Happy New Year! Merry Christmas! And all that other good stuff. I can't believe it has been nearly a month since my last blog entry and the public was getting quite restless. What is Evan doing? Is he still alive? What happened while Brennan was in town? Well I have some answers for you. Over the past 3 weeks or so the biggest events were Brennan's visit, celebrating New Years, and LeaderShape. All of these have had a HUGE impact on my time here in Doha and I will do my best to capture how important they have been to me.
So there we were. Brennan and me. In the Doha airport embracing like long lost brothers. Brennan had traveled over 24 hours, waited in customs for almost 2 hours, and it was 4am. Yet he still had a smile ear to ear on his face. The visit started off with a bang...job searching. Before coming to Doha Brennan had applied to a bunch of positions in both Doha and Dubai to test the waters. First thing we did was follow up on some of his leads to see if we could get him interviews while he was here. That first morning Brennan secured several in person interviews and even a soft job offer! It shouldn't be that easy, but sometimes it just is. When Brennan finally landed it was 4am on December 24th. So we had some celebrating ahead of us. We spend Christmas Eve at a friend's villa in Doha was an eclectic and eccentric group of people. The next morning we were up early to fly to Dubai for two days. The flight to Dubai is less than an hour and once we landed we hit the group running. First stop, the Burj Khalifa. This is the world's tallest building and we had reservations at At. Mosphere for myself, Brennan, and our friend Ahmad. A bar/restaurant at the top of the building. Views were incredible, Brennan tried to overcome a fear of heights, and the cocktails were delicious. 
After the Burj we went to an outdoor river walk, went to a Souq that was equipped with a Christmas village, visited Atlantis, and met some new friends at night. It was difficult to remember it was Christmas and we had to keep reminding ourselves...."Hey guys...it's Christmas!". The second day we started with a cultural breakfast, went to the indoor ski slopes, a public beach, and a place called Global Village. We spent most of the day with our friend Mohammed who happened to be there at the same time as us. Our flight from Dubai left late on December 26th and we were back to Doha. No trip to Doha is complete without getting out to the desert so we went camping that weekend. Myself, Brennan, Will, Cait, and Joce hired a company to take us cruising on sand dunes and out to a campsite out in the middle of the 
desert. The views were amazing, our driver was crazy, and the camp was a perfect way to relax. There was plenty more that Brennan and I fit into our trip including an education on falcons, museum exhibits, and checking out the Doha nightlife. Brennan's visit came at a perfect time and I will be sharing some BIG news at the end of the blog.
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Brennan left just before New Year's Eve. This time of year is the best time to host visitors because the weather is great and most people are able to take time off around the holidays. Once Brennan left, my friend Kevin had two other friends in town for New Years. The four of us along with our other friend Will went to a New Year's Eve party at the Crowne Plaza hotel. People keep asking if there are special events for New Years in Doha, and to be honest it isn't any different than the US. New Year's isn't a big deal here because they don't really follow the same calendar as the US. In fact, New Year's day isn't even a holiday here! There were plenty of different events and house gatherings going on for New Year's and we opted for an event called "Global DJs" with 13 different DJs from all over the world playing music in three different rooms. The event was well organized, the music was amazing, and the atmosphere was electric. More than anything else it was amazing to bring in New Years with a great group of friends. We had dinner at Kevin's before heading to the hotel and I really saw New Year's as a landmark point for me. I have now been in Doha for just over 4 months and A LOT has happened. The start of this new year marks the continuation of a new chapter in life. 2012 brought in incredible amount of change and accomplishments, but I expect 2013 to be a major year of learning, growth, and adventure. I look forward to all of the challenges and opportunities that will be brought in with the new year and there's no better place to do it than here in Doha!
This past week from January 5-10 the HBKU Student Center held its annual LeaderShape program. This is a week long intensive leadership program that takes place in Al Khor (about 45 minutes from Doha). We had 60 students from across all the universities join us for this program and we all stayed at the Al Sultan Beach Resort. During the week of the program students reflect on their own identities, how they work within groups, how to become ethical leaders, and develop visions for the future. Although the LeaderShape curriculum is very US centered, it has very strong applications in this international context. This was my first time working with the LeaderShape curriculum and at first I was skeptical. I was very impressed after seeing the week come together and seeing how deeply students connected with the program. Over the course of the week I felt a range of emotions. I was frustrated in some ways because these types of programs don't occur frequently enough here in Doha. The curriculum, although very detailed and intentionally, is not overly complicated or much different from programs I have done in the past. The same conversations that took place at LeaderShape should be taking place regularly at HBKU and they are not as of now. It was inspiring to see the depth of thought the students demonstrated and they impressed me with their many talents and interests. It re-energized me because it reminded me how passionate I am about the work I am doing. At the end of the first semester I was feeling a bit disappointed at the output of programs from the Fall. But with the end of LeaderShape I see that there is significant work to be done as we continue to build a framework for co-curricular education. The next semester starts tomorrow and I could not be more excited to get going again. There are so many great things coming up in the Spring both personally and professionally, so I am sure time will continue to fly by.
In terms of upcoming adventures...Tomorrow I begin training for a half marathon in Austria in mid-April. I am traveling to Kenya for a long weekend January 24-29. This will be immediately followed by a trip to Abu Dhabi for a conference February 6-8. Then the BIGGEST news is that Brennan Biddle has accepted a job offer in Doha and arrives February 25th!!! I am still in shock from this news but could NOT be any more excited that he will be joining me here in Doha. He has a once in a lifetime opportunity here and "IT AIN'T OVA!". Mark your calendars because I will be back in the US in March. March 15-21 in Orlando, 22-24 in DC, and 24-27 in NY. These dates aren't finalized yet but that is what it looks like now. Sorry it took so long to get another blog up. I will be sure to write again before the Kenya trip. Looking forward to hearing from everyone soon and catching up with those I have missed these last few weeks!
So there we were. Brennan and me. In the Doha airport embracing like long lost brothers. Brennan had traveled over 24 hours, waited in customs for almost 2 hours, and it was 4am. Yet he still had a smile ear to ear on his face. The visit started off with a bang...job searching. Before coming to Doha Brennan had applied to a bunch of positions in both Doha and Dubai to test the waters. First thing we did was follow up on some of his leads to see if we could get him interviews while he was here. That first morning Brennan secured several in person interviews and even a soft job offer! It shouldn't be that easy, but sometimes it just is. When Brennan finally landed it was 4am on December 24th. So we had some celebrating ahead of us. We spend Christmas Eve at a friend's villa in Doha was an eclectic and eccentric group of people. The next morning we were up early to fly to Dubai for two days. The flight to Dubai is less than an hour and once we landed we hit the group running. First stop, the Burj Khalifa. This is the world's tallest building and we had reservations at At. Mosphere for myself, Brennan, and our friend Ahmad. A bar/restaurant at the top of the building. Views were incredible, Brennan tried to overcome a fear of heights, and the cocktails were delicious. 
After the Burj we went to an outdoor river walk, went to a Souq that was equipped with a Christmas village, visited Atlantis, and met some new friends at night. It was difficult to remember it was Christmas and we had to keep reminding ourselves...."Hey guys...it's Christmas!". The second day we started with a cultural breakfast, went to the indoor ski slopes, a public beach, and a place called Global Village. We spent most of the day with our friend Mohammed who happened to be there at the same time as us. Our flight from Dubai left late on December 26th and we were back to Doha. No trip to Doha is complete without getting out to the desert so we went camping that weekend. Myself, Brennan, Will, Cait, and Joce hired a company to take us cruising on sand dunes and out to a campsite out in the middle of the 
desert. The views were amazing, our driver was crazy, and the camp was a perfect way to relax. There was plenty more that Brennan and I fit into our trip including an education on falcons, museum exhibits, and checking out the Doha nightlife. Brennan's visit came at a perfect time and I will be sharing some BIG news at the end of the blog..JPG)
This past week from January 5-10 the HBKU Student Center held its annual LeaderShape program. This is a week long intensive leadership program that takes place in Al Khor (about 45 minutes from Doha). We had 60 students from across all the universities join us for this program and we all stayed at the Al Sultan Beach Resort. During the week of the program students reflect on their own identities, how they work within groups, how to become ethical leaders, and develop visions for the future. Although the LeaderShape curriculum is very US centered, it has very strong applications in this international context. This was my first time working with the LeaderShape curriculum and at first I was skeptical. I was very impressed after seeing the week come together and seeing how deeply students connected with the program. Over the course of the week I felt a range of emotions. I was frustrated in some ways because these types of programs don't occur frequently enough here in Doha. The curriculum, although very detailed and intentionally, is not overly complicated or much different from programs I have done in the past. The same conversations that took place at LeaderShape should be taking place regularly at HBKU and they are not as of now. It was inspiring to see the depth of thought the students demonstrated and they impressed me with their many talents and interests. It re-energized me because it reminded me how passionate I am about the work I am doing. At the end of the first semester I was feeling a bit disappointed at the output of programs from the Fall. But with the end of LeaderShape I see that there is significant work to be done as we continue to build a framework for co-curricular education. The next semester starts tomorrow and I could not be more excited to get going again. There are so many great things coming up in the Spring both personally and professionally, so I am sure time will continue to fly by.
In terms of upcoming adventures...Tomorrow I begin training for a half marathon in Austria in mid-April. I am traveling to Kenya for a long weekend January 24-29. This will be immediately followed by a trip to Abu Dhabi for a conference February 6-8. Then the BIGGEST news is that Brennan Biddle has accepted a job offer in Doha and arrives February 25th!!! I am still in shock from this news but could NOT be any more excited that he will be joining me here in Doha. He has a once in a lifetime opportunity here and "IT AIN'T OVA!". Mark your calendars because I will be back in the US in March. March 15-21 in Orlando, 22-24 in DC, and 24-27 in NY. These dates aren't finalized yet but that is what it looks like now. Sorry it took so long to get another blog up. I will be sure to write again before the Kenya trip. Looking forward to hearing from everyone soon and catching up with those I have missed these last few weeks!
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