HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
I hope for you all a year of dreams realized, goals met, joy had and love given.
So, I found myself thinking the other day, huh, self... here I am in a totally new country, my path before me NOTHING like what I had ever pictured for myself, facing new challenges, finding new goals, having new experiences and learning new things... so why is it all still so FAMILIAR?
It's strange, I am finding that my initial goal of coming here, "lightening my load" and stepping outside of my comfort zone (which for you who know me, know that i'm pretty comfortable ANYWHERE) is not exactly becoming realized. I am finding that the lifestyle I created for myself in Manhattan is somehow very similar to the lifestyle I am creating for myself here. (I know, go figure...) I mean, I work very hard, long days, I go out to the bars, clubs, dinner, movies, shopping, horseback riding...I already have a large and growing larger circle of friends (whom I love already) and I don't seem to have any time for things like cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, even watching TV.
It just struck me the other day how that saying "Where ever you go, there are you are" is really soooo true. I had hoped to be able to create a balance in my life, slow down a bit... be more spiritual and at peace... and...somehow... with all that hasn't changed, I feel a little closer to attaining that goal. Just having had the moxie to pick up and move to a place I had never heard of, get rid of most of my belongings (just to buy them again....lol) and face the unknown...this alone has brought me a step closer to knowing who I am, and what my place is in the big ole universe. I do feel a little more balanced. I am going to be more balanced come next month. My new friend Melissa is going to start training me. She is a marathon runner... and after two kids she looks HOTTTT. So we are going to start working out... I can't wait to start up again!
I spent NYE here in Doha. I was at Melissa's for a party and I bounced from her's to my other new friend Diane's place. She's another milf...from Australia. These two girls have motherhood, wifehood and Doha-hood down to a science. I feel truly blessed to have met them.
Then there's Simone. Simone is a girl who puts my independance and adventurousness to shame. She has managed to do something here that most westerners take years and years to achieve. She has become a part of the Qatari community. She took me out in the desert, with some of her local friends. These guys were really cool... once they accepted me into the fold, so to speak.
Had a great time... went dirtbiking, and sandbuggies and these guys know how to set up a camp. We are talking wall to wall carpeting, internet, stereo and satalite tv. Catered food, and even a shower!!!!
For me this was an eyeopening experience. Seeing how, underneath the social idiosyncrasis and cultural differences, it doesn't matter how foriegn...we are all basically the same. Here was a group of guys just hanging out... doing guy stuff...enjoying a day with no responsibilities, laughing, eating, playing...lounging...albeit in a very funny language, with very different social expectancies. But the same none the less.
Ok.. so it's late and I don't think this blog is very well put together, but I wanted to get something down before I forgot about my fun adventures in the desert, with a group of strangers, who would still be strangers if I didn't have to guts to follow the unknown.
And my great fun on New Years Eve, in a strange land full of people who are no longer strangers but, I have the strange feeling, that they are friends for life.
As for you back home, I miss you all, and know that you are in my heart always
