Days Five through Eight

It's been a long time, I know, I know. I don't even remember what I did on day five. Oh, by the way, updated pictures are on Flickr. 

Day Five:

Ah, yes. We went to the beach! Oh, it was a fabulous beach in the city of Dukhan. It took about an hour to get there, because all the way there was road construction, as is the story with the rest of Qatar. OH! We saw a camel! Mom saw more than I did, they were sort of invisible to me I think... I just don't have camel vision I suppose. (But my brother riding back with another family Grace & Jack saw some on the way home) And...we didn't bring our bathing suits because mom thought we wouldn't be allowed to wear them even though my dad thought we could. But, now we know for next time. The beach was so sweet! We got there and it was around 100 there and the only people there were not natives, only silly people like us, because we were roooooasting. And the water, it was so blue! And then we got in the water and it was warm! I mean, since when is water a beach warm?! And so we stepped in the water, but my mom & I wearing our long skirts had to roll them up. Eventually the skirts got wet anyways so my mom gave up and jumped in and got all her clothes wet. Silly mom. I, on the other hand, took off my shirt, and pulled my skirt up and made it a dress. So clever I am! Then we got tired of swimming around and went home smelling of salt. But not before a trip to McDonalds... :]

For dinner we went to this wonderful Indian restaurant. I was a bit skeptical at first, but the food was amazing! It's called Bukhara, incase, you know, any of you ever come to Qatar. Actually, it's food from Uzbekistani, but it's similar to Indian. I had some great dishes, but my favorite was a dish called vegetable Korma, which is similar to curry, any of you that have had it. Ahh, it was so good. 

Day Six:

Went to the mall. Another mall. We just went to Carrefour. Ah, but the parking in the mall was simply mad! It was gridlock, car to car. There was a constant drone of a car horn. That was on the second floor, however. So then we went to the first floor again and let some lady pass in front of our car. And then in turn she gave us her parking spot! How kind. :] KINDNESS PAYS! And then we came home and mom and I went to Al Meera grocery store, a little grocery store near the compound. It was quite charming actually. 

Day Seven:

Ah yes, we woke up early to take daddy to the airport, and I had to navigate mom home. Oh, and we saw the most ridiculous thing, a car shoot around the corner on its two left wheels! And that is NOT an exaggeration. It really did. And my mom was a bit surprised by this uttering a curse or two... :O But on to the next point. Daniel had his first squash lesson, and by gum, he seemed to enjoy it! He beat all the other kids in the race, aww my little fast runner. :] And mommy & I worked out in the gym, and phew, I don't know why people bother to exercise, it makes you hurt! So then we came home and sat around and mom tried to sign us up for a billion more classes; like tennis lessons, yoga, Arabic lessons, and tae bo. Well as of June 2, I am doing Arabic & tae bo, and Daniel with Arabic & squash. We haven't heard from the tennis people yet, and yoga ended today. Squash for my age is held at the Sheraton hotel, so I couldn't take it. So then that very night we went to tae bo (my mom & I), intending to merely watch. However, the instructor, you know those fitness types, roped us into the lesson anyways. And it was all okay for the stepping part and such until we got to the ab part. OH DEAR ME. And today my abs are KILLING ME. Then we came home and I read Wuthering Heights. What has gotten into me?

Day Eight:

Woke up and sat around. Ah, and I realized my abs were on fire and I may have bruised my tailbone. In any case, it really hurts. So sat around and then our new housecleaner came! She's very nice, her name is Anna, she's from the Philippines, and calls my mom mum, much to her embarrassment. Haha. So we went to, where? where do we go when we have nowhere to go? CARREFOUR! So, yeah. We bought cheese & chocolate. Oh, so European. And yes, I am aware that I'm not in Europe. I have some hazelnut chocolate I'm quite looking forward to eating, and I shall once this is posted, since it is 9 PM here. We popped home to put away the cold stuff and then headed out to mom's office to take our first Arabic lesson! And that building is WEIRD. The the rug is blue with black patterns that looks like binary code. Weird stuff, let me tell you. And mom's office itself is this TINY, PATHETIC little cubicle. It makes me sad inside. I'm gonna draw her a picture to hang up just so it's not as sad. And then we went to the bathroom so she took me around and introduced me to just about EVERYONE. Seriously, smile, smile, smile. And then she made me speak French to this random guy. Gee, thanks mom. Ah, and we met this random guy who works there and he is so random. He has like random toys and slingshots and wrote on a piece of wood outside his office, "worst spear ever". I mean, what?! Okay, onto Arabic lessons. So we met this guy and he was not what we expected, but he was okay I guess. Maybe around 40, he was from Somalia, but spoke English & Arabic (naturally). And we started our lessons and oh GEEZ it is hard to learn. You know in French, you have different words, but the same letters, like, chat (cat), or pamplemousse (grapefruit). But Arabic has totally different characters and weird pronunciations. Like the uhhhhuhhh sound you make in the back of your throat. Go ahead, try it now. It's rather difficult. And we're not even learning how to write it, just speak it, which is sad to me. But hey, mom chose it. Then after 1 1/2 lesson we came home exhausted, where we are now. 

We are currently bumming around eating chocolate & watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. :] So, sorry that entry was so long since I was slacking off. And by the way, we can't take pictures of the natives, you're not allowed, or else they yell at you and stuff. And no feral cats were seen in all these days! It's so sad. Okay, well bye now. 

Feral Cat Count: 4

Catharine ♥