I was in a hurry to get the last post posted, and forgot to include a few other things.
Carolyn Bailey Berneking, Betty's oldest sister recently pass away at the age of 96. She was diagnosis with tongue cancer in May. They did surgery to remove the growth and thought that they go all of it, but it showed up later in her lymph node. They did surgery again, and thought that they got it all, but it started growing on her tongue again. She did try Chemo in the beginning, but it was just to painful. Carolyn was a good friend of mine. She was a real inspiration for me. She had a very rich life and was still driving just before she died. Also, she was still volunteering at the Kansas State University library.
Bud McKinney, Betty's youngest sister's husband passed away recently also. I remember meeting him for the first time not long after Jim & I were married. We visited them in Oregon. Uncle Bud made beautiful jewelry. He wanted to inspect my wedding ring, and then reported to Jim that it was a very nice ring. He had been suffering with mild heart attacks recently and it was just his time to go be with the Lord.
I am glad that Ramadan will be over soon. It is a pain not having anything to eat or drink in public during the day light hours. It makes restaurants very busy in the evenings. We did manage to buy enough wine to last through Ramadan. There is only one liquor store in Doha and it is closed during Ramadan.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Another Hot & Humid Day in Dusty Land
The wind has been blowing for the last week or so. That makes the air quality very bad. Because if you mix the sand and the humidity in the air, it brings visibility down to about a 1/2 a mile. Plus it is extraordinarily uncomfortable outside!
I worked at Oxford 3 days this week. The kids come in very tired because the Qataris stay up eating all night. So, they blast them out of bed and get them to school by 11 AM. The first hour for most students is useless. I had a few students recently that are ADD & ADHD, and they are quite a challenge. There are many table in each room with 3 student and 1 teacher per table. Therefore, it is very difficult to keep their attention. I have been tempted to bring them a Red Bull drink, just to calm them down! They know that Eid is fast approaching and it will be party time. All of these kids come from very wealthy families. Most people leave during Eid to celebrate someplace where temperatures are warm, but not hot. Everybody has a week off during Eid.
I've been working on finishing up the design for the fountain for the back patio. I finished up some unfinished student artwork, painted a few pots and added some glass tiles to the painted pots.
My website is coming along, but still under construction. I'm beginning to think that it would just be easier to do a blog just for my artwork.
Jim and I looking forward to our upcoming trip to see some friends in Norway. We will probably freeze our butts off! After being in the summer heat of Doha, anything would feel cold. I'm looking forward to breathing clean air.
Thursday I play Shanghai card game all day with a group of ladies. It is great fun. I'm off to do that now. We will see what the weekend brings.
Friday, August 5, 2011
In the Midst of Summer
Ok, so I haven't Blogged for a long time. I guess I've been busy!
We went back to the USA in April and I didn't return to Qatar until June. That was a bit longer than I wanted to spend there, but I got a lot of stuff done. I moved our storage items to a Climate Controlled Storage Unit, where I can visit it when I am in the USA and I don't have to pay to see it. It was stored at Graebel Storage, where they charge by the weight and they charged me $150. just to look at it. If you want to open it, that will cost you more.
When I returned to Doha, I was here for five days and off we went to Phuket, Thailand. Our second time within 12 months. We had a glorious time. This time we attended Diving School to become Open Water Divers. We are contemplating going to Oman and the Maldives to dive relatively soon.
We are in Ramadan season now. It is an interesting time of the year to be in Qatar. No food or drink in public, including the privacy of your own automobile is allowed during daylight hours. The Muslims stay up until 2 or 3 AM eating and partying, oh I meant to say praying. Ramadan is suppose to be a time for them to reflect on their faith and fast, and avoid temptation. However, as with any religion there are so many followers that misuse the time. Plus the fact that the Government does what they can to remove as much temptation as possible. It appears that for a true believer that the task is relatively easy. However, most of the workers that work outdoors are Muslim. They work out in 120F (with 80% Humidity) and cannot have anything to eat or drink, not even water. I would imagine that they get dehydrated and sleep deprived during this time. They are suppose to read the entire Koran during this month.
We have plans to go to Norway to visit some friends during Eid Ul-Fitr, which is celebration of the end of Ramadan, and also the first week of September. Jim has off of work for that week.
I have been busy with training my maid, Emebet to be a gardener. She comes every morning at 5 AM for 3-1/2 hours. In addition to her regular cleaning, she is watering the yard in between tasks. She can turn on the sprinklers just like the compound gardeners can! She pulls weeds, cleans up leaves in the yard, cleans the patio everyday and it is so nice to have her here to do things as I need them done. She frees up a lot of my time. Mostly, she spoils me! She loves working in the yard!
I've sent a lot of time creating new art work. I will post some photos.
I decided to take a job working as an English Tutor for Oxford Learning School. All the sessions are different every hour. I usually work 2 hours a day/4 days a week, but that varies by how many students are signed up in any given week. I tutor 3 students at a time, which are all on different levels. It is a very expensive school, therefore it is mostly Qatari kids. The ages are from 4-18+. It is a challenge teaching them mostly because they are not used to having to do something that someone else tells them to do. And then, for them to follow through with the request. Oooh, that would be an expectation. I get a lot of blank stares, or looks like I have three heads.
The other day I was teaching a student and he decided to write on the table with his highlighter. I told him to go to the restroom and get a paper towel and come back and clean the table. He told me NO! So, I told him another 3 or 4 times. He told me "no" and proceeded to wipe it with his hand. I thought to myself, ok whatever works for you. Their parents are paying for them to come to a very expensive school to better their English Language, and if they want to goof off, that is a choice that they can make. I make notes in my comment section about things like that, and that gets passed on to their parents. For the most part they are well behaved children, at least while they are at school.
The students typically want me to give them the answers. I tell them that they will not learn if I give them the answers. They agree with me, but still want me to do the work for them.
There is a little boy that I had last week that the school is still trying to figure out. When he holds his pencil with the right hand, he holds it between his ring finger and his pinky. So, I showed him how to hold his pencil and he puts the pencil in his left hand and holds it correctly, but cannot write with it. I contend that someone showed him how to write that was left-handed. I contend that he is right-handed. He has other issues and wants the teacher's undivided attention. That's a problem. We have to divide our time evenly, or somewhat evenly.
Yesterday, I had two of Emir H.H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's daughters in my class. They were both very lovely and very reserved. They are treated as any other student. They are not treated as royalty.
I am definitely getting practice on how to pronounce Arab names. The kids do not hesitate to correct me!
We went back to the USA in April and I didn't return to Qatar until June. That was a bit longer than I wanted to spend there, but I got a lot of stuff done. I moved our storage items to a Climate Controlled Storage Unit, where I can visit it when I am in the USA and I don't have to pay to see it. It was stored at Graebel Storage, where they charge by the weight and they charged me $150. just to look at it. If you want to open it, that will cost you more.
When I returned to Doha, I was here for five days and off we went to Phuket, Thailand. Our second time within 12 months. We had a glorious time. This time we attended Diving School to become Open Water Divers. We are contemplating going to Oman and the Maldives to dive relatively soon.
We are in Ramadan season now. It is an interesting time of the year to be in Qatar. No food or drink in public, including the privacy of your own automobile is allowed during daylight hours. The Muslims stay up until 2 or 3 AM eating and partying, oh I meant to say praying. Ramadan is suppose to be a time for them to reflect on their faith and fast, and avoid temptation. However, as with any religion there are so many followers that misuse the time. Plus the fact that the Government does what they can to remove as much temptation as possible. It appears that for a true believer that the task is relatively easy. However, most of the workers that work outdoors are Muslim. They work out in 120F (with 80% Humidity) and cannot have anything to eat or drink, not even water. I would imagine that they get dehydrated and sleep deprived during this time. They are suppose to read the entire Koran during this month.
We have plans to go to Norway to visit some friends during Eid Ul-Fitr, which is celebration of the end of Ramadan, and also the first week of September. Jim has off of work for that week.
I have been busy with training my maid, Emebet to be a gardener. She comes every morning at 5 AM for 3-1/2 hours. In addition to her regular cleaning, she is watering the yard in between tasks. She can turn on the sprinklers just like the compound gardeners can! She pulls weeds, cleans up leaves in the yard, cleans the patio everyday and it is so nice to have her here to do things as I need them done. She frees up a lot of my time. Mostly, she spoils me! She loves working in the yard!
I've sent a lot of time creating new art work. I will post some photos.
I decided to take a job working as an English Tutor for Oxford Learning School. All the sessions are different every hour. I usually work 2 hours a day/4 days a week, but that varies by how many students are signed up in any given week. I tutor 3 students at a time, which are all on different levels. It is a very expensive school, therefore it is mostly Qatari kids. The ages are from 4-18+. It is a challenge teaching them mostly because they are not used to having to do something that someone else tells them to do. And then, for them to follow through with the request. Oooh, that would be an expectation. I get a lot of blank stares, or looks like I have three heads.
The other day I was teaching a student and he decided to write on the table with his highlighter. I told him to go to the restroom and get a paper towel and come back and clean the table. He told me NO! So, I told him another 3 or 4 times. He told me "no" and proceeded to wipe it with his hand. I thought to myself, ok whatever works for you. Their parents are paying for them to come to a very expensive school to better their English Language, and if they want to goof off, that is a choice that they can make. I make notes in my comment section about things like that, and that gets passed on to their parents. For the most part they are well behaved children, at least while they are at school.
The students typically want me to give them the answers. I tell them that they will not learn if I give them the answers. They agree with me, but still want me to do the work for them.
There is a little boy that I had last week that the school is still trying to figure out. When he holds his pencil with the right hand, he holds it between his ring finger and his pinky. So, I showed him how to hold his pencil and he puts the pencil in his left hand and holds it correctly, but cannot write with it. I contend that someone showed him how to write that was left-handed. I contend that he is right-handed. He has other issues and wants the teacher's undivided attention. That's a problem. We have to divide our time evenly, or somewhat evenly.
Yesterday, I had two of Emir H.H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's daughters in my class. They were both very lovely and very reserved. They are treated as any other student. They are not treated as royalty.
I am definitely getting practice on how to pronounce Arab names. The kids do not hesitate to correct me!
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