Xmas 2007 in Qatar

Pics taken Christmas Eve in Doha put together in BubbleShare:
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Well here we are in Doha, Qatar with new positions for this academic year at Qatar Academy (website soon to be updated!)
Doha is a very 'go ahead' place to be in the Middle East. We were a little nervous about coming back to this area after Kuwait but have been pleasantly surprised at how the vision for growth and progress here that is very accommodating to the rest of the world.

Reflecting on the past 12 months we find it has been a blur of hard work and emotional upheaval. However, we have just last week moved into larger accommodation here on Education City Community Housing and are starting to get more settled and sorted out. We are all a little exhausted and will be spending a quiet Christmas here catching up.

Leaving Bangladesh was very hard as we had great friends and students at ISD. But after 4 years it was time to go. We had seen the first graduating class in May and had taught these students since Grade 9. We had also had full IB training in MYP and DP, the main reason why we went to Bangladesh originally. Our arrival in Doha coincided with the arrival of our shipment of personal goods from Dhaka, good timing but to our horror many items were wet and mouldy. We spent hours sorting out, throwing out and despairing over lost items. John's Bar was a victim as the mould was too ingrained to scrub off. Friends in Dhaka will remember how we agonized over whether to ship it at all!
On a more positive note our new school is providing excellent professional challenges for both John and myself. John is the most experienced MYP Maths teacher and leads the way with Grade 10 moderation. He continues to moderate for the IBO as well. He is also keeping up his Diploma classes with both Grade 11 and 12 Math Studies and Theory of Knowledge. Although this is not an envious claim to fame (I say this due to the challenges involved!) John also teaches the Emir's son, Khalifa.
I have the position of Head of IT and E-Learning and working hard to move Qatar Academy forwards after some serious stagnation in technology in the past few years. It is a very exciting challenge that is being supported by an extra large dose of funds for next year as well as a promotion for myself to an administration position. I have a great team to work with and am moving forward slowly (this year my teaching load includes 250 students and 16 classes....needless to say most days I seem to be working 2 jobs in one) with mobile computing and online learning.
Violet is 13 and now in Grade 8 and is finding it hard to settle into life here. However she has joined the Qatar Foundation swim team and trains 3 nights a week, each time swimming an amazing 3.5km! She is slowly making some extra friends. Our 'compound' accommodation is wonderful as the kids can go out on their bikes etc and ride around, play, visit the parks etc all in complete safety. We have not had this for years! In fact even if we lived back home in Melbourne I would not feel comfortable with her taking off down the street on her bike as she does now. She is becoming a teenager with a capitol T with mood swings and everything else that goes with this volatile age.
Travels? Well, we have not traveled since arriving here in August, however I did present on our Flat Classroom Project at the ECIS (European Council of International Schools) conference in Madrid in November. [As an aside, the Flat Classroom Project won the ISTE Online Learning Award for 2007 which Julie and co-founder Vicki Davis from Georgia accepted at the NECC conference in Atlanta last June, and is also featured in the new edition of Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat, pg 501-503!] John spent a few days at a moderation meeting in Singapore last May and is waiting to find out if he will go to the same meet up later this year or go to Portugal. Julie will be off to Prague at the end of January for an IT Leadership conference and then off to Mumbai at the end of February for a Laptop Institute mobile computing workshop. Violet is off to New Delhi in March with a Drama workshop. We are planning to go to Moscow in April and then will be off to the USA (San Antonio for NECC) in June followed by a few weeks back in Australia before heading back to Doha.

So life continues to be hectic, stimulating, over whelming, exciting, tiring, and I can say with conviction there is never a dull moment in the Lindsay household here in Doha!

To all of our friends and family, have a very safe and happy Christmas and New Year....and remember there is an open invitation to visit us here in Doha anytime!

Dune bashing and visiting the inland sea in Qatar, October 2007



A very 'home-made' video on the Julie Lindsay YouTube channel....well if the Queen of England can have a channel.....


Also, now that you have seen enough of the Lindsay's in Qatar, watch this wonderful video from Straight No Chaser and their version of the 12 days of Christmas...over 5 million people around the world have watched this so far!

Our first post

This blog has been created for the Lindsay family (Julie, John and Violet) to share their adventures and memories as they travel the world.