Back in Doha.

After nearly three blissful weeks at home in Ontario, we are back in Doha. Our time sped by far too quickly, but we have some wonderful moments to remember. Reconnecting with friends was such a treat. Time spent with the girls was like drinking at a spring fountain after a long thirst.

Impressions: have never seen so much greenery - there are so many trees, beautiful gardens, lush lawns, and shrubs spilling over in blossoms and flowers. Just a riot of colour everywhere.
Never thought that 24 degrees celsius could feel so perfect. The orderliness of it all - patient line-ups at cash counters; steady driving on well-paved streets, and the ability to predict what the driver behind you, or in front of you is going to do (at least usually); shelves in grocery stores stocked with products you know; really fresh! fruit from the Niagara escarpment.

It all went by too fast - and here we are in Doha, once again. This time round it will be six months before we get home again.

Best foot forward and onward march, I guess.

Blogging tip.

Something I have found out recently: if you double click on photographs, you will be able to see them in full screen mode.
The detail is much better!

Happy reading.

Mosques, Meuzzins, and Minarets.

I have become fascinated with mosques. I can't seem to resist stopping to take a photograph every time I see them. Each mosque comprises a minaret (the tall thin tower that ends in a minaret with a crescent moon on top), and a dome. Some of the bigger and grander examples have courtyards outside, or more than one dome and sometimes two minarets. The architecture is definitely worth a second look. You will always see beautiful archways, geometric designs and star formations - the patterns are intricate and stunning to look at. Unfortunately, I have never been inside a mosque - and probably never will be allowed the privilege. Mosques are mostly frequented by men: fathers with sons in tow, old men with long beards, and most arrive in big 4x4's that park haphazardly around the mosque.

One is never far from the mosques - as you look out on a cityscape you can probably count 5 or 8 in the immediate vicinity. I was once told that you will find a mosque every 400 metres or so, so that each worshipper has no excuse - you can always walk, and parking does not have to be a problem.

Calls to prayer occur six times a day. Right now first call (fajr) is at 3.16 am, then shorooq (sunrise) at 4.44 am, zuhr (noon) at 11.32 am, Asr (afternoon) at 2.56 pm, Maghreb (sunset) at 6.21 pm, and finally Isha (night) at 7.51 pm. Prayer time is called by a muezzin who chants, recites or sings acapella, his cries to prayer reaching out via heavyduty megaphones placed in the minarets. If you are lucky enough to have more than one mosque in your area, which is not unusual, you will hear each muezzin exhorting his congregation simultaneously - and each of them will be different in words, tone, song and voice ability - it can become a veritable cacophony. However, it doesn't last very long and you quickly become used to the distinctive sound. At the moment, we are enclosed in the well- insulated walls of the hotel still, so we are not disturbed in the early morning, but we have been told that if you do hear the early morning prayers, it is easy to become quite accustomed to the sound.

I think I like the mosques - their muezzins, minarets, architecture and symbols. It is a wonderful reminder of where we live.

Assalam alaykum.