Doha Dreams Comes to a Close

Well, it appears my time in Doha has come to a close. Four years and one month to the day from my arrival, I pack my bags to say goodbye to the sandy place I call home. It is amazing how quickly the time has passed and how much has changed. Students have come and gone, construction has begun and ended, I have learned and grown.

I came to Qatar in 2012 to work for the Qatar Foundation and Hamad bin Khalifa University. This incredible opportunity was made possible through the trust and support of Curt Kenoyer, Melissa Winter, and Ameena Hussain who continued to be a great support in my professional time here. In my four years I grew many of our programs in the HBKU Student Center, connected with many students from all over the world, and developed a new global professional identity that I am very proud of. This past year has been my most difficult professionally. Stuck between changes in organizational priorities and institutional mission, much of my work was left without a clear purpose or direction. When you enter an organization you hope to leave a positive legacy behind you and in my case many of the programs I built will not be continuing. With this in mind, my legacy will be the students I had the privilege of working beside. It was an honor to serve all of you and I hope you take many of the lessons we worked on together into your future endeavors!

Although I came to Qatar for work, it quickly became a home. Qatar is a unique blend of an open country, welcoming foreigners to help advance the nation, while at the same time maintaining tradition. I would be remiss to not thank Qatar for the amazing opportunity to learn about a different way of life, contribute to the future of a nation through education, and for the chance to benefit from a lifestyle I could not have dreamed of. As Qatar became home, so did my Doha family. Although many people have come and gone in my four years, it was these people who were there through all the bumps in the road to make it a home. It was also such a privilege to have so many friends and family visit over the years to get a glimpse of life here in the Gulf. To all those who made the trip out, it means the world to me!

Coming to Qatar was the opportunity of a lifetime, one that I tried to turn down (that’s a story for another time…). As I look back on these past four years I can’t believe everything that has happened. Of course there was the travel. There were backpacking trips through Southeast Asia, African safaris, the World Cup in Brazil, and so much more. But the most incredible opportunity of all was chasing the girl of my dreams in New Zealand. If it weren’t for being in Qatar, I probably wouldn’t have been able to chase love half way across the world. From the eight day first date to our wedding, Kristal has been the biggest part of my Doha experience and the person I get to carry on the rest of my life with.

As the Qatar chapter of our lives comes to a close, our next chapters are even more promising!!! 

Tomorrow we will be hopping on a plane to move to New Zealand for 10 weeks where I will be working at the University of Auckland in their Campus Life Office and Kristal will be working for the International Volunteering Head Quarters (https://www.volunteerhq.org/). After New Zealand we are planning to work on Semester at Sea’s Spring 2017 voyage (http://www.semesteratsea.org/). It is a journey that will take us to 10 countries in just over 4 months. And after that? The plan is to move back to the great state of Minnesota where we will both be job searching in the Twin Cities and working towards making our first home together.

There is quite a lot in store for the newest Witts and as the Qatar chapter closes, so does the Doha Dreams blog. Thank you to everyone who has kept up with my adventures these last four years. This has been the ultimate “amateur” blog but I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. As Kristal and I embark on our newest adventures we will be starting a new blog together called “At Our Witts End”. Be on the look out for that in the next few weeks! We promise it will be a heck of a lot better than Doha Dreams! Thanks for all the love and support and we will see you on Name of blog!!!!

Seychelles at the Seashore!

What do you do when you have some expiring airline points? Book a spontaneous weekend trip to the Seychelles! Kristal and I spent a four day weekend in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. We are including all the details here about how we planned our trip, which islands to visit, and some recommendations if you find yourself in paradise!

General Info:

Choosing Islands: The Seychelles is an island nation made up of around 115 islands. The main island is Mahe and that has the main international airport. The other two main islands, which are accessible by ferry, are Praslin and La Digue. Both are between 60-90 minutes by boat. Most people choose to spend their time at some combination of these three islands. We chose to split time between La Digue and Praslin.

Ferries: You can book your inter-island ferries at www.seychellesbookings.com/cat-cocos. Be warned that the ferry from Mahe to Praslin can be rough but at least it is only an hour!

Itinerary: Our time in Seychelles was very short so we focused on Praslin and La Digue. No matter how you decide to spend your time we can’t recommend La Digue enough. Here was our itinerary:

September 1: Arrive in Mahe and Ferry to La Digue via Praslin

September 2: La Digue

September 3: Ferry from La Digue to Praslin

September 4: Praslin and evening ferry back to Mahe for flight

La Digue

With some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and an island that can be fully explored by bicycle, La Digue is a must see! You can take ferries to La Digue directly from Mahe or catch a ferry from Praslin. Here are some of our tips and highlights:

Activities: Rent bikes and explore the 5kmx3km island,

Accommodation: We stayed at the La Digue Island Lodge (http://www.ladigue.sc/) which was a gorgeous resort! To save some money stay in one of the basic rooms for about $100 a night and get a great breakfast and access to the full facilities!

Food: Restaurants on La Digue are pricey but there are some great “Take-Away” options where you can get rice and curry for about $5. The best take away option by far was called “Mi Mums” and is located near the petrol station on the island. It was probably the best meal we had the whole trip! Make sure to have whatever the special of the day is.

Best Beaches: Source d’Argent and Grand Anse (make sure to walk over to Petite Anse and Anse Coco)

 

Praslin

As the second largest island in the Seychelles, Praslin has lots to offer in terms of beaches, excursions, and a great national park. It is here that you can find the largest forest of the Coco de Mer, the famous “suggestive” coconuts. Here are some tips for enjoying your time in Praslin:

Activities: Vallee de Mai is the park in the center of the island to see the Coco de Mer. They offer free tours daily and have plenty of parking out front. There are a variety of boat excursions you can do from any of the beaches as well. For between 60-75 USD per person you can do a full day boat trip which will visit 2-3 islands including lunch. We visited Curieuse and St. Pierre island while we were there.

Transportation: It is really easy to explore Praslin by car with only a few roads on the island. We used Bliss Car Hire (http://www.blisscarhire-seychelles.com/) and they had great rates and great service!

Accommodation: The best place to stay is near Anse Volbert. We stayed about a 5 minute drive from there are a great local B&B called Mirella Villa. The owners were wonderful and it was a self-catering unit with incredible views!

Beaches: Anse Lazio was absolutely incredible! Don’t bother trying the other beaches that have more hotels/restaurants than sand. Take the road until it ends and you have arrived!

 

We could not recommend the Seychelles enough and we actually preferred it compared to the Maldives. There was tons of exploring to be done, better budget accommodation and food options, and equally stunning scenery! We hope to be able to go back one day but are so thankful to have had the chance to explore over the weekend! Video and photos to come!!!

 

Our Big Fat Greek Honeymoon: Greece Travel Tips

Well, the surprise honeymoon is in the books! I think we pretty much accomplished everyone knowing where we were going except Kristal. I don’t usually research too much before traveling to a location because I find that 5 hours of research can be accomplished in a 5 minute conversation with a local upon arrival. This trip was different. I wanted it to be perfect so I did my best to become an “expert” on each leg of our trip. We flew into Athens and then took ferries to Mykonos, Naxos, and Santorini.  Instead of giving a play by play of what we did, I am going to give some travel notes for the trip from start to finish. Hopefully this will be useful for any of you planning to go to Greece in the near future, because we definitely recommend it!

General Information

Ferries: We found that ferries were the best way to island hop around Greece. They were incredibly efficient, comfortable, and well prices. We booked using both http://ferries-booking.com/ and http://www.greekferries.gr/

Itinerary: The hardest things to decide are where to go and how much time to spend! We decided to do three islands in ten days. We were pretty happy with our choice and how much time we had at each, although you always want more. Here was our route:

July 24: Doha to Athens

July 25: Athens

July 26: Athens to Mykonos

July 27: Mykonos

July 28: Myknos to Naxos

July 29: Naxos

July 30: Naxos to Santorini

July 31-August 1: Santorini

August 2: Santorini to Athens to Doha

Athens

Our gateway into Greece and the Greek islands was through Athens. Many people had warned us that Athens would be disappointing and not offer much to see. We actually found it to be really enjoyable and are glad we spent a full day there. Here were some of our favorite highlights:

Activity: Free Walking Tour (http://www.athensfreewalkingtour.com)

Accommodation: Plaka is the central area within walking distance of many of the sites. We stayed at the Home Sweet Hotel (http://thesweethomehotel.com/) and would recommend it.

Acropolis View: Thissio View Roof Garden is only a short walk from the Acropolis and has a great bar/restaurant with views of the site.

Food: Thanasis in Monastiraki Square had a great menu for kebabs and souvlaki for great prices and portions.

Mykonos

About a four hour ferry ride from Athens brought us to the island of Mykonos. Mykonos had the best beaches we saw the whole trip but the island came with a high price tag and some big crowds. Here are some of our highlights and tips:

Activity: Make sure to rent a scooter or Quad bike. There are so many places and great beaches to explore on the island, all about 20 minutes away from each other.

Beaches: Nearly all of the beaches on the south of the island and very developed with restaurant, bars, and chair rentals. If you are looking to get away from the crowds and more untouched beaches head up north. Our favorite north beach was Agios Sostis Beach and we wish we had explored more up there! Our favorite south beach was Elia.

Food: If you are looking for the best sunset view in all of Mykonos, check out Katerina’s in Little Venice (http://katerinaslittlevenicemykonos.com/en/). If you make a dinner reservation you can sit over the water with the sunset to your right and windmills on the left. You can also just go for drinks and have a view from upstairs.

Nightlife: Mykonos is famous for nightlight and Paradise Beach is the place to find it. DJs play there all summer and we got to see Robin Schulz at Cavo Paradiso. Keep in mind the headline DJs don’t go on until 3 or 4am so it makes for a late night!

Naxos

Naxos was an add on for our trip as we originally planned to only see Mykonos and Santorini, but we are SO glad we did! We only stayed around Naxos town and the nearby St. George’s Beach but it was a perfect beach holiday. If we were to go back we would explore the rest of the island more but here are our highlights:

Activity: Walking. Once you arrive at port all of Naxos Town and the nearby beaches are about a 10 minute walk. For the two days we were there we didn’t take any  transportation and it was lovely!

Sites: Make sure to check out the views at the Arch of Apollo (you can see it from the harbor) and there is a great café at the top of the castle with views of the city.

Accommodation: In Mykonos and Santorini beachfront hotels can be quite expensive. In Naxos they are very reasonable and we stayed at the Ippokampos Hotel with a door facing the ocean (http://www.ippokampos-naxos.com/en/)! It was amazing and had a great beach and restaurant on property.

Food: Some of our best meals were in Naxos! Looking for seafood? Try Meze2 right on the main street of Naxos Town. We had the stuffed squid and it was amazing! Looking for a Taverna? Try Taverna Apostolis in the Old Market where the entire menu is amazing but reservations are recommended. Looking for a souvlaki fill? YaSouvlaki has takeaway the size of a shoe box for less than 10 Euros! It was amazing and always packed.

Santorini

Widely considered to be one of the most romantic places on earth, and for good reason! There was so much to see and explore there and we could have spent our whole vacation just there. Santorini can have some big crowds and high prices so we tried to avoid both of those and still had an amazing time! Here are the highlights:

Accommodation: I did a lot of research on where to stay and we ended up choosing to stay in Imerovigli on the non-caldera side. It was away from the action but we were able to get a honeymoon suite in a cave for a quarter of the price we would have paid to be on the caldera side in Oia or even Imerovigli. Here is a link to where we stayed http://www.aghiosartemios.gr/

Activity: There are so many to list! We rented Quad bikes and explore the island on our own rather than doing a tour. Here is the run down of the top places to see/things to do! Free Walking Tour in Fira (http://santo-line.com/freetour/) , Santo Wines for wine tasting, Megalochori traditional village, Akrotiri archeological site, Red Beach, Vlychada White Beach, Perissa Beach, Prophet Elias Monastery (highest point in Santorini), and Kamari Beach. We also did a semi-private sunset sailing tour our last day which was pricey but worth it with http://www.santorinisailing.com/

Beaches: Santorini has some amazing beaches, all of which are black sand. For the most interesting go to Red Beach. We thought the best overall beach was in Perissa or Kamari. See as many as you can!

Sunset View: “The best sunset in the world”-They. After much research we booked a table at Kastro in Oia for the sunset (http://kastro-oia.gr/en/). It is right in front of the castle which is one of the most popular places to see the sunset. It had a completely clear view of the sunset but no caldera. It really is a trade off! If you want the classic blue dome/caldera shot you need to go down an alley off the main street next to a high end clothing/accessory shop with a black sign. It sounds sketchy, but it’s not and you get the best photos! We got the best photo locations from here http://theplanetd.com/photography-guide-santorini/

 

In the end Greece was a perfect honeymoon destination for us. It offered endless possibilities, history, adventure, gorgeous images, and of course great food! At first I was intimidated at the idea of “Greek Island Hopping” thinking it would be too costly or difficult logistically. It was neither of those and we hope you get the chance to explore it soon! We didn’t get the chance to explore anywhere else in Greece but we aren’t planning for this to be our last trip there!!! If you haven't seen the highlight video yet you can see that here too:

We would also like to announce that as our time in Doha comes to a close we will be launching a new blog (gosh did I learn a lot from keeping this one!) in the coming months. The blog will be called “At Our Witt’s End” and it will be a bit of travel advice, a bit of logging our adventures, and really our own version of keeping up with the Sawittzkes! Stay tuned for updates!

Getting to the Wedding

The last 8 weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, hence not getting to the blog at all. There was the first meeting of the parents in Minnesota, time at UT-Austin helping to run their LeaderShape session, a 13 hour overnight road trip to Nashville for the bachelor party, a trip to Virginia for Bree and Shea's wedding, the return to Doha after my contract was extended, wedding planning, flying back to the US for Kevin and Katie's wedding in Michigan, the 4th of July weekend, and finally actually getting married on July 9th!!! I could write at length about each of these events individually but instead I am going to focus specifically on the wedding.

It will sound cliche, but our wedding day was perfect in every way. It was perfect weather, it was perfect in its imperfections (read: Evan not watching part of Kristal's walk down the aisle), but most
of all it was perfectly us. There was a boat entry to the processional, the ceremony was officiated by close friends, there were lawn games at the reception, the band rocked until almost 1am, the list goes on. To me, the best wedding is one that reflects the couple it is celebrating and in many ways, I feel like that is what we had. I won't go into a string of advice for wedding planners or my lessons learned. I simply want to offer a few things that have been on my mind in the week or so since the wedding.

The dominant feeling this last week has been thankfulness. We are so fortunate to have been able to celebrate with so many family and friends from near and far. It was such an honor to see so many individuals travel to join us in Crosslake and equally as meaningful to receive all the well wishes from people who could not attend. We had so much help in making the wedding happen, and it made it a stress free weekend for Kristal and me. I won't name everyone who was involved but our I Do Crew, Kristal's attendants, our officiants, parents and siblings, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Dawn, Pat & Josie, the Christensen family, the Witts, and so many others went above and beyond in helping create such an amazing weekend. Thank you does not begin to do it all justice.

In the week after the wedding we find ourselves trying to re-live every moment through stories, pictures, and videos. We have started to share some previews from the incredibly talented team we got to work with. Photos can be found at http://hanasouther.zenfolio.com/p473607168 (code: crosslake). A preview of our wedding video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc0Z94WS6y8. We cannot wait to see our final products but this will have to hold us over for now!

On Saturday, Kristal and I made it back to Doha as Mr. and Mrs we literally wore matching t-shirts). Just because the wedding is behind us, doesn't mean there aren't some big things on the horizon. Next week we will be heading on our honeymoon (secret location for Kristal) before coming back to Doha to prepare for the upcoming semester. The plan for the Fall as of now is to wrap up our current jobs and move to New Zealand for about two months to work with the International Volunteer Headquarters (https://www.volunteerhq.org/). As our time in Doha comes to a close I will be shutting down this blog which has served me well for nearly four years! Stay tuned for the honeymoon, life updates, and closing thoughts on my time in Qatar. Thanks for reading!

Final Days with HBKU

After many months of confusion and uncertainty I was notified last week that my last week of work with the Qatar Foundation and Hamad bin Khalifa University would be at the end of May. While this comes as a bit of a surprise, and earlier than I had hoped, I think it is for the best in the long term. It has been an amazing journey working with QF and HBKU these past four years and as the organization moves in a new direction I was no longer a part of that picture. As with any story, there is much more to this one. I am happy to share with people individually over time as I try to wrap my own head around the last few weeks.

For now our plan is to stay in Qatar until Kristal’s contract ends in October. In the meantime we will be wedding planning; I will be seeking short term employment in Doha, and making the most of our last few months in Qatar. I want to specifically thank Curt Kenoyer who first hired me to come to Qatar, my supervisor Melissa Winter, all of my amazing colleagues, the Education City community, and the great students I have had the privilege of working with. These won’t be my last words about my experience so stay tuned for more posts in the coming months.

Sawittzke Tours: Qatar

Kristal and I have been very fortunate to have a revolving door of visitors these past few months. First there was Rebecca and Lucas from Germany/Switzerland, then there was Jen and Kyle on their way to Bali, then there was Ben and Yve from London, and finally this past weekend we hosted Kristal’s brother and sister traveling from Minnesota. It has been such a blast playing tour guide and getting to give our friends and family a glimpse of day to day life here in Qatar. 

 

For our friends that come into Qatar we have pretty much perfected the 3-4 day visit. We go camping and dune bashing in the desert, we have dinner in the Souq, walk along the Pearl, take a Dhow boat out on the cornice, show off our offices in Education City, explore the Museum of Islamic Art, and whatever other bits we are able to fill in. It is a breath of fresh air having visitors because all of the sites are new and exciting. People take countless photos of the things we might normally just walk right past. Doha is such a unique place and has so much to offer within such a small space.

This past weekend Kristal’s brother and sister surprised her and came to visit. Well technically Kristal knew that Turner was coming over but had no idea about Kelly. While they were here we took the Doha visit to a new level packing in visits in Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi in just four days. It was a full throttle pace but we were able to get an amazing amount done. The first stops were in Doha as we had dinner in the Souq, explored nightlight in Qube, and then spent the next day/night camping in the desert. It wasn’t the best weather for camping but we made the most of it and had a great time. The following day we did more of a driving tour of Doha to take in as many sites as we could. We made it a bit of an early night because we had a morning flight to catch to Dubai.

The flight to Dubai only takes about 45 minutes and couldn’t be easier. When we landed we rented a car for our two days and set out on the city. First stop was Abu Dhabi (just over an hour’s drive from Dubai) to see the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and followed by lunch at a beach along the corniche. The mosque is absolutely stunning and you could spend hours just walking around trying to take it all in. We were in a bit of a rush leaving Abu Dhabi because we had reservations for happy hour at the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. We took the elevator up 123 floors to the At.Mosphere restaurant for drinks and snacks as we looked down on Dubai’s other skyscrapers. After the Burj we went out in Dubai Marina at a Tiki Bar near our hotel before calling it a day. 

The next morning we had coffee along a beach front area called the Jumeria Beach Residences and

then had a traditional breakfast at the Center for Cultural Understanding (CCU). At the CCU we were able to have some great Q&A with a young Emirati college student about her culture and experiences growing up in Dubai. The second half of the day was spent mall hopping from the Mall of the Emirates with its indoor ski resort to the Mall of Dubai with its aquarium, fountains, and ground views of the Burj. Turner continued to have a field day taking as many photos and videos as he possibly could. We had to move quickly to fit it all in and by midafternoon we were already making our way back to the airport for Doha.

Kelly and Turner flew out from Doha that night after one last Souq visit, souvenir shopping, and Dhow boat cruise along the skyline. It was the perfect end to a perfect visit and we are so thankful they were able to come and see our lives here. Both of them left feeling incredibly surprised at how beautiful, safe, and interesting everything is over here. It was a trip full of memories that I am sure we will talk about for years to come. So thanks not only to Kelly and Turner but to all of our visitors recently who have shared their time with us here. Our doors are always open!