Return & "Now What?..."

Figured it was about time to wrap up the Doha chapter of my blog…

The end of my experience in Doha was fabulous. New Student Orientation went superbly. The events leading up to the main day were fantastic! I had so much fun and enjoyed working with my student leaders and meeting so many new faces of the HBKU students.
The “main day” of orientation went well and I greatly appreciate the experience that it gave me both professional development-wise, but also all of the amazing people that I got to work with through the process.

The most rewarding part of New Student Orientation was the end of the day. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I was leaving the next morning at the crack of dawn to head back to Texas and start classes. However, this moment made everything better- When the CDAs (what they call RA’s) and my OPAs (orientation leaders) reconvened at the end of the day for a wrap-up session right after the small group stuff concluded I could tell there had been a big change, a shift in their moods. Then they started sharing their stories about how amazing their small-group time had been. The students were engaged and meeting new people and did not want to end group time at the end of the day. It was that moment that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I was seeing the trickle-down effect of all the hard work that myself and my colleagues had been doing. It was then that I shared with the CDAs and OPAs that that is what orientation is all about. That feeling that the freshmen leave with at the end of the day knowing that they’re a part of something bigger than then, a part of something that cares about them and wants to develop them. It was fabulous and I wouldn’t change a thing!!

The last orientation event that day was the bowling and pizza get together at the Student Center bowling alley. I’ve never seen so many pizzas eaten in my life! It was hilarious and thankfully there was a Papa Johns in the Student Center to keep up with the pizza needs that we faced! The event was also my going away shindig. It was incredibly nice and I ended up crying in front of all the freshmen, OPAs, CDAs, and staff members when everyone was speaking about my contributions and how great the experience was. It was one of those pivotal moments when you realize that you’ve impacted the lives of others as much as they’ve impacted yours. That moment that student affairs professionals live for.

At that party I said goodbye to all the wonderful students that I had met in Doha. I cried some more saying goodbye to staff members. Katie took me to pick up the outfit that I’d had tailored to fit me. I’m still looking for the perfect occasion to wear it since it is on the formal side. Arooj henna’d my hand, then Basit took me out for my last night on the town. We went to Souq Waqif for the last time, drank some soda, smoked shisha and I tried CAMEL!! It didn’t taste all that different from pot roast. I just had to get over the mental block first. Heading home from the souq I was nodding off in Basit’s car since I’d been up since 5AM.  He dropped me off; I finished some last minute packing and got a few hours of sleep.

Basit took me to the airport at the crack of dawn and I came back to the states. On a side note, the fight was the flight from hell. There were crying babies for all sixteen hours of it which made me want to cry myself about half-way through. My mom picked me up from the airport and I spent a little time with my family before I drove back up to College Station to my new apartment to prep for classes the next day (I’d already missed Monday’s class).

Since I’ve been back I’ve slowly been able to put my experience into words. I learned so much and my worldview changed a little while I was gone… that whole return culture shock that no one ever expects. I’ve tried in small ways to educate people about Muslims, Islam and to correct some misperceptions that people have. I try to share things with my friends and family that make them see that people that live in the gulf area are people too and not that crazy bunch that the news tells us they are.  Most of all I share my experience through sliding in little stories or bits of information here and there.

Three months later and I’m finding myself asking the question… “Now what?”
As of today (November 15), I have exactly 176 days left until I graduate with my Masters of Science in Higher Education Administration with an emphasis on Student Affairs. I’ve started the job search, which is always daunting to even think about. I’ve somewhat narrowed down what I’m looking for. I’ve started to warn my family that as soon as I graduate I’m going to be moving abroad if I have a job lined up. My dream job would be working internationally doing something with New Student Orientation, I really rediscovered my passion for orientation this summer. If I can’t find an international position then I’m looking at schools in a totally different location. I’d love to work in D.C., Washington state, or Oregon. Definitely looking for a change of pace after being in College Station, Texas for six years (how long I’ll  have been here when I graduate).

But as for now I’m in the waiting and job searching stage. My next adventure (hopefully international) will undoubtedly be the biggest one yet! Wish me luck!

Is this real life...?

The past couple of days I've found myself asking the same question that David asked his dad after that infamous dentist visit... "Is this real life?" I continue to have such amazing experience and have gotten to try new things that continue to educate me and transform my view on the world.

So... what's happened since last Thursday?...

On Friday (the weekend here), I enjoyed sleeping in and catching up on some much needed rest. There isn't really a point to waking up early on Friday morning because everything is closed because Friday is the Islamic holy day (like the Christian Sunday). Stores, restaurants, souqs, etc. typically don't open up until two or four in the afternoon. So, why wake up early? Around one or so, Katie picked me up and we went over to the LuLu Express building that also houses a salon. The salon does hair, nails, waxing,... basically everything. It's interesting (and I think really awesome) that these salons are typically women-only. There are separate ones for men. Why? Because the women who come in to the salon to get their hair done must take off their shayla (head covering) to get their hair done, therefore, no men can be in the salon. I think it's a neat idea, it also makes a girl getaway! :) I got a manicure and afterwards, Katie convinced me to get my eyebrows threaded. Katie is really awesome at convincing me to do things that I should experience, but that I probably wouldn't do without a little bit of prodding (ex: trying sushi). Eyebrow threading was an interesting experience. It hurt like hell and was a strange feeling the first few times she did it, but it wasn't all that bad and as soon as I got used to the feeling it was okay. And now my eyebrows look legit. This is definitely something I am going to try again in the States, but not at a mall which is the only place that I've seen them there.

Me next to the dhow boat! 

After a little bit of pampering we headed back to Katie's place and got ready for our night out on the water- dinner on the dhow! When we signed up for the dhow dinner  cruise we were told that it was going to be on an air conditioned dhow, I should have known that wasn't going to be quite accurate. The boat was really large- there were probably 40-50 people on it. There was a small air conditioned area that held about 15 people, but from what I heard it wasn't all that cool. As soon as the boat got moving though, the heat wasn't that much of an issue. We got to see the sunset over the Doha skyline and enjoyed seeing the city light up from a distance over the water. It was truly gorgeous! Best view of the Doha skyline that I've seen yet! We had yummy Arabic food on the dhow and after about an hour and a half we headed back to the Doha Port. When we got off, we were pretty much drenched in sweat and speed walking towards the car for some good ole AC. Even though it was hot, it was really fun and totally worth it!

Sunset from the dhow cruise.
View of the Doha skyline.  

On Saturday I got some souvenir shopping in and checked some people off of the "to buy for" list. Now I've probably just got to run to the souq one or so more times... mostly just because I love that place so much! :) There's so much neat stuff to buy, the people are so sweet, and it's fun to walk around and get lost. It seems that I am such the tourist.

View of the skyline at night from the dhow cruise.
Absolutely beautiful on a clear night! 

Later Saturday night a large group of us went out to a Ramadan tent at the Four Seasons Hotel for Katie and Wil's birthdays (which were both on the 11th). Once again, there was fabulous Arabic food to be had and a great, beautiful atmosphere. Most of all it was really nice to spend some time with friends in such a fun setting.

Yesterday (Sunday) was the first day of Orientation Peer Advisor (orientation leader) training that I am in charge of. I am supervising eight wonderful students that I am really enjoying working with. Every day is a new challenge and experience. They teach me just as much as I teach them and they teach each other. We've spent a lot of time on team building activities, which I love facilitating. It's awesome to see a team come together and work great together after a fun activity. I got a lot of my activities from my experiences from Fish Camp, so kudos to A&M for preparing me for this adventure!
Today was day two of training and it was even better than day one. I know that it's going to get better and better everyday and I can't wait to see all of my and my colleagues efforts come to fruition on August 26th! :)

And after a long day of training we had volleyball match #2 of the tournament that I'm playing in with Team HBKU. This time it was really intense. The team that we played was ridiculously good, but our team was equally as awesome and we came out on top in the end. We won 2 of the 3 games and the last one was awesome and really close. We got the match point on a serve that was barely out of bounds- a really good call by Wil to not hit it. It was some really awesome energy and I played cheerleader with Arooj and some of the CDA staff. I wasn't nearly good enough to play against this team, but the next game is tomorrow and I think I'll be able to play  again since I think the most intense team is now behind us. We'll see though, the other teams could totally surprise us! Here's to being one game closer the the finals and a 5,000QR prize! :)

Some of the team and the fabulous mascot celebrating the win after a long game!
Note the score of the final game, it was a close one!! 

So what's a girl to do when she's had a week and a half of training and needs a little bit of relaxation time? Get a massage of course! Katie and I both got massages tonight at the Education City Club House, which was awesome because I got an hour-long massage for about 15 US dollars (60 QR) plus a tip!
What I wasn't expecting was the experience in general. Okay, so I've had massages before in the states. It's nice and relaxing and you lay there and get pampered for an hour or so. Then you're done, khalas! Not so much here... I learned afterwards from Katie that Thai massages are a little bit different than the ones that I've ever received before.  I knew it was going to be an interesting experience when she climbed on the massage table with me. She really put all of her body weight into and I ended up in some pretty strange positions. She was crawling all over the table and was standing up. Did she really put me in a half-Nelson at some point? Yes, I think she did. It was just one of those things that I wasn't expecting at all so when she did something I thought was funny I started giggling, which caused here to start giggling, so it was kind of a laughing fest. In the beginning I was thinking to myself, "how can this be relaxing, I'm freaking out over this right now." But as soon as I got used to the different-ness of it, it was really nice and relaxing, but still really different! :-P I was really relaxed afterwards and now my muscles feel fabulous. Ready for the rest of the week of training, BRING IT ON!!

One of the biggest lessons I've been learning over the past few weeks is to remember the big picture. Sometimes I get caught up in the small things that go wrong in life and I lose track of what the important things are. Why are we doing what we're doing? What is the goal? I try and remember this when I get to a point in training and I know we're running about 15 minutes behind, but I just remember that the session that we're doing right now is important to wrap up and we can catch up on time someplace else in the schedule. I'm also learning to not stress about the little things. Sometimes I think that there are bad things happening or life is getting a little hectic, but when it really comes down to it I've learned that I need to put things in perspective. I may be frustrated over something small but there are bigger things going on in the world. There was a shooting in College Station today, over 300 people died yesterday in an earthquake in Iran, and there's uprisings all over the world. Does it really matter that I didn't choose the perfect activity for training? No. Things will get done and things will work out. I'm learning to focus on the big picture and the important things and to not stress out about the relatively little things because there's always something worse/more stressful happening in the world. What I'm doing is really important for the students and families that it's going to impact, but in the big scale of things I don't need to be stressing about it 24/7. I definitely thank Katie for teaching me a lot of these lessons throughout the past weeks. As always, my colleagues have been amazing teachers and friends.

Okay... so three days of training left! I can't believe it's going by so quickly! And I seriously can't believe that I only have 13 days left here in Qatar. Where the hell has all of the time gone?!!

To continued good times and hard work... until next time! :)