Spinning!

I have  been on a total exercise kick out here - it helps that another friend, Dodo, loves Spin and Zumba as much as i do so i have a partner in crime!  Today we made it over to the Sheraton Hotel for 11AM spin. It was goood.  However, it's hard to get a cab back from the Sheraton at noon so we decided to walk.  it realistically is only a 15 minute walk, but after sweating it out for an hour on a spin bike, and then out into the 105 degree heat, it was an adventure!

yesterday we had a movie marathon - started out with Tangled (so cute!) then to the Landmarc mall for a little Cars 2 in 3D action and then late night Point Break viewing.  not a bad day.  and i managed to get an awesome new duvet cover!! i've been on a mission for new bedding for a while and haven't been able to find what i wanted - and lo and behold, it's in a store in Doha! well, the store is Australian based but it's here! and i have a super fun, semi-indian/middle eastern inspired ridiculously colorful new bedding set! will post a picture as soon as i recharge the camera.  but it's awesome.  and i'm so excited!

other than that, been a lot of work and figuring out what's going on in the lounges.  I was tasked with finding the Ramadan catering so that begins for 30 days starting on monday.  Since we cant eat or drink in public, DFI is generously subsidizing our meals so we will eat them in a secluded building and have good catered food for us non-fasters.  should be fun!

alright - time for some laundry! hope you are well!!

love!

salsa in Doha?

Why yes there is!  As addicted as I am to Zumba in the states, I have been wondering what I can do to keep myself latin-dancing out here.  At my roommates suggestion, we went to her yoga studio that has salsa class on monday's that she's been trying to go to.  It was so much fun!  The instructor was Turkish, the other couple in the class was British and we were two Americans, and a Romanian - and we all spoke the language of dance! (that's for you, Halee)  It was a lot of fun and now we're headed to the Ramada (because everything does, in fact, happen in hotels here) on Thursday night to try out our newly acquired salsa skills with other people who have danced more than one salsa class before.  Excited and a little terrified!

Work is gearing up a tad, have a lot of introductory meetings just learning who everyone is in the department and what they want to do in my tents.

Ok, time for bed, I've got a tent meeting in the AM!

Harry Potter - IMAX AND 3D!

Made it to Harry Potter yesterday and we decided to splurge - IMAX and 3D! It was a bit intense and we were sitting a hair too close but it was awesome.  If you haven't seen it yet, GO! Movies in Qatar are usually censored but apparently the censoring gets worse the longer the film is in the theater - gives more people time to complain about indecent things!  As it stands,  I don't think anything was cut, but I wouldn't know either. You also have assigned seating in theaters so it's not a total free-for-all for the best seats - you just have to get there early enough to reserve a good seat!

After the movie (which was at a mall...shocker) we went and grabbed some food and then did some shopping at the mall, I got an AMAZING ring at H&M and a long sleeved flowy top.

Work is going fine; it's all the nitty gritty stuff now, like internet connections and power.  Super sexy stuff...

We're trying to go to a Spin class at the Interncontental hotel tomorrow after work, I just have to remember to bring my gym clothes!

Love!

What 105 degrees looks like...

Went out to a fancy dinner last night at Market at the W, super yummy food, and it was a nice way to end the first official work week! My roommate, Lea, was headed to the beach today (friday) but I didn't manage to get up in time so decided that this morning/afternoon would be catch up, grocery store, cooking and some gym time.

The Carrefour, the big grocery/electronics/clothing store is a two block walk from my room - two blocks - in the big City Center mall.  Everything is in malls here.  Now, it's a little hot here, but today the humidly wasn't as bad as it had been so I figured no worries walking TWO BLOCKS to the mall and back.  Made it there and went on a leisurely stroll thru the grocery store and picked up a bunch of things for some couscous and lunches for the next week or so.  Now, in New York when I hit up the grocery store, I always take the basket that I have to hold so I know how heavy it's going to be lugging it back to the apartment.  Today I decided that I'd get a little roll-y cart - bad mistake.  I just kept loading it up with heavy stuff, like a jar of olives, and liters of water...

This is what 138 rial of groceries looks like ($38).

And this is what Kerry looks like after lugging the above home TWO BLOCKS:

I don't know if you can see the beads of sweat pouring down my face but I look like I just ran 5 miles.  For two blocks. Urgh.

And just for fun, since I'm uploading, here is the pile that I started with packing and the after of what I actually packed (quite successfully I may say!)

There is talk of seeing Harry Potter this weekend so I should probably go and find out what's going on with that...

Hope you guys are a bit cooler than I am out here!

love!

work dreams - already!

went out with the guys who run the security for the festival a few nights ago and have had dreams revolving around security ever since!

the humidity has died down a bit which is nice but good lord, it's hot here! however, the office is freezing so half the time i have to go outside and warm up!

the workweek here is sunday - thursday so i get to have my first official weekend starting tonight! i think i may go tomorrow during the day to the beach and to go see the new harry potter.  we'll se how much is censored/cut out...  the beaches here are all private and you have to pay to go on them, but most of them are owned by the big hotels (intercontinental, hyatt, etc) so you also get to use the pool and swim up bars.  should be an adventure!

work is going well, basically been a week of gathering lots of questions and trying to figure out what people are doing and who i need to know!  typical first week of work stuff.

been to the gym the last two days - it's crazy there are so many people staying here but the gym is totally empty!  i went a little overboard with the sqats a few days ago and my butt is still hurting!

alright - off to catch the shuttle.  hopefully there will be photos up of the beach adventure this weekend!

love you all.

Back in Doha! The 2011 edition

Hello 4 blog followers!!!  I have safely made it back to Doha, after a super calm flight; I even managed to get a row all to myself! Was picked up after a super easy customs by my fancy driver and shuttled off to the Kempinski in a gold BMW.  THIS is the way to travel!  Got to my new home-away-from-home, room 1905 and met my new roommate, Lea. She's a full timer at DFI in the ticketing department.  Her parents are visiting her and were here welcoming me as well!  Very friendly.  I managed to stay up until about 10pm and then crashed - but of course, woke up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep until 6:30am.  Thank goodness Michael, my boss, told me to take the morning and adjust because I needed it!

I also had the great pleasure of realizing, while going thru customs in NYC, that I totally left my computer charger on my couch!  My first purchase in Doha turned out to be a ridiculously expensive new charger...

Today was my first full day at the office; hit a bit of jet lag around 3pm, which worked out perfectly as I then went on a 2 hour tour of all their new ideas for this year - and found out where they are going to put my tents this year! I'm super excited for my lounges this year!

It's a pretty skeletal crew here this early, I'm the 3rd production person with a bunch more to come in the following months.  It's kind of nice to be here this early to see all the set ups (and also allows me to voice all my concerns before they have promised the drawings to management!).

OK, time to meet up with a friend for dinner - I've made massive promises to update this thing and I'm going to try my darn-dest to do so!  I may even include some pictures as soon as my camera charges! Plus, I know you are all dying to know how being a Westerner in Qatar during Ramadan is...I know I am...

love you all!