Beach thoughts

We went to the beach this afternoon and my question is...

Ja-ack and An-nie!

Phoebe and I just finished reading Dinosaurs Before Dark, the first book in The Magic Treehouse series. She read a page and then I read a page and then she read a page and then I read a page and like that we made it through the book. I believe it only took us two days (because Phoebe kept wanting to read the next chapter).

I was delighted when Phoebe was the first one to encounter the name "Annie" because she said "Ay-nee," which is exactly how Rachel thought it was said (for who knows how long before I finally figured out she was really saying "Annie"). Because we were reading it aloud together, I had the opportunity to correct Phoebe right away (unfortunately).

But, you should know, Rachel, that I have a friend here, from Finland, whose name is Eini, pronounced (more or less) "Ay-nee."

So...it's not like it's not a name. It is!

Rumour has it...

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

        —Matthew 24:6–8

And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth. And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound.

        —D&C 45:26–27

When I used to read scriptures like these I would sometimes internally scoff at the "rumours of war" part because...that...just...seemed...like such a laughable problem compared to other things mentioned. 

Like, "Oh, no! Not more gossip about war! Send help!"

But, uh, now that we find ourselves in the midst of rumours of war? It, uh, it hits different.

And like, totally do send help!!

Thoughts and prayers are 100% welcome (our area had a special fast this past Friday). 

I mean, we're fine, but it's also absolutely bizarre to have a date for potential violence hanging above our heads...pending people's moods after certain mid-term elections and other what-ifs and what-nots: 

Halloween 2026

Our homeschooling friends have been away for the past couple of weeks but returned to Doha the day before Halloween. We were very happy they could join us for some trick-or-treating! 

We had them over for dinner before heading to ARV, where car lines were long and security was ambitious—they had a list of names and were checking IDs (which is about normal to enter that compound, but security was even more ramped up because of the high volume of visitors).

Here are the kids up on the roof with friends prior to leaving:

Our friend K made their hyena mask out of cardboard by themself—and it was really cool!

Last Full Day in Vienna (A guest post by Zoë: | October 11)

The last full day we were in Vienna, we met with Patrick’s advisor’s older daughter, L, and Patrick’s advisor at the Technical museum! Me and Mom did not go on our big museum day, because Mom didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on a possibly disappointing museum (this was because the Literature museum was pretty disappointing). But, on Sunday, we went with Patrick to the museum and… IT WAS SUPER COOL!

There was so much stuff to do, and right at the entrance…we saw an F-1 car (are you jealous yet, Ben and Miriam?): 

(un)Fairly mooted?

moot: early 12c., shortened from Old English gemot "meeting, formal assembly" (especially of freemen, to discuss community affairs or mete justice), "society, assembly, council," from Proto-Germanic *ga-motan (compare Old Low Frankish muot "encounter," Middle Dutch moet, Middle High German muoz), from collective prefix *ga- + *motan, from a root *mod- "to meet, assemble" (compare meet (v.)).

moot: deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic

moot: open to question : debatable

moot: subjected to discussion : disputed

moot: to bring up for discussion : broach : debate 

moot (archaic): to discuss from a legal standpoint : argue

moot: simulated legal proceeding: A moot court is a mock court where law students or participants practice arguing hypothetical or appellate legal cases. 

moots: a deliberative assembly primarily for the administration of justice (especially one held by the freemen of an Anglo-Saxon community)

moots (informal): people that you follow and interact with on social media are your "moots" : contacts

moot: the traditional term for a hollowed-out, carved turnip lantern on the Isle of Man; used during the ancient Celtic festival of Hop-tu-Naa, which happens to coincide with the modern celebration of Halloween.

And it's a good thing, too, because pumpkins are outlandishly expensive here! So we went very, very traditional and carved turnips instead of pumpkins, purely for our own entertainment because it really wouldn't do to set Halloween decorations outside where we live (though we did go to one of the American compounds for some trick-or-treating).

Poop in the Souq!

We went back to Souq Waqif last night, mainly because we were intrigued by the street food but have been too scared to try it. One large issue hampering our spontaneity regarding street food is that we never have cash on us and we figured that the street food vendors wouldn't have card readers. 

But when Miriam and I went and bought our abayas, these tiny shops all had card readers. Or, like, one guy pulled out his phone because—duh—phones can be card readers. Anyway, all the street food vendors also have card readers. So, don't let a lack of cash hold you back! 

We got regag for dinner. It's a traditional...thin...bread in the Gulf. It's almost like crepes, but...also different. Miriam and I got "jubn wa batata" (cheese and chips—literally a bag of crushed up potato chips) and everyone else got Nutella.

Here are the kids with their hot plates of regag:

Again

We didn't give Miriam any presents for her birthday, per se, but today she and I went to Souq Waqif for dinner and a show. I had seen the musical Again advertised on various platforms and it sounded interesting, though it was different from what I was expecting.

Catching the bus

We have gotten very good at timing our walk to the bus stop so that if we run the last little leg of our journey we just barely are able to hop on the bus. 

I'm not sure if that's actually a good thing...but it's our thing. 

I took the kids to a library event today (a crafting session) and then we popped by Andrew's office to show him the results after he finished teaching and then we headed home (while Daddy headed to mutual night). 

When we arrived at our home metro stop, I pulled out my phone to check where the bus was along its route. 

"And what bus do we take again?" I quizzed the kids.

They don't really know our address, but they could get themselves home from pretty much anywhere in the city if they needed to. Even Phoebe could direct someone to drop her off right outside our door, if need be. She knows all the landmarks.

They chorused the bus number.

"Okay, it looks like it should be coming soon...there might be one over at x-stop...but I don't really want to miss picking the bus up here if it's already looped around..."

We debated whether to cross the street or to stay on the metro side (we basically have two opportunities to catch the bus because it picks up at the metro, drives to x-stop, and then goes around the traffic circle and stops at the street across from the metro before continuing on its loop. But crossing the street can be tricky.

There was a woman near us (from Africa somewhere) and she's the one who saw our bus approaching on the opposite side of the street.

"Is that your bus?" she said. 

"Yeah," I said. "But...we'll just catch the next one..."

"Go!" she said. "It will leave without you!"

"I just don't think I can cross the street in time with all my kids..."

"Come, come!" she said, stepping into—and stopping—traffic.

Pencil holders and roof dinners

Phoebe can be a very intense child. For example, she made this creative pencil holder this morning:

She was very excited about it. 

Very. Excited.

When the moon hits your eye

We went to the beach this afternoon. Miriam watched the little kids while Benjamin and I swam (like, she really did watch them—she wasn't on her phone the whole time) and then went home to work on her application essays for college.

The rest of the kids and I played out the afternoon.

Miriam is 17!

I didn't see much of Miriam today. She and Benjamin spent most of their time in Education City at a homeschool teen meet up. They were going to make a whale shark out of water bottles for some eco-art display somewhere, but they pivoted and went with a jellyfish instead, which I think is wise. A whale shark is an ambitious project—it has to be executed correctly in order to be recognized as a whale shark. A jellyfish, on the other hand, is...blobby...and a little more general. There are so many different kinds of jellyfish that your project has to be a generally recognizable blob and you'd have succeeded. So, that's what they were working on.

They also went to one of Andrew's classes where they learned about sampling sizes and extrapolating survey answers to make them applicable to the general public (or something like that). They were looking at the colours of M&Ms to see what colour the factory in Poland (that produces all the M&Ms for the MENA region, apparently) favours. Using a small sample size of "everybody in class gets a package of M&Ms to count" they can determine the percentage of colours the factory in Poland produces (which differs from other places).

Miriam's birthday cake

With Rachel out of the house, Zoë is determined to become the new baker of the family. It's extra challenging for her because we live in a new place with different ingredients and a tricky new oven and a kitchen that isn't entirely set up.

She baked the cakes yesterday (from a mix...because our kitchen isn't entirely set up...and we don't know where or how to source all the ingredients we need for American-style baking yet) and it was clear we still had a thing or two to learn about how our oven works.

I love yêu!

"I'm sending you emojis to tell you how much I love you and I miss you!" Phoebe explained to Rachel while pressing the heart button a million times. 

"You! You! You! You! You!" she said as she pressed it.

"FYI—she's saying 'you' because for us it says that under each heart she sends because it's coming from our account," I explained.

"That's really funny," Rachel said. "Because in Vietnamese love is yêu."

So I love yêu means I love love!

Stake conference and no kittens

 

In the middle of stake conference, Phoebe handed me this picture and explained, from left to right, that this is our sun, and this is our sun as a red giant, and this is our sun as a white dorf (dwarf), and this was our sun as a black dorf (dwarf)—you can barely see the little speck of it on the page. 

So I'm happy to announce that science class is going well (thanks, Science Mom)!

Rain storms and Ramly

It was cloudy this morning—a rare sight in Qatar! We saw reports that it was absolutely pouring in Education City, but we missed out because we were not in Education City...we were at home. Still, it was neat to see the clouds roiling in from the sea.

Fortunately she stopped before she crashed into the Berlin Wall!

Being a kid here in the Middle East hits different than being a kid in North America.

To be sure, there is a wide range of experience for children on either side of the world, but in general children are not only tolerated more here—they are celebrated more—than they are in North America.

As an example, a friend of mine recently described a six-hour flight she went on and how the child behind her kept kicking her seat. Her description—hopefully—waxed a little hyperbolic. She shared a video showing a few lurches in her seat before she just goes crazy being jostled in her seat, thrashing back and forth enough to give someone whiplash. 

Typical Tuesday

This morning Benjamin and I hit the bay early for a swim...and found this cute little hermit crab wielding an auger for a sword:

Bratislava (October 10)

Uncle Patrick wanted to make sure we had an Out-of-Austria adventure while we were visiting. We tossed around the idea of going to Budapest or Znojmo but ultimately landed in Bratislava—it's close, it's inexpensive, and it's quiet (and we were all in need of a quiet day after being out late celebrating Uncle Patrick's graduation). So Bratislava it was!

Stuff, stuff, and STUFF: We have it

After we finished with our schoolwork on Sunday, we headed out to the beach to enjoy the last of the afternoon sunshine: