Qatar

First I should preface that geography has never been a strong suit of mine. I left that topic to my brother who plastered his bedroom (ceiling too) with all our National Geographic maps growing up. I hadn't even heard of Eritrea until he visited there a few years ago. However, in my defense, I think it wasn't a country when I studied geography in middle school (ok, it's a weak argument, but it's all I got). But I think that might be the point - I don't really remember the name of countries unless it relates to me - funny that. Well, all of a sudden, in the last three days Qatar has come onto my radar. I vaguely recognize the name - from half listening to NPR in the mornings. But I'll get back to this in a moment.

I had a great lunch with my old college friend/roomie Emily and her family. The nice thing was I just saw her about a month or so ago at our reunion get together. They were up on vacation visiting family and I was able to sneak out of work and hang out with them a bit. Natalie was very glamorous and wore her sunglasses in the restaurant for awhile. I think it's practice for when she becomes a big rock star - doesn't she have the wonderful attitude to play the part in this picture? The funny thing was when we were meeting up in the park, it was Eric, her husband who recognized me first - and we haven't met before. It's that lost look I must have had. It was really nice just hanging out with them over food. Makes me wish that everyone I meet in life would just move and live wherever I'm living - one can dream.

This weekend I got a good chunk of my spring cleaning done - cleaned inside the stove and oven and microwave and moved furniture and everything. Still a ways to go, and frankly, the place still looks a mess - the whole vacuuming thing is what pulls me down. Started a new knitting project (or two or three - opps, more on that later). And than last night I had a great time taking two boys to go see the new Transformers movie. Definately the way to see it - although we were all so cold in the theater - arms and legs folded up inside our shirts. On the way home, the younger boy declared this the best night ever in his life. Don't you just love kids? Especially when you get to borrow them and be the one who gets to pamper them. I was assured this movie wouldn't be too scary for them, but the younger one kept asking several times through the movie if Bumble Bee would be ok. I kept saying he would be fine in the end and crossing my fingers I wasn't lying. He's the main character's yellow car/transformer and we get attached to him. How could they kill him off, right? That's not a very Hollywood ending. Well, he doesn't fair so well in the film, and at one point, I wasn't even sure if he would make it. I was tempted to text a friend who had just seen it to see if Bumble Bee would actually be ok. But in the end, it all worked out - corny dialogue and everything.

So what about Qatar you ask? Isn't that the title of this post after all? Well, here it is, my fairly low key weekend, and three times I tell you, did Qatar pop up. First, I learned a friend of mine is moving there which got me excited that I could visit perhaps. Second, where does the Transformers movie open? None other than an outpost in Qatar. Which made me rethink the whole visiting idea. It looks a little hot and what's with the crazy robot trying to kill people? And finally, this morning, reading my blogs, someone in the knitting world had a houseguest who is an expat in Qatar. Hmm, expats, that sounds interesting, maybe not such a bad place to visit after all.

So you have to admit, that's more than the usual blips on the radar. If nothing else, I at least know where Qatar is and how much plane tickets are to Doha. That's right - I even know the capital.