The Adventures of Grover and Tylene: Qatar and IC

Greetings to all my loyal blog followers. Let me just say that things have been somewhat crazy as of late. It's hard to believe that I am about 10 school days away from holidays. In the next 10 days I hope to finish a Unit of Inquiry, start another, finish a math unit, move to my new building, paint my new apartment and, of course rest. All of this is to happen prior to leaving for Ireland on December 8th and a 19 day European tour beginning on December 15th.

Now, sadly, Grover didn't make it to Qatar. It was really quite disappointing, I think he would have really enjoyed the trip. However, he was inadvertently left hanging on the calendar by the door. Bummer, really...there's nothing like a fuzzy blue muppet when one is looking for a traveling companion. Luckily, however, I travelled to Qatar with three wonderful women...we had a time.

Thursday, November 13 was departure day. Thankfully it was also Sports Day at school, which meant noon dismissal. I did not make it through Sports Day because, as it turns out, when one is about to embark upon a pre-birthday celebration in another country, one becomes ill. On the advice of my vice principal (who, for the record, I really enjoy) I went home and slept the day away. That afternoon I packed my bag and headed to Doha, Qatar.

Doha is a beautiful city...from what I saw, anyway. On Thursday night, after dinner in my room with Marisol and Jessie, I went to bed. The girls went out to check out the old souk and had a grand time. I had a good sleep in preparation for the fun that would follow the next day.

On Friday we took in the Villagio. To call The Villagio a mall would be an understatement. It's more of a work of art that contains shops and such. In the near future I will get some pictures up from my trip to Qatar. In the meantime, imagine a mall that has a canal running through the centre that offers gondola rides (those are the boat thingers, right!) After spending way too much money at the mall (oh how I love to shop with I have unlimited resources), I returned to the hotel for an afternoon nap. I really was, by this point rather sick.

Friday night we went out for dinner to The Veranda...a loverly Italian restaurant located on the Gulf Coast. We were right on the water's edge and the sight was breathtaking. It was a mild night, so I was glad to be wearing long sleeves and a scarf (Okay, stop laughing, 20 degrees is considered to be "mild" here). Dinner was wonderful, and complete with live music. I had my own special surprise when the girls arranged for the musician to sing "Happy Birthday" as I had a most delicious tirimisu. Yummy!

Another perk of the evening was the Tequila Sunrise. Now, when you live in a dry country and get to go to a fancy, schmancy restaurant and order a drink with dinner, it's a big deal. It was probably the most yummy tequila sunrise I've ever had.

Saturday was our departure day...and you know what they say about the best laid plans. We woke up and went out for what we'd hoped to be the museum tours. However, it appears that museums aren't open until December 1st. So we went to another mall in search of a place for a pedicure. While "City Centre" was quite loverly, it wasn't anything close to the Villagio...I've been ruined when it comes to malls now, forever. Pedicure-less and tired of wandering we headed to the Corniche...the waterfront street. Following a brief stop there (long enough to lie on the grass...real, live, green, fresh-smelling grass.

We walked through the old souk on our way back to the hotel and stopped off for lunch at a Moroccan restaurant. It was approaching time to head back to the hotel to catch the shuttle to the airport when I checked my phone for text-messages. We had arranged it so that we would fly out of Doha and be home by 8:00. Unfortunately, a 3 hour delay had us arriving back at our apartments by 11:30. Thankfully, the hotel didn't mind that the four of us crashed in the lobby for a few hours. I was way too tired to do much of anything by that point.

To say that I was glad to be home was an understatement. I had a blast in Doha with Marisol, Mariam and Jessie, but my "cold" had really gotten the better of me. Work Sunday and Monday was very draining.

On Monday evening, I decided perhaps it was time to go to the International Clinic and find out why I was feeling so sick. I'd also developed quite the cough. As it turns out, I'm suffering from Acute Bronchitis and a sinus and ear infection. The last two days I've spent home in bed, only leaving my apartment to return to the clinic twice a day for i.v. antibiotics (I feel like a pin cushion) and to be put on a nebulizer. It would appear that in addition to bronchitis, my lungs are filled with crap (very technical term)! In my many trips back and forth to the clinic I have learned a few things...

1. I am very thankful for the health system we have in Canada... although I have health insurance here, we do not yet have our cards, so I am having to pay for everything out of pocket until I get reimbursed from the insurance company. Things add up really quickly.
2. I would be a horrible i.v. drug user... I officially have the worse veins. I am black and blue on both my hands and one of my arms. At this point, the poor nurses are running out of places to stick me...especially when the first place tried, fails.

Anywho, I am on the mend. I am scheduled to move to my new building on Monday...I can think of better ways to spend my birthday than moving, but at least I will be settled. We'll just see if it follows through or not, though. Elevator still isn't working, so who knows! Inshallah! Such power in such a little word...Inshallah.

Well, until next time I ought to sign off...I'll post some pictures in the next day or two.

Lots of love

G & T