As I was doing my usual bloghopping yesterday, I came across the updated Chanel prices as of December 2012 and was totally sad learning that the two Chanel bags (GST and Reissue) I have been eyeing increased by 450 and 800 Euros  respectively in a span of 5 months.

This made me realize that I should buy them as soon as I can as Chanel prices keep on getting higher and higher. I was thinking of just getting the GST so I could spare the cash to my ongoing business but heck, price increase is such a bummer.

Earlier as I was outside Villagio mall waiting for hubby and hermione to pick me up, a very nice car stopped in front of me. Then a Qatari man driving it went out leaving his car with the engine still running and went inside the mall to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I was really surprised that the car he left just like that is a Rolls Royce! And there's no one inside...

Sometimes I will see a Ferrari, BMW, Brenthley parked reckelessly in the streets. Back home, cars like that are usually guarded with life. Here, its just a car...

And even if you leave your cars with the key and doors open, you will see it the way you left it even hours after. In Ph, even with the driver onboard, it will not discourage the carnappers from getting your vehicles.

Here I don't need to worry that there will be pickpockets hauling over me, even if I leave my iiphone and bag in the table to line up for meals, you can be assure that it will be there. I usually goes to jewelry shops here that sells diamonds, the sales people will leave me with a tray of diamonds to try on. People here are really so thrusting.

Life here is sooooo peaceful, no worrying about carnapper, kidnapper, holdaper and other bad people.

Qatar really never ceases to amaze me. True, this is one of the safest, if not the safest place in the world.

I hope Ph will be like this in the future.

I'm still wide awake right now as I'm preparing a bunch of leche flan for the potluck dinner of the Pinoys in hubby's office. I decided to bring leche flan and shrimp rolls, both my SIL's recipes.

The pinoy mafia as they call themselves usually holds get-together potluck style. Those with wifey here usually brings home-cooked meals while those that are single and busy usually buys from the restos.

It will be my first time to meet the Pinoy Mafia as I was not able to join the previous gatherings. And I'm very confident that my food will be a hit! Yes, my cooking skills have improved tremendously since being a SAHM. Hubby told me that his team mates usually looks forward to his baon or any occassion that will call for my home-cooked meals.

SIL and I are thinking of opening a catering business if ever she and her family will relocate here.

Givency Nightingale is one of the biggest favorites of hollywood stars since its birth. It's a very versatile and not a high maintenance bag which made it more popular.

I like the goatskin with silver hardware givenchy logo, I got a red and black. But the red one is soooo hard to find, I'm glad I got one for myself.

Before I came here I have been reading a lot of blogs/websites regarding life here and one thing I noted is that finding a school can be very challenging for  expatriate parents like us.

Armed with this information, I decided to put "school hunting" on top of our priority list. I intend to start reviewing schools since January, however, I got sidetracked with the Euro tour and business ideas. It was just last week of February that I was able to finalize my school list.

There are a lot of schools to choose from american, canadian, british, filipino and other schools that caters to expatriate and local students. We wanted to enroll our little one to a british school, however, majority of the british schools here holds a very long waiting list, and most of them have to give priorities to british nationals.

I send out 2 applications (since most are not accepting new applications already), to Parkhouse English School and Newton British School. I already knew that Parkhouse is a long shot since one my friends here is waiting for 2 years already to get her daughter into that school. I'm settled on enrolling her to one of the Philippine schools here while we are in the waiting list of british schools. Newton Bristish School scheduled Hermione for an assessment/test after receiving our application, we had to pay Qr 200 fee, there are some schools which also collects application fee from Qr 100 to Qr 500 apart from the assessment/test fee.

Hubby was quite anxious that Hermione might not pass the test since she have not gone any formal schooling yet (oppose to other kids here that are already in school from age 2), I on the other hand is very confident that my little girl would pass it since she is very familiar with all the colors, letters, shapes (even up to octagon level hehe), numbers and she speaks english very fluently since its her first language.

Her Daddy requested to leave the office early during the testing day since I don't  have a license yet and he does not want to miss Hermione's test day. Hermione was able to answer all the questions correctly! However we were not that positive that she will be considered since there are a lot of applicants. So imagine my disbelief upon receiving a call the next morning telling me that my little girl has passed the test and they are giving her a slot. In my excitement I was not able to ask for what level she is being considered haha. I wasn't also expecting the result to be given a day after since we were advised to wait for at least a week.


We had to pay a whooping Qr 3,650 as registration fee the next working day so they can officially reserve the slot for us. That is just registration fee, that's almost Php 42K and a whole year's tuition fee back home in a private school.

If you happen to be wondering how much tuition fees here for pre-schooler, it starts with Qr 25K to Qr 55K on a full year term. Come to think of it, its more than half million in pesos for pre-school alone! That is for american and british schools, philippine and other schools are cheaper.

So if you're thinking of reserving a slot to several schools cause you are not sure  yet where you really want your kiddos to enroll, you have to pay registration fees to each one of the schools so they will hold the slot for you or they will give it to others who passed and interested. We're so thankful that hubby's company pays for our kid/s schooling or I will be dreading every time school opens.

Since getting into a british school is hard enough, we didn't think twice and reserved the slot for Hermione right away. Glad we did, since after a week Parkhouse English School replied to us that they will not be able to invite our child even for assessment since the waiting list is so full already.

By the way Hermione will start as Kindergarden 2 here come September, she skipped Nursery and Kindergarden 1 and we have chosen French lesson as her elective class.
I'm really one proud mommy!