A Year Gone By....

My incredibly handsome husband - No one rocks the two bars like him

Can you believe that is has been a year since Mike and I have moved to Qatar?! Mind blowing I know . Well technically not quite a year , we left on the 22nd of Dec and arrived on the 23rd but for the purpose of this post it has been a year. I still sit and think and feel like we are back in Canada. Its like we can walk out our door and go meet our friends or family , or look at the calendar and see an birthday or celebration and think what we will all be doing together. We have been gone for a years' worth of birthdays , parties , and celebrations. It does make me sad to think of all the laughs we have missed , but makes us appreciate all the good times we have with everyone when we do get to come back to Canada. It's not all a sob story though . This last year has been one of the most fun , challenging and rewarding years of our lives. We have met and become friends with some of the most amazing people who have truly blessed our lives and have in many cases been the people who we rely on . Mike and I have been be able to travel so much already having visited France , Spain , Italy , UAE, Georgia, Hungary ( more than once ;) ) , Germany , and Bahrain. Mike has been and flown into too many different countries to count in only 7 months. He gets to fly an awesome aircraft and works for a company where he doesn't daily have to call for lav services or deal with not so fresh catering. To be honest Mike gets treated pretty much like a King , or at least a duke , and he truly does love every minute of it. It's been a challenge to get used to the lifestyle here and the way people and the country go about their day to day business. Like I have said before , if you don't have patience and resilience before you move here you better get some pretty quick or you will loose your cool. Mike and I have been pretty much the batman and robin of the marriage world. Without each other we wouldn't have gotten through this year as successfully as we have , we are the best desert surviving - cat rescuing team out there . Our biggest blessing have been our 3 new kitties. Yes we have 5 cats now. Winston and Bailey ( the godfathers of the house) have 2 new little brothers Oscar and Nemo , and one sister Sasha. Due to Sasha's inability to get along with everyone else she now lives half outside half inside. Things were getting a little too crazy here and I was worried about getting grays so we made an executive decision and that is that.

Sneak Peek at the Red Arrows in Doha

Okay so I know I have been really really bad at updating this blog , but there are 2 very honest and reliable excuses...
1) I quit my job and planned a super top secret surprise trip home so I couldn't say anything on here because obvi the surprise would have been blown , and
2) Since my exit from the salary world I have been doing a bit of traveling and not been home.
Let me tell you that I shall repent for my absence and make sure there are regular posts. I am thinking of doing some question and answer blogs , because this is all about Mike and I and I don't want to sound too self involved. So when you see a question posed on here please reply at the bottom of my blog or on my facebook post , this way Mike and I know what everyone is up to as well.

Two dorks at Heros Square Budapest , Mike representing TML

First question , what is everyone's plans for Christmas and New Years?? Mike and I , along with about 40 other friends are going to brunch at one of the hotels here. Imagine Christmas in a dress and sandals..... outside?? Weird to think of. Sorry for all of you in Canada who have been hammered with snow, I do feel for you. When I was home in November it was 6 degrees and I was freezing my butt off. It was even worse in Budapest , -2 , it honestly felt like I was walking through Yellowknife in the middle of Feb. It is crazy how one year can take our away our ability to deal with the cold. It makes me feel like I can no longer call myself Canadian. Speaking on a Canadian note , Mike is playing hockey on Friday!!! WHAT!!! Pretty stoked about it too. The only thing is there are absolutely no places to buy any sort of equipment in Doha , so you better hope to God that nothing breaks or you are aramexing that shiznat over here. For New Years our worlds best neighbors are coming over for dinner and drinks, Mike and I are preparing a feast fit for king and queens. He told me he would help .....

Our ride to and from Munich - The beautiful 787

PSG and Real Madrid are playing a friendly match here on the 2nd of Jan so we are going to be watching that. This are the type of perks that we are privileged to by living in Doha.. After that the tennis open will be here. It's a sporty month for us. But the best part comes on the 10th when we leave to come to Canada for a few weeks!!!!! MARK YOUR CALENDARS boys and girls!!! We really really really want to see everyone so please send us messages with your days off so we can make sure to get together. We will likely be heading back to Doha around the 24th but as Mike's sked isn't out yet we don't have firm dates.

Shoes on the Danube - tribute to all the Jewish lives lost in WWII

So a quick little recap of our lives over the last few months. When I last left you guys my mom was on her way here. Well Cyndy came and conquered and I think she learned a thing or two. After many hours she now knows what the word Souq means ( it's market), and to not believe about 90 % of the things Mike says. We took her to Dubai for two days and that place is crazy. I got a little Dubai envy. There is everything you could imagine and more . You have to see it. They honestly have about 20 Tim Hortons and every other store you can think of. The malls are ridiculous , the marina is so happening and the city is literally the Vegas of the desert. The even serve pork and you and find alcohol in other places then just hotels They say Doha is about 10 years behind , so it does give me some hope for the future. At the same time we acquired our 5th and final kitten Nemo. When I saw Nemo for the first time he had half his tail severed and what was remaining was skinned to the bone. We took him to have it amputated , and now he has the cutest little bum in the world. He is so sweet and cuddly , Mike and I are very happy. I also quit my job which was honestly a huge relief. I was not happy at my job , and as Drake says, you only live once so you gotta make yourself happy and if that means quitting then do it sista. Well he says the you only live once part but I am sure he would agree with the other things too. I finally got to go on and overnight with Mike and we hit up Tbilisi , Georgia. Super cool city. Mix between Russia and Europe. The food was amazing and we were able to see some old and newer sites and have a huge traditional dinner accompanied by Georgian dancing. Georgian men look great in tights , just an observation.

Beautiful Budapest

Workin it on the Chain Bridge

After that I came back to Canada for a few weeks. Spent one day back in Doha and then to Budapest . My friend Kim came along for a few days and we had some much fun. There is something to be said about a girls trip , husbands are great and all but sometimes a female companion is just what you need. Unfortunately the flights were full so I ended up going to our cousin's house in Gyula for a few days. The hospitality we experience while we are there is better then any hotel in the world. I absolutely love spending time with them. We also went to see this amazing light projection show. Here is the youtube link, just look it for like 10 seconds to see just how incredible it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9yLntmSz7Y . You sit outside and watch these surreal lights being projected so perfectly on a completely renovated castle. I won't lie it kinda spooked me out a bit at first. It would be the perfect place for Freddie Mercury to hit up .... that's if he existed ... which he totally doesn't .... right ?! Budapest was/is in full Christmas Market swing. Christmas markets in Europe put shame on what we have in Canada. I felt like I would explode Christmas cheer and mulled wine. After that Mike and I went to Munich for some more Christmas spirit. We also managed to drink 5 liters of beer each in a night and we had a German headache the next morning.

Munich Christmas Market

So yeah in a coles notes version , that is what we have been up to. I will also point out that in the 10 days I was in Hungary Mike flew and stayed in Budapest three times. This man is seriously reconnecting with his Hungarian roots and has never been happier.

Munich

Well I have rambled on enough now and the cats are giving me the death stare to be fed. Please , please let us know when you are free in Jan so we can come and visit everyone!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone and enjoy the time you get to spend with all your loved ones!!

Sending all the love in the world,

Mike , Megan

Oscar , Nemo , Sasha. Winston , and Bailey xoxoox