie, getting motivated is not the easiest thing. We have so many PEOPLE to visit....we may have to have a party to fit them all in, but we'll give it a try. Gas is so expensive there and Michigan is so huge. We spend so little on gas here, and the country is so small....our gas expenses this summer will be a huge culture shock! :)

One of the big things that has happened to me/us recently is Paolo Coelho. I read his book The Alchemist. It should be required reading for everyone. :) It made a big impact on me. In fact, Nelson even read it. Nelson doesn't read, so you know it's good if he read it. I am currently working on Manual of the Warrior of Light. I read a page or two a day, then reflect and write in a journal, make notes in the book on how his observations of the Warrior fit my life. It's great stuff! :) Try it!!

I know there is more but I can't remember everything unfortunately. Basically, things are simply coming together more smoothly than they have in a long time. We are so excited to come home....we swore we would not bring home gifts, but in having outfits made for me and the girls for the wedding, one thing led to another and well, it's going to be a holly, jolly Christmas in July! :) I have no idea where I am going to pack everything. I am probably going to have to carry a lot with me on the plane! I don't think I'll have room for my clothes! :)

In any case, that's my update for today. We will be leaving for the U.S. in ten days so I don't know when I'll blog again. I am on Facebook often which is really the best way to keep up with me/us. Nelson is also on Facebook and sometimes comes out of lurking mode to make a comment or post a photo! :)

Hope to see you in Michigan!!!

15 years and counting!

It's hard to believe we have squeezed so much into 15 short years. At times, it feels like yesterday, and then again, it seems like 50. Not in a bad way, but in a way that feels as if we have always been together. Maybe in another lifetime....

Although today was slightly stressful with some work issues, I came home, had a nap, washed my face and put on a little lipstick, and then after marking the day with a couple of photos for posterity's sake, we went to eat at a restaurant called The Garden, which we had never been to. We just couldn't face driving into Doha and the crazy traffic on a Thursday night. The Garden is an Indian restaurant and it proved to be not only delicious, but a good deal and we came home stuffed and with some extra paratha (Indian flat bread). We enjoyed doing something different with each other, eating something new (lemon soup with coriander) and we both had shrimp dishes that proved very tasty. We will definitely go back there more often!

I don't have any flowery words to say. Nelson bought me roses which are sweet smelling and just the thing to make the day extra special. But we consider all of our days special, considering that at one time, it had been a very real possibility that we would never have any more anniversaries together. We are thankful to be here, together, and though most days aren't yeeha hootenanny kinds of days, we do celebrate every day together, happy to be alive and here and in this moment. Each day IS a gift, which one of my students reminded me this week. The neat thing is that I really don't believe our adventure ends here by going back to Michigan and settling back down to jobs or retirement. I think our adventure is ongoing, wherever we may be. There are so many possibilities in this life, so many dreams we have yet to dream, that we may not even recognize as dreams yet. I thought for awhile that I was getting too old to dream and that this would be sort of a last hurrah before we go home to settle down again, having this adventure to count in our years together. Today, I think that maybe our adventure is just beginning and we've just spent 15 years warming up! :)

I love you, Nelson!

Another week behind us....

Sometimes I wish we had a pause button so when life starts hurling us forward too fast, we can just pause and catch our breath. Then there are moments when I wish I could simply fast forward through it all to our next visit home. We already have the memories of our last visit home, so there really is no need for the rewind button. We can't go back because then we can't be who we are now. I guess that's what memories are for.....who we were then and who we were with then, what we did and where we went and how......

In any case, more than another week has zipped by, rippling and raging, depending on the weather of the day and the climate of the moment.

Our training fun with the horses has ceased by mutual agreement. Some activities are best meant for mentoring and friendship and this was one case. I will still find opportunities to ride and be involved in horses....I have proven that to myself time and time again. Right now, I am sooo busy with the last month of classes that I barely have time to eat, sleep and teach, let alone ride horses!

Since I arrived here, I have desperately wanted to plan and complete a field trip with one of my classes to read aloud......on the 18th we are going to the Japanese School (I TOLD you Doha was diverse). I am so excited and so scared....I told my students today that they cannot let me down. I don't believe they will. I am enjoying this class of young men this semester like I have not enjoyed teaching in a long time. I always love teaching my classes, no matter the cultures, the language, or the gender....but this group has challenged me and intrigued me in a new way. I can't put my finger on it. But I am enjoying it. I come home exhausted lately...that seems to be the way the last month goes. Students and teachers alike seem to put forth all their energy and effort into those last assignments and lessons, the last quizzes, the last oral interviews and presentations, the upcoming final exams....I push them. They push back. But every day I laugh in that class with those young men. I laugh at myself, at them, WITH them....we joke with each other, we argue with each other, we teach each other, we challenge each other and ourselves to do better, to do more, to keep trying....they are marvelous and wonderful.

Today is Thursday, the last day of the week, when I am so drained I just want to sleep. So, what do I do? Today Nelson and Nettie were gone when I came home. I paused awhile, ate a snack, drank some juice.....I sat down at my computer, I found an article on Facebook that one of my students might be able to use in his research paper. So I sent it to him. Posted another one on my profile. Sometimes, I simply can't cease being a teacher, even when I pause. :) I'm not even sure if it's teaching....

"What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her (his) best in order to discover what she (he) already knows." Paolo Coelho

I love Paolo Coelho. He is my new favorite author and I can't wait to hit the library back home and read all his books! :)

Anyway, I have realized that I don't think of my students as just students (never have)...they are tomorrow's managers, and leaders, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers...they don't know those things about themselves yet, who they might be, could be. I asked my class this week what do they see about themselves in 5 years. In 10 years. Goals. Dreams. Achievements. Some have an idea...usually in terms of jobs or careers, graduating with their degrees, even geography (where they'll be living)...they asked me the same question, and all I could think of was "home." But, when I look at them and think of their lives in 5 or 10 years, I am thinking of "who" they will be and if what I am doing right now, at that moment, in the classroom, on Facebook when I'm sharing an article, sending an e-mail informing them they have missed too much class, marking them tardy or absent, making them redo an essay they've plagiarized or (gasp) giving them a zero, will someday have an impact on that 25 or 30 year old young man. God, I hope so. Inshallah.

Next week, I am going to ask them WHO they will be in 5 years. In 10 years. I wonder what they'll say. I wonder what they'll teach me. I wonder what I'll learn from them again.

And that's all I have to say about that. (Forrest Gump)

SIXTY SEVEN DAYS!

Hello dear friends and family,
I apologize for the passage of better than 3 weeks with no blogging! It has been so hectic since I got back home from Boston and since we went to Egypt!

First of all, the great news is that MICHAEL GOT THE JOB! I'm so excited for him. It will be so wonderful to have someone from home here! It will be weird working with him. He is basically the same age as my son, Joey, but he's a great guy and we really like him a LOT. He will be a wonderful addition to QU!

We are plugging along with the horse training fun....can't seem to get all the duckies straight to actually get to a ride, but I've been able to do some riding, we've seen some great changes in the time we've been helping out at the farm, and it's a great stress reliever (most days). The riding has been a great joy to me. I hope it will work out beyond our trial period, but we still don't know what lies on the horizon of our future. Somehow, I WILL find a horse to ride next season, owned, leased or borrowed. I've missed it too much. I can't wait to get home and ride my own horse!

EGYPT! What can I say about Egypt? It was an absolutely fabulous experience. Our friend and hostess, Maryanne Stroud Gabbani, is a woman I deeply admire. She gave us the experience of a lifetime. We have tons of photos, many of which we posted on Facebook, but if you're not on Facebook, hopefully I will have done another Mixbook for this past year to show people when we get home. There is too much to tell really. If any of you are interested in reading more about the daily goings-on in Egypt, please check out these sites:

http://mstroud.blogspot.com/
http://haramlik.blogspot.com/
http://miloflamingo.blogspot.com/
http://cairogizadailyphoto.blogspot.com/

And Maryanne is simply a fascinating person anyway! I will post a few photos on my own blog, but she has tons more and is far better at blogging than I am!

I am ready to go home. I miss my kids, my grandkids, my horses, my state, my great lakes...life is good here. Don't get me wrong. But we're overdue. I must close now. I need some extra rest before I finish tackling the rest of the work I didn't get finished tonight in the morning. Good night all. Keep in touch!

90 days!

Hello all! Sorry it's been so long since an update (I sound like a broken record, don't I?). So much has happened! Where do I begin?

Well, where did I leave off? Getting ready for Boston, working on my research, enjoying my new class. OK, well, Boston has come and gone. My joint presentation with 3 of my colleagues went GREAT. We are even talking about publishing our action research. We didn't present until the last day and expected to have very low attendance. We had nearly 50 people! They were all so enthusiastic! We were delighted and overwhelmed with their response! It was AWESOME. AND I got to see so many friends there....I roomed with a special friend, Michael (we were in grad school together), who also interviewed for a job at QU. I am so hopeful for him! I think he'd love it here and I'd love having someone from HOME! I worked the QU table for awhile and loved meeting so many new people and seeing my boss in regular clothes instead of a thobe. He planned to play a trick on us and pretend he was looking for a job at QU...we really didn't recognize him at first, but a colleague gave it away! :) I bought a few books, was given a few books, attended several sessions, ate a delicious turkey sandwich at the Boston Convention Center one day and Michael treated me to a delicious monstah lobsta (monster lobster) on the last evening in Boston. I saw him off on Sunday at the airport and then my friend, Amy and I had a blast spending the day together shopping a little bit. Only a little bit. I didn't have to get divorced when I returned! Hahaha!

So! Great news! Shortly before leaving for Boston, we were presented with an opportunity to help a young lady here in Qatar with her endurance program/horses. Anyone who knows me, knows I love nothing better than mentoring, helping new people in the sport, teaching and sharing what I know and spending time with people who love horses as much as I do. She needed somebody to "manage" things. Since Nelson is pretty fed up and disgusted with the freelance shoeing thing, he was the perfect person, with me "helping" him manage, to get things straightened out. We've revamped the feeding program and exercise program and have some really fabulous horses to work with. There is a little money involved as we are doing this for a few months on a trial basis to see if it works well with our personalities and schedules. Nelson is really happy to not be UNDER a horse all the time...he's working the horses, training them and the groom/rider.....helping me with feeding, translating with me for the groom (they have a special horsey/sign language they developed while I was in Boston!), and basically enjoying himself. He deserves that. I'll enjoy it even more once I get over being jet lagged....I plan to ride this week. That's the best perk of all....being able to RIDE! :) And Nelson can, too....there is a very nice Spanish horse there who is just the right size and temperament for him. And one of the mares we are working with comes from the midwest! Woo hoo...it's a small world! So, I am really looking forward to this experience and maybe this fall I'll be riding in the marathons! I can't wait. And so far, I'd like to say that great minds think alike...anything we advise her to do, she does, or anything we ask of this young woman, it HAPPENS! Many talk the talk here, but can't walk the walk. She talks, walks AND rides! :) This is a unique experience for us here, plus she truly has the welfare of her horses first and foremost in her mind. The sad thing is we have been trying to meet for so long on Facebook and always miss each other! Well, it has finally happened. As I always say: Stay tuned. Our lives are always changing in strange and mysterious ways. I think God/Allah really has a plan for us that we just have not been able to fathom yet!

What else? My sick brother, Orv. I know many of you have asked about and prayed for him. Out of respect for his family, I will only request that you continue to pray for him. He is in a lot of pain with few answers. I was not able to go visit him when I was in Boston. I maintain that he is a tough old bird and I'll see him in July. He is at home now. And that's all I have to say about that (Forrest Gump).

My level 3 class: I love this group of young men. They are special. All of my students are. However, these young men remind me daily of my first Saudi students and cause me to miss my own son so much...what is this maternal instinct for them that I don't have so much for the women? I can't put my finger on it. I hope I get to teach men again in the fall, maybe level 4! I really, really love my job, in spite of frustrating days (like invigilating and marking exams this weekend!).

In any case, the newest news is that we will fly to Egypt on Friday to spend several days with Maryanne Stroud Gabbani, as Nelson does some teaching with the farriers there, while I work on a good book and do some riding (Nelson will, too) and hopefully see some pyramids! :) So, you may not hear from us again until AFTER spring break.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring! Happy, happy everyday!

How do you know it's springtime in the desert?

The answer is BABY CAMELS! I have had the super pleasure of seeing a herd of camels with a bunch of new babies frequently on my way to work lately. Baby camels are adorable. I don't have good pictures yet, so hang in there. When we have Nelson's camera next time, we will stop and get some good ones!

To continue where my last post left off, I ended up teaching only one class this semester, a Reading/Writing class of 17 (which usually gives me 12-14 students most days). They are a wonderful group of young men, delightful. It is a unique experience teaching on the men's campus and I am learning so much from them. Although their upbringing and attitudes about everything Muslim are, of course, the same as the women, their attitudes about many other things are varied and sometimes, surprising. Let's just say they keep me on my toes!

As a result of the low registration this semester, I think almost every teacher has ended up with 12 hours (instead of 18) of teaching. This really frees me up to work on the research I am doing. It's also a nice respite. How many jobs in the U.S. will give a worker reduced hours while paying the same salary? I am lucky and blessed indeed!

Nelson is working away at the farrier business although they have not been as appreciative as he would like and is getting disgusted to the point of wanting to quit altogether. I know that is not what he wants, but a few people are worried and perhaps it will improve their attitude about the situation. Stay tuned!

Nelson has also started physiotherapy for his neuropathy and back and he says he is feeling a positive difference. He has an appointment with a couple of new doctors here in Al Khor, the diabetologist (my new diabetes guy, Dr. Hassan) and a podiatrist to keep an eye on those feet. Dr. Hassan started me on Januvia right away because I have been having a difficult time controlling my blood sugars. The least bit of stress shoots it right up (300-400), and a lot of stress spirals it out of control (400-500). I've been happy if I can keep it under 200, which hasn't been often, even with increased insulin! Anyway, the Januvia works differently than other diabetic drugs which either enhance the cell's reception to insulin or make your pancreas kick out more insulin. Januvia does increase insulin output but also reduces the amount of glucose the liver excretes. And if they get out of balance, the insulin stops, thus avoiding hypoglycemic reactions. I haven't had one sugar crash on it yet! Check it out here:
http://www.januvia.com/sitagliptin/januvia/consumer/index.jsp

Anyway, I could never afford the stuff in the U.S., but I will take advantage of it here, for sure! The physiotherapist wants Nelson to get a stationary bike so he can do some extra exercise between visits, and I think we're going to turn the majlis into an exercise/TV room. That way we can watch "House" and get healthy at the same time. :) In any case, my blood sugars on Januvia are coming down to normal. I'm hoping if I add some extra exercise, it will allow me to drop my insulin, too.

So....not much else going on except that I leave for Boston in about 10 days. Then it's home, teach for a couple weeks and then it's Spring Break, during which we plan to travel to Egypt to visit Maryanne Stroud Gabbani and do a little teaching with the tools of the trade (trimming/shoeing) while we're there. I can't wait to ride and to see the Pyramids and just go somewhere NEW! :) I have known Maryanne from Ridecamp (a subscription list for endurance riders at endurance.net) for probably 12 years and this will be our first official "meeting." Who knows? Maybe someday I'll get a job in Cairo and we can ride there every weekend! :)

Keep in touch, my family and friends. It gets us through. Today is 113 days to home. Take care!

Witty is as witty does....

I have no excuses and I have no great witticisms or interesting observations for my title that explain my absence from blogging for a month. Whenever I have thought about it, it has felt like a chore and has simply gone undone, unwritten, un-everything. So, here I am today, thinking once again of the past month (not a lot, because one can overthink things) and remembering my all-too-brief visit home to see the kids and grandkids. An update and a summary are in order, I think, so here goes:

I was able to go home, thanks to QNB, who allowed me a temporary increase on my credit card to cover the expense. I guess I'll be sticking with them for awhile! It was a whirlwind trip. I hate traveling without Nelson, but the draw of seeing my grandbabies was too big. I had a bit o'fun with the kids, telling them each that I was coming, but that they had to keep it a secret from the others. I tested their mettle by posting enough clues on Facebook that they could have all known from the get-go if they had bothered to look! I keep telling them that the greatest clues to my day and my life are right there on Facebook, but I guess they don't believe me. I know it's sad, but when I look at my status updates and what people post on my wall, it really is a slice of my life for all to see what is happening, how we are feeling, how we are doing, etc. It's mostly good stuff....I don't usually post when I'm deeply depressed, but fortunately, that passes quickly when I am feeling that way! Anyway, I arrived home to a deep freeze in Michigan and I didn't care a bit. My grandchildren are enough to keep me warm, no matter how cold it is! The wood stoves at Carrie's and Jenny's homes was a bit much to contend with though (not used to that!). Anyway, I was there a total of 9 days and it wasn't enough, of course. But, it will tide me over until July. Mykayla and I are counting the days....as of today, it's 134. We discussed it on Skype last night and she informed me that is too many, but I reminded her that soon it will be under 100 and the time will go fast. I start teaching again on Sunday, so my time will be busy. When it's not, I will make it so. Reading also helps the time pass.....as does Skype and our Magic Jack phone.

I had so many lovely times when I was home: breakfast/coffee with my friend, Jan, at the corner restaurant. Ham and bacon, of course! Trip to the U.P. to see my sister, Mary, and to Gaylord to see my brother, Orv. I gave a presentation on my research at CMU (Mt. Pleasant) to the ESLA (the student group I formed with another friend several years ago, like over 5, I think!). Made one trimming trip with Joey to visit client/friend, Jeanette, who owns one of Malik's colts and a Corgi we raised years ago....both are looking/doing fantastic and I hope she knows how much that means....it's hard giving up animals and what I wouldn't give for a horse or dog right now! Anyway! That's all the traveling I could manage in the time I had, I'm afraid. I spent as much as I could snuggling and reading books and napping with the grandkids.

I took home a fairly large book, a children's encyclopedia about the Arabian Peninsula. Justin took an immediate liking to it and the first time we sat down with it, we spent an hour looking at the drawings and photos and discussing its contents. How many 18 month old children do you know with an attention span that long? I was quite surprised. He is talking up a storm, repeating nearly everything he hears (Mommy and Daddy have to be ubercareful now!). Jenny tells me the book is part of his everyday pre-nap routine now. I don't think I ever got a chance to share it with Mykayla and Mykenzie, so I will have to buy another one to take home this summer or send in the mail! We Skype with him almost every day now. He "asks" to talk with Papa/Nana by pointing to the laptop. He likes talking to us, but I think he mostly enjoys commanding me to turn the touch lamp by my bed on and off...."light on," he says. Then, "light off." Too cute.

Poor Mykenzie was so sick while I was home. She actually had an eardrum burst. I felt so bad for her. She finally perked up toward the end of my stay and we had a fun couple of days, especially the last day, playing and hanging out. I got a motel room and we got to go swimming, though she mostly splashed a lot. She is much sweeter than I remember her, and not as "stuck" on Mommy. When I first saw her this time, she screamed, and then when I picked her up and held her, she just hugged me and cried. Made me want to weep. We talk on Skype often and her huge smile and her big long-distance kisses blown from 8,000 miles away are a staple of my life!

Mykayla had school, so we didn't get to spend as much time together as I would have liked. Walked her out to the bus in the dark and numbing cold 2 or 3 times while I was there. She's getting so grown up! She can READ now. So, we read. We played Uno and Fish. We went shopping. We had lots of time to talk and plan our summer activities: mostly, RIDING, then swimming, fishing, hiking, playing, etc. We can't wait. July can't come fast enough. I'm hoping we will be able to do at least one 25 miler on the Shore to Shore ride this year. She needs to work on more trotting and I need to get her some half-chaps (PURPLE) to protect her little calves. :) Malik did not ignore me this time, but came right out to see me. I took him an apple every day I was there. I did not get to ride unfortunately, but that's ok. I'll ride and ride this summer! :)

I had the pleasure of going out to dinner and the movies with the girls, Carrie, Jenny and Mykayla. We saw Avatar. The next day, Jenny and I took Justin and Mykayla to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakel. It was a wonderful time, a busy weekend, and I wound up sick on the LAST night before I left...Kenzie's bug maybe? But, it was still worth it. I was so sick, I slept most of the time on the flights home. Missed the connection in London, but fortunately only had to wait a couple of hours for the next one. I am going to Boston next month to present at the TESOL conference and will probably have the same problem coming home.....I arrive in London at 6:50 and my connection leaves at 7:55. Yeah, right, like THAT is gonna work out for me! Oh, well....maybe if I only have a carryon, I can get through customs and security faster. We'll see....

So, I have been home now for just over a week. I was soo sick the first few days, but have recuperated quickly. Started back to work. My first order of duty was taking the guest speakers for our professional development forum out to lunch and to the museum and to dinner on Monday. The guest speakers, Bill Grabe and Fredericka Stoller, are researchers/educators important to my research and I'm sort of a groupie as their area is READING. They were delightful and entertaining people and Nelson and I had a great time. It was such a privilege to have that time with them! I can't wait to see them at TESOL in Boston!

And so, another semester will commence on Sunday. At this point, I have only 3 students in my Reading/Writing class. That is not going to help my research much! It may be cancelled. I don't know yet. There are 13 in my Listening/Speaking class. So....who knows? I wanted to do a community service project this semester, similar to the one I did at Tendercare in Mt. Pleasant, where my students went in and read to the nursing home residents. No nursing home here, but lots and lots of schools. And there is a huge push right now to promote literacy in Qatar, so maybe it's good timing. If I get some release time, perhaps I can use it to work on this project. I hope so. I believe that the self-confidence and self-esteem that students get from reading as a community service transfers to how they feel about and how much they are motivated in reading. At least I'd like a chance to prove it.

Because some of you may be wondering, the business is still perking away for Nelson, steady but slow. Joey still does not have his passport, so that may have to wait until fall as race season will be over in another couple of months here. Nelson still gets frustrated. Our partner is a nice guy, but wants us to drop prices while at the same time wanting more profit. Doesn't work that way. Nelson is not going to work himself to death for peanuts for people who don't appreciate it. On the other hand, he is continuing to see much satisfaction in his work here and a few people who DO appreciate his skills. The other day, when one of our clients, who has learned what is and isn't proper, took a horse back to the farrier section because he didn't like the shoeing job, was told to "Take it the American Medic and let him fix it!" So, that is the current joke. Time will tell if this will grow into something worthwhile, or if it will fizzle and die. I don't care either way as long as Nelson keeps busy enough to make it worth his while and be happy with what he is doing...if it goes, we stay a little longer but make a little more money. If it doesn't, we don't stay and come home when my contract is finished. Both are doable for me. Hopefully, whenever we DO come home, we will come home to a better economy and be able to LIVE....not just with a job to cover the bills, but the ability to see a doctor and pay for the prescriptions that keep us alive, literally! :)

Take care all, keep in touch, and see you in July!!!

Time for an update

The days keep smushing together lately and time gets away from me much too fast. One day it was the last week of classes, and now it's two weeks later! One more week before official vacation of two weeks begins. I was hoping to go home, but getting money out of clients is proving to be a monumental task, and it may simply not happen. How I will manage to make it through until July without seeing my little grandbabies is beyond my scope of comprehension, but I suppose I will muddle through! :(

The weather has been absolutely amazing here. Perfect really! I wish some of you would get your passports if you don't have one and take a vacation to see us. It may not be as tropical as Jamaica or anywhere else in the Carribean, but there are beaches, there are beautiful sunsets, there are camels and their babies wandering the deserts, browsing on the green (we've had GREEN since the rains came!), and WE are here! Free accommodations from us at least. The airfare (through Expedia) isn't so expensive really. Come on out and pay us a visit!! That might help get me through!

Business is booming for Nelson and we have managed to find a partner we like and trust to back us financially. As soon as it's processed, Joey will be traveling here to help Nelson and we have a wonderful young apprentice right now named Razwen (Raz, pronounced like Roz in English spelling) who is from Bangladesh. He's delightful although his English is horrible, but what luck for him that Nelson is married to an English teacher! So, although we've experienced much frustration with getting the business started (and aren't finished yet...we still have some collections to make, most of it from people with plenty of it floating around!), but it's looking up, Nelson is encouraged, and we are excited to get Joey here! I'm sorry to take him away from those of you who have stuck with him and continued to have him trim and shoe for you, but he can't make it in Michigan. Hopefully, in time, perhaps by switching off periodically for Nelson, they can still manage to make it home several times a year and can do some work then!

Since Nelson has started a lot of the race horses at the Club, we've been going to the races nearly every week. I have some photos that I'll put on Facebook and a few on here (give me a little time as I only took about 500 and need to sort them out!). Word is traveling fast that Nelson is a miracle worker and while he's been mostly getting a lot of special horses that need a lot of corrective work, he's been very successful. Mutawassel, a Thoroughbred champion from the UK, won a lot when he first arrived in Qatar. In recent years, he's been unable to race AND stay sound. Nelson has shod him 3 times now and he's raced 3 times, once in the money (5th), and has stayed sound as a dollar (or should I say a riyal?). It's a great thrill to watch horses he has worked on race in these circumstances. I think I might need to look into track racing instead of endurance racing! It's quite thrilling! Which leads me to my next topic...

I do have some unfortunate news though: I no longer have a horse. The financial aspects of starting the business and trying to traverse from Al Khor to where the horse is stabled were too much financially, and the time driving back and forth, and scheduling a ride here and there became a huge stress. We have shelved the horse buying venture at this time until circumstances permit me to buy a horse outright (as opposed to bartering shoeing services) and to board the horse here in Al Khor where I can go daily to ride or just play with a horse. I'm seriously wishing I had a dog right now though....not having an animal in my life is also a stress. But I suppose it wouldn't be fair to keep a dog unless we could afford to take him back and forth with us every summer. At this time, not doable.

We've also made some grand new British friends, Stephen and Kerry-anne Golding. Stephen got the job at the Federation that Nelson THOUGHT he wanted so many months ago. After seeing what Stephen is going through trying to straighten that place out and supervise those farriers there, I am glad Nelson didn't get it. But it's the first time ever that I have had a farrier's wife for a friend. It's absolutely amazing and I am stunned by the parallels in our lives, our reasons for being so far from home, away from our families, our similar interests and hobbies, and basically, we just enjoy visiting! In the past, we've mostly had Nelson's friends and/or my friends and we shared. Here, most of his friends are friends through my work. Not much in common except for me, or perhaps being the spouse of a teacher. Now, we have friends who are just our friends because we have so much in common...I don't think that has ever happened before. It's really cool! OK, friends out there...don't get all jealous. I can't wait for you all to meet these new friends...they will fit in perfectly with all of our friends here because they are so delightful. However, every single friend we have here has come to us for a special reason, and it amazes me how certain people are put in front of us at just the right times! Stephen and Kerry-anne have popped into our lives at a moment when we need exactly that kind of friend! We didn't even know we were missing them! :)

Well, I'll try to update more in the coming weeks. Not much planned except work, work and more work (the farrier kind). Getting Joey here is top on our priority list! We're so excited that I think he's sick of hearing about it! :) Wish us luck that all goes smoothly, the passport arrives without incident and he makes it all the way to Qatar and doesn't end up in India or Pakistan or God knows where else! :)

Stay in touch and drop us a note when you can. Notes from home are ALWAYS welcome!!

The end of another semester!

Somehow the end is here again. We still have exams to "invigilate" tomorrow. That word still makes me laugh, but is better than "proctor," which makes me think of doctors and prostates! Grading will occur on Sunday with days of follow up, finish up, wrap it up, suck it up. Then 3 weeks of busy work (committees, professional development, presentations, meetings, etc.), 2 weeks of "real" vacation (during which I can't afford to go home and visit right now), and then a week of prep and back to teaching on February 21st. Whew! Sounds like a lot, but it'll go fast. I plan to get in some riding, maybe even an endurance ride if they add a 60 km (no way my body can handle a 100 or 120!), and lots of sleeping in!

Anyway! This last week has been interesting although it seemed to drag on! I overdid the sarcoidosis treatment the week before last (forgot about pulsing and low doses of the antibiotics!). So, I had a few miserable days. This week I had a couple of really feeling great days (got to ride the horse even!) and the pain in my joints has eased now that the doses are down and I'm skipping days. Sheesh! That'll teach me not to pay attention to what I'm putting in the weekly "planner" for pills! :) I saw the "chest" doctor yesterday, "chest" being Qatarese for "pulmonologist." He agreed to ultrasound my liver and spleen which was my former doctor's major concern and send me to an opthalmologist to check my eyes (diabetes and sarcoidosis being an issue), opthamologist being the actual word for that! He wrote me prescriptions for the drugs I need to continue the treatment, but I may still have to buy them out of pocket as Hamad Hospital simply doesn't carry them. Now, how is it that I can BUY them over the counter (they cost plenty, too!), but the hospital pharmacy doesn't carry them? I don't know if the private insurance from work will cover them either. Oh, well.....hopefully, I will eventually be RID of the sarcoidosis once and for all! It's a good thing I'm proactive about our health care or we'd be in a real pickle!

We've been seeing more and more camels everywhere since the rains came, although we haven't had any major rain for a couple of weeks now. It's cooled off quite a lot, most days staying in the 70s and some nights getting in the 50s. I love it. The locals are freezing! Most of the time we walk around in our shirt sleeves, with an occasional long sleeved shirt or light jacket. It's perfect riding weather. Heck, it's perfect ANYthing weather! :)

Nelson keeps plugging away trying to get things going with the farrier business. We're waiting/hoping for Joey to get his passport so he can come and help! Also, hoping to find a business partner. I have never seen business treated so casually and leisurely....it has to be that "inshallah" attitude. But, we'll see what happens. Nelson has some really good clients in the racing side and has shoed a LOT of endurance horses. There's a race tomorrow and he's going to be available for "his" horses. Of course, I can't go. NOT happy about that! But maybe next time. There aren't near as many rides this year. Last year at this time, they had already had at least a half dozen rides! Word is that the camel racing got all the money in the budget this year, or at least most of it: 200 million QR plus for the camels versus 20 million QR for the horses, including the racing! Don't quote me on the numbers!

Anyway, that's my brief update....sorry it isn't full of culture and such. Hopefully, we'll have plenty to do over our vacation and I'll have photos and stories galore! Keep in touch, folks!

Wherever I am, you are there with me.....

Today we celebrated a new year with friends and family everywhere, even ones who were not physically present. I brought out the old tablecloth that I have been using for the last 3+ years for such parties and get togethers and was amazed to realize how old it really is. I think the first time we used this one was January 2007 (there are others that are older), but this is one that spans students I taught, fellow grad students, birthdays, graduations, Thanksgivings, Christmas....you name it. I realized that reading these names and messages from all these people over the last few years brings them again into my life for a special day, even when they aren't physically present. It's a huge tablecloth (the one we bought to put on the ping pong table in the activity room of our old apartment building) and has room for so many more names and holidays and just for fun BBQ New Year's/Nelson's birthday potlucks. We guesstimate there were probably around 40 people who came today plus one dog...my friend, Sophia, brought her family, including her huge Belgian shepherd named Caesar. Beautiful animal. It was the best beginning to a new year that we have had in a long time and we loved it. THANK YOU to everyone, past and present, who has contributed to the wonderful memories we've made in our lives! Photos on Facebook soon. Good night and Happy New Year!!

Official Happy New Year 2010

This post is just to see if 2010 will really show up in my archive list or if Y2K has finally snuck up and got us!