Welcome to ma blog!

Hello and welcome to all you millions out there who will be avidly following my extraordinary blog!! :) I am (at present) very optimistic about the potential of this blog and it's abundance of profound and detailed observations...feelings strangely similar to those I've always experienced at the beginning of each new school year. Perhaps some connection there...but ANYWAY. This blog will be my attempt to help you learn a little about Yemen and my experiences there, avoid having to write endless individual emails to everyone that I know and love (which doesn't mean I love you less!), maintain a resource for myself five years down the road when I have forgotten that I even went to Yemen (as you may know, my memory is severely limited and similar to that of a fish)...aaaand last but not least, hopefully to provide you with a bit of entertainment in the process. ;)

So, why am I going to al Yemen? I will be working as a paid intern for AMIDEAST, an American non-profit that works throughout the Middle East to promote cooperation and positive exchange between the US and the Middle East. I think that I will be called an "Educational Advisor," but the job description that I received was quite lengthy and all-encompassing so I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing...probably just whatever needs done (yes, this blog is yinzer-friendly). While Yemen wouldn't necessarily have been my first choice, I am most definitely fulfilling my primary post-graduation goal: to go to the Middle East for free. After looking around quite a bit for jobs in the Middle East after graduation (without success), and spending a few months working in a rather unpleasant (eh, perhaps a mild understatement) work environment here in Pittsburgh, I found out about this opportunity through my wonderful habib, Jared, who is currently doing a 3 month internship at the AMIDEAST office in Sana'a. I will be leaving on Monday, August 31st and will arrive in Sana'a on September 2nd, after a 23 hour layover in DUBAI!!!! Very excited for that as well. I won't be expected at the AMIDEAST office until September 5th, so I'll have a few days to look around and chilllll. I will be put up at a hotel for up to (but hopefully less than) a month until I decide where I want to live and find an apartment.

Woooo, well this is getting long and I am getting lazy, but inshallah I will post again soon...perhaps recounting the recently resolved passport fiasco that almost gave me a nervous breakdown.

Hope you are all well, and Ramadan kareem!!