Whenever someone asks whether I'm excited to return to Doha, they never say, "How much are you dreading returning to that hot, dusty city in the middle of nowhere?", though sometimes I wonder if that's what they're really thinking. And even if they were, I couldn't fault them. On the beige, sandy surface, there's a lot that sucks about living in Qatar. But Qatar, to me, is a lot more than the nearly supernatural heat, or the endless beige. For one thing, it's incredibly interesting. I'm constantly being forced to think about the world around me, to challenge my assumptions, and to reshape my understanding of the world. My brain is never on autopilot in Qatar.
In the end, though, whether or not I actually like living here is almost beside the point. As Rachael described to our four-year old niece Claudia when she asked why we were flying back to Doha, Qatar is where our house, and jobs, and stuff is. That's the stuff of life, and where you make your life is where you make your home. Sometimes it's difficult to consider, and even harder to type, but Qatar is home, for now at least. How could I not be excited to go back home?
This is the third installment in my Qatar Questions series, in which I answer questions that people have asked me about living in Qatar. To see all of the posts in this series click here. If you have a question you’d like me to answer here, let me know in a comment below or get in touch.