A moment of meaningful thought on life...

I{ve spent the last couple of days trying to figure out why being in such a place, so far away from everything familiar makes me so happy. Logically I should be spending some of my time in these first weeks home sick and adjusting, but instead I seem to have slipped into my new life no trouble at all. There was a moment when I felt far away and alone but that lasted an hour. When I first saw the beach thats when I had really arrived and since then have been completely content with just being. This jungle beach is so different, yet I pass day after day feeling entirely happy, snoozing and studying, animals all around, waves crashing, birds singing, monkeys calling, sloth sleeping. I am content here with just being, my English life a distant and insignificant reality, where I spend my entire life on a mission, I am 'becoming', something. I am preparing, studying, climbing the educational ladder, never entirely happy or satisfied.

I grew up in a remote (to some) country house. Cities were a long drive. My childhood days were filled with catching newts in the river, trying to figure out why only some had orange bellies. A childhood of making dens in the hedgrows and catching sheep when they escaped, always with muddy knees and a pair of wellies, I was a child surrounded by nature and a truely content child. I never had a need or desire to experiement with cigarettes or drugs, the other kids, the town kids did, sort of outkasting me. This didn't bother me, I had no need to win the affection of a load of confused and troubled, drug obsessed teenagers. they're lifes were screwed up. I was one of the fortunate ones, one of the few lucky people in England who was given the freedom of the countryside, free of the screwed up expectations and desires that filled the void and surrounded those who lived in town. It's hardly surprising these kids were lost, led astray in they're own desperate search for peace and true happiness (something they may find by fitting into the trend of drugs), how could they ever achieve this when they never even had the opportunity to hear silence, always a car rushing by or a police siren in the distance. Geographically they had grown up not far from me but the world in which we'd been surrounded by could not have been more far removed, coming together at school I was the one who was content, just being, I knew myself and had no desire in becoming, like they were, their world of constant searching was desperate and seemed, deep down, under all the talk very painful. Me, I was just me.

As childhood passed and life crept in, we moved, now in England we in the centre of town, I now live in the same territory as these kids grew up in. I am a young adult who is constantly becoming, I am studying, for what i don'tyet know. In a year I will be expected, by life to know what the next stage will be - so I can start the next stage in my life of becoming - but what? and why? So i can sit, old and wronkled, looking back at a life of constant searching never of complete satisfaction, so I can say i was manager of this, head of that, i have a big car, house, pay cheque. I am sorry but this is the part where I am going to say this life is a screwed up life - flawed from the very beginning. For anyone who is reading this and has such a life it's not that I don{t respect hugely your achievements (I actually have double respect for you and am currently marvelling at how you{ve achieved said life without going insane - you have my respect) I simply have absolutely no desire what so ever to follow in thise footsteps. Which is exactly what we{re doing in England, following and mimicing, achieving the desires of a previous generation, but why? to satisfy who?

We in England and the western world have surrounded ourselves with the cold and harsh realities of becoming. We have lost touch with our true meaning and satisfaction, our roots in nature, we spend our lives in one big whirlwind rush, running to catch trains, working through the night to meet a deadline or target. Well screw the train, there{ll be another, walk, look around and try to just be. Easier said than done, especially when in town, surrounded by man made structures and concrete, devoid of trees and nature.
If theres one thing I{ve learnt this week while lying under my tree, by English terms, doing not a lot (but that depends from what angle you look at my sun bathing and studying) I have realised that i am intouch with my childhood days. Reconnected with nature, i am surrounded by life, the magnificant colours of the trees, the way the light reflects from the water and sand, the local people, their warmth and happiness. We Brits are a nation of people who are becoming while the Ticos, they are being. they{re living today for today, they will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. They, unlike the British say hello to one another, go off track, miss their bus so they can see how their friend is today, they have their priorities in the correct order. they are surrounded not only by a jungle that is the lungs to our planet but the life to their world and these people feel so much more alive for existing in such a place. They don{t care for a macho businessman status, for how many cars they drive or houses they own. They are happy and living, and while I am here, so am I. Why would anyone want any different.When you slow down and tune into this place you realise how much people in England are missing in their quest for material status and to become something that will only ever be something as long as the social structures that surround their status remain intact.

Personally I don{t like the life of becoming, I like being, living every moment, feeling every feeling. having a level of clarity and freedom that allows me to notice the awesomeness of my surroundings. All I say is I really hope I never truely get sucked along in the stream of british people striving to be something. Because I am happy, just the way I am.

Now I know some of you will be reading this and thinking "Shit. What's happened to buzz?!" Others will be cross, frustrated that I have just completely demoted everything they{re searching for. However, yes, this is buzz and the very reason i love to travel, because it affords me the freedom, space and time to figure out the flaws in life.

I look back to my last job. It served only one purpose - to fund my next adventure, but those people (except the few I worked alongside in menswear)never understood me. I made a point of never letting the managers know me. The guys and girls of menswear were a team I was a part of and together we giggled but everyone else would never be allowed to know me. I did not want that place to consume me like it did to so many of them (not all of them, but many of them). The shop was their work life, social life, their girl friends and boy friends but take the shop away from them and they become a shadow of the person they were. They had formed their lives around an entirely material world of targets, false light and expectations. That place was the height of screwed up for me and I felt strangled the second I walked through that backdoor, how could I ever really be my true self, how could anyone? i see truely good people in there who i just want to shake and say "why the hell are you doing this to yourself, letting your life pass you by in here?" theres so much out there, so many possibilities, yet they{ve chosen this harsh, backstabbing environment and let it consume them.

It takes a lot of courage to break the mould and sometime breaking it is a really foolish move (in material terms) that will only screw things up further (materialistically) but if you have the courage in the first place you{ve got all you need. Plan A may not work but you have adventure and life as your drug and as long as you can always see the positives in every situation you will never go far wrong.

So this may be a little deep and meaningful, especially for me, but I think it{s important that we, everyone, figures out what they want from life and then for goodness sake, find the courage to follow it. For me, I see a few years of working hard in somewhere like london, earning as much money as possible so i can then invest in the life I want (whatever and wherever that may be). Now there reality kicking in, you{ve got to except you need enough of the material stuff (money) to kick start a free life - just don{t get swept along in something you don{t want, when you have enough, bail out and head for your dreams!!

That{s the wise words of buzz for this decade, thank you very much, good afternoon, I{m going to leave you with the genius words of Pink Floyd that i read in a book yesterday and head off to cook Sunday roast dinner for my Tico family and lie on the beach. ¡Hasta luego amigos - Pura Vida!

Breathe, breathe in the air!
Don't be afraid to care
Leave,but don't leave me
Look around, choose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.

I want to put the date, but I really have absolutely no idea, but I can stretch to July 2010 - The Day I met a Sloth!!! Yes people a sloth :-D

Holaaaa, Nothing much to report on since my last post except for the fact I HAVE SEEN A SLOTHHHHH!!!!! I have been lying on the beach getting darker... my host family have taken to calling me a black person and say I look the same colour as their dog (who is also black). Every day "Your skin is dark... you are a black person, like my dog, she is black too" I never really know what to say in response to this, so just smile politely and comment on the rain or how hot it is, well I guess I can{t help being British... weather conversations are the answer to every awkward situation, ha ha!

The beach has been an experience this week, I have discovered that, as a girl on my own (apparently with amazing eyes... I personally disagree) I attract a fair amount of attention, from both iguanas and men... as much as I love the iguanas quietly starring inquisitively at me while I snooze the men insisting I wake up and chat to them does get a bit tiring. I really do love to just sleep in peace, but I guess as one of my friends put it, at least it{s good spanish practice. Tuesdays attention is just simply inappropriate for here and Wednesday was not a lot better, so I am still not repeating the conversation and today I had origami roses made out of coconut leaves made for my and sprinkled on my beach towel, I looked not too disimilar to a tropical florist by the end... complete with sloth!!

Thankfully Tony, my Spanish teacher came along so I was able to chill out with him for a while, however I am beginning to think I need to find ways of making my eyes dark brown and my hair black just so I can sleep in peace... maybe a wig is in order.

However my new friend the sloth was incredible. I almost exploded with excitment, I was an over excited child barely able to stop myself squeeking a lot and skipping off down the beach singing. I showed Tony and he explained that they are very rare down on the beach, they are hardly ever there, so maybe he knew i wanted so desperately to see him so came to sleep at the beach under my tree especially for me... I like to think so at least. The beach is extremely long and there are a lot of trees so for him to have chosen to sleep under my tree he must have been coming to visit me. He was gorgeous!!

Anyway I am still very sandy and damp from swimming so need to head home for a shower and some tea (am starving aswell!) and this aircon is making me freeeeeezing sooo, I think its time to go. I hope everyones got a good Firday night in store, we have dancing tonight :-D and then off to a special beach tomorrow... with no waves, so I can practice my swimming, Steve, if your reading, 250 lengths no problem... ha ha!

Hasta Luego amigos y tiene un buen fin de semana

The Lazy People of the Equator

I am fast learning for myself what Jose Caballero, my very wise lecturer from El Salvador meant last year when he said ´the closer people and places are to the equator, the lazier they become´. I have returned from yet another day spent lazing on Manuel Antonio beach. Half a week in and I seem to have already created quite a little routine for myself, which doesn{t yet feature any sort of volunteering or work except studying spanish and the way the hermet crabs crawl by me along the beach when i can be bothered enough to open my eyes and watch them.

I spent a long and awkward 3 1/2 hour bus nourney from San Jose (the capital) to Quepos (my new village). The scenery was incredible and as the bus tacked jungle mountain after jungle mountain I couldn{t believe my eyes at the beautiful scenes passing the bus. I even saw quite a few beasty crocs lazing at the side of rivers as we passed. I had for company a completely social inept (spelling??) old man who insisted he sat next to me no matter how many times I moved seat, everytime leaning towards me greatly invading my personal space he spent most of the time asking really annoying questions and when i tried to politely ignore him by looknig the other way out of the window he would wait about 5 - 10 seconds and poke me, to ask yet another question. Needless to say, despite the scenery I was qlad to see Quepos. I got off the bus and a wall of tropical heat hit me, there was so much to take in I was kind of dazed, I fetched my bags from the bus, heaved my far too heavy bag onto my back, wishing I hadn{t brought so much stuff I looked around to try and take in my new home. Huge tropical mountains rising around the edge of the village with low small buildings all around the central bus station was a hive of activity. People bustling everywhere, I tried to figure out where I had been asked to wait, a bar called 'Quepoa', I really couldn{t see it anywhere. Feeling very hot and sticky already, only about 2 mins after I was off the bus I was all of a sudden been spoken to by a complete stranger. Panicing slightly and wondering why on earth a local would be asking a girl who was obviously a gringo and had no idea, I suddenly figured he was speaking English. Releaved slightly that I was at least understanding what he was saying he then asked if I was Lucy. Noticing he was wearing a green T-shirt and remembering an email the day before from the contact my cousin had given me I figured this must be Tony. It was and I was releaved to see him, he was meant to be working but had kindly delayed his next lesson so that he could take me to my host family.

I must admit the host family were imtimidating at first and I felt very concerned when the first member of my new house greeted me at the front gate... an American pit bull, or something along those lines, short, stubby and stocky the thing has already attacked me once, his owner thinking its funny and that biting me is a 'game' I told thing thing in English it wouldn{t do so well next time. The man, Teo, met me, short, with grey hair, an unbuttoned shirt on revealing a scar running the length of his body i must admit I was intimidated slightly and wondering if I could leave him and his dog and head back to San Jose. He showed me to my room, a seperate building behind their house, it was bigger than their own house, a kitchen area, bedroom and bathroom I was definitely seperate from the rest of the family. I said goodbye to tony and arranged to meet him later and went to have a shower and try to relax a little. I must admit I didn{t do very well so opted for listening to Jack Johnson and a little crazy singing and dancing wishing Dorothy was there with me so we could laugh. The lady, I think called Edith knocked on my door about an hour later and welcomed me to her home and said dinner would be ready soon. My first encounter of Costa Rican food, I thought I wasn{t a fussy person. Chilli was the only thing that I really struggled to put in my mouth chew and swallow without gagging, everything else is ok, somethings better than others but generally I can cope. I thought wrong. Every meal since I have arrived has been a mission and every meal, whatever it is (dodgy stuff!) is always accompanied with these things called plantinitas, oversized, badly tasting, boiled bananas (i've never been a banana fan, they're a friut I'll eat when I'm in the mood but not especially crazy about them). They make me want to gag, and the other morning I woke up and was presented with fried slices covered in this white gooey stuff, literally took everything I had not to be sick. All I can say is I will hopefully (and better damn well) have a beautifully trim figure by the time this experience is finished!

Dinner over Tony collected me about 8pm and we headed for a sports bar (Sarah is you{re reading this Tony pointed the exact spot where you sat - crazy to think my cousin was there just a year before me!) He is a very patient person, and sat listening to my slow, bad Spanish, but at least talking about something we wanted to be talking about rather than making the conversation up to fit my vocabulary. I must admit it did help that he spoke English!! He then introduced me to the Costa Rican drink which was interesting and headed for this very cool outdoor bar for salsa. I immediately admitted I was crap at dancing and salsa there was little, if any hope of me dancing salsa. I wish Luena was there because I was prooved wrong, we danced salsa, which was so much fun with a live band, I felt like I had really arrived to costa Rica!

The next day i started my new life routine. This consists of waking up at 4am (because my body clock is screwed)it getting light at 5am, getting up at 6.30am for a shower and preparing stomach and mind for whatever i may be about to face at 7.30 breakfast. Once I've survived breakfast I head for the beach and stay there until it's time to go back home for tea, unless I am distracted by something else. The first day I met another gringo (yes, sorry, failed massivley with the avoid English people!! Well technically she was American, but she spoke English) anyway we arranged to meet for dinner, with two other ladies from Florida who i had met the day before on the bus. It was a really fun day, but me with my screwed body clock and one of the Florida girls ill from some dodgy food we decided to miss the dancing and head home. The next day I woke to no water. Yep, it's fricking hot here, it's sweaty, I'm smelly and I have no water. They also have all electricity to the town cut from 10am to about 4pm - people we have got to stop this global warming thing, these tropical countries need their fans in the mid day heat!! Anywho, I starred open mouthed stightly in shock at my host family when they announced there would be no water until early afternoon and then promtly headed for the nearest shop where I boughts a 6litre bottle of water, fished my bowl out of my backpack and had the funniest shower for my life (not for anyone else who finds themselves in this situation, make sure you have enough water to get the soap off!! Because once its gone, its gone!!) Never so greatful to be clean I headed for the beach and my first Spanish lesson (yep I now have my spanish lessons on the most beautiful beach ever - soo lucky! Complete with jungle, fresh juice and monkeys! After my lesson I had to go and lie on the beach for the rest of the day to get over using my brain for an entire hour. My host family are positively shocked at my skin, they were sat at breakfast this morning saying none of the students have ever gone as brown as me in months let alone in a few days and keep giving me advice like stay out of the sun 11am-3pm, lots of sun cream etc. (you know, all the obvious stuff) but yes, I am fairly brown.

I always start the day with good intentions, i wake up saying today will be the day that I stay on the bus past the beach stop and go to the National Park to organise my volunteering, but when this day does finally arrive I might jsut arrange it for when i get back from my three weeks travelling with mum because I really feel like taking a three week holiday on manuel Antonio beach... just because I can! I met this english guy yesterday, at the beach. He had invented the timing system that turns lights off when nothings moving in the room to save hotels money. This was the guy that had meant my spanish class had, for the last two years had to dance around waving at the sensor everytime we had sat there for so long the lights had gone off. here he was, beer in hand living his days out on the most incredible beach. Apparently with a large property, he rented out apartments to holiday people and while the gringos made him money, he sat on the beach drinking beer watching the girls go by. Clever guy, and I have to say i kind of want his life.

Today i lay there on the sand, under the shade of the jungle trees, waves crashing up, monkeys eating above me and coconuts rolling around in the tide I sleepily agreed with Jose's point... it's impossible to be anything other than very lazy this close to the equator.

Ha llegar en Costa Ricaaaaa!

Hola everyone, I have finally arrived and I can tell you all now it is a lonnnngggg way to Costa Rica! Definitely was a very sound idea to stay with Luena the night before I left on my flight, it was really good to see her before I went away for the summer and her for the year. She is definitely a lovely friend and an amazing cook, fajou for tea was possible the most exciting thing ever!! ¡Gracias Luena! We got up at 5.30 or something like that and i headed off for the plane, I have got to admit it was funny watching the people in the flight trying to fit into their seats... New York was interesting and customs definitely make you feel like a criminal, he thought it was very suspicious behaviour that I was heading for Costa Rica and paying a family to have me, rather than them paying me so i tried explaining it´s like paying rent for food and accommodation... he still didn´t get it but I got the customs stamp and got through :-)

After five hours waiting, New York was finished with and I headed for my second flight where I sat with two of the coolest people ever, we giggled and laughed and chatted so much, my flight went by so fast. One lady was from Holland who lived in America she had travelled an awful lot and with blue eyes and blonde hair we could sympathise with one another over the endless attention for having such features (not that I even consider my hair blonde, it seems many people do!!) The second guy was a Costa Rican also living in America, he was a very sound guy and I have a lot of respect for him! We chatted for ages, and it was hugely refreshing to be able to talk honestly about life and laugh at it, he lived a long way from his family and so did I and his family values were far better than those of many people in England. We chatted about some of the things that were tricky with living so far away from the important people for the other benefits in life but it was a positive thing, not negative, I jsut couldn´t help but feel this sort of conversation would not be possible in England... people would see the topic as a bad one, one to be avoid, an awkward conversation but we laughed so much. The three of us shared stories and tips (mainly the other two giving me the tips for Costa Rica!) and the five hours was gone in a flash. The Costa Rican guy took me to meet his family who helped me ring the hostel and find a way to get there, gave me their contact details and said to ring and let them know how I was getting on, this sort of kindness just left me feeling so happy. When does anyone in England help one another like this, just help a stranger because they want to help. It was very refreshing to meet some people who saw the world in the same way as me, we got on so so well and what was so lovely was that all the social barriers of normal life were immediately forgotten, what does it matter they´re 10 or 15 years older than me, business people or from a different country or culture we can still laugh, joke and still care about the things in life that actually matter.

As you´ve probably guessed I enjoyed my plane flight with the fun people and turned up to an awesome hostel and funnily enough a woman who had been on the same flight as me and lived in Bristol, this is loco (crazy)! So we talked about commuting, her explaining her boss used to live in Taunton and drive up, my friends at uni dont even know where Taunton is, so to be standing in Costa Rica having a conversation about these places felt strange. Anyway I am up, dressed... I can smell English breakfast cooking, this is reminding me of the mission Dorothy, Beth and I went on for full English breakfst in Cusco. Funny to think we were craving such a thing when we never ate it at home but it was good and this Costa Rican English breakfast is smelling mighty fine... probably because i haven´t eaten for a very long time now soooo I think this is time to go and eat!!! Just to let you know, after eating i´ll be heading to Quepos and my family, fingers crossed its all ok!

Sorry for the spellings Im not wasting time proof reading, breakfast is more tempting!! Until next time hope lifes peachy in Inglaterra.

Hasta luego amigos xxxxx

The day I left Debenhams

Wow, well I have finished at Debenhams and I’ve got to admit it does feel slightly weird! A job I started over a year ago for a bit of spare cash definitely became part of my second year uni life and has provided many many stories along the way, some amusing, some crazy and some just plain frustrating. One thing’s for sure my friends, family and I have come to the conclusion while marvelling at the spectacle of Debenhams over the past year that there is no doubt the Taunton store could run its own soap. Personally I feel it would triumph over even the most established of UK TV soaps!! I did become a part of the soap... there were ups and downs, funny parts and annoying parts but the thing that really made it for me were the people I worked with on menswear, Kate, Sam, Peter, Kim, Steve, Sophie, Alix, Louise, I have never cared much for TV soaps but I think this is one I might slightly miss in a weird sort of way. The job was not fun, the people however have provided me with much welcome company through the last year of uni, they have provided a distraction from the endless assignments and exam stress when I really needed it, we have laughed together, survived late night Christmas shifts and the crazy hype of Mega week sales together, we’ve taken on the daily mission of the insane account targets together and attempted to win the customers support in any way we can for gold stars, we’ve shared insane challenges together (like nearly killing one another with exercise as we challenged each other to the furthest distance cycled in the cycle to the moon in a month challenge at the front of store) we’ve marvelled at some incredible customers and helped each other through the not so brilliant customers, we’ve been plain silly at times and plain serious at others but the whole thing has been an experience and one that I won’t forget. It has provided me with the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica and therefore it most definitely does deserve its place in this travel blog, as no traveller, however fortunate can travel without first finding a way to fund it! For my friends and family at home... sorry but the Debenhams soap is over.
If any of the menswear team are here reading this I would like to say sorry for my terrible waffle and writing on this blog (actually that goes for anyone who may be reading this, Debenhams related or not, writing is most definitely not a strong point of mine nor a planned career option) but also a big thank you, I won’t miss the folding or the accounts but I will miss some of you as you have helped this year along for me, as I sit here and write this I must admit I am giggling at some of the memories pouring back... the man with the umbrella was a gem though, I won’t be forgetting him!! It’s been an interesting experience and I do hope that we stay in contact, but for now I hope you have a good summer... I’ve requested summer uniforms all round and for you male managers – I’ve suggested suits with shorts (the interviewer laughed, as did I at how that might look... but he got my point) If only they could give you deck chairs on the roof for sunbathing all would be sorted!! Good luck and always follow your dreams, email me when you can, I will always really love to hear from you and probably email back a lot of excited waffle! Hasta luego los amigos de Debenhams! Xxxxx
As far as the update on organisation for the Thursday departure goes... true to student form I have still yet to start, the backpack is still leaning against Bickham and Dru and I still have a mountain of stuff to organise, tomorrow morning is the morning, I will be marching to town, list in hand to sort out my life. Bring it on!

One Week until Costa Ricaaa :-D

Wow, well I’m getting quite excited now, I’ve just passed my second year exams, have my flights booked, insurance and malaria stuff sorted, only two days of work left to go and a hell of a lot of stuff to sort out between now and next Thursday. Sooo I thought it might be an idea to write something here quickly to give an update on not a lot really. Seeming as I haven’t really done anything to show for myself, I thought I could report on my disorganisation with one week to go... Actually the idea of 17 hours on a plane is quite appealing, I won’t be able to move or do anything except sit, eat and rest – which probably won’t do me any harm! Well a lot has gone wrong with this trip but I haven’t given up and I’ve worked bloody hard for a very long time if I’m honest so I am really looking forward to it finally becoming real, everything seems to be coming together despite it all being very last minute. Since BUNAC pulling out two weeks ago I have had to find a host family and placement, luckily my lovely cousin has been extremely kind and helpful and gave me a contact in Costa Rica who seems to have found me a family and is going to give me some Spanish lessons so I am very excited and can’t believe I will nearly be meeting them all in just a week!! It doesn’t feel real at all and more to the point I am sort of in denial about how much I have to do between now and then, kind of like an assignment, the books sit in the corner while you think of everything else you can do to avoid them and the idea of actually starting the beasty piece of work, well aware of the immense work load that is an inevitable part of starting, well... just like the books my backpack is out of the cupboard and sat here looking at me, completely empty while I watch TV and ‘sort out my blog’. Tomorrow maybe I will fetch some more stuff from town and then maybe think about possibly starting to get organised. For now though I just wanted to say ONE WEEK TO GOOOO. Hasta Luego Amigos!!

Qatar, January 2010

One grey, over cast, freezing and wet day in mid November I had a moment. Moments, seriously, they excite me! Usually because they involve a moment of me inventing some crazy far out last minute idea, that nearly always turns out to be incredible fun. This moment was no different, I can tell you the exact spot actually, at the bus junction opposite the main entrance to university, rain lashing against the window, really wishing I didn’t have to get off the bus in a few moments I decided there and then that I needed out of this country and that waiting until May/June to leave really was asking too much of myself, especially when those six months would involve a hell of a lot of work, both university and Debenhams related. So a couple of texts later I was formulating a mad plan that really wasn’t in my budget but sometimes needs are more important than financial goals!!

I text mum to see if it would be ok to descend upon Doha in January and then, before waiting for the reply because I was certain it would be fine I text work to ask the question that petrifies me, can I have another week of work to go somewhere please? This time I decided, as the week I had available from uni would fall in the middle of January sales and god knows what other hyped up, intense week of sales Debenhams might have created for themselves I would create a long winded, suck up text to my manager... the “I know it’s a long shot...” and “...I’ll fold as many pairs of jeans as you want from now until I leave” these lines worked, “I’ll see what I can do” came back, it wasn’t a flat no, excitement! Sure enough, within two days I had gone from the moment to flights booked, insurance purchased and excitement setting in, I was going to Doha, Qatar :-D

The week before my departure I think it would be fair to say there were weather issues, that whole post dedicated to snow i mentioned back in January... that was the issue, snow and a lot of. Thankfully, seriously thankfully I managed to get out, my flight fell on the couple of days that Heathrow flights were leaving and I got out of England and arrived, 8 hours later in the Middle East. Immigration was amazing, I was positively over excited at the sight of all men in thobes (long white floating outfits with head dresses) they looked amazing and I felt I had landed into somewhere different. Different was, indeed the word. Mum was at work so I got a taxi to her apartment where I had another wave of over excitement at quite how amazing Mum’s life appeared to be, I mean come on, I had just come from my country, a recreation of the inside of a packet of frozen peas and arrived to her world, a world of sun, sea, sand and amazing outfits for everyone. Her apartment was incredible, I had enough time to run around and take a million pictures of just about everything before I followed her set of instructions of how I was to entertain myself for the afternoon until she finished work. My entertainment was the beach club at the Marriott hotel, paradise. Hummus, pittah, fresh orange juice, brought to you while you lie in the warm, no, wait, rewording needed, hot hot sun. I couldn’t quite believe it that this is how you hang out for the afternoon in Qatar, far cry from England, hmm let me try and imagine. In fact I still haven’t figured out what the average Brit is meant to do for an afternoon’s entertainment... maybe this is why I find it hard to fit in, but whatever it is I am pretty certain Doha’s beach clubs would triumph over all options available.

Mum arrived late afternoon and we began our week’s adventures. We did everything, we went to the souk, rode beautiful Arab horses, went horse and camel racing, ate the most amazing food (I love food) and hummus, met some awesome people, hung out at the most incredible beaches, you need to see them to believe them and flew to Dubai for the weekend for a little more exploring. I loved it, everything was different, nothing was simple and really you need to experience the country before you can understand quite how wacky it is – but I loved the wackiness, it was awesome. Apart from anything it was just a really nice treat to spend an unexpected week with Mum and see where she lived; thank goodness I had an understanding boss!! What I really loved was the serious lack of tourists, I can see why Mum says it is not a place for the average British tourist and I’m glad it’s not, looking at Dubai it would be a tragedy to see Qatar westernised for the masses of tourists, it’s fine just how it is. The call to prayer five times a day, starting at 5am (seriously this religion has invested in some impressive speaker systems – both in Jerusalem, Israel and here in Qatar!) you do cover up, otherwise expect the police to send you home to change. I like the fact they have an identity and they stand by it.

My week in Qatar was awesome fun and over far too fast but it meant I escaped not only the snow of England but also a week of Debenhams and its January sales and that in itself was a treat!!