Doha Summer 2012

I just realized few hours ago that it's going to be August tomorrow! July has come and gone just like that! For our family, this month has been really productive. Exhausting at times, but very productive indeed and so far, we are really loving Doha Summer 2012!

We are staying in the country for the entire duration of the hottest period in the desert and we just made this the best summer ever for the family.

And this blog is just to highlight that summers in Doha could be very productive if we really want it to be! (BIG NOTE TO OURSELVES!)

Summer in Doha is very awesome! I would love to write all about this but my muscles are aching and the children are already deep in slumber and it's just pure happiness to be with them. And that is really the most awesome of all the blessings we have been receiving so far... Turknoys are all arms length away and we could almost always hug them anytime we want.

Thanks be to God for all the blessings. We are hoping that you are having a sizzling and fabulous summer like we are!

we are loving the heat! ;)

Keep exploring!
 

Summer Activities: Doha Players

Who ever said summer in Doha is boring? They might be partly correct but not for our little Kylie enjoying the Doha Players summer activities. She calls it drama school! Obviously, our family loves drama a lot. It is my wish that my daughter thrives in drama as much as I did.

This summer activities is so worth it. She is very happy and always excited to go to drama school. She learns a lot and she gets encouraged to read lots of books as well.

Here are just few of the things that she learned for the past two weeks:

One Knight 




Macbeth



Helen of Troy 



Greece and goddess  (they also study about a specific country during the session " The World Around Us




The important thing is that she is enjoying a lot! That's what matters most. That and the bonus of some quite time at home. (Mommy kids a lot, ha!)


Keep exploring!
 

How To Encourage Summer Reading in Doha

reading indoors outside! 

It's that time of the year again that we spend a lot of time indoors that reading indoors could be so boring. As much as we want to read outdoors and enjoy the breeze, the extreme heat outside may prevent us from doing so. This will not stop us. We commit ourselves to everyday reading. And we have this in writing! We joined the summer reading challenge 2012. And it's going to be fun!

We will definitely prevent "summer slide" where reading abilities lapse during summer. NO!


Here are the tips from Jen Robinson on how to encourage summer reading:

Parents can help make this magic happen. Here are a few simple tips:

1. Make sure your kids have plenty of books. Take your kids to the library or the bookstore (new or used) to pick out some interesting new books. Go to the library every week, if you can. Go to yard sales, and sort through the books there. Organize a book swap in your neighborhood or scout troop. Do whatever you need to do to keep a fresh supply of books around.
2. Always pack up books whenever you go somewhere, for your kids and for yourself (including audiobooks). Make sure your kids see you reading, whether it's on the beach, while waiting for the softball game to start, or at home. Bonus points if you spend some of your time reading kids' books. Then you can also talk about the books with your kids, and recommend other books that they might like. Listen to audiobooks in the car, especially on long trips. Pick books that are fun and/or exciting. You'll find that these add to your family's common frame of reference. And they makes the drives go by a lot more quickly.
3. Encourage social reading. If your child wants to read a book because other kids are reading it (and you don't have personal reasons why you think your child isn't ready for the book), by all means get a copy. This reinforces the idea that reading is cool, and gives your child a chance to talk about the book with others. Consider buying two copies of the same book, for your child and his or her best friend, so that they can both read it. Maybe start a book club. Take the kids to see a movie based on a book, and also read the book. Do whatever you can to make reading cool and social.
4. Try not to get hung up on whether or not your child "could" be reading more advanced books. Do you read Proust on your summer vacation, or do you read James Patterson? Kids turn to books for a respite from cares sometimes, just as adults do. They don't want everything they read to educational. There's no harm in suggesting the occasional book that's more of a stretch, but don't push too hard. If kids find reading enjoyable, they'll keep reading, and they will eventually push themselves. For that to happen, they just need to spend time reading.
5. Try to keep some time available for reading. This is perhaps the hardest thing, as schedules fill up with sports, cookouts, trips and movies. These are all fun, too. But if you ask me, there's no substitute for the occasional afternoon spent perched up in a tree exploring far-off worlds through books.
And that's it. A prescription for getting kids reading this summer. Get great books, take them places with you, make reading social, keep reading from being a chore or a contest, and leave a bit of time for reading on the schedule. There are no guarantees, of course. But if you do all of these things, you're setting the stage for a reading-filled summer.

Definitely awesome tips to follow! We also have our own tips but still work in progress.

Keep reading!

Exploring Turkey: Adatepe Village

After enjoying the view from Altar of Zeus, we went to explore Adatepe Village. Adatepe is a small village with beautiful stone houses. For many years, Turks and Greeks have been living together since "mubadele," or Greek-Turkish migrations. The village is now considered historical site.

The village got more popular after  a couple of movies and Turkish drama or "soap operas". The houses(villas) are a bit expensive when you compare with the modern flats prices in Istanbul.

The current mosque was built during Seljuks time.

In history (and in real life), Adatepe's name first can be seen as Gargaros in the Iliad of Homers. In 1989, Turkish government announced to  keep the site as historical village and did not allowed any new building construction.

We suggest you to visit the site either during sun set or sun rise. The atmosphere  of the village gives you peace and the smells of pine and olive trees makes you hungrier  for a great Turkish village style breakfast there.

During our walk we came across ''SATILIK'' signages or for sale signs in the village but do not expect the village houses a bargain! By buying a house there,  you are having obligation to protect the building and responsible to protect from any damages under the new law set in 1989. If you really want to experience the Turkish village life, you can stay at B&B ''Adatepe Pansion'' which has 9 rooms with fire place. During summer time,  you can have your breakfast in the vineyard.

so this is an old Turkish house door? 

typical turkish/ greek house in a village back in the good old days!

this is so greek for me - leng

FOR SALE! Who wants to buy?

it would be nice to own a house here.. ;)

no restoration allowed! shame.. 

we were here! 

HELLO? ANYBODY HOME??

THIS HOUSE IS OCCUPIED; WE SAW THE OWNERS! ***ENVIOUS!**

HE ENJOYED THE VIEW - SO PEACEFUL ACCORDING TO HIM!

THE TURK PARTICULARLY LOVED THIS ONE

THE PINAY LIKED THIS ONE!

I LOVE THE GRAPE VINE THING GOING ON IN SOME OF THE HOUSES!

WE SHOULD HAVE STAYED HERE!

What a lovely place ADATEPE is - home of soap opera tapings, historical and touristic! We are glad we visited the place but don't think coming back anytime soon. We've seen it all in one visit or so we think.




Keep exploring!

Exploring Turkey: Troy or Troia

We celebrated our birthdays visiting Troia and exploring the facts and legend of the place! It was such an awesome experience to be able to walk and explore the place. We can almost feel the history and legends unfolding as we walk in summer heat.

Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida - Wikipedia

It gives peace in our hearts yet provides so much thoughts in our minds - it really was mixed emotions walking the path and seeing the ruins right before our very eyes.

For me, it was a dream come true; for the husband, it was nostalgic as he visited the place several times back in his university days; for the kids, there were DUH moments and what-the-heck-is-my-mom-talking-about moments. Maybe it was too early for a 5-year old and a 2-year old to appreciate the place.  We will definitely come back and will be prepared for the kids in the future to discuss mythology.

TROIA MAP - it was a long walk but sooo worth it! 

A Hearty Welcome to Troia!

Troia Explorer I am! 

The Trojan Horse - find me, I'm inside!

The different  civilization in Troia  

PORTION OF THE LEGENDARY WALLS OF TROY VII (yeah  - the one which starred Brad Pitt movie)  

Another portion of the legenday wall! 

Our tired 2-year old by the legendary stairs! 

There are other factual and legendary artifacts and ruins we were able to explore, a lot of which already skipped our mind yet the memory and longing to go back to Troy remains. And maybe then, we will be able to document our visit way better than this!


Keep exploring!
 

Exploring Edremit: Altar of Zeus

Another semi-trekking opportunity for us is to visit Altar of Zeus in Edremit, Turkey. How cool it is to visit the altar for Zeus, no other than the King of the Gods during the Polytheist Era! Gotta love that  idea, if not the long walk up under the pine trees. It is approximately 900 meters to reach the altar from where we parked the car.

The altar is a huge rock on the edge of the cliff with a small stair carved to the rock to get to the altar. Right after this stair is a plane rectangular surface. The view is simply breathtaking.  A real splendid landscape!

This is definitely one summer activity for kids in Turkey. A lesson in mythology and geography at the same time! Awesome!

K1 dreading the trek up to the Zeus Altar - 900 meters to go! 

K2 already looking tired while Dad is very happy! 

Leng and Betul and the gorgeous view of Adetepe village (almost visible)

closer view of Adetepe village from the trek leading to Zeus Altar!

we just love the view going up!

View from Zeus Altar! Heavenly 

Kids got tired so they sat on the altar! 

By the cliff of the altar, other side of the view! Still breathtaking!

Keep exploring!

HALO HALO IN DOHA!

We are Pinoy and we crave "halo halo" in summer. Since it's summer half of the year in Doha, we are almost always craving for halo halo.

And the things we have to do just to experience this concoction of shaved ice, evaporated milk and lots of Filipino sweets - Ube, leche plan, jelly, sweetened banana, sweetened langka, sweetened coconut, ice cream and could be much more.

So far, we only tried the one in Chowking! But so far, it's all worth it - the queue, the traffic just to get to Chowking, the crowd waiting for halo halo in the restaurant, the agonizing anticipation.......


You can just tell, we love halo halo. And I am sure, every Pinoy does - in Doha and everywhere!

Tita Ayish enjoying her halo halo

Kylie enjoying her Halo Halo 

Tita Minay enjoying her Nai Chai

The Turk Enjoying his Halo Halo 

THIS IS HOW YOU EAT HALO HALO 

Popsicles!

The heat has been so intolerable lately. The kids were inside a lot. And as much as we want to go out, there was so much dust and did I say, heat? It's HOT outside.

Without anything prepared for a science experiment, much more for a science experiment, our always creative first born (K1) prepared her very own popsicle to demonstrate that liquid can be changed to solid by freezing. Awesome!

Her very own popsicle using plastic cups, food color, sugar, water and plastic knives - since we don't have popsicles! Great, right? Inventive!

Popsicles, anyone?

Her own home made popsicle !

it should be called Ice on Knives! HA! HA!

Keep exploring!

Messy Play: Paintings

Of course most of the messy plays we do, we get paintings out of it. But the idea of messy play is more like "it's a journey, not the destination kind of principle. Well, in messy play, it's not the output, but the method and enjoyment during playing.

I am not an expert (nor knowledgeable much) in messy play but I always make sure that the kids enjoy playing and hanging out inside the house. Life is way too short not to enjoy things we do at the moment.

I can't help it when they occasionally come up with great works. Of course, they always come up with great works in my eyes.

Who needs wall decor when I got these?

paintings with their dad!

greatest wall painting in the house  - so far!

Keep Exploring!

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