Advent Season

Here in the land of perpetual sunshine, I forget that it is winter in Canada and that Christmas is approaching. So imagine my surprise when I arrived at church this morning to discover that this is the first "Friday" in Advent.


Edie, the wife of the priest, prepares lovely banners for the church calendar. The Pentecost banners are green. Advent banners are purple. Not what I would call Christmas colors, but lovely all the same.




Just to let you know what Christmas weather is like in Doha, I took pictures of these zinnias outside the church this morning. They were swarmed by honey bees. You can see them on the flowers if you look closely.

The Simulation Center

This year we have two new people working in our clinical simulation center and have they ever brought things together. I have done one high fidelity simulation with my nursing fundamentals class and I know that Kim has done at least one for her health assessment class. All assisted by Leanne and Jayne, our simulation gurus.

Today the nursing faculty spent the afternoon discussing simulation and how to most effectively incorporate it into our courses. The possibilities are endless. There are many different types of simulations of differing levels of fidelity. I always do a simulated exercise for the last lab of nursing fundamentals, but I use real people who act as patients. This is called "standardized patients", though I don't use actors, just Donna and Bill and Bruce, and Dave if he's here.


The high fidelity manikin is called I-Stan. He has all the bells and whistles and can be a little intimidating to students (and to instructors as well if the truth be told). Just this week the lab also received a mother and baby--she actually gives birth.


I find that some of the lower fidelity stuff is actually more effective for most of what I teach. Some of the visuals that they showed us today are really great.



This is the lab where I hang out on Sunday afternoons with my class of first year nursing students. The students usually enjoy this course because it is very hands on and they begin to feel that they are real nurses.

In Our Little Office Pod

I was on my way to my office today when I happened to notice Bill and Donna working away at something. I thought that they looked so cute together that it deserved a picture. So then I thought why not take pictures of all the teachers in our little office pod. I didn't capture them all but I do have a representative sample. The guy with the beard is Eric. He works in the Learning Commons and was just in our area visiting.










Kimberly and I are the only nurses in our office area. The rest are ESL teachers--and what a great group they are! I think we must have the best group of English teachers to walk the planet. They are excellent teachers and good friends. They have helped us to understand the difficulties that our students have with the English language and to develop teaching techniques to build on their strengths.

Every Tuesday morning we have "tea time" in Donna's office. She brings the tea and I bring the crumpets (actually it's usually scones, or it could be oatcakes or muffins of some kind). In any case, it makes a nice coffee break. I have scones already for tomorrow. I wouldn't dare go to work without them.

The People You Meet!

I stopped at Al Meera on my way home from work yesterday afternoon. In the parking lot were two young men, brothers, from Oman selling "sweets" out of the trunk of their car. The sweets actually was helva of different kinds, and "the very best quality" because it came from Oman. These two had driven 9 hours from Oman to stay overnight in Doha and sell their wares. I asked them if they thought they were going to make enough money to pay for the trip, and they smiled and reassured me that they would. We talked about Oman and how beautiful it is, and I got their telephone numbers and promises to show me around when I travel there.

Doha Debates

Last night I had the privilege of going to the Doha Debates. It is held at the Qatar Foundation Head-Quarters in Education City.


The debate was interesting and the setting amazing, but my favorite part was spending time with the three students who had been chosen to go that evening.





We had a good time watching the set up of the cameras, and all the preparations before the taping started. The debate was " This house would prefer money to free elections." There was quite a bit of heated discussion and the resolution was soundly defeated.

Tim Sebastion is an excellent moderator. He had some hard questions for each of the presenters, as well as the audience. I thought that the debate got a bit silly at times, with people using circular arguments and being less than logical.


After the debate was over, my students made a beeline for Tim Sebastion. They asked him if they could have a picture taken with him and he very graciously consented.


UC-Q students are active debaters. We use debate quite a lot in the classroom to develop logic and critical thinking. These three had all attended a debating club meeting just that afternoon. I have taught all three and they are very sweet.

My Patio

I know I've said this before but I love my patio. It's a little oasis of green in the desert. Now those of you who know our place in N. B. probably won't understand how I can be so enamored with this little square of ceramic tile. But having something growing and flourishing in the heat and dryness is really quite remarkable and rewarding.



I've planted my vegetable garden as well. I have beets, basil and lettuce seedlings. I decided against tomatoes and peppers this year. They take up too much room in my little bed, and I always get white fly. I water carefully each morning so that they don't dry up while I'm at work. As soon as I get home I hurry around back to see how they made it through the day.




After I swept the patio off this morning, I thought that everything looked so pretty and deserving of a picture.



Yes Sheila, the portulaca is yours.

The Church of the Epiphany

The holy day in the Muslim world is Friday, so the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Back to work bright and early on Sunday morning. Even after 2 and a half years, I still get the days of the week mixed up from time to time, and think that Sunday is Monday. Old habits die hard.

Friday is church day for me. I have been attending the Church of the Epiphany, an Anglican church that is part of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. It is held in one of the Gymnasiums at the English Speaking School of Doha.



I enjoy the Anglican service very much. I especially like taking communion every week, kneeling at the alter, and the common cup. I don't know why I appreciate the Anglican communion service so much. After a life time of grape juice and cut up white bread, maybe the wine and wafer seem more authentic. Or maybe it is so meaningful just because I'm in a Muslim country. At any rate, the Church of the Epiphany has become a special part of my life here in Doha.