Desert Roses

Surprise, surprise- another outing into the desert. We were invited by a colleague of mine ( a 6 year veteran of Doha) to dig for 'desert roses'. We were excited to go along on any kind of adventure, especially since the weather is really nice these days. Geologically completely ignorant, we pondered about what desert roses were and whether it was right to just go and 'dig them up', but decided not to worry about it and just try to enjoy the day. Well, now we know. Desert roses are not plants, they are rock formations- gypsum with sand inclusions which form a rosette pattern ( there is apparently also a barite form but as I said I know next to nothing about this). The place where the desert roses are found is, well, in the middle of nowhere (literally). We were following another car which at a random point ( thanks to GPS) took a turn off the highway and drove off into the desert. This was our first real 'off roading' experience as we had to drive probably about 15-20 km to get to this spot. We of course made the obligatory stop at a camel farm (where once again there was mutual picture taking) and then headed on.

 

So we arrived into this basin, where the sand was slightly darker ( more wet) and set to work!

This was serious business- little kids worked, big kids worked, while some of us encouraged and admired their work.

 

These are some smallish desert roses, there were also much bigger ones 'we' found.  It was a windy day (as you can see above) but no matter, for Miki and Lili ( and all the other kids) it was like a giant sandbox.  With giant holes ( we were not the first ones to come up with this idea). The kids reminded me of prairie dogs sticking their heads out from the ground ( see pictures below, I am not crazy).

 

After the digging, we of course had a huge picnic and went on some little hikes, where some signs of life were spotted.  To summarize the day in Lili's words "I like it the desert. I like it the camels".  What more can we ask for?

 

  

 

Camels

I have a feeling this is just the first of many camel posts. Camels are not nice but they are fun to look at. We went to try to see some camel racing when my friend Jessica was visiting this past week ( Yes, I am fortunate enough to have a devoted friend who will even visit us in Doha). There were no races going on (we did call but noone ever picks up the phone which is not unusual) but we did see a lot of camels. Some of them had the little robot jockeys on their backs which are controlled by the owners during the races. Sadly they used to use children for this purpose- a practice which has now been banned. Lili was very excited and was yelling camels, camels (or more precisely pamels, pamels) the whole time. We were being crazy tourists and taking lots of pictures but soon discovered that we were a novelty item as well because the camel riders were taking just as many pictures of us ( thanks to everyone in the world now owning a cell phone with a camera)- see the last picture, he is looking at the photo he just took of us. Mutually interested, mutually obtrusive, mutually obsessed with documenting every aspect of life- whatever it was, everyone was satisfied at the end. Except maybe the poor camels. This reminded me of the book I got for Miki before we went to Egypt about how the camel got its hump (based on Rudyard Kipling's story) - it was a punishment for not wanting to work. They have a tough lot in life. But enough digressions and enough camels for today.

Doha Debut!!!!!!!!

Yes, here we are! In the desert. More precisely in Doha, Qatar. The summer and the fall (and I guess part of the winter) have been crazy with moving and setting up our lives but hopefully now we are ready to return to normalcy and the blog as well. Aside from the move, a lot has happened: we celebrated birthdays, started at new schools and new jobs. The kids have almost learned to swim , we have (almost)learned to drive (or at least survive) in the crazy Doha traffic. We enjoy great middle eastern cuisine (oh how I missed hummus in Rome) and crave parmigiano-reggiano and a decent cappuccino. But overall we are well, adjusting, experiencing, enjoying...

Sicily-Part Tre- Cefalu

On the latter part of the trip, after spending a fun day in a small hilltop town called Castiglione di Sicilia, we drove over to the northern coast to a small town called Cefalu, yet another ancient town established by the Greeks but then under Roman, Arab, and Norman domination ( I probably forgot a few). The town is planted between the sea and a huge rock (La Rocca, with remains of a castle and ancient temple on top) with a very oversized Normal Cathedral. For our movie buff friends ( and there are a few :-)), the water scenes in Cinema Paradiso were filmed here (we watched the movie after coming home and immediately recognized the former fishing village beachfront). Anyways, here we just relaxed for a view days, discovered REALLY good cannoli, made friends with some locals and generally just enjoyed ourselves. We stayed at an awesome apartment with a huge balcony on the roof- the first day was a bit windy, but we fully enjoyed the views the second day.
Since returning home, after much asking around we did discover a great Sicilian pasticceria which is even walking distance from us (of course you find the greatest places right before you leave, but for any potential visitors it is called Il Siciliano on Piazza Acilia).
Also, I have been attempting to make caponata (an eggplant appetizer dish), and although it has turned out very well, it has not even come close to what we had in Cefalu. I will post a recipe once I am happy with it ( which is likely to be never).
Sadly, we never made it to Palermo-- but that just means that we will have to return ( hope you are ready Aaron!)

Sicily- Part Due- Snow and Beach

A Sicily trip with kids cannot be complete without a visit to Etna. We went to one of the ski bases and played in the snow. In better weather one can take the ski lift up even higher and take a guided tour at the top. The vulcano is active- Mikael and Aaron spotted some lava flow one evening on their walk and were VERY excited- but apparently this has been the case every day for the last year. There was a picture of the building (Refugio Sapienza) where we ate lunch surrounded by lava flow after an eruption in 2001! And what else to do after a morning of sledding but head to the beach and play in the sand.

Sicily- Part Uno- Taormina

So as our last hurrah as our time nears the end in Italy was a vacation to Sicily. Just to make the trip more interesting we dragged my dear medical school friend Aaron along and off we were to beautiful sunny Sicilia! We had a great time, but imagine our surprise when our first night there it snowed!!! Ok, we were on the slopes of Mount Etna, but not THAT high. Our first day we went to see Taormina, famous for its Greek Theatre and its beautiful views. Unfortunately it rained on/off the entire day, which did not stop us, but the pictures do leave some to be desired. We had a fun meal at La Botte and had to have our first try at Sicilian deserts ( which include the famous cannolo, but also all things pistachio and of course their almond paste delicacies). We also loved the public gardens (Villa Comunale) donated to Taormina by an English woman and complete with something called the Beehive- a chinese pagoda looking like structure.

More February Fun!

We also celebrated my birthday in February! It was a big one (35!!!!) but I seemed to have survived. We had a nice family evening- Mikael had gone shopping with Miki and Lili the week before when I was busy, and Miki had helped to pick out a new outfit and watch for running (ok, running is a total overstatement, but it sounds so much better than jogging). Apparently he had a real strong opinion about a pink/red watch (pink is his favorite color at the moment) and told Mikael I would not like the black one. And he was right. We tried to take a family picture but you can see that not everyone was in the mood.

Carnevale

February flew by but not without some fun! We celebrated carnival, which, even without the crazy Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, the even crazier celebrations in Jacmel (Haiti), or the famous parades here in Italy (such as in Venice and Viareggio) is superfun if you have children or just get into the spirit of things. Miki was talking about the festivities the entire month, brought home little masks and hats and frappe they made at school. Just like last year, we were again invited to a fun party at a schoolmate's house. When we arrived to the party, Giorgio ( the little host), did not even recognize Miki with his wig on - he kept on insisting that it was not him! Lili showed variable interest in the idea of dressing up, for the party she wanted nothing to do with her cowgirl vest (she wore it for the school party). I never even dared to try on her hat ( that girl is opinionated and antihat at the moment).

Stir-crazy?

As I mentioned before, there were some rainy days in the last month so we were forced to entertain ourselves inside.

We, the parents, entertain ourselves by torturing our very tired daughter (believe me, she could not have cared less). I am not even sure how she ended up in that laundry basket.

Miki entertains himself by dressing up (and just wait, we will have to take some pictures in his pirate costume complete with long black pirate hair).

And Lili, well, apparently she really knows the meaning of entertainment.

January rain (or shine)

We spent the month of January relatively peacefully. It rained. A lot. And then some more. Mikael, as I have stated before, is impervious to weather. I like rain. I do. Like a rainy Sunday afternoon, cuddled up with a good book on the couch ( I am not sure if this has happened in the last decade but it sounds good). Or a nice cool rain on a muggy summer night. I even like swimming in the rain ( this I have done recently, at some thermal pools with my Mom-fun). But the January rain is COLD and unrelenting. Furthermore, I have come to believe that it has some personal vendetta againts me (yes I am that important- maybe the sun does not revolve around me, but rain certainly does). It always seems to be coming down the hardest the 10 minutes I need to walk from the metro to the daycare or even more so, the 20 minute walk home pushing the stroller. With 2 kids. It is not really possible to hold an umbrella while pushing the stroller, plus it is often windy anyways. I hate arriving home drenched. But I have been trying to keep positive--I have been trying to tell myself how much I will miss this rain in Doha. And I probably will, but that really does nothing for my appreciation of it now. But enough about the weather. I should not complain- this winter, I have shoveled no snow, I have worn no gloves and really when I look at our January pictures we have gotten to be outside quite a bit. Villa Borghese, Villa Ada, Villa Chigi, Parco Virgiliano just to name a few. Needless to say, the playground in the park is always the ultimate destination.

We like the swings, of course

And some kung fu ( Miki style).

And even if not the rain, I will definitely miss the beautiful year around greenery that we are surrounded with in this climate.