Thursday, December 31, 2015

More Presents

While we were away for Christmas in Poland, Santa dropped off more presents, including some from Grandma and Grandpa Walker and Pepera!  The girls walked into the house directly from the airport to find a tree full of presents.  Taelyn got a Harry Potter Wii game, Ariel wig, Lego set, Sorry board game, world atlas, and new earrings.  Kaelia got a Batgirl costume, Rainbow Dash hair braid, rain boots, alarm clock, Clue Junior board game, and Lego set.  Thank you to the grandparents for the wonderful gifts!




Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Day Trip to Berlin

On the way back to Qatar from Poland, we had a day layover stop in Berlin, so we decided to take advantage of the situation and visited the city.  First, we went to the Berlin Wall where we read about its history and saw the remains of what is left of it.  Then we went to Brandenburg Gate for a picture and ended at Checkpoint Charlie.  Berlin was freezing, so we didn't spend too long at each place, but we enjoyed the city.  It was very clean and efficient like the other places we have been to in Germany, and it, of course, had great beer!


Christmas Break in Poland

For our Christmas break this year, we traveled to Poland, excited for the Christmas spirit and hoping for snow.  Our trip started in the city of Krakow where we shared an apartment with the Jettners for five days.  Justin surprised us all on the first day with a limo ride equipped with champagne and kids sparkling wine.  We were taken around Krakow to see our first glimpse of the city while the adults toasted to Christmas in Poland and the kids toasted to friendship forever.


Over the next several days, we spent time at the Christmas market and nearby restaurants and rode in a horse draw carriage on the way home.  We also went to an underground tour which showed the remains of the city from medieval times that became naturally buried over time.  The current main market now sits directly above the ancient city.

One of our favorite experiences in Krakow was the "locked room."  We all went to a place where we were locked in a WWII-themed room and had one hour to try to find a "bomb," deactivate it, and find the code to get out of the room.  A series of props and hints were found throughout the room to help us go from one clue to the next.  It was really fun.

Although it was incredibly sad and not festive for Christmas, we felt we could not leave Krakow without visiting Auschwitz - now a museum about the horrific concentration camp during the Holocaust.  We saw beds and room where people were kept and learned about the stories that Jewish people were told as they headed to the gas chambers.  Photos of people who died were displayed on the walls, some of which one made it a month after arriving Auschwitz, and these were the people who were not immediately sent to the gas chambers upon arrival.  There were also rooms full of suitcases, shoes, and other items that were taken from the prisoners.  One of the worst rooms contained all human hair that was shaved off of the victims.  After about two hours of this tour, we decided to skip the second half (the more gruesome part of the tour) because there is only so much of the camp that could be taken in at once.

Our final stop in Krakow (and a much lighter experience) was to the salt mine where we went deep underground and saw the intricate mines that were once a major part of the city.  On tour, we learned how mining was done as well as the many other uses of the mine in general.  There were various statues and rooms made out of salt.  There is even an entire Catholic church that still holds masses every Sunday, and each wall, piece of flooring, art, and chandeliers are all made out of salt.  It was amazing!  People also get married in this church each year.  Our favorite part of this tour, however, was watching the girls go from room to room, licking the walls to taste the salt.  They spent more time with their tongues sticking out than in!

After Krakow, we traveled a couple of hours to the mountains and settled in the lovely, touristy ski village of Zakopane.  We stayed in the most amazing two bedroom apartment with a two-sided  fireplace that connected the living room with the girls' room. The apartment was very modern and a wonderful place to snuggle up each night.

While in Zakopane, we enjoyed many winter activities even though it didn't snow.  We had signed up for dog sledding prior to coming to Poland, and since there was not snow, we still go to interact with the dogs followed by a wheeled buggy ride led by some of the dogs.  The girls each found a dog that they connected with and loved the overall experience.  We also went on a horse-drawn sleigh ride one evening through the forest that ended in a small hut where some men played instruments, dressed in traditional Poland garb, and sausages cooked over an open fire.  It was authentic and amazing.

The girls' favorite winter activities, though, were sledding, ice-skating, and skiing.  There were patches of man-made snow at most of the ski runs, and one section was used for sledding.  We all had a blast shooting down the hill, and when he came to the edge of the snow, the sled kept going as we launched further on to the grass.  Kaelia even had a couple of spills there as she got daring and started to lift her hands up while Taelyn enjoyed flying off the ground a bit from a snow ramp halfway down the hill.

Kaelia loved ice-skating most of all.  She attempted to skate on her own for the first time and actually did okay with it.  Eventually, she got a hold of a wooden skating helper in the shape of a penguin, and she could not get enough of it!  She skated for quite some time with her penguin and got pretty upset when it was time to say goodbye.  Taelyn refused any help and skated on her own during the entire time.

Taelyn's highlight of the trip was skiing.  We enrolled the girls in ski school one day, and Taelyn really got in to it.  She quickly advanced through the various stages to the point where she could make it down the hill snow-plowing beside the instructor.  She asked to go again the next day, and by the end of that session, she learned how to go up the ski lift tow rope on her own and how to ski back and forth.  The next day, we left Zakopane, but Taelyn begged to let her try the slopes one last time, and this time without an instructor.  She went down 12 times that day with absolutely no problem.  She is now a better skiier than me!  Kaelia also went to ski school the first two days and had fun, but struggled a bit to go down without her instructor right there.  Perhaps next year will be easier for her.

Zakopane was a wonderful little town, and we are so glad we were still able to enjoy all of these activities even if there wasn't really any snow.  We did leave the town, however, as very faint snowflakes fell down briefly.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip!

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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Zakopane Christmas

We enjoyed a very special Christmas together in Zakopane, Poland with both our family and friends.  Poland itself was beautifully decorated for the holiday season with lights all around.  We were especially excited to snuggle up next to our fireplace in our apartment during the cold evenings.

For the first time since living in the US, we actually had a real Christmas tree this year!  We bought a tiny little tree in the Christmas market along with various wooden ornaments that the girls colored with markers.  Inside the apartment, the girls chose to put the tree in their bedroom in front of their balcony that was also lit up with Christmas lights.  Their room also had a fireplace to set a perfect scene for Christmas morning.

On Christmas Eve, we got together with a family from our school in Qatar.  We were told that restaurants would be open for dinner, but when we walked around the town, we realized that only hotel restaurants were open for their guests.  After a random run-in with Santa on the streets, we then scrounged up whatever each of our families had in our apartments and make a quick trip to the gas station for baguette sandwiches and then met at our friends' place and made the best of the situation.  Even though it was a hodge podge of leftover food (and gas station food), we actually had a fantastic Christmas Eve!  We felt the Christmas spirit and simply enjoyed the good company.  Later that night, the girls put cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer and left little notes next to the tree.

Christmas morning felt magical as the girls woke up and ran to us, excited to see that Santa had come.  They opened their stockings and received one present from Santa, knowing that he would deliver more presents to our home in Doha.  Then we opened presents that we each bought one another.  Taelyn got Kaelia a My Little Pony Playdoh set while Kaelia got Taelyn winter-themed earrings, a necklace, and a ring.  They both loved their gifts, and we all felt how sentimental they were to one another.  Then they gave Justin a new beer mug and me some awesome wool socks and slippers - all of which they shopped for at the Christmas market in Krakow, Poland.  Finally, Justin and I gave our gifts to the girls: Monopoly Junior for Taelyn and a Supergirl costume to Kaelia.  We had such a special morning together.

Later that day, we went to the only place open on Christmas: the Aqua Park!  This is our third year in a row of spending Christmas at a European indoor waterpark.  Here we met up with the Jettners and spent a couple of hours swimming, going down waterslides, and hanging out in the hot tub.  It was awesome!

For Christmas dinner, both the Jettners and our friends from school came to our place.  This time, we were a little better prepared with food and enjoyed a lovely evening together.  The girls even did a little gift exchange with Ari while we did a white elephant exchange with the Jettners with gifts from the Christmas market.

We are so blessed to have the opportunity to spend Christmas is such a beautiful place.   Merry Christmas!

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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!


Thursday, December 10, 2015

Thinker Award

Our elementary school had their monthly assembly today, and Taelyn was overjoyed to discover that she won an IB Learner Profile "Thinker" award!  She has been working really hard at school to earn this; she even held a little meeting with her teacher on her own accord about what she could do better to get an award.  On Taelyn's report card last week, she also had glowing comments from her teachers about her ability to communicate and think creatively.  We are so proud of her!

Saturday, December 5, 2015

International Day

Today was our school's first ever International Day, and we were eager to help out and join in on the festivities.  The event started with a parade where students from each country marched around the outside play space, dressed in traditional clothing.  Then everyone was given a little passport to take to each country's booth inside the school.  Booth included delicious cuisine native to each country as well as activities and music.  At one point, the Jordan booth blasted some traditional music and demonstrated their own dancing while everyone else circled around to watch.

The girls especially liked the Canadian booth where they got to play floor hockey.  Taelyn and her best friend, Dana, even took on three different boys and won!  Afterward, Taelyn was eager to tell us that the boys didn't even know how to hold the stick properly, and she did because her daddy taught her this past summer in Grandma Walker's basement.  The girls also really liked the USA booth because they got to make USA flag pinwheels.

Other highlights of the day were collecting bracelets from the India booth and the food at the Panama booth - courtesy of the Emir's (Qatar King) personal chef.  It was delicious!

We are so grateful that our school actually held an international festival this year, and it was great to see the girls emersed with so many other cultures.  The photos below show a little bit of that diversity while also supporting their home country.  Taelyn is pictured her Dana from Australia and Selma from the USA while Kaelia is with Eli from the USA and Ghalia (one of her best friends this year) and Maysum from Jordan.


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Walk Around the Block

Several people asked me last summer what Doha looks like outside of my complex.  I tried to explain it, but I thought I would now post a few pictures.  The girls and I recently went for a short walk around a block just outside of our complex.  Here you will see a lot of sand and construction.  That really is the best way to describe most of Doha.  It is one big construction zone in the middle of a sandy desert.



The open desert view as soon as we exit the housing complex.


Rocky terrain on the side of the road.  There are no sidewalks.


Construction zones are walled off all around the city.


As we round the corner, here is a view of the main road.




Here is the view of the road from the other direction.






This is the final stretch, heading back to our complex.





This pretty much sums up what Doha looks like around our house.  Downtown is actually developed and quite nice, but these pictures are the types of views we get on a daily basis.  It sure does make running difficult each day!