Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

Today we attended two parties.  The first one was at lunch, the birthday of Tito Yam, held at their home.  Since we live next street to them, we were the very first to arrive at 12:30.  We also intended to come early since we were bringing some baked macaroni as requested by Tita May.

It was just a small gathering with about four families invited and a few bachelor friends of the couple.  It was relatively small in comparison to the other parties we’ve attended in the past.  We savored all the food most specially the “Bicol Express” which Christian really, really loved.  Then there was chit-chatting with friends who were also there.  We would have wanted to stay much longer but we had to leave at 5 pm as another party awaits us.

We arrived at McDonald’s Al Sadd where the 4th birthday party of Mela was held.  Arriving a few minutes before 6 pm which was the start of the party, we still had enough time to chat with the parents of the celebrant, our friends Mel and Marlyn.  I was also able to take photos of Xianelle with Mela.  When the McDo staff was giving out the name stickers for the children, Xiane was there to make sure that her name wasn’t misspelled by spelling it out to the lady.

Then the much awaited portion of the party began- the games!  Xiane has been to a number of birthday parties mostly at McDonald’s and Burger King since we came here two years ago.  You can say that Xiane is quite experience already when it comes to joining the games.  She always joins them and never misses a single game. 

Last night was not an exception.  When the emcee asked who could sing, Xiane instantly raised her hand.  She was asked to stay in front with Mela and sang Happy Birthday to her, for which Xiane won a prize.  Then there was the “Hokey Pokey dance contest” which Xiane took seriously (in Pinoy lingo “kinarir”).  At least her efforts paid off as she won the prize for the best dancer among the girls.  The next thing we knew was hearing her name over and over again as the emcee kept calling her.  Then it was time for the “bring me” game, which as I’ve said before, is as much a game for the parents as it is for the children.  Naturally, I was also all geared up.  I had my bag with me and was prepared to hand out to Xiane whatever item the emcee asked for.  True enough, when she asked for a mobile phone, Xiane was the first one to give the item to the emcee.  But Tian was getting a little uneasy about Xiane winning everything so we told her to rest a bit to give others a chance to play.  She did stop but not for long because she insisted in joining the “bring me” game again.  Then the most hilarious thing happened.  The emcee asked for an I.D., since we were trying to lie low, I didn’t bother to hand out an I.D. to Xiane.  But there was this dad who quickly extended his arm as he was trying to give the I.D. to his son.  Unfortunately, Xiane was standing before the boy and before you knew it there was Xianelle intercepting the I.D. as it passed by her.  It was so funny!  Everybody was laughing at what happened.

Another fun game was “the boat is sinking game”.  Xiane was so funny.  She hugged the next person beside her who was a boy, every time the emcee ordered “group yourselves into 2”.  It was amazing to see your child able to apply her counting skills in a simple game like this.  The children were grabbing other children and sometimes shoving off some just to achieve the number that was being asked.  They were so witty and smart.  But while Xiane worked her way to the top three, in the end the two boys emerged victorious.

All in all it was a very fun party.  Everyone enjoyed, even us parents.  We were so happy to watch our daughter confidently joining the games and just having fun.  Her winning prizes was just icing on the cake.  As always it’s so nice to be able to attend these gatherings for Xiane, makes being a child more colorful and much more fun.

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It was a busy day for me as I had a mission of cooking baked macaroni for my cool mama friends in school and Xianelle’s teachers.  I started cooking at 9am because I still had to update Xiane’s grandparents regarding the Parents Evening yesterday. 

I had to make seven packs of baked mac for Dimple, Tina, Ida, Miss Jean, Miss Eli, Miss Gina (the school nurse who’s a Filipina) and Chocho, whose baked mac was done separately since I had to make sure that it didn’t have any beef.  Being a Burmese and a Buddhist at that, they do not eat the meat of four-legged animals.  So there I was trying to finish everything on time.  To my relief I was able to finish within two and a half hours.  I had all 7 packs in a big plastic bag along with smaller bags where each pack would be placed. 

I went down as soon as I got a miss call our driver who by the way is the same driver whom we were supposed to fire out.  After giving it some thought we’ve decided to talk to him and give him another chance.  I was on the last flight of stairs with only 5-6 steps left when I tripped and fell.  The heel of my right shoe stepped on the flared hem of my pants.  The next thing I knew was I was screaming at the top of my lungs as I was falling.  I fell hard on my butt and my left elbow.  I found myself at the bottom of the stairs.  My first instinct was to get up and gather my bag and the baked macs.  I got inside the car immediately.  But to tell you the truth, I was a bit disoriented.  I knew that I was to check myself first for any injuries but it wasn’t until after a few minutes before I started to rub my left elbow which had some scratches with a hand sanitizer.  Then I checked the baked mac.  I felt a bit bad when I saw that one or two of them got spilled.  Then I realized that I had to call Tian.  He was worried and surprised about what happened and told me to be a little more careful next time. 

As soon as I saw my friends I shared my unfortunate experience with them.  They were also concerned and were telling me that I was still lucky I didn’t have fractures and that I didn’t hit my head.  But despite what happened I was just glad to have been able to give away the baked mac that I prepared.  I was extra happy when my friend Tina called to thank me again for the food and told me that she, her husband and son Ian liked it very much. 

When we got home I just had to take a nap.  My body felt weak, I was just so beat from cooking but most of all from the fall that I took.  After my nap, I felt a bit rejuvenated but my body still aches all over most especially my elbow, hips and back.  Tian was telling me that I am both pitiable and funny for falling at the same time.  If there’s anything positive that has come out of this experience, it is the fact that it has reminded us not to be complacent and negligent when it comes to safety.  Now I realized that Xianelle shouldn’t be allowed to go down the stairs by herself.  If this kind of accident could happen to a grown up like me how much more to a little girl like my daughter.

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Today we attended our very first “Parents Evening” in school.  It’s not some kind of social gathering where parents hobnob with each other as I first thought.  It is actually a venue for parents to talk to the teacher one-on-one regarding the child’s progress in school.  Each term, parents can choose to make an appointment on one of two consecutive Wednesdays.  For this term, Parents Evenings are today, the 7th and on the 14th.  We got the 3:30 pm schedule.

Xiane and I got home from school at past 1pm.  I gave her a bath and got her dressed.  She had lunch and then we waited for her dad to arrive from work.  Tian finishes work at 2:30 which gives us ample time to make it to our appointment.  We reached school grounds at 3:10 and went straight to the building where Xiane’s classroom is located.  Then we waited for our turn.  The parent before us came late so we had to wait another 10 minutes before it was our turn.  Although, we haven’t really heard bad feedbacks from Xiane’s teachers (except for her occasional talkativeness) we were a bit anxious about what the teacher was about to tell us.  I guess it was a natural thing for parents to feel that way.

After exchanging pleasantries with Miss Jean, my daughter’s teacher, she showed us Xiane’s workbooks and exercises.  These are exercises that they never get to bring home and which we saw for the first time today.  We were glad to see that Xiane has been doing a great job with her exercises in school.  But the best part was hearing all the positive and wonderful comments from her teacher which I won’t go into details here.  Tian and I were so happy to hear the teacher say that Xianelle is a credit to us.  After we left the classroom Tian and I were in high spirits.  Having heard all the nice things about your child makes you not only proud parents but the happiest parents too.  To our dear Xianelle, we are truly proud of you and we love you very much.  You make everything worthwhile!

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