My mom sending me off from the airport
Ready for take off
Just a short 14 hours from USA to Qatar
In February 2012, I traveled to San Francisco with a friend to apply for teaching jobs abroad. She had her mind set on Spain and I had my eyes on Paris or London. Unfortunately, these places couldn't hire us until we had two years of teaching experience under our belts. At this point, we were still in school and wouldn't graduate until May 2012. We had no choice but to be open to other areas of the world, and it just so happened that the Middle East was recruiting teachers regardless of their experience. We both interviewed with the English Modern School in Doha, Qatar. To our surprise, we both came out of the interviews with job offers! My friend was hired to teach 2nd grade, and I was hired to teach 3rd grade. Although we were hesitant to move to the Middle East, we felt much better knowing we could go together and our research showed that Doha was on the more westernized side of things, not unlike Dubai. Ultimately, we decided to accept these positions and went home with a plan to move to the Middle East in August 2012.
On August 22, 2012 my friend and I said goodbye to our families and settled in for the near 14-hour plane ride to Qatar. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we were excited about it!
My mom sending me off from the airport
Ready for take off
Just a short 14 hours from USA to Qatar
Below you'll find a gallery of some of my favorite photos from my time in Qatar. Enjoy! (Hover over each image for descriptions)
Camera lens immediately fogged from the intense summer heat
Classic picture with the camels
Amazing lamps sold at Souq Waqif, the traditional marketplace
The Souq also sells bizarely colored animals, like these chicks
More gorgeous lamps, too bad they were too big to fly home
An evening walk through Souq Waqif
My classroom started off as the supply room
Eventually I was able to get my room together and ready for the kids
Proud to officially be "Ms. Kara" with my very own classroom
We were invited on our first Doha fishing trip
Basically we just sat in the back of the boat and took a lot of pictures of ourselves
I mean... a lot
We also watched the beautiful sunset
All while these guys "fished" by pulling up a bunch of traps that were already out in the water
The fish started to pile up at the front of the boat
Meanwhile... we continued posing for pictures
And taking turns driving the boat
Then all of a sudden some of the fish were fried up right there on the boat for us to try
This fish turned out to be quite delicious
And I was quite happy about that
Just a sample of what the road signs looked like, always interesting seeing two completely different languages next to each other
Burger King, McDonald's, and Applebee's: just like home... well, not really
One of the biggest local malls had a year-round ice skating rink in the middle
Caution: thobe crossing
Four wheeling in the dunes
Four wheeling in the dunes
Marissa's epic photo skills... check out the reflection in the lenses
We absolutely loved living near palm trees for the first time
Getting mentally prepared to ride a camel for the first time
It was a bit higher and harder to get on than I expected
Then he stood up and I thought I was going over
But I made it
And we set off on our sunset camel ride
All we wanted was to ride camels on the beach at sunset... and it happened
We enjoyed quite a few nights out on the town, which were usually accompanied by hilarities... like these finger mustaches
Jumping for joy that we made it through our first month abroad
Museum of Islamic Art, pretty self-explanatory
The architecture of the Museum of Islamic Art is a well known part of the Doha skyline
Made this cup as a memory from one of our field trips... my kids each put their fingerprint on it to decorate with dots
Came home from a beach party with this kitten as a parting gift... gave it away shortly after realizing I really don't like cats
Some of the goodies my kids brought for my 23rd birthday
Such a thoughtful cake (not really, they say this to all of us)
Enjoying a boat trip with our colleagues
Here you can see a traditional dhow boat, just like the one we are on
These sunsets just get better and better...
Can't beat this backdrop
With the Qatar flag flying... had to
Seriously, is this real?
It just keeps getting better
Really loving living near water
Traditional meal while sitting on the floor while out on the water in a traditional dhow boat
The Torch hotel, aka Aspire Tower... at the top of this skyscraper is a restaurant that slowly spins so you get a 360 view of the city
Hookahs for days
Gotta love the hookah culture out here
I really fell in love with these lamps
I was hoping I would see these shoes... just like in Sex and the City 2
I FOUND A GENIE LAMP
Arabic Coca-Cola... believe it or not, it's different
Lots of Qatar pride around here, flags on flags on flags
My favorite dish from the Moroccan restaurant at the Souq... eggs and meatballs
More colored animals at the Souq... because, you know, this is ethical...
That one time my student kicked my toe nail right off and I had to get the rest of it removed...
All kinds of Mother's Day gifts from my kids and I'm not even a mother
Sean Paul came and performed at a beach party... SO EPIC!
We went to the Spain/Uruguay football (soccer) game
The view from my first boat party hosted by Doha Couch Surfers... met a lot of great people at this party
Drove out to the desert/beach to hang out... always have the best time with this girl
And again, the sunset was unbelievable
Another Couch Surfing boat party, but this time I brought my friends... twinning with this girl :)
This is the norm for these boat parties... dance on the boat, jump off, ride around on the jet skis, repeat :) :)
Silly faces are happy faces
Another sunset for the books
To celebrate our 24th birthdays, our friends joined us at our favorite dance club and bought us a bottle of champagne... it was such a beautiful night, I cried
It always amazed me that I could write on the board in English, the Arabic teacher could come in and write in Arabic, and my kids could switch back and forth between them without a problem
Right before I left Qatar, I made sure to get some traditional Henna to take home with me
For my 24th birthday, my kids were in secret cahoots with other teachers to throw me a surprise party and brought lots of goodies :)
This was a common sight around the city... no need for seatbelts...
There were many stray cats all over Doha, but this one was by far the most interesting
Right before I left I finally made a trip out to the desert for the camel races, it was really interesting to see the electronic jockeys that ride the camels in the races instead of real people
A significant part of our second year in Doha was dedicated toward perfecting our admissions essays for graduate school, we spent many a nights working on our computers like this
While in Doha, I lost a lot of weight... I was feeling pretty good about this transformation! :)
