The Day of Two Dinners, or Day 18 in Doha

Ah, a day without class. Which means I got rest, exercise, a bank account, a free t-shirt, and work done.

And what happens after all that?

It's a "Friday" night, so out I went!

The first outing was with Zaid, Abdalla, and Sidra, who all have close ties with Pakistan. So when we ended up at Sara Restaurant, a place devoted to "Paki" food, I somehow wasn't surprised.

We were served family-style and ate with our hands. The mealconsisted of a few chicken dishes and a disturbingly delicious portion of lamb brain, which finished with a dish of sweet rice noodles on ice cream. At least, that's what I gathered from their limited knowledge. Dinner 1 was completed with Trip-to-the-Bay 1, as the four of us strolled along the Corniche near West Bay (which should be more accurately "North Bay", but we'll let them have their name).

So the pleasant evening was complete, but right as Abdalla was dropping me off, we ran into another few friends of his, including the President of Cornell-Q. Utsav, Sabrina, and Salman invited us to Dinner 2 at Applebee's, which, for the two of us that had already eaten, was just dessert. Then, we traveled to Bandar, for Trip-to-the-Corniche 2. Bandar is on the opposite side of West Bay (which would be "South Bay"?) so Abdalla and I weren't bored with the view.

Instead, we had a great conversation about life in college. Sabrina made a point that, very often, we don't know where we are in life, we just do, do, do. We had a similar view, that you can re-take classes, but you can't retake life. Two graduate medical students didn't quite agree with the "re-taking classes" part, but they did admit that being on Bandar (an outcropping with a boat dock, tea stand, a lots of parking) was not so shabby.

Anyway, the point is that not only did I have a wonderful day of meeting new friends (who made me laugh until I cried -- a Qatar first), but I also got a second to reflect and be overwhelmed with how happy I am around here. When asked the colloquial, "How are you finding it?", I can truthfully answer, "Wonderful."