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

Last Monday, Xiane had the privilege to go ice skating at Villagio Mall.  Thanks to my friend who invited us to join them that day.

The children had lunch at the food court.  The skating rink does not open until 2pm so we had to stay at the food court.  Besides, we also had to wait for a friend and her kids who originally planned the skating thing.  Of course, we came prepared.  I wasn’t planning on skating myself but I had to be ready.  I brought a pair of socks and gloves for Xianelle and I.
 
At first it was just Xiane whom I got ticket for.  But when my friend and I saw that our children were having a hard time we both decided to join them, as if we knew how to skate.  We just thought that joining them would somehow give the children some encouragement.  By gosh, by golly!  It was much harder than we thought.  We spent a very long time just standing close to the walls, holding on to our dear lives.  The children were crawling on ice since it was very hard for them to balance being first-timers.  My friend was braver than I was and she was able to move on one step at a time.  It took me a while longer before I got back to the ice again.  I had to change the shoes since the first pair that I got was killing my feet.  When I got back I finally had more guts to walk, not skate.  But there’s always that fear of falling at the back of my mind that’s why there wasn’t much progress.  I actually looked stupid but I guess that’s just how it is for now.
Thank God the Filipino who works as a skating coach there got a hold of Xiane and my friend’s son.  He taught them some basics, walking like a baby, bending on one’s knees when out of balance and spreading one’s arms, also for balance.  Just after a few minutes with the coach, Xianelles was already walking by herself.  She may not be gliding yet but the important thing is she’s overcome her fear and she can already balance.

I was so happy to see my daughter’s progress in just a matter of minutes.  I can’t wait to see her glide on ice in the near future.  It was a truly fun afternoon spent with friends.  We look forward to doing this again.  It would be really nice if Xiane learned how to skate.  In fact, we are interested in enrolling her into skating lessons when we come back from our annual vacation.  It is actually Xiane’s dream to be able to skate and hopefully this dream will soon come true.  As for me, well I can only wish that I’d be a good skater someday.