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

September 28, 2008 - Today was Tian’s 32nd birthday.  But it was like an ordinary week day as he still had to go to work.  His Eid holiday starts only on Wednesday.  And because he was away during the day and Xiane and I are already having our holiday, we were able to pull off a little surprise for Tian.

Xiane made this card for his dad, with 3 butterflies inside a heart signifying mom, dad and Xiane.  It says “I love you daddy” on top and Happy Birthday at the bottom.  Then at around 11am we went to The Mall to buy his favorite blueberry cheesecake from Opera Café.  Thank God it is open during the day even on Ramadan.  We also got him a box of Swiss chocolates although he doesn’t really eat chocolates that much. He was actually teasing me that I bought it for me.  I got him a 32 number candle which I placed on the cake.

I arranged the cake, the box of chocolates and Xianelle’s card on the dining table so that when he came he would readily see them.  Then I looked outside the window and waited till he came.

We lit the candles and as soon as he opened the door, Xiane and I started singing “Happy birthday” to him.  Unfortunately, being my emotional self, only Xiane got to finish singing the song because I already got teary-eyed and all.  I just felt happy that we were able to make his birthday, special somehow.

We just had Lucky Me (a Filipino brand) pancit canton for lunch.  We didn’t want to get too full since we were going to eat out at 5pm.  We took a short nap and woke up just in time to leave for City Center.

As soon as we entered Applebees we received a very warm welcome from all the staff which consisted mostly of Filipinos.  They were so glad to see us, especially Xianelle because we haven’t visited since we came back from vacation.  One of the staff even told us that she had a hunch that we were coming tonight and we did!  We’re just so pleased with the ever wonderful staff of Applebees.  They also sang happy birthday to Tian.  We left the place happy and satisfied.  I would have wanted to stay in City Center a bit longer but the “birthday boy” wanted to leave early to avoid traffic.  Besides he still has work tomorrow.  So that was how we celebrated my husband’s birthday.  Am I glad that we had a nice celebration despite being away from our families.  Till your 33rd! Happy birthday! 

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"Gary V World 2008 Tour: Gary V....Live in Qatar !" which will feature Gary Valenciano and guests Yeng Constantino, Gabriel Valenciano, Paolo Valenciano with his band members!

Who doesn’t know Gary V.? Mr. Pure Energy and remains in his throne as the highest paid, most marketable international Filipino performer around the globe. What maybe new for you to know is that, he became Doha loved performer as he was the first performer who jam-packed the Khalifa Stadium – Doha, Qatar back in the 98’s. He is also the popular singer who sung the promotional song of the 15th Asian Games in Doha 2006 and also the Ambassador of Goodwill for UNICEF.


Gary V. Live in Qatar!!!!!
November 28, 2008 (Friday)
Al Ahli Stadium (Near Lulu Hypermarket -The Mall Round about – Behind Regency Hall)

Tickets Available in the following outlets:
1. Souq Asiri – Damascus Salon (beside Pilipino Bakery)
2. Philippine School Doha
3. Mediacom – Souq and Ras Abu Aboud
4. Honda Showroom – Al Saad , Industrial Area etc.
5. Al Khor – Nayong Filipino Restaurant – Food Court, Food Center

Other outlets will be announced soon
Or call : 5128015; 5818474; 5382236; 5839257 ,5138179,5124551

For Sponsorship Opportunities, please call 5128015.

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Here are the 3 hottest players in tennis in my book...

Daniella Hantuchova

Daniella Hantuchova - She's 25 years old and from Slovakia. Currently no. 19 in the WTA (World Tennis Association). Look at that body! At 5'11", she's a lean, mean, fighting machine. She wears the least outfit in tennis, I think. She was in the top 10, 2 years ago but began falling in rankings. People are taking notice of Sharapova because she's winning, but Hantuchova is far hotter than Sharapova. Currently ranked 21 on WTA.

 

 

Maria Sharapova - One of the youngest to be no. 1 in the WTA rankings, this 21 year old hails from Russia. She's 6'2"! Those legs are really long! She has got to be the noisiest player to ever play tennis but she can be  as noisy as she wants as long she keeps on winning. Currently ranked 6th.

Maria Kirilenko

 

Maria Kirilenko - This 21 year old needs to start winning for her to get noticed and get those big advertisers. Currently ranked at 33.

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What!!! This makes me less excited about the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha. Where have all the beautiful girls of Tennis gone? No Daniella Hantuchova! No Maria Kirilenko and now, no Maria Sharapova! Yes, I know that the other two, Hantuchova and Kirilenko are not on the same playing level as Sharapova nor are they on the top 8 so there is really no way for them to be here for the Sony Championships.

Now I'm not sure if I'd be buying tickets for this event. I've seen all the top 8 WTA Girls play but having "idol" there to play makes watching tennis different. Anyway, here are the current standings and with Sharapova out, they might bring in Radwanska to play. If you notice, there are 2 Serbs, 2 Americans and double the Russians.

1. JANKOVIC, JELENA  SRB
2. WILLIAMS, SERENA  USA
3. SAFINA, DINARA  RUS
4. DEMENTIEVA, ELENA  RUS
5. IVANOVIC, ANA  SRB
6. SHARAPOVA, MARIA  RUS
7. KUZNETSOVA, SVETLANA  RUS
8. WILLIAMS, VENUS  USA
9. RADWANSKA, AGNIESZKA   POL

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Maria Sharapova will miss the season-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha this November after failing to recover from a shoulder injury.

The former World No. 1 and twice Qatar Open champion announced on her website yesterday that she will not play again this season, ending speculation about her participation in the prestigious $4.5mn event beginning on November 4.

The Russian beauty is currently ranked sixth in the world with 3041 points and was hoping to round off the season in style by winning the Doha tournament. “I’ve been progressing really well,” she wrote on her website. “But it’s (the recovery) taking a lot longer than I had selfishly planned. Therefore my team and I decided to ‘shut it down’ for the season.”

Sharapova fans in Qatar will thus have to wait at least another year to see her action at the Khalifa Tennis Complex.

Sharapova stormed the tennis scene in 2004 when she won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old. Since then she has gone on to pocket two more Grand Slam titles – the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in January this year.

Sharapova, who won the Qatar Open this year for the second time, is the highest earning female athlete in the world with an estimated annual income of $25mn. The season-ending championships feature the top eight ranked players in the world with five having already qualified. They are Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic and Elena Dementieva.

Qatar will be staging the season-ending championships for three years – 2008 to 2010 – after signing a multi-million dollar deal with the WTA last year.

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Thousands of Filipinos are stranded in Oman and Iran due to problems in the new policy on the issuance of visas in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The new regulation that was implemented last July 29, directs previous visit visa holders to reapply as tourists as visit visas will no longer be renewed. This led to the rejection of thousands of visa applications from the Filipinos. Most have been stranded in their hotel rooms for more than a month.

The Philippine embassies in Muscat, Tehran, and Abu Dhabi and the consulate general in Dubai were ordered to help the stranded Filipinos.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said it would ask the government of UAE for leniency in the case of our stranded “kababayans” and that a team from the Philippine Embassy in Dubai would meet with the stranded OFWs at the border to check their condition.

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