It's been a long time old friend

The Amazing Fahlman Gang!

Soooooo it's been a little over 6 months since I've managed to find anytime to sit down and write an update.... I am kidding I have just been a little too lazy! Well holy cow where do I start with what has been going on with us, since it's been such a long time.  We are both doing really good and just living the Doha dream really. Mike has been getting busier with work, trying to go to Budapest a minimum or 2 times a month :), while I have been pretty busy with work myself. When we are not working we have been playing hockey this year as the dynamic Pados duo. We are one the same team and I like to imagine we look as cool as the Mighty Ducks out there, but I don't think we are at that level yet. Mike is obviously one of the best players in our league, all the skills I have taught him over the years. We have the championship game tomorrow night against the dreaded  Qatari Oryx, do or die situation really.

South Italy Coast Line

Two Italian Cuties

Now into Summer. All of my dear friends and family on who are to the West of us are probably nostalgically thinking back to the warm weather and sunshine of summer while looking out the window to either a) snow,  b) grey skies, c) wind/rain, or d) all of the above. Do not worry and if the weather gets you down just know that right now I would trade the sunshine of Doha for a little taste of seasonal change. As many of you know I managed to get home in May/June/July for a little over 6 weeks and it was just marvellous. The whole point of my trip was to be there for my Grandpa's surprise 80th birthday at the end of  May, and I figured I may as well stay to at least Canada Day. My trip was awesome to say the least, I really managed to feel back at home and got in all the Canadian summer activities I could. Blue Jays games, cottages, wine tasting in Niagara, baseball games in the backyard, BBQ's, and lots of time spent with my family and friends. At the end of my trip I was about ready to come back to Doha to see my furry family, Mike included. I was very lucky as I was able to work from Canada as well, another benefit to working for an awesome company. When I got back I spent a few weeks in Doha, sweating obviously since it was a million degrees, before I HAD to get out and spent 3 weeks in Italy. Now 3 weeks in Italy alone is an amazing and fattening experience in itself, but being able to spend one week with some amazingly beautiful Italians, well it just can't be beat. We got to spend a week with the Mungo's at their family house in the South of Italy and were treated to the real Italian "Mama Mia" deal. Meal after meal of delicious food, followed by wine and the best company. Nights were spent listening to Italian opera singers while getting very nostalgic, and many many laughs, while days were spent at the beach enjoying the crystal clear beaches and endless view of men in speedos. It really couldn't have been any better!!! Summer 2014 was a very good summer to us, however with everything that is good there is always the bad. We lost one of our kitties this summer, our sweet and lovable Bailey. Bailey had a blood clot that was in his heart and blocking the blood flow to his lower body, causing him to become immobile and in a lot of pain. Thankfully he didn't have to suffer very long and it was with very heavy hearts that Mike and I decided that the best thing for him would be if we put him down. We miss him everyday, and so does his brother Winston. But being that this is Mike and I, we now have 5 cats again having adopted a little foster kitten named Florence. This little girl is about 60% blind, but helps to fill the 5th cat void with her endless energy and crazy antics.

All my beautiful Guelph girls

In October we had a very special guest come and visit us for a few days, Mike's 94 year old granny aka Mama. Now Mama is not your average 94 year old women, she lives by herself still, is constantly cooking up and storm, and is very much aware of everything and everyone around her (some may say a little too much). Mama travelled to Hungary for a few weeks to visit family and decided that since she is already in Eastern Europe why not jump on a plane to the Middle East?! Riding in business class Mama made her way to spend a few days in the hot Doha fall to see what life is like here. We are so happy that she came, like honestly who's 94 year old Grandma can travel from Toronto-Budapest-Doha-Budapest-Toronto by herself , and at the same time teach the flight attendants what a Mimosa is. She is an impressive lady!

Florence saying "Feed me!!"

Compulsory visit to Cat  

Mike loving Ramen

At the end of October Mike and I made our first trek to the Far East, aka Japan for some of you who may be as confused as I was about this the first time I heard it. Well what can I say about Tokyo other than how much I loved it!!! It is a huge and crazy but amazing city which so much to see and do and eat and drink that being there for a week barely scratched the surface. Now we did have an incredible tour guide with this who knew some in's and out's as he has been to Japan about a million times. Our friend Eric flew in from Toronto to spend the week with us, while our other friend Mark made the trip from Vienna (only in business class I might add). We managed to hit up quite a few American chain restaurants which was on the top of my "To-See" list, (I hope you are picking up on the sarcasm here), specially Hooters which I think we managed to visit 2 or 3 times?! We also visited some very classy venues such as a maid's cafe to celebrate Mark's 26th birthday. I will let you google maid's cafe it is something best done at home. The highlight was definitely Halloween where it was the definition of sensory overload. To be fair Japan is a country that does enjoy dressing up a little fancier than the normal North American on a regular basis, so I think a lot of Japanese really look forward to Halloween. Our friend and his amazing fiancee, Brendon and Robyn, live in Tokyo so we were able to meet up and spend some quality with them as well. Basically it was just a huge Porter reunion in Japan. From Japan Mike and I made the 7 hr flight, in economy blahhh, to Bangkok, Thailand. Talk about day and night, I'll go out on a  limb and say the cleanliness standards in Bangkok are not as high as those in Japan. Once I managed to express my dislike of the smell to Eric he managed to knock some sense into me. Our conversation went like this:

Ain't no thing like a G thang

"Bangkok is disgusting!!"
"It's a third world country what do you expect?"

Oh well, touché..... ermmm I guess I hadn't thought about that before. If you like cheap beer (I do), cheap and good food (Yup), and an abundance of places where you can get into a lot of trouble, then book the next flight to Bangkok. We didn't spend the whole time in Bangkok and flew South to Kho Phangan for 5 days which was stunning, minus the rain. So all in all we had a successful vacation, different, but successful. I am not saying I didn't like Thailand, because I did, but maybe I won't rush back there straight away. As my friend Prit would say "I'am just too posh".

Happy Birthday young man!

Well other than that Mike and I have just been chillin' like villians'. Everything in Doha remains the same, construction everywhere, but the weather is cooling down and I have had to put the heat on in the car once or twice when it's gone down to 17 degrees. Qatar Airways has finally gotten some A380's and will become the launch customer of the brand new A350 this month. Mike and I will fly on it before Eric, it is our New Years resolution.

San Merino 

Signing off and wishing everyone the Merriest of Christmas's and the Happiest of New Years. If you have a white Christmas this year think of me whilst you sip your eggnog.

Missing and loving everyone

Mike, Megan, and the kitty gang xxxxx