in the good old summertime

The influx of mangoes at the grocery store (six or seven types from four or five countries!) as well as Saudi watermelons for 1 QR/kilo indicated to me earlier this week that the season had changed, as much as it can in the perpetual summer of the Gulf. As the fruit selection at Carrefour increases dramatically, the number of TAs in Doha has changed with similar abruptness but unfortunately in the inverse direction. Which is a long way of saying all of my friends have departed on their various paths back to America, through India, Europe, SE Asia, or after one last hurrah in the Middle East. I have a week or so left of work in Qatar, two weeks in Indonesia and then a few more bonus Doha Days to ship, pack, clean, and finally bid adieu to the darling tiny falafel sandwiches at Turkish Pizza.

Watching my friends get ready to leave last week was sad, but the way in which each went about it illuminated their characters in ways that I will remember fondly. Some had everything planned in advance - shipping, tickets, key returns, car wash - and even so, still had to deal with hiccups like a car accident or an agonizing visa delay up until the very last minute. The others threw it all together in the last twenty-four hours before departure, with varying success. Most everyone was quite disheveled when I saw them last. I became extremely antsy to fly again - anywhere! But especially home. This is my longest stretch in Doha (two months, five days) but I am relishing that which there is to relish while I am here.

Had a long lunch with 3 of my ex-students (Is there a better word for this? Should I just call them "my students" forever? How patronizing) this afternoon where we discussed history curricula from the elementary & secondary schools we had gone to. They had been educated in Egypt, Qatar, and Pakistan. It was pretty fun to imagine how incredibly much about pharaohs small Tarek must have had to learn, and to figure out what common world history we had all learned (Mesopotamia, and not much else).

What we remembered learning from geography class was quite hilarious - while I made flashcards for capital cities, Nour was in Doha learning the name and location of each oil and gas well in the Middle East and poor Emad was at one of the famously demanding Indian schools memorizing not just cities, landforms, rainfall, and exports, but also the location of all airports in India - both international and domestic.

In other news, I started doing yoga regularly this semester and I am hooked. I'm looking into throwing down some triangle poses in Indonesia next week.

Indonesia!!!!

Love to all of you so far away.

P.S. Some photos:

Tuesday Orgo Lab.

For video footage of what goes down in orgo lab, check out Yazan's excellent mockumentary presented at the premed completion ceremony (basically graduation but without degrees).


Rare documentation of the TAs' Number One Favorite Activity (After Grading): Anticipating Doha in June by Spending Hours in the Steam Room and Cooling Off in the Jacuzzi. I think we made the most of our luxury hotel lifestyle before heading to graduate student housing.