Leaving Jordan

Upon returning from Damascus, we only had one night in Amman to rest before hitting the road again to return to Doha. We were so tired by the time we got back that we all just crashed.
The next morning, I finished up the packing and we ended up leaving Amman late morning.
It was a sad experience to leave. I really didn't want to go back to Doha, as we had enjoyed our summer in Jordan so much. There is a theory that wherever you go to study arabic/deen, that place will hold a special place in your heart. That is definitely the case with us and our stay in Jordan. We had met so many amazing people along the way and will never forget any one of them. InshaAllah, we will be able to return again next summer to further our studies in the arabic language.
We loaded our stuff into the truck, took one last look at the apartment, handed our keys and rent money to the haris (who was another amazing person for us while in Jordan!) and we were off!
It didn't take too long for us to reach the Saudi border and there were no problems at the border, but with all the paperwork, it did take time!
Since my brother was in Canada at the time, we passed by his city in Northern Saudi. We stopped a few times to eat/pray and even take rest in the masjid. That is definitely one of the good things about travelling in the middle east: that with every rest stop, you will find halaal food, as well as a masjid to pray in.
We were back to driving amongst deserts and were enjoying the drive back. It just seemed to take forever and we were initially planning to go all the way to Riyadh, but figured that driving all night would not be the best choice, so we decided to stay the night in a small city called Ha'il. I remembered passing through this cute little city on our way to Jordan and it had a nice appeal to it. We first went to this big masjid right in the middle of the city and prayed Isha. Ovaise found a brother there who was willing to take us to some nearby hotels. We found a decent hotel (with a western toilet!) for a good rate and decided to take it, since the kids were tired and Asma really had to use the washroom! The brother was so kind and asked us if we needed anything else and also offered to pay for our room!
We freshened up a bit and went out for dinner. The main street was lined with restaurants, so we walked into the first one we saw. It was nice and another good thing about Saudi in particular is that the majority of their restaurants (if not all that I saw) have a family sitting area. So, we went into our 'room', and sat down. The setting of this particular restaurant was quite traditional, and they had cushions for us to sit on the floor and eat. It was nice! After going through some fusha/slang confusion with our waiter, we ordered some food. It was delicious and we all ate a 'good one third.'
We had seen an ice cream place across the street on our way in, so Ovaise ran across the street to grab some. After that, we were all ready for bed. Alhamdulillah, we slept well and were back on the road at a decent hour the next morning. The city of Ha'il looked very beautiful in the early morning, as the weather wasn't too hot and the area was quite mountainous. We were told by hotel staff that many Saudis come to Ha'il for vacation, due to the scenery and less humid temperatures.
We reached Riyadh at around dhuhr time and went to Ovaise's cousin's place. It was a nice break from travelling, as we were able to relax and take it easy for a while. We also had the chance to go shopping and the prices in Riyadh are much cheaper than Doha! We bought plenty of clothes for kids and also decided to do groceries there! Stuffing everything into the car was a challenge, but alhamdulillah, we somehow managed to get everything in.
We left Riyadh the next day after lunch and crossed the Qatari border at around Isha time. As soon as I got out of the car, I was struck by the heat! It was around 8 pm and the temperature outside was till 45 degrees! So, this is what the 'real heat' was all about!
We arrived home that night and alhamdulillah, thanks to some friends who had arranged to have our place cleaned, I could walk in without seeing dust everywhere!

After such an amazing summer, I had to look at the tasks which lay ahead of me now:
1-keeping up with the arabic and not forgetting everything we had learned over the summer.
2-preparing for the kids to start arabic school.
3-welcoming the blessed month of ramadan!