I've run in to a backlog on my little blog.. Life is still as busy here as it was in Houston, where I never had time to write on here. But I'm trying to play a little catch up now :
Our family arrived in Doha slightly less than a week before the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is based on a lunar calendar, so this year it fell in July-August. It's not always the same and changes year to year. When we got here everyone warned us that Ramadan was such a hard time of year here. I have to admit I was a little nervous that it was just going to be awful. If you're not familiar with Ramadan, it is when the Muslims fast during daylight hours. They have a dinner after sunset called Iftar and they also will have a meal before sunrise called Suhoor. One woman at church told me not to listen to what anyone had to say about it, and that Ramadan was a wonderful time. She told me just to enjoy your family during the day and go on outings at night. I wanted to believe her, so I just put it in my head that I would think of it that way. And that's what we did. The boys and I still went on outings, I just made sure to feed them a big meal before we left and not stay out too long so they wouldn't get hungry. Of course, outings were a little tricky because during Ramadan most places would close during the middle of the day and reopen later at night. But with careful planning it could be done. We also just fudged on bedtimes a little during that time. We would go on outings at sunset (right about 6:30) and just figure we would all survive if the boys were up late.
( The part about Ramadan that was hard was that all the permits and everything Dan and I need to be legit here were pretty much just put on hold. Dan got his residence permit right before Ramadan, and we literally got nothing else during the entire month. So right after it ended I was able to get all my paperwork and medical exams in order to get my residence permit. It should arrive any day now and I'll be legal! Then I can move on to getting my drivers license. But seriously people who arrived like two weeks ago are at the same point I am in the process. That is frustrating. But all in all I think we are all still happy that we decided to come together as a family instead of being separated all summer.)
We did, however, have a grand celebration to finish off Ramadan. Every night downtown the army sets off a cannon at sunset to mark the end of the day's fast. We kept meaning to take the boys down there, and on the last night of Ramadan we finally made it. The cannon was just sitting out in the open and kids were climbing all over it. They shoot off a little pistol before they shoot the cannon and they were passing that around to the kids, too. Our kids were pretty happy to get a turn holding "a real gun."
Here is a little video (it's like 10 seconds long):
Ramadan Cannon
The baby you hear crying is Jack. The cannon was incredibly loud! Dan tried to hold Jack's ears, but wasn't successful.
After the cannon we headed to dinner. During Ramadan, most of the hotels put on a fancy Iftar dinner every night and they are pricey. At the Sheraton kids eat free (definitely got our money's worth on that one...) so that's where we headed! It was all decorated for Ramadan and the kids were pretty impressed. It was really beautiful.
People here are so accommodating to children. It is so refreshing. We asked for a high chair and they brought out a real high chair, like you might have at your house, with a tray and everything. They brought out a little cup with a sippy lid for Jack as well. Anyway, we got to try lots of local foods, most of which I will never remember the name for, but one we did remember was labanah balls. We all had fun trying those and watching each other grimace as we ate them. Not our favorite thing ever...But fun nonetheless.
Because they do not drink alcohol here, their selection of drinks is way more fun than anywhere in the states. Half of the fun of the evening was tasting all the different juices. Then there was the dessert table. I guess I should correct myself here and say the dessert TENT. Oh my goodness, my boys' little eyes bugged out when they saw it. We let them each get a plate full and we tried lots of interesting local desserts. Our favorite was called Awama. They were a lot like little donut holes coated in powdered sugar. Num num.
Pictures!
Inside the Sheraton, a little model of the Dhow boats used for fishing and pearling back in the day.
The boys in a little tent set up inside the Sheraton.
Dan has stayed at this hotel on previous visits to Qatar and he said those domes are always there, but the extra decorations are just for Ramadan.
They had these pretty little fountains in the halls of the hotel, with blue lights lighting up the water.
Just some pretty Ramadan decorations.
View straight up from my chair.
You an kind of see the different juices on either side of the musician. The boys wanted to know what he was playing so I went and asked him. It's called an Oud.
Just a giant palm tree shaped chandelier, no big deal...
Taxi finally arrived... time to go!
The boys were pretty excited about this car parked near the front door...Sam was running his hands down the side of it...
Our family arrived in Doha slightly less than a week before the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is based on a lunar calendar, so this year it fell in July-August. It's not always the same and changes year to year. When we got here everyone warned us that Ramadan was such a hard time of year here. I have to admit I was a little nervous that it was just going to be awful. If you're not familiar with Ramadan, it is when the Muslims fast during daylight hours. They have a dinner after sunset called Iftar and they also will have a meal before sunrise called Suhoor. One woman at church told me not to listen to what anyone had to say about it, and that Ramadan was a wonderful time. She told me just to enjoy your family during the day and go on outings at night. I wanted to believe her, so I just put it in my head that I would think of it that way. And that's what we did. The boys and I still went on outings, I just made sure to feed them a big meal before we left and not stay out too long so they wouldn't get hungry. Of course, outings were a little tricky because during Ramadan most places would close during the middle of the day and reopen later at night. But with careful planning it could be done. We also just fudged on bedtimes a little during that time. We would go on outings at sunset (right about 6:30) and just figure we would all survive if the boys were up late.
( The part about Ramadan that was hard was that all the permits and everything Dan and I need to be legit here were pretty much just put on hold. Dan got his residence permit right before Ramadan, and we literally got nothing else during the entire month. So right after it ended I was able to get all my paperwork and medical exams in order to get my residence permit. It should arrive any day now and I'll be legal! Then I can move on to getting my drivers license. But seriously people who arrived like two weeks ago are at the same point I am in the process. That is frustrating. But all in all I think we are all still happy that we decided to come together as a family instead of being separated all summer.)
We did, however, have a grand celebration to finish off Ramadan. Every night downtown the army sets off a cannon at sunset to mark the end of the day's fast. We kept meaning to take the boys down there, and on the last night of Ramadan we finally made it. The cannon was just sitting out in the open and kids were climbing all over it. They shoot off a little pistol before they shoot the cannon and they were passing that around to the kids, too. Our kids were pretty happy to get a turn holding "a real gun."
Here is a little video (it's like 10 seconds long):
Ramadan Cannon
The baby you hear crying is Jack. The cannon was incredibly loud! Dan tried to hold Jack's ears, but wasn't successful.
People here are so accommodating to children. It is so refreshing. We asked for a high chair and they brought out a real high chair, like you might have at your house, with a tray and everything. They brought out a little cup with a sippy lid for Jack as well. Anyway, we got to try lots of local foods, most of which I will never remember the name for, but one we did remember was labanah balls. We all had fun trying those and watching each other grimace as we ate them. Not our favorite thing ever...But fun nonetheless.
Because they do not drink alcohol here, their selection of drinks is way more fun than anywhere in the states. Half of the fun of the evening was tasting all the different juices. Then there was the dessert table. I guess I should correct myself here and say the dessert TENT. Oh my goodness, my boys' little eyes bugged out when they saw it. We let them each get a plate full and we tried lots of interesting local desserts. Our favorite was called Awama. They were a lot like little donut holes coated in powdered sugar. Num num.
Pictures!
Inside the Sheraton, a little model of the Dhow boats used for fishing and pearling back in the day.
The boys in a little tent set up inside the Sheraton.
I didn't take any pictures of the buffet. Dang it!! But I did get a picture of the all important:
dessert tent!!
Yes, thank you...
And of course our taxi couldn't pick us up until 9pm, so we explored the hotel a bit more until he got there... The boys thought these were the coolest stairs ever.
A bigger dome on the other side of the hotel.
Had to ride the glass elevators, of course...
Looking down from the elevator
Just a giant palm tree shaped chandelier, no big deal...
The boys were pretty excited about this car parked near the front door...Sam was running his hands down the side of it...
So we made it through Ramadan and summer, the two hardest times of the year, according to those who have lived here a while. And we made it through them both in one fell swoop! So we're pretty proud of ourselves :) and ready for what lies ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment