A usual weekend

You wake up at about 8am with a jump having realized it's way past when your alarm should have gone off and you quickly scramble around your apartment trying to get ready for the day - then you realize it's the weekend... or is it?

I can't tell you how many times I did this in college on a Saturday or Sunday morning, especially since my usual weekday consisted of waking up well before dawn. If it was light outside when you woke up, you were late for practice. That's what 4 years of rowing will do to you. Apparently, I still haven't gotten over that yet, but I was particularly disoriented this Friday morning. Yes, Friday, the first day of the weekend for us over here in Qatar. Friday is the Muslim sabbath over here, which means that most shops and businesses are closed, and consequently the Christians take their sabbath of Friday, too. So not only was I startled because it was light out, but I had to remind myself that Friday meant sleep-in day, which is hard to do here since the sun is up by 5am.

Anyway, the day consisted of going to fellowship (called so b/c a "church" is not allowed), going out to eat at Chili's with a few coworkers and friends (only b/c Chili's is an American corporation), and spending the rest of the afternoon cooking falafel from scratch which turned out to be quite a frustratingly rewarding experience. Greg gave me the recipe (you can find it on one of the side links in this blog) which was fairly simple along with the basic ingredients of tzatziki sauce. The problem was that I didn't have a meat grinder and spent over an hour trying to figure out how to compensate. All of this effort, however, was for the pool-side potluck that we put together later that evening for our friends and colleagues in Samriya as well as a few from outside as well. The falafel went over swimingly, but next time I'll make sure I have a meat grinder.

Saturday morning has proven to be an opportune time to "play house" - cleaning and scrubbing and vacuuming and all things related to actually living in your very own apartment, something I haven't yet had the wonderful experience of having yet! I would do more laundry on Saturday morning, except for the fact that the machine shrinks clothes and takes well over 2 1/2 hours to do one load. Shopping is on the agenda for the rest of the day, including looking for a piano and taking my recently received bike to the "Skate Shop" to have them reassemble. I've missed my bike dearly and can't wait until it's not ridiculously hot outside so I can take it for a spin on the Doha roads. Until then, I'll just have to admire it...