Home sweet home

It's amazing how things can change in just a week. We came back to a much cooler Doha (the breeze actually feels nice, although the thermometer remains around 30 degrees Celsius). In addition, we noticed that a good amount of progress has been made in the (de)construction across the street. By that I mean that the hole they're digging is much deeper and wider now!

Probably the hardest thing for us to do was to start speaking English again. When we got on our Gulf Air flight in Paris, both Darren and I greeted the flight attendants with "Bonjour." Probably not a single Gulf Air employee on that plane spoke French, though, making it much more effective to ask for apple juice than "jus du pomme." In Bahrain where we transferred planes, I said "Merci" to the gentleman who tore my boarding pass (I'm not sure what his job title is - you know, the last person you have contact with before walking down the platform toward the plane), although he was probably from an Arabic-speaking family. It was just habit.

We had a fantastic time away, but it's good to be home. Yes, home. When we were in Paris and someone asked where we were from I would always answer Canada, while Darren would say Qatar. I think it was just habit on my part because Qatar *is* home. Leaving for a few days has made it feel moreso thus.

Highlights from our week away will follow, but for now it's good to be home.