qatari backlog

it became impossible for me to keep up with posting my journal from qatar while i was there. increasingly i found myself falling asleep with the computer keyboard still in my hands--blog post drafts and messages to jade reading, "today i adkljaewpo3LKJD".

and unfortunately, the same goes for writing new journal entries. people are still asking about my trip, which remains one of the most fascinating travels i've taken, so i will post the rest. perhaps that will trigger some memories and i'll tell you more stories....

so where did we leave off?

....all is orderly. there is no chaos.

until we come to the site. we enter the palace grounds where the 'tent' is under construction. but to call it a tent is misleading. i am jaded with events. i have seen so much. i have been wowed by decor. but not like this. it is a new world of opulence. it is incredible. rows and rows of strings of strings of salmon colored beads hang down. hang fifty feet in rows. at their tips, teardrop crystals prism balls larger than golf balls sway, clink and rainbow in the breeze. everything is oversized. royal.

a filmy layer of dust coats every car in the land. there is a huge traffic jam getting to the hotel today due to the holiday. we just sit back dazed and unaffected, taking all in. having traveled in turkey, there are many aspects of this country that feel familiar. some architecture, some language, some customs. but i imagine arriving through katleen and brigitte's (who i referred to the job) fresh eyes and wish i were traveling with them. they arrive today.