An opening word from Josh

Yesterday marked a big day in my life (this is Josh talking, now).  I finally ventured beyond North America to see this beautiful world.  For anyone who doesn't know the story of how the adventure started, I'll let you know. 

Emmy has always had the dream of teaching abroad.  I have always had the dream of settling into a community and making a positive contribution while setting roots there.  When I decided I was going to marry her, I knew that we had to share each others' dreams.  After I proposed, I pushed Emmy to truly examine whether she wanted to teach abroad with me, or if it was just kind of something she said she wanted to do.  She let me know she was committed to doing it.  From that point, I was committed to living her/our dream.  I knew if I got a principal job right out of college, I wouldn't want to leave, so the conversation to teach abroad became a "now or never" type of deal.  Obviously, we chose the "now" option.

Fast forward to our arrival in Doha.  We arrived to a country that is very different than anything I was used to seeing in daily life.  It has been amazing!

The last two days have reinforced my belief in people to the fullest. We showed up knowing virtually no one, and have felt so much support already.  Our administrators showed up to greet us at the airport.  The people of Doha have went out of their way to help me at any store I go to.  The people I will be teaching with are so entertaining and passionate about not only teaching, but life in general.  We have had two Qatar Foundation employees that have extended themselves beyond anything expected to make sure we felt comfortable with our arrival.  As of day 2, the people from Qatar and the people attracted to Qatar have been the greatest part of the journey.

We have gotten close to unpacking everything now and the place is beginning to feel more like a home.  I set up my speaker and have been playing everything from Nelly to Zac Brown as we unpacked. 

We've gotten to Skype with our families, which is a great experience.  It truly makes the world much smaller.  Just seconds after I logged in for the first time in our apartment, I received a video chat request from my parents.  It was good to see them from across the world, and I think they felt reassured that they could reach me after the Skype date. 

I also woke up at about 3:30 this morning, still struggling from the time change, and had a Skype date with Emmy's brother, Sachel.  Doha's people are great, but I want to stay in touch with the great people I already have in my life, as well.  Keep in touch via Facebook, email, or send me a Skype request.  My Skype name is joshua.machicek.  We're also looking for more ways to keep in touch, so stay tuned.

Thanks for all the love and for taking time out to keep up with our lives.  Best wishes until next time...

We Made It!

After many good-byes and lots of love we have arrived in the city of Doha at 6 pm local time (we are eight hours ahead of American central time zone).  The journey began on Saturday with some breakfast tacos and a Machicek gathering in the backyard.  Followed by a Mexican lunch because nobody does Mexican like Texas.  Once we arrived at the airport we were pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to pay any money for our luggage.  Of course we had to do some shifting around because my bags were five pounds over and Josh's were five pounds under.  He likes to be prepared and I like to sneak items in until the last minute:) 

First we flew to Chicago, which was a very predictable flight that many of you have taken.  Once we arrived in Chicago everything became real.  I am one of those people that is in denial of what I have gotten myself into until it is far to late to freak out.  Waiting to board our flight to Qatar there were people from all over the world speaking all kinds of languages.  After a summer of small town Texas and small town Minnesota I was not used to seeing so much culture.  The first thought I had was "Wow what the hell are we doing?"  Of course after accepting my fate I decided to embrace the culture and I remembered why I force myself to do crazy things like this, because it is good for the soul.  The entire time Josh is cool calm and collected and this is his first big traveling experience.  He never ceases to amaze me. 

Once we have boarded the plane we are seated next to three small children that can't help but cry for love and who knows what else.  The people in front of us proceed to put their chairs all the way back and once again Josh is super chill about it.  He just moves his movie screen and carries on.  I of course proceed to stretch out because we were lucky enough not to have someone sit next to us.  I continued every chance I got to push on the seats in front of us to let them know their actions were unacceptable. 

After sixteen total hours of flying we arrived in Qatar and it was night time here.  The heat as we walked down the jet bridge was like coat of humid hot air  that brings instant profuse sweating.  We realized real quick that the heat people told us about was real.  The bus dropped us off at customs where we quickly met five other teachers that are going to be with us and living in the same apartment as we are.  They are all very nice and interesting people, Special Education teachers are a very interesting bleeding heart kind of people. 

We were then greeted by our principals and many others to help us get to our apartments.  This is when Josh and I discovered an email was sent out to inform us we would be staying in temporary housing because our apartments are still being built.  I was really excited for my light up bath tub we saw on Google Images of the Pearl Apartments.  The new place is ok but no light up bath tub.  My heart is disappointed while my head is saying "Emmy in Peace Corps you would have considered this place a mansion."  I am just waiting for my head and heart to reconcile this debate or for the Pearl Apartments to be finished...

Qatar is the hottest coldest country I have been to so far.  We haven't figured out how to control the AC so right now I have on sweat pants, a sweat shirt and a scarf.  I stepped outside while my fourth piece of toast for the night was cooking and set my body into major confusion, is it winter or is it blazing hot summer?  I guess it is both, Qatari's can afford to turn the AC to 60 degrees, Natural Gas is not a scarce resource in these parts.

It is now 2:43 in the morning and I have taken my nap and ready for the day.  Josh is sleeping like a baby in the next room.  He has never had to get over jet leg before and he will probably be ready for whatever life brings him tomorrow.  I on the other hand have decided that I needed to get up and eat another piece of toast with Laughing Cow cheese and some popcorn from the Chicago airport. 

Tomorrow at 8:15 we will get picked up and then spend the day being poked and prodded so they can make sure we are fit to stay in Qatar.  After that we are going on a shopping trip which is a must.  I have already created a long list, starting with some nice sheets that don't feel like sand paper. The time has come for me to try to force myself back to sleep.   

We will be in touch to inform you of all the adventures that come our way in the next couple of days.  We have arrived safe and sound, now the fun of acclimating begins!

Love you,
Emmy

P.S.
Many of you have been asking for our address:
Emmy and Josh Machicek
Awsaj Academy, Qatar Foundation
Education City, PO Box 6639, Al Luqta Street
Doha, Qatar

I love snail mail and always looking for pen pals.
 

Thank you for participating in our journey.

Dear Readers,
Josh and I are creating this blog because in two weeks we will embark on an adventure of teaching in Doha Qatar and we want you to be a part of it. I, for the first time will become Mrs. Machicek and be teaching 5th grade all subjects. Josh, Mr. Machicek, will be teaching high school science and one algebra class. We have done one preliminary pack which did not go very well and ended in tears due to my inability to leave things behind. It is impossible to bring your entire life in two suitcases. Josh did fabulously with this even though his clothes are much bigger than mine. It makes me wonder why am I attached to things and why do I have so many things. Shopping is actually a burden; I do still love it:) We will attempt to blog a couple times a week about all of our experiences from teaching to going to the market. When we arrive at 6pm Doha time we will be greeted by our principals and then escorted to our apartment. We will be living at The Pearl Apartments and from the images on Google I am super excited about the light up bath tub. Josh is being realistic and waiting before he gets excited because "maybe the pictures aren't exactly what we will have." The first week will be spent doing medicals, all of which include a chest x-ray... The following weeks will be spent training for our new jobs which we know very little about; I feel like a first year teacher again. School begins just after Labor Day and I am sure by then we will be ready for the students to arrive. At that point we will know a lot more (inshallah: God willing). With two weeks to go until we leave the feeling of excitement has crept in. Since June 7th we have been homeless, we have many great people taking care of us along the way. But, the time has come for us to have a home again. I am currently in Minnesota saying my last good- byes. I am going to get to that and drive to Minneapolis too see Chelsey and Stephanie my dear friends from Bemidji.
Love, Emmy