No Longer a Newbie

I've been sleeping. And it's been good.

Since moving to Doha, there has not been one night that I have been plagued by sleeplessness, uncomfortably awake at three in the morning stressed out by the one enormous factor that caused us to leave the island: money. We are beyond grateful that the director of our school hired us and that we have been allowed to embark on this journey. The international life is a good one. We work, we play, we travel, we swim, we watch movies, and we sleep.

I have had plenty of sleepless nights, especially when the kids were itty bitty babas and I was a nursing mama. One dreadful morning I drove absentmindedly through the stoplight on Guard Street and Tucker Avenue due to sheer exhaustion. I pulled over as soon as I realized what I had done and cried because I could have caused serious injury to a neighbor, to myself, or to my kids in the backseat simply because I was blinded by lack of sleep. However, money, not my kids, has consistently been the culprit behind my many sleepless nights. I am grateful that part of my life is over (for now).

A friend (okay, three friends) told me they had been worrying about me since the last post. The last post is from February and highlighted some of my struggles. I did this not to alarm anyone or to complain, I did it to be honest. It would be mighty easy to sugarcoat the annoyances of living here and say everything is dandy, but I didn't move here for my life to be easy. We did it because we wanted to seize control of our family's future instead of being at the mercy of the budget-axing school district, the hyperactive housing market, and the relentless bills. Our island life was blissful and idyllic, certainly, but it was not always easy.

Although we didn't realize it would be, our life in Doha is, in many ways, quite easy. Our jobs provide daily challenges, of course, but our life outside of school is manageable and fairly stress-free. Our nanny, Alita, is an enormous factor in our manageable home life. I have not ironed, scrubbed, swept, or wiped anything since August. Call me spoiled, I simply don't care. I love having a nanny! I can enjoy my home without feeling that constant tug of the to-do list and the mountain of dishes. Though I admit I loved my little kitchen on Carter Avenue much more than my current kitchen in villa 7B, the absence of stress associated with the housework is something I do not miss. At all.

There are other times, too, when Doha seems polar opposite of Friday Harbor. My eyes have, sadly, grown accustomed to the ubiquitous peachy brown sandy ecru color that is Qatar. This is a huge contrast to my former visual palette of the blue Puget Sound, the Mount Baker's pristine white tip, the evergreens, and the brown fertile soil beneath it all. I fear I may experience color shock rather than culture shock when we come home for the summer. I fear I may take my newly-acquired aggressive driving habits home with me and cause an accident not from lack of sleep but from overly-assertive vehicle maneuvering. This is all aside from the fact that I live in a conservative Muslim country and not a progressive enclave of outdoorsy dads and marsupial moms. This is perhaps the most obvious contrast of all, but I'm not sure it is. I will keep thinking about that one.

In three weeks, we will be visiting Brian and Katelyn and baby Avery in Maine. In four weeks, I will give my dad the biggest hug in the world and surely cry when I see Shayla. In five weeks, we will be at American Dream Pizza in Corvallis, Oregon. In six weeks, we will be celebrating Fourth of July in Liberty Lake. In seven weeks, we will be watching the Mariners play (and beat) the Yankees. In nine weeks, we will be back on the island. I will be sitting with Betsy in her backyard listening to the kids play, digging my toes in the sand at Eagle Cove with Kerry, sampling Val's vegies, and sipping coffee with Adrienne at Cafe Demeter. In ten weeks, I will be at my sister's house savoring every morsel, every sunset, and every minute before we fly back to the Middle East. Back to the empty skyscrapers, the piles of rubble, the heat, the air conditioned everything, and the promise of a new school year. It's not an easy life, but it's a good one.