Science Fair

 

  

 

 

Hi there,

 

Well we (or should I say Missie) has made it half way through the last big hurtle of the year – Science Fair.  What a circus! The HOD for science and math has been in Canada for the past month caring for her husband that had bi-pass surgery, so Missie has been left to handle the whole thing.  That would be fine if the HOD wasn’t still trying to control it from a far and everyone else here that thought they had a better way of doing it kept sabotaging her efforts.  With over 100 hours invested in just getting the judging schedule and coverage for substitutes, rewriting it 4-5 times, and getting approval twice just to have it rescinded – she still got bombs dropped on her two hours before.  She did an amazing job coordinating, set up the presentations, the judging of, and correlation of scores for almost 50 projects.  AND it is only half over – yes, in the ultimate wisdom of the Canadian back seat driver, the fair is to take place on Thursday for judging and then again on Sunday for parents.  So, Missie will be making sure all the students (grades 4, 5, 6, & 7) will be back in place, re-setup, and ready to present for a second time.  She has kept good spirits through the whole process and it has really turned out extremely well.  One more day and she can go back to normal – what ever that is here?

The weather has been absolutely crazy!  One minute we can’t see across the street and the next it is a downpour.  We have had recesses canceled this week for both dust alerts and rain. 

The drama of the weeks has been the termination of the Director of the Qatar Leadership Academy (our sister school across the street). For some reason, the Qatar Foundation didn’t take kindly to the numerous complains from teachers, parents and students about his sexual misconduct with other male teachers – not to mention the male porn he was sending on the school network.  Did I mention that it is an all male boarding school that emphasis ethics?  Once the investigations began, they found that he was using school funds to pay certain teachers more (thousands of $$) for sexual favors.  It also turned up that he was getting many many kick backs for things like housing and school purchases, including from the housing facility we are in.  Since half of the kickbacks were going to him, our director is now freaked out that they might put two and two together.  Since these two were best buds – the drama is only starting.  What’s the old saying? “What goes around comes around.”  He has been fired, but is not allowed to leave the country – wow, since he was always great about threatening other teachers about having them arrested (like ours), it just gives us a little warm feeling inside.  I’ll keep you up dated.

Germany in 5 days – wahoo!

Lesson of the Week: Good things come to those that wait.

Love to all,

Doug and Missie

Ruby Slippers

Hi guys,

Wow! It has been a long time since I wrote.  I would like to say it is because we have been having such a great time and I was just to busy.  We have been busy at school, but most of our time has been hunkering down in the dungeon trying to stay out of the dust.  This dust storm has been going for over two weeks and is expected for at least one more.  Last weekend, we had paid for a kayaking tour into the Mangroves and we spent most of our time fighting 50 km winds.  Once we got in the trees, it was easier paddling, but we had to hit shore almost a Km from our vehicles due to winds and low tide – we actually had a really good time and we needed the extra exercise. 

The day before was our Classroom Without Walls and that was the best day of the year for weather.  The sun was great and the wind/dust subsided for the whole day.  The site was also in the middle of the mangroves and was a good area to discuss environmental issues and involve the kids in new experiences.  We were amazed at how so few of the students had ever been to the area.  As with the rest of the country, the mangroves are being destroyed by construction – they are the only natural vegetation in Qatar and extremely vital for the eco system.  At first, the school said that we could not have the students pick up trash, but then agreed if we made it voluntary and gave them gloves we could.  It actually became the part they liked the best, since it became a competition on who could gather the most – as teachers, we were proud of their efforts. 

Last night we went out with three other couples to the play “Wizard of OZ.”  When we saw the advertisement, it really looked like a professional production and the $35 USD tickets also led us to believe this.  Wow! We had a bunch of laughs last night!  Toto the snow white Cockapoo was amazing at cookie eating and barking for more.  Now of course, we talked all these other people into going and are now to blame, but damn we laughed.  It was a thin line, because it was the final night and all the parents were sitting behind us – we know secretly they were laughing just as hard.  We should have clued in right away when we saw it was at the “Doha British School” theater.  Now it certainly could have been a new modern school with an amazing facility – but it wasn’t.  Folding chairs and their 15 person orchestra that was actually part of the audience – but at least we could follow along on the sheet music – I kept offering to change pages, but they were so well practiced they didn’t need my help.   The 7 main characters were very good and it made it a fun show.  The kids were all from the school and they obviously had a great time.  As usual, there were a couple locals that were really really and I mean really serious about their parts – we thank them for many of the laughs.  One guy was a Michael Jackson wanna be and they actually allowed him a moon walk back up the yellow brick road – glove and all!  Damn, my eyes are watering just remembering.  My guess is since he was the only Qatari in the show, they just couldn’t say no!  Thank goodness – to miss that would have ruined the whole night.

I threw in a picture of an advertisement for the Doha Debates this month.  Most of you should be able access it through BBC or PBS in your areas.  Once you read the title, you will realize why it caught our eye.  This is what we are dealing with at school and no one wants to admit it.  There is a reason why most countries have laws against marrying your sister or cousin – nough said.

We did decide on Germany for our spring break.  We just felt like we had so much fun last time and we are in need of seeing some friends that this was the best option.  Thomas is already planning several sights to see, but most importantly is stocking up on the 3 P’s – pork, pilsner and pork.  Germany has some unique Easter celebrations and we are looking forward to spring time.

Lesson of the Week: There is NO place like home --- really!

Love to all,

Doug and Missie

Dusty Dusty Dirty

Looking out back

From the front

Hello,

I don’t really have anything to write about this week – everything is just back to work – home – work –store – home.  The dust has been so bad this week even driving has been difficult.  I finally washed the car today, because I just couldn’t stand it any longer – it already has a heavy coating of dust.  As I stated in last weeks letter, I wanted to give an update on the construction next to our compound.  We have actually be a little luckier that some of the teachers.  Our unit is just around the corner from the major digging and now they have piled the dirt up behind our place in a little 3-story pile.  The jackhammers start at 6 am and end around 6 pm.  We can hear and feel it, but some of the places are actually taking things off tables and counter tops to keep things from vibrate off onto the floor.  The bad part for us it the unbelievable dust – both of us are constantly coughing and emptying boxes of Kleenex daily.

We are really stuck this time on where to go in April.  I got back some good ideas for Italy, Greece and other parts of Europe, so we are researching prices. 

We paid the car off today and got the release to show for our exit visa.  One more step in our final departure.

Lesson of the Week: Good air is a luxury we take for granted.

Love to all,

Doug and Missie

Back from Phuket

The view

The Room

Gimme some more!

Water Fall'n

Are we having fun yet?

Headed Down

The elusive Tiger Tail Seahorse

Inside the "King Cruiser"

The rare "Ghost" pipefish

Up with a smill

The South Siam

I forgot to tell you - we found Will and Penny Robinson (for those that remember :-)

                                       Howdy Doody,

Now that was a well-needed amazing get away!  So far, Phuket has made it into our top three favorite dive locations in the world.  After over 30 years of Scuba, Missie finally got to see her first elusive sea horse – in fact two.  On top of that, we saw sea snakes, an extremely rare “Ghost” pipefish, a 6 foot (at least) octopus, and just about every known reef fish.

Missie also finally got to ride her first elephant (now I keep saying Missie got to, because these are things on her bucket list – they were also my first times).  It was a short ride, but it was enough to know that you don’t want to travel cross-country on an elephant.  There is a great deal of debate about the treatment of elephants in Thailand, but we felt like the boy was treating the elephant well and seem to have a real connection with him.  The second half of that day was on a short river rafting trip – a little different than most.  With it being the driest season, the Thais had come up with a fun way to keep the rapids flowing.  They built a large reservoir and let the water back up all day – then at 2 pm, all the rafting companies load up their dry docked rafts in the center of the stream bed and let it go.  After opening four different gates, all the guides run to catch their boats and the bumper boats begin.  Banging and splashing all the way down the river until we get to a wide spot and again come to a stop.  As the water catches up and fills the stream to a point where we get to take off again – it was great fun.  I think I had more fun than most!  There were about 14 boats and we only went 5 km, but we had some good laughs.

The rest of the week consisted of a tour boat to Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee Island – should have been pronounced Poo Poo Island), laying on the beach, snorkeling, drinking way too much beer, and of course eating pork with every meal.  Our hotel was a very nice bungalow way (I mean way) up on the hill above Kata Beach.  I think it was 35 or 40 flights of stairs to get there (we were so tired we lost count each time), but the view was beautiful. 

To explain the Poo Poo Island jab:  Phi Phi Island is the island portrayed in the movie “The Beach” and is now one of those places everyone has to visit.  It looked like a boat parking lot with at least 1000 people on the 200 meter long beach – all standing around posing for pictures and hoping to look like Leonardo DiCaprio.  I don’t think I have ever seen a beach under such open destruction.  But it was a nice boat ride and lunch J.

So we are back to the grind and I am once again sick.  Coming back to this dust seems to be an overload for my sinuses (I’ll give an up date on the construction next week). Every time I come back I get sick for a few days and then my body adjusts until the next time – so it goes.  Any suggestions for Spring Break?  We definitely will be going somewhere – leaning towards Europe again since flights are shorter and cheaper.

Lesson of the Week: There is always someplace new and better – but that doesn’t make it the best place to be.

Love to all,

Doug and Missie

More Dust

 

Turn up the volume for full effect!

Hi,

Well the dust storm quit for a couple days, but has now returned in a different form.  Our compound has empty lots on all four sides and construction has now started on two sides.  We are gently greeted each morning with the screeching of metal on metal tracks of the earth moving equipment, the pleasant humming of diesel engines under full throttle, and the soothing vibrations of the jackhammers breaking through the limestone.  The wind has died down a little, so the dust is able to simply float over the wall and settle like a snow blanket in the compound.  We were happy to find out that the project will last through our stay here in Al-Khor.

On a happier note, we purchased our tickets home on June 29^th.  I know you will all be surprised to know it is the day after our last day of school.  Some people here actually questioned why we weren’t staying a few days to get things in order – my reply is that I have had things in order for the past six months and still don’t know why I’m still here.

I finally got to go diving here in Qatar …and I must say, it was one the best dives I have ever been on.  I know it sounds like I am talking crazy, but it was a really good dive.  We left at 6 AM with the intent of three dives starting at the Marjan Wreck, 65 miles due east of Al-Khor.  Unfortunately, we lost half power on one of our engines about 60 miles out.  We limped on to the site, but knew we had a one-engine return cutting our speed to 14 knots (almost 5 hours).  So, we hopped in and made the best of a single dive.  It is a 300+ ft. freighter that went down in the 80s with a load of sulfur in bags.  It is believed that the load shifted causing it to capsize taking down the entire crew of more than 30.  The coral growth was very good with one of the largest assortments of fish I have ever seen in one area before.  The ship was broken up, creating multiple swim troughs and entry points into the hull.  At first sight of the ship, we saw a huge school of Great Barracuda (at least 30, between 3-5 feet) being followed by another large school of Yellow Jacks.  It just kept getting better! Scorpion Fish everywhere along with schools of tangs, parrots, and angles.  The visibility was between 15 to 25 feet, but much of it was like a night dive with several nocturnal species out roaming inside the darkness of the ship – crabs, cowries, and other crustaceans.  I have certainly been on better dives, but I still think this one ranked way up there on the scale.  Maybe it was my lack of expectation that was really surprising.  The water was cold – about 63° F, but my 3mm new wetsuit came through and kept me as warm as the other guys wearing 7mm suits  -- thanks again Patagonia.  So, I hope to find some other great dives before we leave.

Speaking of diving – Phuket here we come.  On the plane Thursday night – on the beach Friday afternoon!

 

Lesson of the Week: You can’t judge a body of water by its shore.

Love to all,

Doug and Missie

Ooops!

Hey,

We’re sitting here today in the middle of a three day (so far) dust storm.  Trying to get anywhere is difficult and I can only imagine the damage it is doing to the car (paint and engine).  Simply walking from the car to the store is hard on your lungs.  The “Qatar Masters” golf tournament is this weekend along with the “Tour of Qatar” cycling race for the next 6 days – just gotta feel sorry for those athletes.  I doubt the crowds they are expecting will be challenging the high wind warnings and low visibility.  With any luck, this is the blowing out of winter and in of summer L

While sitting here surfing on the web, I keep getting more and more popups for unauthorized websites in the growing censorship here in Qatar.  I thought I would show the popup since the portrayal of wrong doers is so funny.  I am now having to use a VPN to access most sites in the US – strangely enough, many of them are blocked on the US side to prevent copying.  The sites that are blocked here are any that use profanity (like the word damn), explicit pictures (like National Geographic), or anything that does not seem to fit into their idea of what is right.  It is not really a pattern, because it changes daily. 

Only 8 ½ workdays until we are on the plane again.  7 nights in Phuket with sun and diving mixed in.  We hope this refuels our engines again until April (spring break).  I have found a diving club here and should get in a boat dive next weekend if the wind dies down.  The water is still cold so I think Missie is going to wait until it warms up a little.  There are several wreck dives that should be fun to explore.  Our understanding is that there are many things to see, but the visibility is usually limited to less than 5 meters.  Sort of like diving in California or Mexico – man, we really got spoiled in Hawaii.  Either way – beats riding the couch and watching TV J

The head of the dive club has been here in Qatar for 15 years, working for most of the oil companies.  He is now a project manager for the largest to date fuel project ($20 billion) here in Qatar.  When I asked him how long is the natural gas going to last, he stated, “less than 40 years”.  Wow, that changes things.  He said that Qatar has been increasing production almost 35% per year.  The numbers he said was over a 100 billion cubic meters per year or 77 million metric tons per month.  He said the Qataris just keep talking like it is an endless well that they keep sticking more and more straws in.  China is gulping down every once they can buy and keep building more and more supertankers to haul it away.  For our students it is going to be a rude awakening when they are our age and the money tree dies. 

Lesson of the Week: Humans don’t really learn much from past generations.  Its just money!

Love to all,

Doug and Missie

Tales from London

Good day,

Well, the Job Fair in London is over and we were very satisfied with the results.  We will keep our decisions out of this public forum to avoid additional problems at the school. We were traveling with another couple (Rob and Irina), also from the school looking for new positions.  Getting off the plane, we happened upon a 35-year, third generation deaf Black Cab driver with a lisp.  He had a great personality that just started off everything with a few laughs. We had an amazing time in London, seeing all the sights and eating everything we could.  The weather was very nice with a little rain each day and a chill in the air that we have missed during winter in Qatar (although we heard it was down to 4°C while we were gone).  What a great get away!  I think we visited 5 museums, Westminster Abby, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, the Eye of London, Big Ben and the Tower of London.  The last night we attended a showing of “We Will Rock You” in Piccadilly Circus – an incredible musical based on the music of Queen.  We ate great food and drank every kind of ale we could find.  Rob had an uncle in London that was also a Black Cab driver and he took us to dinner at a little place on the Thames – had some great roasted pork.  Slept in late and got home late at a small hotel/pub called Brooks Green in the Hammersmith area.  We traveled in Black Cabs, the Tube, and of course double decker buses. We went shopping at Hamley’s world famous toy store for …… guess who? Once again it was very hard to get back on the plane.

We finally decided to head to Phuket, Thailand for our February break.  Multiple people have told us that it was one of their favorite destination spots – especially those that dive.  We will still be trying to get Missie into the jungle to see elephants.  They do have some preserves there that would allow us to see them in a more natural environment.  Thailand has many trained elephants that are used for trail rides and entertainment – many of them are abused and injured in the process – that’s not what we want to support.  The diving is supposed to be top notch with a wide selection of dives – wrecks, sharks, and potentially whale sharks.  February is their driest month of the year so we are expecting good warm weather.

A little short this week, but we need to get back into the swing of things – and start a diet.

Lesson of the Week: A little expensive, but everybody needs to do London at least once.

Love to all,

Doug and Missie