A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for.

Eid Mubarak! 12 days of school down and now we are on our week break for Eid. It is has been incredible so far. Yesterday we did dune bashing in the desert at the Sealine Resort and camped out on the beach. First let me just say that dune bashing was a blast! We were divided into groups of 6 for the cars and then we also shared a tent at the camp site. Our driver Mohammad was awesome. At first we got in the wrong car (there were 2 Mohammads) but it was ok because we are all going to the same place, and he teased us that we were going to miss out on the best music and jokes. Well we ended up switching and got in his car and I think we did get some of the best music! It started off with the Rocky Theme and ranged from Bruno Mars, One Direction, Justin Bieber, The Macarena and other ones that I am probably forgetting. Mohammad was hilarious and was cracking us up the entire ride there, which distracted us every now and then on the drive getting TO the dune bashing. I think we all had a white knuckle grip onto our seats because instead of following the speed limit signs that read 80 kph... Mohammad preferred going 160 kph. Needless to say cars were practically jumping into the right lane to get out of our way!

Highly recommended!

Me and my squad in the car... getting excited to bash some dunes in!

Before we went out to the dunes they had to deflate the tires. This way the SUVs were ready for some off-roading. While that was happening we got to spend quality time with the camels! I was so excited about this because we also got to take turns riding them too- another thing I was determined to do at some point while I was here. One camel seemed to be designated for people to take selfies with and then there were 5 other camels for us to ride on.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the sassiest camel of them all? 

This sign was actually came up later near the
entrance to our camp but I felt it belonged
in the camel section of the blog.

My buddy and I spending some quality time in the desert heat. There was a breeze though! 

View from riding on my camel

The ones we rode on wore these over their faces. All I could think of was Aladdin. "Riding your very own camel- watch out they spit." They sat on the ground for you to get on their backs and then the man leading the camels would tug on the leash to get them upright... some of them were not fond of the idea of getting up again and again! 

After we all had our turns on the camels it was time to go! We had music to listen to.. dunes to bash.. pictures and videos to take! Caution. Side effect of dune bashing- your face will hurt for the duration of the time and some time afterwards from laughing and smiling the entire time. It was so much fun!! There was lots of laughing and screaming when we went down those first few dunes. One of them we even went down in reverse. I have pictures to share but I feel that video is the best way to accurately convey what dune bashing is all about.

One of the cars behind us. The way it is coming down the dune with the sand on the side it looks like a car commercial!

Cruising through the sand. In our group I think
there were 5 cars total.

All throughout the dune bashing we took some breaks on top of the dunes where we could take pictures. It was so amazing taking it all in. And windy. Yay for the wind! The videos are mainly from the beginning. Those are my favorites anyway because it is our initial reactions. I kind of ran out of space on my phone between all the pictures and videos. Otherwise the video clips would've been longer- sorry!

What a good looking group of ladies! 

It really was a lot of fun driving around on that SUV. I love adventurous things like this. I've been ziplining and parasailing... I believe it's best to just throw yourself into the moment. Opportunities like this do not present themselves to everyone- why let them just pass you by? These next 2 years I want to continue stepping outside of my comfort zone. Life is what you make it and I want to give my all!

Group shot with the man of the hour, the amazing Mohammad! He is an expert at dune bash driving and picking music
that best fit the mood. Although I don't remember hearing any of the jokes he promised! 

The land just beyond the water is Saudi Arabia! 

Taking a selfie with Mohammad 

Borrowing part of Mohammad's thobe and rocking it like a boss.
The Ghutra is the white sheet fabric that covers the men's heads.
The black Qatari Igal is the circular rope that frames the head
and keeps the Ghutra in place.

Once we got to the camp I was starving! They picked us up around 2 and I ate around 1. Dinner was served around 7:30 and I devoured it. But not before watching a beautiful sunset and making the promise to myself that I would get up to watch the sunrise over the Persian Gulf. We did some swimming in the Persian Gulf. I dipped my head in once and my contacts were not happy with that decision. My eyeballs were on fire and hating me for getting the salty water in them. The water was so unbelievably warm it felt like bath water. It was so refreshing stepping out of the water because it was kind of breezy. It took a while for my bathing suit to air dry! I am a genius that forgot to bring a towel.

Highly recommended!

Entrance to the camp site

The Persian Gulf

Tables for eating and relaxing. At one point we
played a game of Uno that would not end!  

Entrance/exit lit up at night

Mmm food! I was so hungry I was willing to try anything. I even tasted lamb for the first time and liked it! Although it will never replace my first love- steak. 

A view inside our tents (with AC!) Nope there were not any blankets. I did discover in the morning though that
there were sleeping bags! Some people slept outside in lounge chairs or on the top of the sand dune.  

Me taking a snapshot of the sunrise in the morning. Shannon
is so sneaky I love it! 

 I was feeling a little iffy about the camping part of this adventure since I am like Jim Gaffigan and am not too big a fan of it. But this is definitely not what I expected. Our tents were awesome. There was a volleyball court set up. It was such a nice surprise! They set up a bonfire after dinner ended and we were sitting around it later listening to some of the Irish boys play some acoustic guitar. I even dune boarded with one of the girls down the sand dune. I almost made it all the way down without falling, but then towards the bottom I picked up a lot of speed and wiped out. I only did it once because it was so exhausting climbing up the sand dune. It's not easy!

I cannot express enough how grateful I am for this opportunity in Qatar. I had always hoped to travel and see more of the world and now here I am! I am taking everything in and learning a lot along the way. Speaking of learning, here are some fun facts I have learned. One thing is about driving. Although the drivers can be pretty reckless at times and it is terrifying being on the road, there are some things I like. Before the lights are about to change, the green light blinks three times before it changes to yellow and then of course red. Plus unlike at home, people here obey the traffic lights. Once that green light starts blinking, usually they slow down. Or sometimes they speed up before it turns yellow! But I do like that the green light blinks first to give you that warning. The reason why people usually slow down when the green light starts blinking is because there are cameras everywhere. And no one wants to pay the hefty fine for running a traffic light. Any idea as to how much the fine is? 6000 riyals. This is equivalent to about $1500! Pretty steep! But if it keeps people safer on the roads then I say go for it. Another thing: license plates are a huge deal. The richer you are, the less digits you have on your license plates. The majority of them have 6 digits, but if they have 4 then it was not cheap for them to come by that license plates. I have only seen a few but one 4 digit license plate was on a Lexus. The majority of the ones I have seen are on some of the cabs because they are government cars. They have even had auctions for license plates (and cell phone numbers). The ones that sell high are repeating digits. People will even remove their license plate and switch it to different cars that they have. Because that's what matters in life right? Your license plate number.

One of my coworkers posted this on her Facebook and I have found it very helpful! It helps me recognize which country some of the men are from.

Know your thobe! And I don't mean for this to come across as silly or offensive. I do appreciate this guide to better understand the differences between the different countries and the style of their thobes.

Another week has come and gone. School starts again on Tuesday. I am appreciative of the break because it gives me time to explore Qatar  (and eventually other countries on my other breaks!) and continue to get acclimated. There are times when I want to talk to my family but then I remember that it's four in the morning and I am pretty sure they would not like that wake up call. I am excited to get back to my teacup humans on Tuesday. I miss them! They are so cheerful and eager to learn. I can't wait to hear all about how their break went. Some of them traveled to different places like South Africa, Australia, and India are 3 that I remember but I know that more were traveling. For now I will continue to enjoy the rest of my break! Tomorrow a big group of us are having brunch at the Marriott. We have a few staff birthdays to celebrate. Stay tuned for more next week!