Saturday night I got back from Chicago, my first trip back to North America – land of bacon and decent water pressure! Although feeling a little jet-lagged after a longer than expected return flight due to a missed (by 5 minutes) connection in London, I am feeling rather good about being back in Doha. It was doubtful for a while, as it was so wonderful to see my family and to enjoy so much of those few things I miss about North American life.
When I arrived in Chicago (a bit earlier than scheduled, believe it or not), I rented a car and headed to my sister’s house. I realized when I arrived there that she was at the airport picking up my mother. I thought I remembered the combination to their garage door opener, but no, I didn’t; and so I couldn’t get into the house. It was rather chilly for this Doha girl, so I thought, “I’m not sitting in the car and waiting for them to get back. Hmmmm, I know! I’ll go shopping!” Two of my favourite bargain stores – Marshall’s and Dress Barn are a couple of blocks from my sister’s house. Well, let me tell you, the best thing you can do after you’ve been awake for 26 hours is to go shopping!
I spent a wonderful weekend catching up with my entire family. It was so good to see my two little grandchildren (the big one couldn’t make it). The biggest change I saw was in 3-year-old Layton who now speaks far more clearly than he did when I left Calgary. He is so funny and adorable (of course)! Five-year-old Anais is clever and so much fun - oh, and adorable, too. I love them so much. Thank goodness for Skype so I can keep up with them. Ayn tells me that Layton just realized a couple of weeks ago that Grandma isn’t living in her house in Calgary right now, and is quite amazed by it all.
Following a wonderful 90th birthday celebration for my mother, I headed downtown for a professional conference. It was a huge conference and most of the sessions I chose to attend were interesting – but I ended up choosing a couple of duds. I had a couple of days after the conference to be a tourist in the city I grew up in. I haven’t walked so much in months. Chicago is a very walkable city, and there is so much to see . . . and so much wonderful shopping!!! I must admit I became a bit melancholy since this is the city Bill and I enjoyed so much when we were young and foolish, and it made me miss him very much. I managed to eat my way through the city enjoying all those things for which Chicago is so famous – Chicago hot dogs, deep dish pizza, Italian beef sandwiches; and of course I had to have bacon every day!!!
The flight back, including the missed connection, necessitated a 5 hour wait for the next flight out. The silver lining was that it was an empty flight and we were able to take over entire center rows to stretch out and sleep. On the flights to Chicago I managed to watch 5 (count ‘em, 5!) movies; but on the way back I was too tired to stay awake for the length of time it would take to watch even one movie! Now it is back to the routine in Doha.
I just don’t know where the time goes – I can’t believe I’ve been here 5 months already! Things that seemed so foreign are now so “normal”. I went to the souks the other night, and it seemed like just going to the mall. I remember my first trip there I looked around and thought, “I never in a million years would have imagined being in a place like this.” I hope I don’t become blasé and completely lose the wonder of it all.
