Celebrating in Style

 A good friend from our compund turned 50 and generously invited our entire family and the Kramer's to celebrate.

Success was guaranteed when we were picked up in a Hummer stretch limousine.....you can imagine the excitement and cheers.....oh, and the kids loved it too!

Some people just look so naturally comfortable with the luxury surroundings..... (I'm talking about Madeleine here)!

 

Champagne was needed to stay calm during the rush hour traffic of Doha - luckily, it did the trick!

We finished with dinner at the Sharq Hotel. There were real rose petals in the fountain and the most gorgeous flower arrangements everywhere.

Ah, what a life! Nothing beats passing out on the hotel couch after a fun afternoon/evening with friends. Thank you Dieter and Antje for a wonderful time!

Kite Festival in Doha

Fun day at Katara with the sky filled with kites in all shapes and colours. True to Qatari customs all children who visited received a free kite to decorate and fly - you can imagine how many times we had to detangle ourselves from kite strings gone crazy.


 



Beautiful end to the day with the lit-up skyline of The Pearl and the Intercontinental Hotel.

 Very colourful sight indeed!

Doha Skyline

 Here are some random pictures of beautiful Doha skyline......makes you feel like you're on vacation constantly with that colour water! Oh wait....in a few days I WILL be on vacation - that is if packing boxes and preparing for our move back to Boston is considered vacation. I plan on ensuring that it will be:)

And here is a picture of Stuarts office...not bad huh? As long as you don't have to clean the windows!

We have an artist in the house

Madeleine and I attended a workshop this Friday at the new modern museum in Doha called Mathaf. We have visited the musem and knows it has amazing facilities and displays very interesting art work.......however, on this day we concentrated on creating Madeleine's own master piece.

Each child was presented with a big wooden cube and then had to decorate it however they wanted. As you can tell, the concentration was high during the 3 hours we spent there.

 The artist signs her work!

OK - I just can't help it but I LOVE these little signs they have at the museum! This is one if them....

The day ended on the Corniche where we got some beautiful pictures of the skyline. Here. Madeleine is "holding" one of the Doha towers.....before we went to Villaggio for dinner. What a great day with a fantastic girl - can't wait to repeat with the other two great kids at home one day!

VCUQ Commencement Ceremony

For someone who has never witnessed a real american graduation ceremony other than in the movies, this event was quite spectacular. Of course - graduating in Doha means ceremony is held at the Ritz and with the attendance of the Palestinian president whose grandson was among the graduates. You can imagine the amount of security there!

I had such a good time watching our students on this memorable day and I believe I enjoyed it just as much as they did.

Here's the cutes little brother in the audience together with my colleague and friend Hissa.....isn't he just adorable!

I'm sad I won't be here next year for this event!