2010

I guess I am in an updating mood...

Happy 2010!!!

Its a whole new year and for the 2nd year in a row I am in the same place on the map that I started in last year. That doesnt happen for me all the time. I am still in Doha, Qatar and guess things are going ok. Still feeling like its my big girl life with big job, apartment, car, cable bill and dining room chairs. Its all very very different to me but so far so good. I feel like I am kind of sort of figuring out living here as much as a western female is allowed to figure out. I still dont know if I like it or if after 2 years I am still just confused by the whole place. When living in the islands and people would ask, do you like it....well thats an easy YES, but when people ask me that about living here....I guess I still dont know.

Things I know for sure that I like about living here:

• working with people from 70 different countries
• having more of a real job with nice benefits
• being close to other places...as in not at the bottom of the planet or a remote island

Things that make me crazy and want to move away:

• driving
• being constantly stared at and often followed
• difficulty of the most basic things...getting something fixed or delivered is impossible
• the sense of "entitlement" that I guess only the super rich have...and this is a country full of the super rich. It definitely bugs!!!

Its has seemed in the past that at New Years times, I was usually getting ready to make a big move of some sorts. This time I am feeling kind of settled and am thinking more about vacations than actually moving continents. Its just different.....

So for 2010, I am hoping to take a couple of trips....possibly a live-aboard dive trip, maybe another swim trek and probably a trip to the US at some point. I know those are not boring things but I guess its the being sort of "settled" thats feeling a bit boring at the moment.