So one of my favorite parts about being in Doha so far has been hosting visitors and giving them a glimpse into what life is like out here. These visitors have come in many forms, there was Brennan last Christmas, countless couchsurfers, my family this past January, and most recently I was graced with the presence of not one..but TWO of my best friends. Thank you Chris Rielly and Sarah Marr for making the trek out and I just wanted to give a quick recap of what we did. Please also consider this the OPEN invite to any future visitors. I promise you nothing but the best time! So much fun you might just stay (see: Brennan Biddle circa 2013)
The trip lined up quite brilliantly. Sarah was in between terms and had a week off. Rielly was ready to pull the trigger on his flight plan. The two essentially booked alertnating trips with Doha being the common ground in between. Sarah flew NY to Dubai to Doha to NY while Rielly opted for DC to Doha to Dubai to NY. This past weekend the reunion included myself, Sarah, Rielly, and even Brennan made the trip over!!!
We started off with "Bring Your Friends to Work Day" as Sarah and Rielly joined me for the average work day in the Student Center. We had a pizza and bowling party, they met some of my colleagues, many of the students I worked with, and explored a bit on their own. After work we had dinner in the Souq and caught up about life.
The next day Sarah and Rielly went to the Museum of Islamic Art while I wrapped up the work week. The met me at the end of the day to head back home. Afterwards we had a little welcome party/going away party at my new apartment. We said "see you later" to the one and only Will Nestor...more to come on that later...and they got to meet some of the incredible people I call friends here.
The next day we were up and at 'em nice and early for a desert camping adventure. I was able to convince Will Nestor (with little convincing) to change his flight so we could get one more night with him. We then took my 4x4 out to the sand dunes and raced an hour into the Qatari desert to park on top of a massive sand dune overlooking Saudi Arabia. On the way out we felt like we were on top of the world, taking in the scenery, in disbelief that we were all together, and just rocking out to the randomness that is Qatar radio. We watched the sunset, had a BBQ dinner, made a bondfire, and had the best damn sing along that has ever been seen. After camping under the stars we made our way back to Doha to say our goodbyes. It was more of a warm embrace than a teary goodbye because we just had So. Much. Fun. It will go down as one of my best Doha weekends by a long shot.
The most difficult of the goodbyes was to Will Nestor. I have made some great, life long friends since arriving in Doha. But none can compare to Will. He was one of the first people I met when I moved here and unfortunately his time was cut short in Doha. I only learned Will was leaving about 5 days before his final flight and it came as quite the shock. I can't think of a better send off for him and he deserved even more. To Will, I say thank you for so many good times. I know we will be back at it soon enough but I admire you and can't wait till our paths cross again.
In the next epic adventure, I travel tomorrow to rural Nepal with a group of 19 undergraduate students for a service trip. We will be teaching computer literacy in local schools and helping to build a community library. It will be approximately 10 days and I am beyond excited to leave! So let me sign off for now and will check back in after "Spring Break"!!!
The trip lined up quite brilliantly. Sarah was in between terms and had a week off. Rielly was ready to pull the trigger on his flight plan. The two essentially booked alertnating trips with Doha being the common ground in between. Sarah flew NY to Dubai to Doha to NY while Rielly opted for DC to Doha to Dubai to NY. This past weekend the reunion included myself, Sarah, Rielly, and even Brennan made the trip over!!!
We started off with "Bring Your Friends to Work Day" as Sarah and Rielly joined me for the average work day in the Student Center. We had a pizza and bowling party, they met some of my colleagues, many of the students I worked with, and explored a bit on their own. After work we had dinner in the Souq and caught up about life.
The next day Sarah and Rielly went to the Museum of Islamic Art while I wrapped up the work week. The met me at the end of the day to head back home. Afterwards we had a little welcome party/going away party at my new apartment. We said "see you later" to the one and only Will Nestor...more to come on that later...and they got to meet some of the incredible people I call friends here.
The next day we were up and at 'em nice and early for a desert camping adventure. I was able to convince Will Nestor (with little convincing) to change his flight so we could get one more night with him. We then took my 4x4 out to the sand dunes and raced an hour into the Qatari desert to park on top of a massive sand dune overlooking Saudi Arabia. On the way out we felt like we were on top of the world, taking in the scenery, in disbelief that we were all together, and just rocking out to the randomness that is Qatar radio. We watched the sunset, had a BBQ dinner, made a bondfire, and had the best damn sing along that has ever been seen. After camping under the stars we made our way back to Doha to say our goodbyes. It was more of a warm embrace than a teary goodbye because we just had So. Much. Fun. It will go down as one of my best Doha weekends by a long shot.
The most difficult of the goodbyes was to Will Nestor. I have made some great, life long friends since arriving in Doha. But none can compare to Will. He was one of the first people I met when I moved here and unfortunately his time was cut short in Doha. I only learned Will was leaving about 5 days before his final flight and it came as quite the shock. I can't think of a better send off for him and he deserved even more. To Will, I say thank you for so many good times. I know we will be back at it soon enough but I admire you and can't wait till our paths cross again.
In the next epic adventure, I travel tomorrow to rural Nepal with a group of 19 undergraduate students for a service trip. We will be teaching computer literacy in local schools and helping to build a community library. It will be approximately 10 days and I am beyond excited to leave! So let me sign off for now and will check back in after "Spring Break"!!!
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