MY DAILY DIP

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When I look at my microwave clock I see it’s already 7:15, high time to get going this morning. Since my bikini might not see any daylight this year, the question is which bathing suit I should wear today. I slip into the black and white one, put on the thick bathrobe provided by my hotel suite, and grab my cane and apartment key to take the elevator to the 15^th floor. As always, the Health Centre is deserted apart from the Filipino supervisor, who hands me a towel. The rooftop open-air swimming pool is heated, but the water is only 25 degrees today. It’s also very windy and the outside temperature is a mere 19°C. My students complained yesterday that it was incredibly cold early in the morning, just 14°C. Ha! If only they could see the snow in Ottawa, as I did while Skyping! And if only they knew that my Vancouverite friends are shivering in below zero weather! Vancouver, I muse; 11 time zones away…. Aljazeera English with all its world news has told me little about Canada. Their TV news reports about a few whales trapped under ice, a First Nations woman on hunger strike and an end to the NHL lockout pale between colourful but distressing images of Syria, Mali, Pakistan or the Central African Republic.

In the middle of my 12 short laps a couple of airplanes noisily take off from the International Airport nearby. I wonder when the new swanky airport will be ready – perhaps I’ll still be able to make use of it during my time here. I am pretty sure, though, that I won’t witness the badly needed metro of Doha, that’s for sure. Its construction seems to have been postponed. Well, as long as some efficient underground or skytrain system is ready for the FIFA Cup in 2022, since Doha with its 1.8 million inhabitants is in serious need of proper public transport, and their recently implemented bus system won’t cut it.

I get out of the small pool to dry myself, telling myself that in a few months I will yearn for this frisky, windy weather. I look down from the rooftop; the traffic is already depressingly heavy and hundreds of cars push forward at a snail’s pace on Corniche Street. I had better look out further away over the beautiful bay with its turquoise-coloured water. In the distance the city’s skyline shows its high buildings, all in fascinating architectural styles, with the distinctive, pyramid-shaped Sheraton Hotel as a landmark. Closer by the famous Museum of Islamic Art and the small harbour are only a few hundred meters away from me, as is the boulevard lined with palm trees, which, as rumour has it, have been imported from Egypt. I love this view of the Corniche with the museum in the middle of the bay and will be able to enjoy the sight again in the glass elevator that takes me down to my floor.

Time to get ready and meet the Indian driver that I share this month with another newly-arrived colleague, to participate in the traffic jams and to head for the campus of University of Calgary in Qatar. I’m looking forward to being with my students soon.