Hello, Doha!

I<3Qatar.

You should visit this website: http://iloveqatar.net

Everything about Qatar and all the awesome events that are happening.

Speaking of what's happening, I've had a lot of things happening! The administrators of Qatar Academy Sidra have certainly kept us busy. They've been getting us to every appointment and process we need to complete in order to live here in Qatar. They provide us meals and transportation and even Nanny services for the employees who have children. They certainly want to make us feel at home, I love it.

I've been posting pictures on Facebook of a lot of the places I've been visiting but for those who don't follow me on Facebook, I'll catch you up!

Last time I posted, our administrators took us to a very fancy lunch at the beautiful St. Regis hotel. They had everything you could imagine including some fancy desserts. You could get a great view of the skyline which is a little skewed in my picture due to the amount of dust in the air.

Besides that nice dining experience, we have been to just about every mall in Doha, haha. We visited the City Centre Mall:

I was also lucky enough to visit the Museum of Islamic Art already! Even better, I met someone who went to school at Syracuse University! That's the third person I've met here that's from Central New York or the surrounding area. Small world :)

And the Villaggio Mall :):

One of my favorite moments this week was visiting the Qatar Animal Welfare Services facility. Volunteers come to work in the extreme heat to make sure abandoned and stray animals are taken care of until they can find a loving home. I enjoyed spending time in the open cat area with all the cats snugging me. One special guy, Zebedee, stole my heart :)

I have made fast friends here! Our H.R. director, Rita, who has been extremely helpful picked us up and took us out to a very fun restaurant downtown. The band even sung Happy Birthday for me! What a great surprise!

On my actual birthday, my new friend Lisa surprised me with some brownies and I got a wonderful rendition of "Happy Birthday" from all of the new teachers :)

We did some quick medicals today; driver's test on Thursday and hopefully we go from there! I'm looking forward setting up my classroom and for my students to arrive! What an amazing start to this journey. Love!

Welcome to Qatar

What a wild ride! I've gotten many requests to keep a blog while I teach in Qatar for the next 2 years. I will try my hardest to keep it up-to-date but I can already tell I'll be super busy.

Let me start from the beginning! Arriving in Qatar went smoothly but the first night in my apartment was rough. I was very homesick and nervous about what the next few weeks would bring. My first reaction when stepping into my housing was "WOW!" When I say the Qatar Foundation has hooked we teachers up, I mean it! I am currently living in a two bedroom, two bath, spacious apartment within a gated community. We have a washer and dryer included, dishwasher, and even a club house where we can use the pool, gym and take classes. It's wonderful. Here are pics of my apartment:

Besides the superb living conditions, our supervisors/principals/directors have done everything they can to make us feel happy and comfortable. They've offered us rides to wherever we need to go, the option to call at any time if we need anything and the reassurance that we are here for a reason and they believe in the good work we can do. Luckily, there is a great group of new teachers to this school. I am basically the only teacher who is teaching internationally for the first time. Many of these teachers have been teaching abroad in Asia, Africa, Europe, you name it! They have a wealth of experience which has helped me with any questions I have. But, most of all, these people are so friendly and willing to take me under their wings. It has made this transition so much easier. I've been able to make friends quickly because everyone has been so nice and gracious.

A lot of my family and friends were worried for me, traveling to this part of the world. What I've noticed is how safe I feel being in this country. Tonight I went to the mall by myself and never felt threatened or in danger. I've also noticed just how polite and helpful the people in the service industries are. Every time I get a coffee, lunch, a snack, etc. the employees always call me "Ma'am" and do whatever they can to help. Even the cleaning staff in our school offers us tea and coffee! So many people are looking for work that some have approached me about offering their housekeeping skills to clean my apartment every week. Since I'll be able to afford it, I'm definitely going to have my first housekeeper! It's the small things...

The architecture in this country is unreal. Qatar has so much money and is trying to keep up with the flow of people moving here and looking for work. Their biggest priority right now is education. The Qatar Foundation has built beautiful facilities to offer the best education to their citizens. It's gratifying to be respected as a teacher and work for a country that values education so much, they are willing to spend a large amount of money. They've also put a lot of money into health and medical research. The new Sidra Medical Center is still under construction but one of the biggest buildings I've seen. Outside the center are several statues representing the process of an embryo becoming a full-term baby. The medical center was built to service women and focus on women's health. 

For the next two years, I will be teaching at Qatar Academy Sidra. The Qatar Foundation has created many Qatar Academies, each with different names and some with different purposes/services. We are currently in what will soon be the "old" school because they are already planning on building a new Qatar Academy Sidra with state of the art facilities. The current school is perfectly fine, with Smart Boards in every room! I saw my classroom for the first time today. I still need a lot before the school year begins but I'm sure it will be there. It's exciting being part of a new school where we get to create traditions and really work from the ground up. I'm grateful to be a part of it.

I know there's more I'm forgetting to share but that's all I've got for you. Overall, this has been a great experience so far. The country is wealthy and really using their money to do good for their citizens and welcome people from all over the world to come and live and work in their country. Everyone has been very welcoming and friendly. I can't wait to see what's in store! Thanks to all who have been supportive. It means more than you know :)

Tata for now!