Friday thoughts

It's Friday, the day of rest! :)

We got ourselves up early this morning just in case the couple who offered to give us a ride to church were planning on going to the 8:30 service. We would have arranged it last night but there was a problem with Q-Tel's tower and the entire city was without mobile service for a good part of the evening. As it turns out, they were going to the 10:30 service, so we had some time to relax this morning. Relax for Darren meant play spider solitaire, and for me it meant try out our new swiffer-esque mop. Which, incidently, works better than I had hoped on our floors. Anyway...

The church rents a villa to use for their services. It holds about 200 people and it was PACKED. We had to sit in the very back row and we weren't even late. The air conditioners were working hard, but whenever you get that many people in a single room, it's going to be hot. Rather than sandals - which allow air to circulate and keep one's feet cool(er), I foolishly wore my wedding sneakers. So in order to help maintain a reasonable body temperature, I took them off. I hope no one was offended by my barefootedness.

The service itself - for better or worse - was very similar to what one would experience in North America. This is not surprising since the majority of the attenders are from Canada and the US. There were some South Africans and Europeans, and at least two people from China, as well. But the church is definitely an expat church. Again, this is not surprising. Qatar, an Islamic nation, is willing to allow foreigners to worship in their preferred way (there are also Buddhist, Bah'ai and Hindu meetins in the city), but I'm not sure what would happen if a Qatari decided to convert.

After the service, we came home and had lunch, followed by a long afternoon of napping. On our new sheets. We really love our new sheets. It's amazing how different 180 and 300-thread counts feel! And now the sun is beginning to set and we are discussing how to spend our evening. I'm sure it will involve a taxi ride to an airconditioned location, a bite to eat and perhaps even the picking up of something else from our never-ending "not essential, but would be helpful" list - like a computer desk, or a vaccuum cleaner, or a strainer. We're so extravagent, aren't we? :)