Croissants, cows, and not loving walls

Milk is rather expensive here (or at least it feels rather expensive here). It is 100% Qatari produced (at Baladna Farm, which is probably worth a visit someday) from a herd of cows flown in from various countries throughout the world (including 6000 cows from Canada) during the 2017 blockade (with more added since then to bolster the herd)—but even though I grew up brainwashed to support the Canadian cattle industry (I ♥ Alberta Beef!) we have been encouraging the kids to expand their breakfast repertoire away from cold cereal + milk. 

They've been enjoying yogurt and eggs and leftover rice (we've been eating a lot of rice-based meals because we bought a rice cooker for our little hotel kitchen) and these prepackaged croissants from Saudi Arabia. They're pretty good, as far as taste goes.  

As far as typography goes—most excellent!

Story time at the library (and our house is under contract!?!)

I signed Phoebe up to attend Arabic story time at the library yesterday and we met up with friends beforehand so they could finish a game they'd been playing.

Phoebe was very excited to ride the metro again. She loves the idea of being on a train, but is perpetually annoyed that we haven't purchased her a "gold club" membership and instead make her ride standard fare. The "gold club" car is much fancier than the ordinary car and there are two seats right at the front of the train so you can see where you're headed (which is very exciting) rather than looking at the windows at the blackness of the passing tunnel.

When we got on the metro, we found the door between the gold club car and the family car had been left open (and the car was empty). The children enjoyed looking through the car out the front of the train...until Benjamin decided that the door was probably supposed to be closed and shut it. 

Place Vendôme Mall

This afternoon we headed to Lusail to visit the Place Vendôme Mall, which is based off of French architecture:

Public art and the deep, dark underbelly (with kittens!)

Miriam and I went for a walk together last night. We were going to stay in the mall and do a few casual laps, but the weather outside was relatively decent, so we headed outdoors instead. Our goal was to find the metro entrance nearest to the tornado tower (and we did, but its location surprised us since the tunnel didn't go under any roads or anything—it just goes under the plaza, which you can just...walk across...so maybe it just exists for, like, the heat or something...I don't know). 

Here's Miriam with one of the Hala Summer guys:

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Grandpa and Darla shared a humorous story about adjusting from pounds to kilos, which resulted in the delivery of far too many sweet potatoes. Today I share a humorous anecdote about adjusting from Fahrenheit to Celsius...

This one involves Alexander and an air conditioner. Here's a picture of the kids waiting to eat the Oreo (adjacent) moon cycle they made as part of their science lesson:

Ice cream v. Stranger danger

On Thursday morning Miriam took the metro to the library by herself for the "creative threads" group while the rest of us stayed home to do our homeschool lessons. Then in the afternoon I took the kids to the pool while she stayed behind to fold laundry. 

She's been here for one week now and I think the hotel apartment is starting to feel like close quarters for her. She's craving alone time (and that's fine). 

We are the first "generation" of employees at GUQ to get go house hunting on our own. In the past people have simply been assigned a place to live. While people are excited about getting to live anywhere in the city...living in a hotel while waiting to find a place is perhaps less than ideal, particularly for a family our size. But, there are perks!

Apparently popsicles at the pool are more standard than we originally thought. We've been offered popsicles three times now! 

Yesterday the lifeguard (who I am guessing is Filipino, though I couldn't say with certainty—some places...like Carrefour...have a person's originating country on their badges, but not here at the hotel, so I'm just guessing) came right up to Phoebe, who was taking a swimming break in a swinging chair. He patted her head and pinched her cheek and said, "Hey, hey—what's your name? Phoebe! Phoebe—do you want some ice cream? Come with me, we will get you some ice cream!"

And I just...am not sure how I'm going to teach her about "stranger danger" here when every time we turn around someone is trying to lure her away with ice cream. And the thing is...it's safe here...to allow oneself to be lured away with ice cream. It's a little less so in other places, but generally fine here. 

Anyway, here she is with her pink guava popsicle, which rejuvenated her swimming spirit:

It has been less humid lately and yesterday was so windy (and still quite hot). We've only been getting up into the low hundreds (in °F) this week, which has honestly felt more manageable than when we're reaching into the teens.

"Your sweat is so shiny and beautiful!": Umbrella Park, the Corniche, and Monumental Play Area

It's 35°C (95°F) right now (10:00 PM), with a feels-like temperature of 46°C (114°F)—not too shabby!—so logically we took the kids to the park before bedtime. 

Andrew suggested we take the metro to the Corniche (a station named for its proximity to...the Corniche) and visit Umbrella Park, so named for its tunnels lined with umbrellas.

Vienna 🤝 Doha

When Josie and I visited Patrick in Vienna, he took us to the Vienna Central Cemetery to see graves both famous and interesting. One of his favourite graves to take people to see is that of Franz West, a sculptor from Vienna.

Here is his grave with this interesting worm-thing poking out of the ground:

And here is the sculpture we stumbled upon this evening in the park:

If a tree falls on your house but no one is around to hear it...does it still make a sound?

Well, it finally happened! Our house got hit by a tree.

Fortunately it wasn't a very big tree, but we will need to have that gutter replaced.

Luckily, our real estate agent called someone for us.

Emotionally Tuesday and a visit to campus

Yesterday was Sunday, which is the first day of our workweek here (so it felt like a Monday). 

Zoë in the hotel elevator