San Juan 2006 Year End Leter

As 2007 nears, our annual year-end letter is again sent to families and friends who we think would like to know more of what 2006 brought to us and our expectations for the year to come.

The first quarter of the year was actually spent more in the Philippines than in Qatar. For starters, we were able to spend Christmas (2005) and New Year in the Philippines, something we haven’t done for 3 years. We returned to Doha, Qatar on the 3rd week of January only to leave again for the Philippines in March for our 2006 yearly vacation.

We took advantage of the summer season in the Philippines and got ourselves busy going to places like Puerto Galera, Subic Bay Ocean Adventure (where Xiane and Mavis got to touch a Dolphin), Alfredo’s (a local resort in Angeles), and Manila Zoo. We also got to prepare and celebrate Grandma’s 72 nd birthday (Mavis’ side) in Iba, Zambales which everyone truly enjoyed. Mavis and I also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary (May 5) by indulging ourselves on a dinner date in Holiday Inn, Clark. Although we would have wanted to celebrate Xiane’s birthday (June 17) in the Philippines, we had to go back to Qatar. 

We all got to celebrate all of our birthdays in Qatar. Xiane had a small party in June (17), Mavis’ had her in November (25) while I got mine in September (28). We usually just invite close friends at home, cook some food and sing and chat till late in the evening.

Mavis went to driving school early August. Although she already had a driver’s license from the Philippines, we decided that it was better that she gets enrolled in a 12-day course so as to prepare her for her actual driving test. After finishing the course and failing twice on her driving exam, she was getting depressed at the thought of not passing and requiring her to take a 25-50 day course which would QR1800 (US$493 or   close to Php 25,000)! Third time was a charm as she eventually passed and got her license to drive around the crazy streets of Doha.

Speaking about Xiane’s schooling, we got her enrolled in Nursery classes at Mulberry Bush mid-September as we thought that it would prepare her for the big school next year. Mulberrybush is also a good place for her to be able to socialize with other kids her age. It’s a multi-cultural pre-school which she attends thrice a week. She does enjoy going to school, meeting new playmates, learning new songs, painting and writing.  We would often hear her sing new songs she learned from school and would be proud of herself when she gets a star for her school exercises. Well, she also got to experience being placed in the "Naughty corner" for being too sociable (you know what I mean) and for not wanting to stay in one place when asked. Hopefully, we would be able to get her into one of the good schools in Qatar next school year as it is quite difficult to get placement in these schools.

We’re already close to spending a year and a half in Qatar and we’ve found it to be a more interesting place than Bahrain and Saudi. All in all, Year 2006 has been truly blessed as were the past years. We are very thankful to God for all the wonderful blessings that He continues to shower us every single year. We thank the Lord not only for material abundance but most of all for our loving and supportive families; for wonderful friends who make life away from home less sad and lonely; for old friends who have remained to be good friends through the years; and last but not least for the gift of health.

We look forward to a wonderful year ahead of us, a year filled with so many wonderful blessings not only for us but also for our dear families and friends. Here’s wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Prosperous New Year! Till our next year ender.