Liana & Cristina do Doha!

It’s 5pm and I’m struggling to get through my Sunday…we took the late flight home last night and I’m feeling it now. Almost over though (boss is out this week so we can leave a bit earlier!) and I figure writing this will occupy my time for the rest of the day. Lots to write about this week so here goes:

As of Friday morning I officially made it one long month off cheese!!!! A lot of people asked why I gave it up completely and it’s mostly because I eat so much of it. I know it’s not terrible for you (does have a lot of protein, etc) but I just ate entirely too much and since I’m trying to lose weight I figured this was something that would be a challenge and would ideally help with weight loss. Most people said I wouldn’t last and I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure I would either but I also know once I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it. It def. made me make much healthier choices, like the two nights in a row last week that I got dragged to Italian restaurants, I ended up with grilled prawns and salad instead of cheesy pastas or pizza. I only lost a kilo (2.2 lbs) but am now just 1 kilo away from my goal weight so I’m pretty pumped! Instead of giving up something for April, I decided to pick up Boot Camp instead.

Boot camp is 3 days a week on the Corniche (the beach) at 6am or 7:30pm. I’ve been wanting to do this for months but didn’t have anyone who wanted to do it with me…the new month started last Sunday and I didn’t hear about it until Tuesday so missed one session but not a big deal. It’s 50% off this month too which is fab. I was getting a bit used to Pump at the gym so I think this is going to be a great change for my body. I’ll probably alternate between mornings and nights but it’s great that I have a choice. So I went Tuesday night having no idea what to expect but it was great (other than the sand everywhere..I hate sand and we were often laying in it to do abs or push ups or what not). It was arms day and I of course had just upped the weight I did for everything (mostly arms) at Pump on Sunday so on Tuesday was still fairly sore but I survived. Did a lot of running around with bars over our heads, racing in the sand, push ups, etc etc. It’s about 90% females and I’d say I’m in better shape than all but one (and she runs triathlons!) so it was nice to be able to keep up with everything rather than dying like most ppl. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel on Wednesday and was actually a little bummed when I first woke up cuz I felt fine…..the soreness did start to set in Wed night/Thursday though and trying to put my dress on for work and take it off was pretty hard! I think I’m gonna end up working a lot of random muscles that I don’t normally do. I got up at 5am on Thursday to hit the morning session since we were flying out Thursday night. I went to bed early but of course couldn’t sleep so I was not super happy at 5am but made myself get up in the dark to go. It’s a bit hard to get a cab at that time but I gave myself plenty of time so was all good. It was assessment day so not as intense of a workout as Tuesday but I still had the same avg/max heart rate (I was also jumping around in between all the assessment stuff). Ppl kept saying I had way too much energy cuz they just wanted to sit around when we weren’t assessing…but I was like I did not wake my a** up at 5am to stand around. One of the things was the plank (for your abs) and I was able to hold it for 3 minutes! I was impressed with myself, ha. I was lazy all weekend and going back tonight (didn’t get home til 2am from airport so there was no way I was going this morning)…I’m looking forward to getting my body moving but also would love a nap. Ha! This is good though since I paid for it already I’m not gonna skip out on sessions and ideally by end of the month I will be at my goal weight.

Okay so now that I’m all out of order……

Monday Liana and I hit the mall after work as we both needed some stuff and decided to skip gym to make time for it since we never do on the weekend when we plan too. Part of the reason is that we both hate shopping (sometimes the similarities between us are scary!). Thankfully I found a new going out top and sundress at the first store cuz after that I was pretty much tired of shopping, ha. I need a new camera and sunglasses but just no patience to go look for this stuff. I went into Sunglass hut and was annoyed within a few minutes so ended up with a random pair from Aldo that did the trick for the weekend. I tried to find my old ones online but can’t find them in black. So at point we’re both just sort of standing there going….do you want to go in xyz or what..and she goes…I’m done whenever and I was like sweet, me too. The best part about the whole trip was the frozen yogurt that we had. YUM! It was called French vanilla but pretty sure it was actually cheesecake….it was fat free at any rate and so good so I got a big one and made it my dinner. Funny..went into Nike (I need new work out tops since I ruined almost all of mine in my laundry disasters) and was eating my yogurt and they were fine with it. I didn’t see anything I really liked so went in to Adidas where I was chased down and told I couldn’t eat in the store. I was like oh yeah…I liked this top, but Nike will let me eat in their store so I think I’ll go back there..which followed with a “just sayin”.

Tuesday was day 1 of bootcamp.

Wednesday I was ready for a night with no gym or shopping or plans so I decided to be lazy. I had coaching calls with 2 partners at home to try to figure out what I’m doing when I get back so feel good that the ball is rollin (just not sure which direction its going in yet!!!) and then I was in bed at 9 since I was getting up early Thursday for bootcamp. Too bad my mind was racing and I didn’t fall asleep until closer to midnight. I suck at sleeping lately.

Thursday was morning boot camp and then a fairly chill work day. I was exhausted for the whole morning and got in trouble for yawning too much, ha! I was listening to music and didn’t even realize that I kept yawning until Liana finally pointed it out and then I realized I was doing it like every other minute..oops. We went to our typical long Thursday lunch in the sun and after that I was much more alert. We actually left the office at 5:30 which I think is a first and was nice cuz I got a quick nap in and finished backing before heading off to airport.

I got in a cab that turned out to be a bad choice as he was an idiot. Went to get Liana (told him Marks and Spencer..he was questioning the location like there are more than one, there aren’t) and then when we said okay to the airport his first question was Dubai. We are in Abu Dhabi, maybe the AD airport could be your first guess. Then he asked if he could stop for gas (or petrol as they all call it here…the other day I was telling this driver to stop at the gas station and he clearly didn’t get it….oh right..the petrol station sorry!). Anyhow..I can see his gas gauge and he’s got a ¼ freaking tank so we were like no way, take us to the airport and then go get gas we have a plane to catch. Oh you do? Um yes! So then we get to airport and are like Terminal 3….so the traffic sucks a bit but you just deal with it til you pass Terminal 1 and get to 3….he kept trying to drop us at 1 and said we should walk…no..you should drive and do what we are telling you to do because we are paying you for it. I’m sure he wanted to murder us both. So then the fun starts trying to check in. We had checked in online but sometimes they say they cant verify your info and you have to re check in at airport. So we do…cept there is no paper to print our boarding passes..awesome. So we go to another machine that has paper except now it already thinks we have our passes and wont do sh*t. When we finally get up to the counter the guy is trying to fix the machine that prints luggage tags…we are being patient at first until he starts helping everyone and their mom that comes up complaining but will not just finish checking us in and giving us our boarding passes. I told her there was no way our bags were going to make it at the rate we were going but thankfully they did! Since all of this nonsense took so long we only had time for one drink at duty free (oh yeah, cuz I also picked the wrong line AGAIN at immigration) and no time to look for new sunnies (Liana’s word for sunglasses) or a camera. So we get on plane and Liana and bought a hat and said she was going to wear the hat and sunglasses the whole weekend to try to be incognito as she knows way too many ppl in Doha and didn’t tell many ppl she was coming. Epic fail. She was recognized by 2 different ppl within 5 minutes. The first guy just busts out with….EY, tax, Doha right? She hasn’t even been there in a year! Crazy. Flight was easy (oh…so the Etihad flights to/from Bahrain/Doha have been regular small planes..ie: one aisle….they check EVERY SINGLE PERSONS boarding card when you get on the plane to tell you the seat and where to go. First off, there is one aisle…so straight is really the only option but thank you for letting me know. Also, I can read. It says 7D, you do not need to read it to me. I’m quite surprised they don’t just escort every person to their seat cuz clearly they think we are the dumbest people in the world), got through immigration and then went out for our ride. The hotel sent a Jag to pick us up and essentially chauffeured us around the rest of the weekend…fabulous.

So short back story…wasta is an Arabic word for being able to get things since you know people. Liana is queen of wasta. When this one guy she knows from Doha found out she was coming he said he’d get us set up with an upgrade at the W since he is good friends with the general manager. This then became him picking up the tab for the whole weekend and he wasn’t even in town so Liana didn’t have to see him or anything. So we get to hotel and we knew we had a suite booked but they were like, oh we’ve upgraded you to a Wow suite, you’ll love it. They were right. Wow is right. It was so pimp! We had so much room, crazy lighting, a swivel swing chair (possibly the highlight of my weekend!) and a bottle of chilled Moet with strawberries waiting. At this point we decided that we’re putting all the crap from getting there behind us cuz things were def. looking up! Liana’s aunt had a friend that had just moved to Doha and was staying at the W so Liana called her up to have some champagne with us….which turned into talking forever. Meanwhile I start getting ready as my hair takes forever and then do my makeup and am essentially ready and this lady is still there asking questions about Doha. Liana finally got her to go by giving her the champagne from our mini bar..lol. Oh, so the room was great but a bit confusing cuz there were buttons for everything. We’re trying to figure out how to open the curtains so Liana is all looking for a break in the fabric…turns out they are electric, ha. The shower was almost impossible to figure out too, we couldn’t find room service menus, the phone was too high tech, etc etc. We never even turned on either of the two massive TV’s! We were gonna leave the hotel and go to this bar where Liana had a friend that worked but ended up just staying at the W as they have some really nice places and it was getting late and it was easy. We went to Wahm first which had an indoor spot and then out by the pool . Weather was amazing all weekend, had some cocktails, she caught up with everyone and their mom that knew her and then when they stopped the music we went to another more clubby place called Cristal (also in hotel). Because we were guests we got in everywhere very easy and just charged drinks to the room. Had a great time dancing at Cristal and then retreated to our fab suite, poured more drinks that we never drank, and passed out. Oh wait, but not before Liana was being ridiculous on the couch, it was surrounded by black strings (so was the bed) and she was like..oh no I’m stuck..I can’t get out. Ha. The pictures are a riot but she looks wasted so they are staying on the camera.

Friday we woke up early (and by we, I mean Liana woke up early, went to breakfast and then decided she was going to bother me until I got up cuz she was bored, lol). I was exhausted as Thursday was a very long day (started at 5am, ended about the same time 24 hours later) and I just wanted to sleep in. No luck. So we head down to pool where there is no sun yet and just curl up on the chairs and laugh about the night before. I got an egg white omelet, my first with cheese in a month…it was very disappointing. I wasn’t all that hungry cuz I was hungover and tired so that might have had something to do with it. We had massages booked at 11 so just kind of bummed around until then. The spa was amazing..I haven’t had a massage since last year and after all the stress I’ve had in the last few weeks, it was much needed. Went from there to a pedicure and Liana got her nail color changed. Then we went back to the pool and the sun was out and shining. Got cocktails, relaxed, got lunch, relaxed some more, was fab. Liana had a work call at 2:30 so she went up to to do that while I chilled a bit longer and then we headed off to the Interncon hotel where they were having some big Corona sponsored volleyball beach party. We had a bit of a hard time getting in as we only had Dirhams (UAE cash) and they use Riyals. So they wouldn’t take our Dirhams, neither of us brought an ATM card (nor was there was one close by anyway!). So we’re just standing there, oh Liana is still on her call, and I’m giving the people shit about not taking our money. Finally a guy comes in and I’m like hey..you wouldn’t want to trade dirhams for riyals would you? Score, he was game. It’s a 1 to 1 ratio so really not sure why they care. In Bahrain you could use whatever money you wanted and the ratio was not 1 to 1. Anyhow..got in..and then we were like sh*t..how are we going to buy drinks since our money is useless. Turned out to be a non issue as Liana scored us drinks (she did have to play water volleyball for a couple rounds..thanks girl!). It was a little boring at first but picked up as the sun went down and the DJ was playing, etc. So we’re standing at this one table and this guy is talking to me and then starts dancing all ridiculously and somehow this became an invite to a dance off. Now before this I’m just standing there, arms crossed, so I think he thought I was an easy win. WRONG. He goes, wow I didn’t expect that, but I just got beat. Yep, thanks, now please go away cuz you are weird. This was also about the time I was too sober and a lot of obnoxious guys were getting drunk and I was not amused by most of the bs so got Liana to leave with me. At this point I just wanted to get in bed and sleep for days but we didn’t come to Doha to sleep so showered, took a 30 min power nap and rallied. My straightener decided it would be a great time to die so that sucked but I did my best with the blow dryer. We went to dinner in the hotel with Liana’s friend Steve who I had met in Dubai last year and it was delicious food (I had a caprese salad finally!) but there was this one young kid screaming at the table next to us and a wedding reception going on in the lobby which made for a lot of noise as well. Good thing we weren’t trying for a romantic evening! We all had red bulls and coffee to try to wake up and then went to Lava back at the intercom as the DJ from the beach party was supposed to be there and he had told Liana it would be hip hop.

So we walk up and are asking the “bouncer” about the music. His explanation was atrocious. He was like, oh there are 2 DJs (but NOT the one from the beach earlier that day) and then someone who sings and plays the guitar. What? We’re thinking, how the hell is it hip hop on a guitar but at this point we are over there so figured we’d wing it. They took our dirhams too so we were happy! The first DJ was awesome….there weren’t many ppl at the club but Liana and I were jamming…loving the music, drinking, dancing and I felt much more awake. Then the second DJ comes on who WAS the guy from the beach that day…but he ended up being a huge downer. Music just wasn’t great and mood def dropped. Then the third guy was a guy based in Dubai who sang live and was amazing. It was more r&b than hip hop but it didn’t matter cuz he was so good (although now there is just no energy left at all!). Eventually we ended up outside where it was quieter and Liana hit on the singer! Oh this was pretty funny….so we go outside and no one is there….but the music from inside had actually gotten better so I’m out there just doing my thing dancing….and all of a sudden, there are loads of people outside….so I proceed to sit down….and then they all went back inside. It was pretty funny but after a few times I got bored and just stayed sitting. People kept trying to force us to take shots and apparently NO is not well understood in Doha. No I don’t want that. Because I don’t. No thanks. I don’t like tequila. Give it to someone else. Thanks but no. This turned into taking it and immediately putting it down on the table. What a waste but it was the only way to make them go away! Thankfully the bar closed at 2 as I was so tired and couldn’t wait to get in bed. Unfortunately the cab we got into was one of the smelliest of all time. Lol. I am laughing just picturing Liana hanging her head out the window like a dog. It was really bad. Got back to hotel and jumped into our comfy bed. Lucky for me, Liana actually slept in and I was awake before her Saturday am. I think we slept til like 11 which was great. And I was soooo excited cuz we were going to Rics!!!! I was introduced to Rics in Bahrain and they had the best omelets ever. The aunts friend met us downstairs and Liana took us on a scenic (read: long ) route to Ric’s so she could show us stuff.. This was all good but I was starving! Ric’s Doha is very different from Ric’s Bahrain. No alcohol, no pork and its tiny. However, the omelet and potatoes were an exact replica of Bahrain so I was in heaven. Soooo cheesy and delicious! Dolly (who has been in my prior posts) came to meet us for a bit and then dropped us back at the hotel. We hit the pool for the afternoon although it was kind of weird weather so not sure how much color we actually got. I also scored an eyebrow wax at the spa. Noone in Abu Dhabi will wax and its so annoying (correction, they will wax anything else you want, but nothing on your face which makes no sense to me). Threading sucks. It doesn’t hurt nearly as much for me as most ppl say it does but the result sucks and I hate it. Maybe I’ll need a regular trip to Doha for waxing..ha! We got ourselves late checkout to 6pm so went up around 5:15 to clean up the disaster we managed to make in such a short time. Showered, got dressed and headed out. Our flight wasn’t til 10:30 so we were gonna hit the souk for dinner. So when we checked out, we found out just how much money we had managed to spend in 44 hours. A lot. We enjoyed every minute of it as well.

We got dropped at the souk and went to a delicious Italian place where I had shrimp risotto and Liana had pasta. It was a bad weekend on the food front cuz I was back on cheese, Ric’s and eating way more than normal. I told her we were gonna need wheel chairs at the airport. After we ate we still had some time so walked around the souk (of course she ran into someone she know but we got away with just the one encounter!). They had more pashminas than I’ve ever seen in my life and then we found a fun section with animals. They had bunnies and ducks and parrots and dogs and fish..you name it, they had it. Liana knew there was a falcon store somewhere (super popular, insanely expensive birds in the region) so we went and found that. By the way, she speaks Arabic…not fluently but I was very impressed after the weekend how much she actually knew. She isn’t forced to use it much in the UAE but in Qatar it proved very handy. A little Arabic and a sultry look will get you far, ha! So we find the store and lucky for us, a very creepy guy was working. Ha. He let each of us hold the falcon (this is the point I realized my blackberry wasn’t saving pictures anymore so I have nothing to show for the whole evening ). Anyway the guy was such a creep was all rubbing our boobs with his elbow as he was setting the bird up on our arms..it was so gross. Then he was trying to get Liana’s number. Yuck…..we could not wait to get out of there and sanitize our hands. He gave her one of the hand shakes/finger tickle….I did not get so lucky…hahahahahah.

Went back to pick up our stuff and hit the airport. Liz, who I met at dinner last week was in Doha all weekend but unfortunately we could never meet up….she wasn’t getting my texts (they showed up when we landed in Abu Dhabi) and Liana’s phone doesn’t have roaming so she wasn’t getting Liz’s texts. Anyhow..we met up with her at airport and all flew back together. I won’t even discuss the annoyances at the Doha airport cuz I’m getting sick of writing, but I may have wanted to punch someone one in the face! We got in late so that part kind of sucked cuz by the time we got our bags and I stocked up on wine (I bought my 5 allowance plus made Liana buy me a 6th!) it was 1:30 when the cab dropped me off at home. My camera broke two weekends ago (the display screen) and I only took it with me as Liana and I decided it would be funny to take pics having no idea what anything looked like and she’d bring hers for nice pictures. Well she brought her charger and battery, but no camera so mine was all we had. I am fairly impatient and wanted to see what I had managed to capture so loaded those up (did a pretty good job if I do say so!) and then got in bed.

Work yesterday wasn’t too bad despite the small amount of sleep although Liana and I kept periodically yawning! Got some nice warm and fuzzy text messages from the ex’s friend about what a sh*tty person I am for leaving him. Great start to Sunday morning right?! Skipped the morning boot camp but went last night and it was awesome. We essentially did squats for an hour in one form or another and by the end I was COVERED in sand. So much worse than last time. I was thinking..hmm…how the h*ll am I gonan get a cab to pick me up like this. I managed to wipe most of it off, hit Spinney’s for some fresh pineapple and turkey slices and then went home. All the sand is a good exfoliant, even though I hate the way it feels. I am surprisingly not too sore today and I didn’t cheat at all. Most of the class are cheaters. I’m not sure why they even bother. I mean I guess some exercise is better than none but it was like constant skipping reps when he wasn’t looking, walking instead of running, not fully doing any of the exercises. Meanwhile I’m like, 90 degree squat for everything, plus keeping up. At one point we were doing squat thrusts with the medicine balls and there were 4 5KG balls and one 8KG ball. I had picked up a 5KG since it was right in front of me when I started…well one girl could barely move so the guy comes over and makes us switch…and then goes…don’t worry, that’s a compliment. Def feels great to be in such good shape! Okay…its lunch time and I’m starving and this has gotten way too long. You are all likely asleep or have moved on to more fun things. Until next time!

Oh also just remembered....Friday marked 5 months of living in the Gulf and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I have less than 3 months to go and am hoping it goes by slow but I know it will fly by as we have loads of plans and fun weekends ahead, plus visits from friends in the US. A huge part of me wants to stay here and knows that in a few months I will hate my decision to leave, but I also know that I need to go back to the US and reality (living over here is a bit like living in a dream). Just making every second here count!