Hi All,
Well my first Christmas and New Year is over and thank god for that! Now you wanna find out how strong you are as a person, I'd highly recommend moving country and leaving everyone behind...right before Christmas! This last couple of weeks has truly been one of the hardest times of my life so far. But anyhow let me tell you little bit about it.
Christmas Eve I was invited over to a new friend from works to have a few beers and spend Christmas with them! And Ill say it now THANK YOU! If not for her I would have been lost out here and this would have been twice as difficult! Going over for a few beers, I met a number of new people and had a good laugh and many a cup of festive cheer :-) and better yet I was introduced to the Christmas Chicken. Now this is no ordinary chicken, its like a dog toy, but a single squeeze and it starts screaming like its got a elephant crawling up its arse! Its such a cringing noise, one that you would never hope to hear again...until Christmas morning as its cries sang through the house to wake us all up!
So hung over, confused and petrified that someone was being murdered next door I dragged my arse out of bed and down for Christmas. And this was a lovely morning, with the girls swapping presents, Ice Age Christmas special on, Fairytale of New York playing in the background...It was to some degree a normal Christmas day :-)
So after a few hours people started to arrive and then came the Christmas dinner! Now I'm sorry to the parents but this was easily the best Christmas dinner I think I have EVER eaten. There was pork, turkey, pigs in blankets, sprouts, just everything that makes a perfect Christmas dinner! Hats off to the Chef, they done exceptionally well!
Secret Santa came after dinner and I got a toy helicopter! This provided great fun after crashing it into the wall, nearly taking off the guests heads, almost taking it for a swim.....Yeah Good times!
After dinner the skype home done me in. Seeing my friends, family and my gorgeous girl back home, made me realise just how much I was actually missing. For me this bought my mood down so far to the point that all I could think about was being home back in UK, back to the life I had left behind. Sadly for me this made Christmas end early!
On the plus side, I did make some new friends and found a place to live! if your curious google Beverly Hills 1, Al Rayyan and you can see the compound. It look beautiful and I am so excited about moving out in a few weeks time!
New year this year as well was pretty dull but well nice too in some ways. Thanks to skype I was able to have somewhat of a normal new year with the folks back home! Better yet thanks to a workmate i was able to get my hands on a crate of beer! whoop it may have been £35 but it made my year...!
Oh random fact, It is now a legal requirement that every time a Qatar Flag is being raised or lower, whoever you are, you must stand still and show respect for it....if you don't, its a heavy fine an possibly a prison sentence....(OiQ) Only in Qatar!
So yeah its been tough for me over here, but what have I learnt about this whole experience so far?
- Well i'm strong enough to survive so far, something I was very dubious about!
- You don't realise how much friends and family mean to you until they are gone....bridging the gaps of geography is going to be so important to ensure you never forget! (New Years Resolution No. 1).
- And i am rapidly learning that most of a persons happiness comes from the little things in life, walks in the park, coffee with friends, and just knowing that you have someone there who would drop everything at a moments notice for you.
I am finding it tough out here, much harder than I ever anticipated but the people I have met so far have been so amazing and have made this just that little bit easier for me.
Happy New Year Everybody,
Bring on the Adventures of 2013!
Sean
