Holiday Cheer!

Well sorry for the long delay AGAIN. Clearly I'm failing at communication of late, but I'm going to pull the sick girl card again. I've been back to school- the children were so excited. I think some of them thought I wasn't coming back- mostly due to their slightly stunned faces when I walked into the classroom on Tuesday. They kept looking at me like I was about to vanish into thin air the whole week. And when I left the room for my lunch they kept saying, "Teacher, where you go? Where? Stay here." So I clearly capitalized upon their fear and told them if they were naughty I wouldn't come back again. At the end of my first day back I gave them all stickers and hugs at the end of the day (which I never do). I get enough of them touching me when it's unsolicited...I don't want them to think I want them to touch me. Plus if you know me you know I don't do hugs. But some of them were so excited. It was kind of cute.

My friend Hayden from college is here visiting because we were supposed to go to Mumbai. Unfortunately we canceled our tickets because I thought going there with a malfunctioning immune system might be the equivalent of throwing myself into the middle of a Doha roundabout. Instead we're going to Istanbul now for five days. I'm quite excited about this. Although I'm not sure if anything we experience will top yesterday's festivities for National Day. National Day is basically the Fourth of July except with more glitter involved. Most people decorate their cars (because when you have exclusively disposable income what's another paint job for your car?) with enormous Qatari flags, the Qatari flag inside a heart, and sparkles. Sparkles. And more sparkles. These cars will slowly peruse the Corniche along the Gulf and proceed to honk at everyone in sight. Whilst men are sitting on the roofs of the Lexii (what is the plural of Lexus?), in traditional dress, barefoot, holding enormous Qatari flags. Hello tradition meets modernity. Thank you Qatar. STILL missed the sheikh though. Devastated.