The Adventure Has Begun!

Well…after about 26 hours of travel, Jack and I made it safely to Doha, Qatar on Monday night January 11th! It was hard to say goodbye to our family and friends in Phoenix…but we were both ready to be with Josh again. Grammy and Papa took us to the airport where Jack got to spend a few more minutes with his beloved Papa and I got to have some encouragement from Mom who told me to just take one leg of the journey at a time and not think too much about how far we had to go! It was great advice. We flew from Phoenix to Houston on a US Airways flight. Jack slept most of the way and when he was awake, he was making the passengers around us smile and comment on his intense blue eyes. I had several comments about what a good baby he was on the flight…that’s my boy!

The toughest part of the journey was actually the transfer in Houston to the Emirates Airline flight. We only had about an hour to get from Terminal A to Terminal D via the airport tram. I had Jack in his stroller, the Boppy pillow on top, diaper backpack hooked on the handles, carry on backpack on my back and purse around my neck…whew! I was a little nervous to realize that while our bags were checked all the way through to Doha, we weren’t checked in for the flight yet and had to go to the ticket counter to get boarding passes. When we arrived, we were told the flight was closed and that our seats had been released since we hadn’t checked in prior to one hour before the flight. But, they realized it was their oversight – missing the fact that we were connecting passengers – so they figured out a way to get us two seats together on an overbooked flight. We rushed through security (if that is possible having to get so many things through the x-ray machine!) and got to the gate to find a MASS of people waiting to board! There were tons of families of many different ethnicities – strollers everywhere! Jack was amused by some Indian girls playing with him from behind us in line. Thankfully, we were able to pre-board, get seated, change a diaper and be prepared for the flight. Another thing we are grateful for is that the lovely lady sitting in the window seat offered to let us have her seat so that we might be more comfortable. She was mother of five and knew how difficult it must be to travel with and nurse a baby on an international flight. The flight attendant staff was amazing – very helpful and loving toward Jack. They even gave him a hand puppet camel named “Jamoul” to play with! After about two hours into the flight and after a dinner of lamb curry with basmati rice and chick peas, Jack fell asleep on my lap and slept for about 10 ½ hours. I was so glad he got to sleep like that…even if it meant I had to sit up to hold him – at least I was able to watch some good movies. He woke up just before they were serving breakfast, so we had a quick diaper change and walk around the cabin to get out some energy. I have to say, changing a baby (a big, long baby) on the tiny changing station in the aircraft lavatory is not the easiest task. Even more difficult is figuring out how I could use the restroom myself with Jack sitting on the sink in the cramped quarters! We made it work!

It was night time on the following day when we arrived at the Dubai Airport. Yes…we did get to see the world’s tallest building shining in the city scape! I kept looking for it among the regular sky scrapers, wondering which one it was….and then felt foolish when I saw the actual thing. It looked like two sky scrapers piled on top of each other – enormous! The Dubai airport is clean and efficient and had lots of things to keep Jack entertained, including a mini-forest with a koi pond right in the airport!

After 14 ½ hours on the plane, we were both in need of some cleaning up, so I found a shower room and figured out a way to give Jack and I both a shower! The room was empty, so we had it to ourselves and he had fun sitting on the sink afterwards while I finished cleaning up. He charmed the Filipino woman who was cleaning the shower room…actually, he charmed just about everyone we met along the way. I’ve realized that babies are a tremendous barrier-breaker. It didn’t matter what culture or background people were from…we got smiles from all of them!

We had a three hour layover in Dubai, so aside from showering, we took long walks up and down the mall-like strip between gates and we had a McDonald’s meal – Jack loves his French fries!
And…leave it to Jack to find the abandonned janitor’s tool cart when we were waiting to board our flight! For those of you in Phoenix who know how much Jack likes to clean things, you’ll get a kick out of this picture of him cleaning the Dubai airport!

Jack slept on the flight to Doha, which was only 46 minutes long. We had to debark from the plane on the runway, so a kind flight attendant helped me carry my bags down the stairs onto the waiting bus. Our stroller was going to come out with the rest of the baggage, so I had a lot to handle. A kind Indian gentleman helped us get through immigration and customs (where Jack again charmed the Qatari woman who was checking our passports!) and then we were ready to get our luggage and head out to find Josh. As we left the immigration hall, there was a sea of brown faces at one height waiting for passengers and then…..a very tall white face towering above them all!! Josh! Jack lit up when he saw his Daddy….it seemed as though no time had passed from when we were last together in November.
We got to our apartment at around 11:30pm and I was amazed by the nice accomodations. There were a few things we needed to do and buy in order to make it a little more family friendly, but all-in-all it is very comfortable and unlike anything I’ve experienced in my overseas travels before. Jack slept through the night, though I had a little trouble. The next day we went to the big mall area called the Villagio, which has a Walmart-type store and hundreds of other stores like Baby Gap, etc. There is also a nice food court where we had a lunch of chicken kebabs and pita bread. The Walmart store amazed me. Just about everything imaginable is sold there – everything we could need while we are here. The food is a mixture of many different cultures. We are pretty content because we found Cheetos Puff Twists for Jack, Baby Bel cheese for me and my ALL TIME FAVORITE candy – Maltesers, which are made in Australia and sold throughout Europe. The produce section is amazing – each item is labeled with the country it came from: green beans from Oman, bananas from Philippines, potatoes from Saudi Arabia, white onions from the U.S., ground beef from Australia, grapes from Lebanon, carrots from Jordan, etc. There are so many vegetables, herbs and spices that are new to me! It is so exciting…I really look forward to learning more about the local cuisine. Equipped with my Middle Eastern cookbook, I think I’ll do pretty well!

Today (Wednesday) Jack woke up extra early so we had an early start to our day. We packed a picnic “brunch” and went to a really beautiful park near the mall we were at yesterday. There is a 2-mile long walking/running track set amidst rolling green hills, water fountains and the most exotic looking trees I’ve ever seen!!! Even Jack was amazed! So far, we’ve only seen about five species of birds…two of which are the European sparrow and rock dove. I don’t think being in Qatar will do much for our life list of bird identifications! But we have a lot of other things to do to keep us busy. The weather is warm and humid and we look forward to being able to swim sometime soon. Tonight (after Jack’s nap) we are going to meet the landlord of the apartment Jack and I will stay in when Josh is at work. It is owned by a Filipino woman named Tess. Josh drove me by it today and it looks nice. It is in a compound not far from the one we are in now. For those of you who don’t know, it is the policy of both the nation and Josh’s employer that no woman is allowed to stay in an apartment with a man that is not her husband. So, when Josh is working and his roommate is home, Jack and I have to go somewhere else. We’ll keep busy by going to the park, swimming, taking naps and waiting for Josh to get home from his two-day shift. I’m a little nervous, because I have to drive in crazy traffic around a roundabout to get to our apartment…but I am going to practice with Josh today to get the hang of it. And later…we’ll be going downtown to the souk, or bazaar. I’m excited to see it. Josh’s friend Yancy said there are more spices and ingredients than I’ll know what to do with! And there are good restaurants….Morroccon food, Thai cuisine…you name it. I’ll be sure to take some pictures.
I am planning to use this blog to keep a record of our adventure here in Qatar. I know some of the postings may seem a little long, so feel free to breeze through them and look at the pictures if you want. I just want to document our time here for Jack. He is amazed by everything new he sees and experiences. He tastes any food we give him, says “STOP” at each red sign we see, walks around the apartment following me from room to room – he is a joy to be around and I can’t wait to tell him one day about the adventures he had when he was only a year old!

Thank you for your continued prayers! We miss and love our family so much. While this is exciting and we are happy to be here as a family…all three of us look forward to getting back to Ohio and spending the summer with Jake and Sarah and Barb. We miss them all so much. And after such a great 2 ½ months in Phoenix, I am really missing my family, too. We’ll be signed on to Skype whenever we can….the user name is Josh.Meyer70 for any of you who are also on Skype.

Sending hugs from the Middle East!!!
-Josh, Kam and Jack