Eid Mubarak

Interestingly, I blog so infrequently here that I forgot my password for the account. I just spent about fifteen minutes trying different passwords before I gave up and set up another one. Argh. I just don't have the same incentive to blog, to be honest. I have, however, started my Eid break. We don't start classes until the 27th, so until then it'll be late mornings and nights. Since it is still Ramadan, stores are not open nor can we eat in public. So I am finding that most people just stay indoors until after iftar and the weather cools. The store hours are also pretty odd - they'll open from 8am to 1-2pm, and then close until 8:30pm-12am. This explains why traffic is horrific around that time. That's when life is breathed into the city again, with everyone riding their carbohydrate-high. Good times. An evening drive just isn't the same without a Land Cruiser or the like cutting in front of you, forcing you to break just before your face is planted onto their bumpers. Weirdly, traffic gets worse during Ramadan, post-iftar. Argh times two.

In the end, I didn't end up traveling for Eid. I had contemplated it but decided that I'll wait until the next Eid, inshallah. I don't know exactly where I'll go but I'll use this time to figure that out, hopefully. To be frank, I have been feeling lazy as of late. After cleaning most of my flat, I've lost the incentive to try and clean up the rest, namely one of my bathrooms. One thing I did accomplish, however, is signing up for the gym which will be available for me in October. I haven't really worked out since June (tee hee) and it's about time I go back. I know I've gotten soft since then and want to tone up again. One good thing though, is that my back isn't as bad as it was before. I have been trying to keep up with the exercises that my chiropractor (in Toronto) had recommended I do. So I have been doing them and I have to admit, my back seems stronger. Yay for my back! Double yay for my chiropractor!

The new cohort of teachers are here and I've met a few of them. A lot of them seemed shell-shocked but I completely empathize. I can still remember what it felt like to first arrive here, especially if you've never been to the Gulf. Others seem pretty well-adjusted as well, but you can't help but notice the ones who look slightly terrified. Whenever I see them, I wonder how bad I looked when I first got here. Anyway, that's neither here nor there... They'll eventually get the hang of it and move on. Inshallah.

That's my update for now. I'll try to post pictures when I can. I'm trying to find new things that I can go to/take pictures of. I can only post so many photos of the skyline, right?

Round Two

So I arrived back in Doha a few days ago, safe and sound. The trip back was less eventful than my flight to Toronto, except for one tiny detail: I was upgraded to First Class on my Toronto-Munich flight! It was heavenly. Once you go First Class, you can't go back (cheesy, but true). And difficult it was, my economy connection from Munich to Doha. Anyway, something that I thought seemed to have eluded me for so long has actually happened. It was a little taste of luxury that I may never get again, who knows.

In any case, when I landed in Doha I took at taxi home which ended up costing a bit more than necessary because the driver gave me 5 Euros as part of my change (he didn't have riyals on him), which turned out to be useless because it was taped together. In other words, the currency exchange place would not accept my taped-together Euro bill. Ah well...I guess it happens here too. Anyway, when I got to my flat, I discovered that all the cockroaches in my building came into my flat to die a nasty death. The flat stank, as expected, and was sprinkled with dead roaches in every room. In every room. It was the worst in my bedroom, right by the ensuite bathroom, where there were at least about 50 dead roaches blocking the entrance. Lovely. Before I could even think about sleeping, I cleaned up all the roaches which took a few hours. Of course, there were some nasty stains on the floor, something like a roach outline of where it lay. That was tackled the next day as I went around the flat scrubbing the floors. Nice homecoming, huh?

Three days later and my flat is liveable once again. I am calm and relaxed enough to do a little blogging, see? So all is well and I'm "home". I have another day of the weekend left before I report back to work on Sunday. And so it begins, my 2nd academic year here. More interesting reporting to come soon, inshallah.