Yes, it's been a while . . . and I've had a few people ask for an update of what has happened in my life since I last posted on this blog. I have to admit that my life seems to have settled into such a routine that it doesn't seem interesting enough to write about; but here goes . . . (I hope I can remember what has happened in the last 7 months).
This past summer I was determined not to spend much time in the summer heat of Doha, nor to be here during Ramadan. I was able to schedule my 4-weeks of vacation to coincide with Ramadan and butt up to the Eid holiday (the week of holidays at the end of Ramadan), so I was able to have 5 weeks off. I first flew to San Diego to see my mom for a week. We had a wonderful time talking, shopping, visiting with her friends (most of whom I have gotten to know fairly well over the years my parents have lived in San Diego) and, of course, eating. Whenever I go to San Diego I have my favourite things I
have to eat that I can't get in Doha. Wonderful reuben sandwiches and the amazing dill pickles at the Jewish deli, Italian beef sandwiches, ravioli at Dad's favourite Italian restaurant (Bruno's), etc., etc. Mom and I managed not to drive each other completely crazy. At the end of that week I went to Calgary. Despite falling down the stairs and badly spraining my ankle the first morning I was home, and subsequently sliding into the back of a love seat on which I broke a rib, I enjoyed 4 weeks of wonderful weather, seeing family and lots of friends, and just being in my house. My wonderful neighbours surprised me by weeding the very overgrown garden, and planting some pots and hanging baskets so I would have some lovely colour in my yard when I got home. I surprised them with my much longer, straight hair. I had such a giggle when the doorbell rang and I opened it two my neighbours, Janet and Glenys, who could only stare at me in disbelief wondering who this woman with the long straight hair was!
I arrived back in Doha a week before most of my friends came back, and we (the staff in Student Services) all hit the ground running to prepare for all the new and returning students. When I first came here we had only about 65 students, and we were struggling to find more. The main problem was that most of our students are sponsored - meaning that their tuition is paid by an organization (usually a hospital) for which the student will work following graduation (a sort of indentured service arrangement). Because of Qatarization, whereby the emphasis is on training Qatar citizens for nursing positions, there was reluctance to sponsor permanent residents of Qatar who are not Qatar nationals. The problem is that there aren't that many Qataris (of a present population of 1.8 million in Qatar, only about 300,000 are Qatari) who want to be nurses! Slowly, the powers that be have figured out that if they are to have enough nurses to look after this enormous population, they will need to sponsor non-Qataris. This has resulted in tremendous growth for UCQ. In the Fall 2012 term we had 292 students registered! Still a small number in comparison to UofC's 30,000, but it's huge for us. There has been growth in my department as well. When I arrived here there was a Director and 4 staff. Now, in addition to the Director (me!) there are 8 staff and they are doing wonderful work to recruit, admit and support students. I will tell anyone who will listen that Student Services has the best team on campus and that it is the 'heartbeat of the university". Everyone is quite tired of me saying that, but I truly believe it!
In October I met my son, Ian; his wife, Rachel; and her mother Mary Ann in Greece. We spent two days in Athens and then did a 4-day tour of the Peloponese - Corinth and Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora. We were all blown away by everything we saw, the incredible history and the beautiful country-side of Greece.
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| View of Athens from the Acropolis |
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| Ian, Mary Ann and Rachel at Delphi |
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| Three goddesses (Mary Ann, Rachel & Kathy) at Mycenae |
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| Temple of Athena at Delphi |
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View of monastaries at Metora
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After our tour of the Peloponese we flew to the Greek island of Santorini for 6 days of complete relaxation. It was end of the tourist season so many hotels and restaurants were closed. In fact, the hotel we reserved was closed but there was a sign on the gate directing us to go to the hotel next door. It was owned by the owner of our original hotel's brother! I think we lucked out - it was a great family-run hotel and we were the only guests! They treated us so well. We all agreed we would go back in a heart-beat.
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| Rachel & Ian in Fira |
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| View from Fira |
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| Hotel Matina in Kamari, Santorini |
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| Sunrise in Santorini |
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| Mary Ann in Fira |
Once back in Doha it was time to prepare for the Convocation ceremony for our graduates. UCQ's convocation ceremony takes place in late November each year. This year we had only 11 grads, so we hoped it would be a low-key affair. But, it was not to be since Her Highness Sheika Moza decided to attend. This required that we change the date of the ceremony - moving it up a day. Fortunately, the hotel where we were holding the ceremony was able to accommodate that change and all the other demands that were placed on them. It was actually quite a circus, with may glitches that only the organizers were actually aware of. For the graduates and their families it was fabulous! They were all so pleased that Her Highness attended - and she came up on stage, shook each of their hands and had a short personal conversation with each of them as well.
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President Elizabeth Cannon, Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, Chancellor Jim Dinning
with some of the grads at UCQ's November Convocation Ceremony |
For the winter break, I went to Calgary for nine days and then to San Diego for 4 days. It was entirely too short a time to travel that far/much. There was a method to my madness, tho, as I wanted to see if I could hack cold weather in Calgary. I had been having feelings of wanting to go back to Calgary and had been asked to state my intentions about whether I would renew my contract beyond October 2013. I knew the test would be whether I could take the cold in Calgary or not. I actually enjoyed the cold and that helped me to make the decision to not renew my contract. There were several other factors that led to the decision, and, although the experience in Doha is incredible, I am very much looking forward to the next stage of life when I return to Calgary.
But that's more than 8 months away and between now and then I will be traveling to the Philippines in February with my friend Isabelle. She is originally from the Philippines so I will have a native guide to show me around. We will go to her brother's dive resort where, if I chicken out on learning to scuba dive I will at least do some snorkelling in some of the part of the world for diving and snorkelling. In March I hope my friend, Chris, will come for a visit; and there are preliminary plans for a trip to Poland in late June. Then I will have to start thinking about packing up my life here in Doha. It amazes me that I moved here with my life in only two suitcases, and now I have an apartment full of stuff that I will have to sell or ship. Not looking forward to that at all! I hope I will have more interesting things to share before then.
