Monday, June 23, 2008

Last Week in the Land of the Sand...

So, here is one of a few updates in the next few days. Things are winding down here. The moving company is downstairs packing up my things to take back to the states. Friday will be here before you know it. I am going to write about a few things that happened in the last month, and then I will start to finish the trip for you.

On June 6th, we had a very cool Pittsburgh type party. I was one of the main planners, and it was fantastic. John’s wife Mary Lou Catered (she makes AMAZING food). I had a friend of mine DJ. Plus I tried to finish out all of the beverages that we had in my house. It was a great night of partying, dancing, etc. Some people, including yours truly, ended up in the pool. The party had a good mix of Local people and Pittsburgh people. The theme of the party was ConFarWel. Congratulations for Mary and Dave. Mary is our project Educator, and she got hitched to Dave a few weekends ago. The Farewell was for myself and Carol. The welcome was for Conlen, Bryan, and John, 3 new employees. Great times.

June 8th I was invited to John’s house where Mary Lou was cooking yet another dinner. (mmmm) The surprise was that Connie and Jacque came back early to see Carol off. She was leaving on the 9th. Myself, Dennis, Carol, Connie, Jacque, John, and Mary Lou had a fabulous evening with some amazing shrimp pasta.

Last week, in a effort to welcome the 3 new guys to the neighborhood, Marlene and her Husband invited Conlen, John, Bryan and myself over for wing night. It was a random weekday night and I love not having to cook. We stayed for a while, however I had to get my stuff ready to get packed up. They just got back from Kenya and had some Amazing photographs. Africa is definitely a place I would like to see.

It seems I have been doing a lot of eating, huh? So one more for you. This past Sat. John once again invited the entire staff to his place for dinner. Our new project director and a nurse and his wife came to get greeted. We had good American food such as bacon cheeseburgers. They did a little presentation during the dinner and I received a very nice glass statue of the county of Qatar, thanking me for my participation to the project. I also received a Picture book from our current project director. It was very nice.

The 2 new guys are getting settled in. Conlen and Bryan will both do OK, as far as I can tell now. Conlen really understands how important these relationships are and Bryan is slowly warming up to it. I have taught them all I can and tried to show them everything I could, along with some common pitfalls and other problems. I think they will do fine, plus they have the summer season while many are away to get ready to go.

I will update you more in the next day or so, as my TV has been shut off and many other things are going to as well. I will be in limited contact the next week or so as I transition home. I am lucky enough to have my flight routed through Holland, where I am going to visit Chad and Suzanne who recently moved to the country. So thanks to my job, I get a free weekend in Europe. No airfare or hotel stays, just the normal food and train fare…which is only a few Euros as Rotterdam is only about 45 Minutes from Amsterdam. It is going to be a great transition home! Talk to you all soon.

No comments: