Catching up

I have been negligent and need to catch you up on the Vietnam/Cambodia trip. Things will be a little out of chronological order because I posted the Halong Bay Christmas Eve/Day photos before I finished what we did in Danang and Hoi An, so I'll be backing up a bit.

On the way to Hoi An, we would have driven over the Truong Son Mountain Range, but it was so rainy and foggy that we took a 6 km long tunnel instead. It was much safer, but a bit disappointing that the weather was so socked in that we couldn't take the other route and see what is supposed to be spectacular views of the South China Sea. We stopped in Danang and visited the Cham Museum which is an open air museum of sandstone carvings. The Cham people are an ethnic group that likely started as Hindus but later followed Islam. The carvings we saw reflected both traditions. The museum also had photos of present day Cham celebrations and festivals - very colorful events.

We resumed our drive and passed China Beach which is a very long beach area where American GI's took their R&R during the Vietnam War. It is now being developed (over-developed, in my view) with large 5-star resorts and hotels. The up-side is that it is bringing much needed employment to this impoverished country.

We then stopped at the Marble Mountains which are five hills made of, you guessed it - marble. They were once islands and are said to represent each of the elements - metal, water, wind, fire, earth. There are many caves in which Buddhist sanctuaries have been built over the centuries. We took an elevator (yes, I wimped out on the climb) to near the top (but there was some climbing left to do once we got off the elevator) and visited some of these cave sanctuaries which were so mystical and awe inspiring. We walked all the way back down and it was a fairly difficult since the stairs were not of uniform height, were made of marble and were quite slippery, being made of marble.

Inside the cave temple at the Marble Mountains

On we went to Hoi An - a lovely, now small city which was once a major port for ships traveling to the far east from Portugal, Italy, Spain, etc. The market here was so interesting and very colorful.

Market at Hoi An

We took a boat trip on the Thun Bon River to Kim Bing Village on Cam Kim Island where there are families who have been shipbuilders and wood workers for generations. We then visited a silk making shop where we saw a demonstration of how the silk is gathered, spun and woven - and of course, saw a variety of beautiful products they make from the silk. Couldn't resist and had a silk jacket made - delivered that evening to the hotel.

Silk lanterns outside of silk shop

The next day was Christmas Eve and we left Hoi An very early to fly to Hanoi where we were picked up and driven for 3 hours to where we boarded the boat for our cruise on Halong Bay (see previous post). The area is a World Heritage site which is made up of about 2,000 limestone karsts and islets of different sizes and shapes, each with lush vegetation and rising dramatically out of the ocean. This is obviously a huge tourist draw.

We arrived at the port where thousands of tourists were milling around and cruise companies were collecting their passengers and getting them onto the small tenders that transfer them out to the cruise ships. There were passengers going on day cruises as well as those, like us, who were going on overnight cruises. What a circus it was! But we eventually got on our tender which took us on about a 20-minute ride out to our large wooden junk. It was a lovely ship with about 28 cabins. We were first taken to the dining room where we met some of our fellow passengers - a couple from Hawaii and another couple from St. Petersburg, Russia shared our table. The man from Hawaii was about my age and was originally from Chicago so we shared some stories. The Russian couple were very interesting - he is a lawyer whose English was a fair bit stronger than his wife's - an economist. There were a couple of excursions from the ship to some caves, but I took a pass on those, feeling a real need for some down time; besides, the scenery was amazing in and of itself!

It was unseasonably cold, however, and our Christmas Eve dinner was held on the upper deck where we were all wearing jackets - Pam even had on a toque and the Hawaiian couple had on parkas! The crew had planned all sorts of games and activities for the passengers for Christmas Eve. They handed out a list of games and the rules for the games; however, the English was so bad that we really couldn't figure out the rules! We had to wait for demonstrations and eventually got them figured out - with much laughter!

On Christmas morning there was a huge brunch on board the ship, another excursion to some caves and then we cruised back to port. The day was beautiful and I spent the cruising time on the top deck enjoying the sunshine which we hadn't seen for 4 days. When we got back to port the tender took us to a different place than where we had been dropped off. Everyone else seemed to have drivers waiting for them, but our driver was no where to be seen. A nice British family noticed that we were without driver and offered to have their driver phone our tour company. Thank goodness for that. He found that our driver had not been informed that we would be dropped off at another location, and was waiting for us where he had dropped us off the day before. It was only a 5 minute drive, but when our driver arrived he was stuttering and seemed so terrified. I imagined he thought he might lose his job or at least his tip because of the mix-up. I felt so bad for him and tried to reassure him that all was ok.

So off we went back to Hanoi where we met a new guide who, because we arrived quite late in the afternoon, took us on a rather whirlwind tour. We started at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum where we witnessed the changing of the guard. Then we went on to a pagoda, the name of which I can't remember. It was so interesting, tho, and it was the first university in Vietnam. We then were taken on a cyclo tour - that's in a cycle-driven rickshaw. We were toured all around the old quarter of Hanoi during the early evening when there was lots of traffic - the lights were beautiful. We were dropped at the theatre where we saw a water puppet show.

Pam in front of the Opera House on our cyclo tour of Hanoi

The next day, following some free time to wander the old quarter and poke into the many shops, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was starting to feel quite tired and not quite right. We arrived in Siem Reap at about 9:00 p.m. and taken immediately to our hotel. The next day I woke up with a bad case of "la tourista" and could not leave the hotel. Pam and our guide went to see a few sites and brought me some Imodium. By 4:00 I was feeling better and we headed out to see the Bayon Temple. It was amazing! This is the temple that has huge stone faces on the exterior surfaces. We were fortunately enough to see this at sunset when the light makes it look so mystical and serene. Quite an experience.

Bayon Temple - see the faces in the side of the rock?

On our last day we had to make up for lost time. My body was suffering from being so dehydrated despite the massive amount of water I drank. Everything was still off-kilter. We headed off to Angkor Wat - the largest and most well-known temple.

Angkor Wat temple

You walk in about a half kilometre to the temple. It was beautiful and there was so much to learn about it. Our guide was so knowledgeable and told us about the temple in great detail. However, it was very hot and after about an hour, I was starting to show signs of heat stroke. Our guide had to get our driver to come into the grounds (usually not permitted) to pick me up. A half hour of sitting under the air conditioning vent revived me enough, however, that I was than able to walk around the next temple. After lunch we went to Ta Prohm which is being excavated, but is overgrown with tree roots and foliage - from the size of the trees and roots, it is amazing to think how long this site had gone before being discovered.

Tree growing up over Ta Prohm temple

That evening we headed back to Doha on an overnight flight through Bangkok. The entire trip to Vietnam and Cambodia was wonderful, but it is always great to get home to my own bed and belongings. We had a few days before returning to work, and it was a good thing we did as I had come down with a low-grade cold/fever thing and was generally just exhausted from being on the go for 12 days. I was truly grateful for the down time.

New Year's Eve was a non-event for me and on New Year's Day I think I slept the entire day. We headed back to work on Jan. 2nd and hit the ground running as we prepared for the new batch of students and the returning students. Our numbers are growing and things have been very busy. It's a good busy as we are so pleased that interest in our programs is growing.

One of my favorite places to go here in Doha is The King of Frames - a framing shop that is a real dive, but so much fun. Choosing mats and frames for pictures I have picked up in my travels is about the only creative thing I do and I love it! The 'King' is an old man who normally sits in a chair by the door and says nothing while we (I generally go to this shop with at least 2 friends) pull out our pictures and try different colour mats and pull frame samples off the wall and try them out. There are 3-4 other men who work there who offer their opinions and suggestions. The 'King' would only speak up when we asked, "how much?" He says an amount (which is ridiculously low by Canadian standards - labor is very cheap here). There are no receipts, no one writes down frame or mat numbers or colors - they just remember it all. Occasionally, if there are more than three of us, he will write down on a scrap of paper the number of pieces and the amount. You can leave a deposit, if you want; or you can just pay the whole amount when you pick up your pictures - usually only about 2-3 days later. The results are always beautiful. These guys have gotten to know us - we are rather good, frequent customers. I used to imagine that when we walked in they would roll their eyes and think, "Not these crazy Canadian ladies again!" But now I think they actually like us and look forward to when we come. In fact, the old guy has gotten a hair cut, dresses a bit better and the last two times we came in, he talked and talked like we were old friends! He's looking for a new wife because he only has 13 children and wants to have more than his mother did - 19! I think I'm out of the running for that honored role!

I have to learn a new skill now - how to use a blow dryer, flat iron and/or curling iron. I had my hair straightened! Since I've not had long hair since my kids were tiny - more than 30 years ago - I need to learn to use the new peraphernalia to keep it straight. Wish me luck!

Do you recognize this woman?!

Merry Christmas . . .

. . . from Halong Bay, Vietnam:

. . . 'nough said!

More Vietnam

Have had three surprising days in Vietnam. I don't know what I expected, but have very much enjoyed these past few days. On Monday, we drove out of Saigon for about an hour and a half to My Tho, where first we visited the Vinh Trang Pagoda. I loved the huge laughing Buddha!

Like many of the temples in Vietnam, it is not for only one religion so you see a mixture of Buddhist, Daoist, and Hindu statues in the temples, which we found very interesting.

We then headed to the harbour where we boarded a boat to some islands in the Mekong Delta. On one of the islands there are several family-run operations where they make everything from coconuts - candy (which is really good), carvings, etc. The scenery was beautiful, but seeing the industriousness of the people and how they wasted nothing was so interesting. Following a tour of one of the businesses, we were taken across island in a horse cart. Vietnamese horses are quite small - about pony size, but they are full-grown horses. The carts are mostly driven by young women. We went to another family-run place that produces honey and all sort of sweet, honey-based items. We saw a boa constrictor there (ugh) and had a short concert of Vietnamese music by a group of about 8 musicians and singers. The performance was quite good. We then took a small boat navigated by an oar in the back of the boat (sort of like a gondola) up a small canal to another part of the island where we had a wonderful lunch before we got back on the larger boat to head back to the mainland.

Back in Saigon we were taken to Chinatown and the main wholesale market. The place was so crowded and busy - the last time I felt this claustrophobic and overwhelmed by a crowd was in the bazaar district of Istanbul. I had to keep talking to myself so as not to panic! The hustle and bustle of the market was incredible, and the amount and type of merchandise was mind-boggling.

Yesterday we flew to Hue where we were met by a new guide, Thanh, who is a young, very animated and funny man. Since we arrived at about 12:30 our first stop was for lunch. We are never going to starve here in Vietnam - the food has been very plentiful; Pam and I can't believe the quantities of food we have been served - and it has all been so good! Anyway, lunch was in a former French colonial house which was very lovely with lots of shiny woodwork. After lunch we went to the Imperial City which is modelled after the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Pam and me in front of the Imperial City, Hue, Vietnam

The city was built in the 19th century by the last of the dynasties to rule Vietnam, the Nguyen Dynasty. The Imperial City was attacked during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and bears many scars, and was bombed and very badly damaged in 1969. The site is now a UNESCO heritage site and is under restoration. Despite the damage, it is still very beautiful and the restoration will be done in time for our grandchildren to be toured through it by Thanh's daughter - who is 2!

Throne in the theatre of the Imperial City in Hue, Vietnam. The king sat facing the audience and the performers performed to the king; so the performers' backs were to the rest of the audience!

Last night we walked from our lovely art deco hotel to the central business district where there are lots of shops selling silk embroidered pictures, lacquered art works, clothing, leather goods, paintings, etc., etc.We had a not-so-great dinner - badly done western-style food. We will likely stick to Vietnamese food from now on. It was quite dark and very rainy, so the walk back to the hotel was kind of creepy. The creepiness was capped off when I saw a dead rat in the gutter!! Anyone who knows me knows that I have such an aversion to rodents; this really creeped me out!!! Made it back to the hotel and had a great night's sleep!

Today we took a boat trip down the Perfume River for about an hour to the Thien Mu Pagoda. This is a Buddhist monastery and is such a lovely and peaceful setting. Some of the novice monks are orphans who were deposited at the monastery as newborns whose mothers could not care for them; some are sons of families who want their sons to become monks. The pagoda and surrounding buildings are beautiful. This is also the monastery of the monk who drove to Saigon and lit himself on fire to protest the government's anti-Buddhist law in 1963. I remember that event so vividly from the news reports. The car he drove to Saigon and news photos of the event are on display here.

We then went to the Tu Duc Tomb (fourth, I think, emperor of the Nguyen dynasty). Again, the grounds and buildings are lovely, although very much deteriorated through neglect and natural weather damage. It is also now a UNESCO site so funds are available to restore the buildings and grounds. The work is ongoing and what has been restored is beautiful; but the parts that are yet to be restored have their own beauty as well. As with the Imperial City that we visited yesterday, I like to walk around these places and think about what it might have been like to live there during those times. What a different life it would have been!

We stopped on the way to our next visit site to see how they make the Vietnamese bamboo hats and incense. There were several vendors selling fruit as well and we bought a mangosteen which was really delicious - looked like garlic cloves, but tasted like custard, if you can imagine!

Our guide, Thanh, with the woman who sold us the mangosteen.

Our last stop of the day (besides lunch, of course) was Khai Dinh which is the last monument built during the Nguyen dynasty. It has beautiful mosaics and gold work. Since this dynasty went until 1943, there were photos of the last emperor and his family. I always find that photos, unlike painted portraits, help me understand better and to realize these were real people. The monument has some long stairways and some wonderful sculptures. The architecture reflected influences from Europe as well as from Buddhist and Chinese styles.

We then had another fabulous lunch in a beautiful setting. I've been so impressed that we have not had the same dishes over and over again at these lunches that have been included in our tour. Each meal has been unique . . . and delicious!

Tonight we are going to treat our tired feet to a massage at the spa at our hotel. They deserve some pampering after all the walking on brick and stone walkways!

Good Morning Vietnam!!

OK, I'm sorry, that is a really bad title, but here I am in Vietnam - a place that figured so prominently in my youth (the mid-to-late 60's). To visit the country where a war was fought that so affected my generation, and the first war to be brought to our homes daily via television is quite interesting and amazing to me. I certainly never thought I would be able to visit this beautiful country. Vietnam has been fighting off invaders for so many millenia - and all they wanted was to be one country and to determine their own government. I remember about 10-15 years ago when someone said to me that Vietnam had the most beautiful beaches they had ever seen. I was astonished; that just didn't compute in my head because all I could remember of Vietnam was Agent Orange and how the country had been stripped of its beauty.

Ho Chi Minh City is big and busy. There are motorbikes EVERYWHERE - and it's a good thing. If all these people were driving cars the traffic would be ridiculous. As it is no one can go very fast and it is truly like a dance to watch how cars, trucks and motorbikes all jockey for position on the roads. Fortunately, helmets are required by law, and although we never went over 60 km/hour (and I don't think anyone else goes over that speed) but I wonder if there are still a lot of accidents and injuries. I'll have to ask our guide - Hong, who is so knowledgeable.

This is indeed a beautiful country with kind and gentle people. They have chosen to forgive their invaders - from the Mongols, to the Chinese, to the French to the Americans, and to simply move on; looking forward instead of wallowing in the past.

Today we began by touring the Cu Chi tunnels - the 210 mile network of tunnels used by guerilla fighters from 1940 through to the end of the Vietnam War (the war for reunification) in 1975.

Me at the entrance to a tunnel -that's as far in as I would go since I'm claustrophobic!

The tunnels are now part of an historic site where tourists learn about how the traps and weapons used by the guerillas in the Vietnam War were all made from pieces of bombs and artillery courtesy of the US military! They were quite ingenious in creating some really nasty traps and weapons. It was actually quite a disturbing place to visit - there is actually a shooting range where tourists can pay to shoot some of the guns used in the war. So all around us we heard gun-fire - which was unnerving, but I had to remember that this is what the Vietnamese people lived with on a daily basis.

From Cu Chi we went back to Ho Chi Minh City, had a wonderful Vietnamese lunch with each dish presented as a sculpture and then went to tour the Reunification Palace. This was formerly the Presidential Palace, built by the French in 1870-something (can't remember the exact year). It was destroyed in a bombing in 1962 and could not be restored. A new palace was built in a totally different style - designed by a Vietnamese architect. It is a beautiful building in which the rooms have been restored to how they were when the president of South Vietnam lived and worked there. It is now open the public as a tourist site. The wall in this photo is all done in lacquered wood and is so beautiful:

This is the palace that the North Vietnamese tank crashed into the gate which resulted in the surrender of the South Vietnamese on April 30, 1975.

We then visited a painted lacquer factory where we saw how they make the beautiful mother-of-pearl and eggshell inlaid pieces. What painstaking work! Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office were the final stops today. The post-office is a pink French Colonial building that is open every day of the year from 7AM to 7 PM.

After a bit of a rest, Pam and I went to a restaurant called Lemon Grass for dinner. The meal was wonderful and there was a woman playing a stringed instrument the name of which I will have to ask our guide tomorrow. The music really added to the atmosphere. After dinner we walked through the neighborhood looking at/in the shops . . . and, of course, picked up a few things!

It is Sunday night, but you would have thought it was New Year's Eve. So many people were out looking at all the Christmas decorations. We asked our guide about Christmas celebrations in Vietnam. He said it is celebrated, but not for the Christian reason; rather it is just a good excuse for a party! There are lots of decorations all over the city - the parks, store windows, hotel lobbies - and it was incredible to see people posing and having their photos taken in front of the decorations. Motorbike traffic was unbelievable - some streets looked like wall-to-wall headlights and helmets! The people were all having such a good time. Unfortunately, my camera battery had died. I will try to get some photos tomorrow night.

PORK!!

I had a BLT sandwich for dinner the other night. This is remarkable in that we have only recently been able to buy pork in Qatar. This is very exciting news indeed! It is sold at the liquor store where only people with permits can buy liquor - and now pork. Go figure!

In November I had the privilege of welcoming 3 of our students to Calgary as they attended the convocation ceremony on main campus. Each student was invited to attend and to bring up to three guests. We had four students who were eligible to graduate, but only three were able to travel to Calgary. They and their guests had a whirlwind 4 days in Calgary. They must have been so tired. One student and her husband had actually just returned from the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca), were home only a few hours and then got on the flight to Calgary. I don't think she had slept in 3 days by the time I met her at the Calgary airport. It was so nice to see the students take part in the very large ceremony. I think they and their families were very impressed and it helped them to feel that they are part of the UofC - which is hard to do when your campus is on the other side of the world! There was a luncheon following the ceremony and the next day I accompanied them on a tour of Banff and Lake Louise. The morning started out cloudy, but clear enough to see the mountains. We stopped at Johnson Lake which was frozen over and the students/families got to walk on a frozen lake for the first time. At Johnston Canyon they had their first snowball fight. By the time we got to Lake Louise, it was a white-out and you couldn't see the lake, let alone the glacier - a bit disappointing. We headed into Banff where we had lunch and walked around town a bit, saw the Banff Springs Hotel, and Bow Falls. It was too cloudy to see the mountains so there was no point in taking the gondola to the top of Sulfur Mountain. By that time they were all pretty tired out, so we headed back to Calgary. By the time we hit Canmore, almost all were asleep.

I spent the following week visiting with family and friends in Calgary - it was all too short a visit. My friend, Jean Rutter, flew back to Doha with me, though and we had a wonderful visit. The first week I worked while Jean got over her jet lag and dealt with a bit of culture shock. I took her to the souk on about the 2nd or 3rd night she was here. After about 20 minutes she admitted to being a bit overwhelmed by it. I recall that was my reaction the first time I went there, too. It's so different than any experience I had previously had - the sights, sound, smells are all so different and it is sensory overload! I took her to an Arabic women's party called Wanassa Night, which is held at the College of the North Atlantic. I went a couple of years ago and thought it was good fun, and thought it was a Middle East experience Jean should have. The girls get up and dance, there is loud Arabic music, lots of food, a fashion show of abayas and very fancy formal dresses. Men are not allowed at the party and you have to check your cell phone and camera at the door!

The following week we went to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We did a very thorough job of seeing Dubai - I think we were in every mall there is in the city where shopping is the national sport. We also saw the old section of Dubai - the spice souk, textile souk, gold souk - taking a walking tour, and visited a really great museum. The museum was actually quite a surprise because it is in an old fort that is nothing much to look at when you first enter; but then you go inside and down a spiral ramp that leads you to this wonderful museum! We took the bus to Abu Dhabi and that was interesting . . . . ladies board first - even if they arrive after the men (there were a few men who were in line when we arrived at the bus station who did not get on and had to wait for the next bus - hardly seemed fair to us) and ladies sit at the front of the bus. It was a very comfortable bus and the ride took about two hours. Abu Dhabi is another new, big city with lots of construction of amazing buildings - not quite as over-the-top as Dubai, but close.

Back in Doha after our trip to Dubai, Jean was feeling more comfortable about getting out and about on her own. She spent a day at the souk which has a totally different feel during the day than it does at night. A visit to the Islamic Cultural Centre and another day at the Museum of Islamic Arts were interesting for her as well. We went out to the camel races one Friday afternoon and that is always a hoot!

Christmas is coming and for the third year I will not be in Canada for the holidays. I am leaving tomorrow for Vietnam and Cambodia. I am very much looking forward to this trip. I will be traveling with Pam who was on the trip to South Africa last Christmas and on the Baltic cruise in August. She is a great traveling companion.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I will try to update along the way on this trip.

Autumn Update

So sorry for the long silence, Old Kathleen fans!

I survived the summer and we are now well into fall. The heat and humidity of August, September and October is starting to break and I have actually gone for a couple of walks on the Corniche. I realized recently when I was on the first walk, that it was the first time I had been outdoors in Doha for more than 10 minutes since May! It felt wonderful! I was a sweaty mess by the end of the walk, but it was glorious to be outdoors.

Since my last update, I enjoyed a Baltic cruise at the end of August. Four of us boarded the Costa Luminosa in Copenhagen. Costa is an Italian cruise line and of the nearly 3,000 passengers on board, only 80 were native English-speakers. Lots of Italian, Spanish, German and Russian was being spoken all around us. With all those languages being spoken, no wonder most of the entertainment was dancing!

We spent an evening and a day in Copenhagen before we boarded the ship. The evening was spent at Tivoli Gardens and it was a beautiful evening. The flowers were so lovely and since the weather was so nice, and it was a Friday evening (end of the work week) there were many, many people out enjoying the rides and attractions.

We had pork (yes!) ribs for dinner at a restaurant in the park.

Yes, that's lettuce gro

wing on the roof of this building in Tivoli!

Copenhagen is a very safe city and very easy to get around. Our hotel was centrally located, and right across the street from a sex shop! I got up in the middle of the night, looked out and watched a couple of sex-trade workers - very interesting!

The next day we realized we couldn't possibly see everything there is to see in Copenhagen in one day, so we took the hop on-hop off bus tour and got an overview of Copenhagen including, of course, the Little Mermaid!

We boarded the ship late in the afternoon, settled into our cabins and went off to explore the ship. It was my first cruise and I wasn't sure if I'd be seasick or not, so I used a patch that was attached behind my ear. Alice had recommended and bought it for me. It worked, but made me incredibly thirsty!

The cruise took us from Copenhagen to Tallin, Estonia which was the delightful surprise of the trip. I thoroughly enjoyed our time traipsing through this quaint medieval town. The people were welcoming and there was a lot of interesting architecture to see.

Me and my new boyfriend in Tallin, Estonia

The next stop was St. Petersburg where we did a marathon 17 hours seeing the magnificent Catherine Palace, had a river/canal tour of St. Petersburg, and in the evening we had a private tour of the Hermitage.I was so impressed with our guide's knowledge - she never stopped talking the entire day. I just wish I could remember all that she said! She really lighted up when discussing the art in the Hermitage.

The CatherinePalace, Pushkin, Russia

From St. Petersburg we went to Helsinki, Finland. We chose to take a tour to Porvoo which is the oldest city in Finland. The traffic in all these countries was so horrendous that we ended up with little time to spend in Porvoo - less than an hour, but it was interesting and I would have loved to have spent more time there.

Then on to Stockholm here we had only 8 hours to see the city. I thought Stockholm was beautiful, and I would certainly want to go back when I could spend more time there and actually get a feel for the city.

Me and my Swedish beau (I just seem to pick up men everywhere!

All in all I would have to say I'm glad I had the 'cruise experience' but it is certainly not the way to see countries in an in-depth way. The ship was elegant and, as expected, food abundant. I had just lost 10 pounds, having spent much of the summer exercising in the gym and following a low-calorie diet. I am pleased to say that I only gained 1.5 pounds on the cruise, and going back to the gym right away upon my return to Doha helped me to lose that quickly!

The school year got off to a roaring start as we admitted nearly 50 new students. Now, I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but that brought our student numbers up to 180 - and only a year previous we had only about 60 students. So we are very pleased that our numbers are growing. It is so nice to see the students on campus.

A couple of weeks after the start of classes I flew to Chicago to attend the wedding of my sister-in-law, Carol. She was an absolutely beautiful bride, and she and Mike just beamed all day. My daughter, Ayn, and her two children (Anais and Layton) were there as well - Anais serving as flower girl and Layton was to have been the ring bearer; however, just before the ceremony he got cold feet. Even bribery wouldn't get him down the aisle (mom promised him the motor bike he wanted), so his sister - ever the one in charge - grabbed the pillow with the rings and headed down the aisle with her basket of rose petals!

We had an all-too-short visit with the Chicago family. We were also sorry that my son, Ian and his family and Ayn's husband, Chad were not able to be there to make it a true family reunion. I was, however, delighted to meet my nephew, Hans' fiancee, Amanda. They will have the next wedding in October 2012.

Then it was on to Calgary for a 10-day visit where the weather was absolutely beautiful - the perfect IndianSummer. I went for many walks with friends and neighbors, caught up with Ian and his family,spent more time with grandchildren, and generally enjoyed being in my home. I have been struggling with making a decision about whether to keep my house or to sell it when I return to Calgary when my contract in Doha is over. After only a day in my home I realized that I feel so comfortable there that I want to stay in my home when I return to Calgary.

All too soon it was back to Doha where I returned to a new apartment! I had to pack up my apartment before I left forChicago/Calgary, and when I got back to Doha it was to a new apartment with a whole lot of boxes. After a 24-hour flight, entering an apartment with everything you own (except the things in your suitcases) in boxes, it was a blessing that the first box I opened had the toilet paper and some towels so I could brush my teeth, wash my face and fall into bed. I had to be at work 7 hours after I arrived home!

Living/diningroom Kitchen

My bedroom

It took me about 4-5 days of unpacking boxes every night after work to finally be able to find everything. The apartment is on the 13th floor (no superstition here) and looks to the north. I see a bit of the sea and at night the lights are lovely to see. There is a wonderful gym in the building and I have made good use of it, going almost every day. The apartment itself is spacious - has lots more cupboard and counter space in the kitchen than my previous apartment. I actually have some empty cupboards! The furniture, although not very attractive, is at least far more comfortable than the last apartment. My favorite part, tho, is that the air conditioning doesn't roar like it did in the old place. It's actually very quiet. There are a few problems, tho. The internet is included in our rent, but the connection sucks and is quite slow. Skype is hit-and- miss at best. There are a few of us with some real humidity problems, too. I hung my laundry to dry on a recent Friday and it was still very damp on Wednesday!! The building engineers are supposed to be doing something about it, but a couple people gave up and bought de-humidifiers (at considerable expense). One guy pulled over 90 litres of water out of the air in his apartment over the course of 4 days. He has a gauge that measures the humidity in the air. He came to measure my apartment and one day it was in the low 80's and yesterday it was 89%. I think we have a problem!

Summer in the Sandbox

I won't be heading back to Canada this summer, but will wait until September so I can travel to Calgary via Chicago so I can attend the September 17th wedding of my wonderful sister-in-law, Carol. It means a couple of long, increasingly lonely months in Doha. Lonely because the vast majority of the faculty and staff at UCQ are on their annual trips to visit family and friends. We are operating on skeleton staff but things in the Student Services office are still incredibly busy.

Unlike North American institutions that have already completed admitting students for the fall term by this time (July), UCQ is only now able to finalize the admissions of students to start their programs this September. So we are in the thick of things in Student Services! No time for those catch-up projects that you think you can get to when the place empties out and there's little else to do. It is also difficult to get things done because there are so few people around to consult with and make important decisions. Email and Skype help, but it's just not the same as having decision-makers on site.

Outside of work, things are quite dull. It is far too hot and humid to go out for a walk - thank goodness for treadmills. The other night as I got out of the car, my glasses fogged up!! I look on-line for events and activities to go, and at this time of year there is not a lot going on. I took in the last philharmonic concert of the season last week. The orchestra now performs in the brand new Opera House at Katara - a new cultural centre in Doha that opened last year. Katara is very nice - right on the water with a long lovely beach. There is a huge amphitheatre, the Opera house, several restaurants, a gelato shop, some art galleries, a mosque and much more to come. The Opera House is a lovely building, but when building it I don't think any thought was given to sight lines from the balcony. Our seats were comfortable, but we had to lean waaay forward and rest our chins on the railing in front of us to see anything. I am afraid of heights, so I spent much of the concert just sitting back listening to the music. The orchestra is quite good and the concert was wonderful.

During the week there was a fund-raising Quiz Night for QAWS (Qatar Animal Welfare Society). It was held at a local club that used to have a liquor license, but lost their license a few years ago. The food is good and the quiz (trivia) was fun. It was good to get out!

I am watering plants and checking apartments for some of the people who are away right now. It's in the 40's (Celsius) every day, so I'm amazed that the plants are staying alive. I'm afraid it all might be for nothing, tho, since I will be going on a Baltic cruise at the end of August and that's before anyone returns so there will be no one to water the plants while I'm away. I'll likely come home to dead plants. Oh, well, at least we won't have to move them.

Our lease is up on our apartments at the end of September and rumour has it that we will be moving rather than renewing the lease. The process of finding a new place has been quite frustrating. We have a couple of colleagues from the building working with the HR people on this. They looked at many buildings, made their recommendations, and from what I understand if this had been Canada the deal would have been done a couple of months ago. However, we are in Doha and the final decision of where we will live seems to hinge on whose palm is getting greased. At any rate, the move will take place while I'm in Canada. I'm not looking forward to having to pack up my apartment at the same time I'm packing to head to Canada!

But first we have to make it through the holy month of Ramadan which starts on the first of August. It's illegal to eat, drink or smoke in public during daylight hours during Ramadan. We have to eat/drink behind closed doors at work so we won't offend any of our Muslim colleagues. Grocery stores are open, but malls and other stores don't open until after sunset and stay open until very late. Driving is crazy here at the best of times, but just add hungry, thirsty drivers to that equation and you know you are in greater jeopardy than usual.

So spare a good thought for me this summer - it truly is a test of my resilience! Looking forward to seeing family and friends in September!