Suhoor @ La Cigale

Suhoor is an Islamic term referring to the meal consumed early in the morning by Muslims before fasting, in daylight hours during the month of Ramadan. The meal is eaten before dawn and the Suhoor that we attended at La Cigale went from 9pm to 2am.


It was AMAZING!!  The room was set up like a wedding and it wasn't until the end of the night, that we realised that we were actually sitting in the pool area and the water feature in the middle of the room, was actually the swimming pool.  


The food needless to say also lived up to my every expectation.  So much to choose from and the taste of it was just...divine!!  It was such a good night with great company.  

 A snap shot of the room

 The chocolate fondue was a bit of a let down since they used dark chocolate...

 The best part of the night...dessert!!

Debbie making her selection 

Dawn and Laisa 

Me, Laisa, Dawn, Debbie and Aaliyah 

Plate no.1 - Starters 

Plate no. 2 - Mains 

Plate no. 3 - Mains...again 

Plate no.4 - Dessert 

Plate no.5 - Dessert again 

Plate no. 6 - Ice cream 

So we have decided that we will do one Suhoor dinner (if you can call it that) every week.  This week, we will be heading to the W Hotel to sample their Suhoor meal.  Wish me luck with my waistline!!

Freedom

So after my failed attempt at purchasing a car, I thought it was time to bite the bullet and just go and hire one...and that is exactly what I did!!  


Getting behind the wheel again after 3 months was just so comfortable and familiar.  All my nerves and worries just disappeared the moment that I was off.  I think the roads seem a lot more crazy when you are a passenger as opposed to being the driver.  Don't ask me why but maybe it has something to do with being in control.


Don't get me wrong, I still took a couple of steps to get in to the drivers side to the right even though I knew completely well that it is left hand drive.  I also went to put the gear in to reverse with my left hand and hit the window, had a little giggle and reminded myself, right hand!!  I also went to reach for the seat belt on the wrong side of the car...duh!!  


Driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and going around roundabouts in the opposite direction felt completely normal to me thank goodness.  I managed to drive all the way to the villa and back to the guesthouse without a hitch.  Then this morning, I drove myself in to work and back again.  The test will come tonight when I have to drive to West Bay on unfamiliar roads and a right hand woman who isn't very good with directions.  


Wish me luck!

Ramadan

Today is the beginning of Ramadan.  It is the beginning of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a month of blessing that includes prayer, fasting and charity.  It teaches Muslims to practice self discipline, self control, sacrifice and empathy for those less fortunate.


For me, it's my first Ramadan ever and I don't really know what to expect.  We have been told no food or drink at work but we can sit in our little 'pantry' and eat and drink if necessary.  This is going to be rather difficult for me as I am a habitual drinker and eater while working.  I mean, how can one sit for 8 hours a day and work without snacking or having my dearly beloved cup of tea by my side?  I guess this is where the self discipline and self control comes in, which is something that I am not very good at.  Maybe Ramadan will teach me a thing or two!!


Food and beverage places are also closed during this time, as I have been told, which means that my usual Friday morning breakfast at Costa's is put on hold for the next month.  So today, I will enjoy a quiet breakfast at home, maybe make myself some scrambled eggs and eat in the privacy of my own home.


Its funny how a special occasion like this can stir up emotions.  Even though I have been away from my closest family and friends for the last three months and have spent many a weekends alone here in Doha, today feels extremely lonely and quiet.  My dear Muslim friends are with their families and friends and to me, it almost feels like I am spending Christmas alone.  Dear friends, do not forget about me!!


Ramadan Kareem!!

Playing catch up

Catch up topic 1: Work

Okay so I didn't realise that it was almost a month ago that I posted something on my blog.  Apologies to those that keep checking and get nothing new!!

So much has been happening in the last couple of weeks.  We started coding in ICD 10 AM from the start of June and that has been a life saver at work.  My work weeks just fly by now and Thursday just come around way too quickly.  It seriously feels like Sunday was just the day before Thursday so that is an indication of how quickly the weeks are going by.  It doesn't help that my mind is still not adjusted to the Sunday-Thursday work week so that is probably why Thursdays seem to come around quicker.

So the process of coding started off very slowly.  It was all manual and very backwards compared to what I had left back home.  We were back to using books and manually documenting codes on paper.  Then we took one step forward and progressed to using the stand alone code finder and documenting on paper and now we are fully electronic with 3M...yah!!  Makes life so much easier for those like me who haven't touched a book in years.

I suppose it didn't help that the computers we were using initially were so old and slow, but we all managed to get some brand new computers...yippee!!

From this...

...to this

So the set up was and still is an occupational health and safety hazard but I was working with a team of 4 other Australians/New Zealanders and it was the most relaxed yet productive environment.  We were located up on the 6th floor in the Internet Cafe and we had a window that looked out to the water feature at the front entrance.  It was so so nice!!

Catch up topic 2: Visas and more

After waiting for what felt like ages, I finally got my Qatari ID.  They say that getting your ID is like getting your life back here.  I was just excited about having my passport back so that I could travel if the need came about, which it hasn't by the way :(

Once Aamina and I got our ID's we headed in to get our drivers licence changed over so we could tackle the roads here.  It was such an easy process, apart from having to run back an forth from one end of the hospital to the other.  The only thing we had to pass was an eye test and dear Olive who did the test for us, I swear wasn't even concentrating when Aamina was reading out the direction that the letter E was pointing in.  All we had tell her were the direction of three E's for each eye and then that was it.  So simple!!

So we both got our licences...yippee!!

Aamina has already bought herself a car and just after three days, she was rear ended :(  Her poor baby, three days young is now a little damaged.  The car that hit her was much worse than hers though which has reinforced the fact that I need a car that sits up higher!!  I think I must be the bad luck because I am sure I was just telling Aamina a couple of days ago that I have been in a car accident with nearly everyone in my family.

The damage to Aamina's car

and the damage to the car that hit her

As scary as it is, I, the indecisive one, has finally decided that today is the day that I am going to VW and buying myself the Tiguan.  No more dilly dallying around. I'm just going to do it and hope that they have something either in store or coming in that isn't white!!

The other good news is that I finally have Zoe's visa which would be more exciting if she was coming out sooner.  Never mind.  The status for Zoe that those don't know yet, is that she is coming out end of August.  She will arrive on Friday 24th August nice and early in the morning and I so can't wait to see her and see how much she has grown and changed.  By then, 144 days would have passed since I last left her in Melbourne.  I just hope she remembers me and gives me the biggest cuddle ad kiss.  If I don't, I will just put it down to jet lag to make myself feel better!!

The countdown

Catch up topic 3: Life

So much has been happening with life in general, but the most exciting is the villa that we finally have!! 

I have had to make many difficult decisions all by myself so I am learning to be a bit more decisive but not with our annoying Aamina along the way with my thoughts going back and forth.  So I've had to decide on what furniture I wanted to keep in the already furnished villa, then I had to decide on keeping the furniture for Zoe or buying her a completely new suite, then I had to decide on the furniture layout of the villa, then the colour of the roller blinds and many more decisions still to come.  For those that know me well, you can imagine how hard it has been to go through this process myself.  I am learning though and just hope my decisions are the right ones!!

So the furniture is in and the cleaning has been done.  Just need my boxes to arrive so that I can start unpacking and buying all the essentials that I didn't bring with me.  This is when the fun starts!!

Here is a sneak peak at my very dirty and dusty villa:

Villa number 11 at Al-Nassiriya Compound 4...home!

One of the two main entrances.  This one leads to the living/dining room

What is to be my TV room downstairs

Living/Dining room

Upstairs landing

Looking out from the walk in wardrobe to the master bedroom.  That bed is big enough for a small family!!

Zoe's bedroom

The aftermath of a sand storm :(

I'll post some more pictures once the house becomes a home!!

A day at the Intercontinental

Spending a day at the Intercontinental Hotel by the beach and pool was like being on holidays.  Apart from the exorbident fee to get in and use the beach and pool facilities alone (normally QR350 but managed to get in for 250QR), it was a very relaxing day.


Being out in public with just a bikini on was the strangest feeling to begin with, but after a while it just felt so normal again.  My dear legs got to see sunlight again after being stuck inside pants for the last 3 months.  I made sure I slip, slopped and slapped up the sunscreen so that my day out didn't leave me red and raw.  I did manage to get a bit of colour which was nice.

The water temperature of the beach water was so divine.  It was like stepping in to a warm bath, but my goodness, the water was so so salty!!  I lasted about 15 minutes before the salt water got too much for my eyes and I had to get out.  Apparently, we found out that they desalinate the water and then put the salt back in which is what makes the water extremely salty.  Never mind.  Just being by a beach was enough for me!!

Lunch was quite average considering the location.  Of course I had fish, and even though presentation hit the mark, I have enjoyed much better tasting fish in Doha before.  It was just a 5/10 for me!!

After having enough lying around by the beach, we moved to the pool which again was so nice.  The water still had a chill on entering but once in, you just didn't want to get out!!  

The first time I went in, I knew that there was something strange about the water but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  It took me a little while to come to the realisation that the difference with this pool compared to those back home, was that it wasn't chlorinated at all.  It was such a weird feeling swimming without the chemical taste!!

Towards the end of the night, we managed to befriend an English family with 10 month old twins and ended up heading up to their room for a bite to eat and a chat.  Their girls are so gorgeous and they too are such a beautiful couple. Yep, some more friends to add to the list! which I am so grateful for!!

So overall, our first experience at the Intercontinental was nothing but fabulous.  Would recommend it to anyone wanting to just relax and unwind cause a day there felt like a week.  Definitely will be going back and doing it again!!