Milestones

Steve here. As the title suggests, we've passed a few milestones over the past week or so that I thought I'd share.

A week ago Monday, I became the first one of us to celebrate a birthday here in Doha. At the suggestion of a colleague, we went to the Four Seasons, which happens to be next door to Qtel, and ate at their casual outdoor restaurant. It was a perfect evening to be outside--temperatures in the low 70s, comfortable humidity, and a slight breeze coming off the bay that was perhaps 50 yards from our table. We could just make out the the Museum of Islamic Art in the distance, across the calm waters. It was a good meal, and I enjoyed being in one of the few restaurants in the country that is allowed to serve alcohol. To top off the evening, Morgan and Ella surprised me with a nice birthday cake.

Yesterday marked the end of our first month in Doha, which has flown by. Today we reached a couple more milestones; I completed yet another immigration formality by getting my Qatari driver's license, and Ella & Morgan received their family visas so that they can now begin the process of getting their residency permits.

Our most exciting news--to us, anyway--is that we officially kicked off our house hunt this past weekend even though it's about a month until the ship with our belongings is scheduled to arrive. It looks like we've found the neighborhood where we will live--it's a brand-new development north of central Doha that will be an easy drive both to Qtel and to Morgan's school. The development has nicer amenities than many others, and the grounds are beautiful. (I can't describe how refreshing it was to be surrounded by lush green grass and tropical plants after living in the dust of central Doha for the past month!) We will probably check out a few more places, but this neighborhood will be hard to beat.

I'll close with a few photos from our budding junior photographer. Yesterday Morgan's class took her second field trip to the desert within a week, this time to a Bedouin camp. One of the pictures (taken by a classmate, I think) is of Morgan and her new friend Alicia, who is from Australia. (A short anecdote about Alicia: The day that Morgan visited the school during our first week here, the teacher assigned Alicia to be Morgan's "buddy" when the class went out in the courtyard to plant some flowers as part of their unit on the environment. When Alicia spotted Morgan on Morgan's first day of school the following week, Alicia ran to Morgan, hugged her, and said "Hiya, Buddy!" They have apparently been inseparable at school ever since.) Another photo is of the traditional coffee pot the Bedouins use, and yes, that is a working TV set in the background. The last one is pretty self-explanatory.