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qatarperegrineWE'RE HERE!!!!!!!!
I can't write too much right now -- I'm on a laptop at work and we forgot to bring the power cables in -- but I will have a lot to talk about when I can post again!
The flights were long but very comfortable (business class!) and it was fun to do the trip with some of the other folks we'll be working with. Our apartment is breathtaking; we're both embarassed at how enormous and elegant it is.
The heat is also breathtaking -- and I've only been outside after dark and in the morning. It's a cliche, but I think it really is the humidity more than the heat. Opening an outside door is just like stepping into a sauna. (Our compound actually has a sauna, though I'm not sure why!)
Here's a story that will tell you how hot it is here. This morning, when I turned on the water and stepped into the shower, I initially thought that the faucets were reversed: The hot water ran cold, and the cold ran hot. In a few moments, I worked out what had happened. We had accidentally turned the hot water heater off when we arrived. (All plugs have on/off switches here, like in England.) So the "cold" water was actually water coming from our heavily air-conditioned hot water heater, while the "hot" water was water straight from the water pipes. So, it turns out that Qatar is so hot, you can take a very comfortable shower with water that has just been sitting outside (indeed, underground) all night.
Well, I've got to get off the computer now. But we're here, and we're safe, and I'm hugely excited about getting to see a little more of the city today.
I can't write too much right now -- I'm on a laptop at work and we forgot to bring the power cables in -- but I will have a lot to talk about when I can post again!
The flights were long but very comfortable (business class!) and it was fun to do the trip with some of the other folks we'll be working with. Our apartment is breathtaking; we're both embarassed at how enormous and elegant it is.
The heat is also breathtaking -- and I've only been outside after dark and in the morning. It's a cliche, but I think it really is the humidity more than the heat. Opening an outside door is just like stepping into a sauna. (Our compound actually has a sauna, though I'm not sure why!)
Here's a story that will tell you how hot it is here. This morning, when I turned on the water and stepped into the shower, I initially thought that the faucets were reversed: The hot water ran cold, and the cold ran hot. In a few moments, I worked out what had happened. We had accidentally turned the hot water heater off when we arrived. (All plugs have on/off switches here, like in England.) So the "cold" water was actually water coming from our heavily air-conditioned hot water heater, while the "hot" water was water straight from the water pipes. So, it turns out that Qatar is so hot, you can take a very comfortable shower with water that has just been sitting outside (indeed, underground) all night.
Well, I've got to get off the computer now. But we're here, and we're safe, and I'm hugely excited about getting to see a little more of the city today.
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Date: 2004-08-05 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-05 12:45 am (UTC)GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: 2004-08-05 03:53 am (UTC)I won't try phoning right now as it is a little after 3:00 a.m. and your mother is asleep. I'm excited for the two of you. It's good that you, Marjorie, are writing a blog. For after you've been there some months the 'mindfulness' and awareness of the feelings and the vivid sensations will dissipate and be forgotten.
On the other hand, I can still remember the greenness of the September grass of Luxembourg in 1987; the air seemed palpable. The houses and the people felt so, well, foreign. It was a different world for a kid whose only wider family's excursions out of the U. S. had been while in uniform.
Enjoy what you are doing each moment and drink in the sensations. The greenness I experience today is envy!
Love,
Dad T
P. S. For some reason they are not accepting my user log on.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-05 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-05 07:41 am (UTC)I look forward to reading about your adventure!