Good article...

here's a good article that kind of sums up a lot of yemen's problems, a large chunk of them revolving around qat usage.

also, just uploaded an a new fb album with pics of my new apartment, check it out!!! only a few problems so far: broken washing machine and table, and my water kind of smells like eggs haha. i think the water problem is because nobody has been in the building much recently (the only guy who is renting there is apparently out of the country a lot), so the water has probably been sitting in the tank for a while. inshallah, i will get nice smelling water once i use it up :)

xo

Update!!

so clearly it has been a bit too long since my last post, mostly due to the fact that i've been lazy...BUT other factors have influenced me as well, including our 3-day trip to the east coast and mountains and our return to jared's now internet-less apartment. this post will probably be quite random, and will include anything i've been meaning to write about in the past few weeks and other things that pop into my head...not unlike my other posts, in fact. :)

so one thing that i've been meaning to write about are the drastic changes in schedule that accompany ramadan, the eid following ramadan, and the return to normalcy as well (in fact, i have yet to experience what normalcy is like). during ramadan, most people (unless otherwise dictated by their work schedules) will wake up around noon or so in order to decrease the amount of time that they will have to be awake during the hours of fasting. iftar, the meal that breaks the fast, is eaten around 6:30 (when you hear the call to prayer), and the vast majority of yemenis will eat iftar at home with their families. as a result, while you might think that you would have a wide selection of restaurants opening around this time, this is not the case and you are limited to the bigger restaurants and some (unpredictable) smaller ones...a bit annoying, but you get used to it. after iftar, men will begin chewing qat around 7-7:30 and often continue to chew throughout the night. the streets really come alive around 8-9 pm, and around midnight or so many yemenis (mostly men) will eat another, smaller meal in one of the many restaurants open at this time. i'm not really sure what time people actually go to bed, as i was still working throughout most of ramadan and tried to go to sleep by 1 at the latest, but from what i have heard from exhausted coworkers many people will stay awake until at least 3-4 am and perhaps even wait to sleep until after suhoor, the meal that is eaten right before dawn. i probably would have conformed more to this schedule (out of convenience mostly), if not for the fact that i work from 9-3. jared and i usually ate breakfast before work (except in the case of oversleeping), skipped lunch (or ate a small snack discretely), snacked after work, and either ate a big meal around iftar time at home or waited for midnight in order to eat out, usually at a traditional yemeni restaurant in the old city.

if possible, the schedule during eid el-fitr (the holiday that marks the end of ramadan, which was actually on sept. 20-21 but in reality extends for 4 or so days) is even more unpredictable and disconcerting, as everyone is traveling to visit their families or on vacation and you never know what will be open or when. many stores are closed throughout this whole period, and even some larger stores alter their schedules or close unexpectedly (at least it is unexpected to me haha). jared and i didn't really know what to expect, and were surprised that sana'a was somewhat of a ghost town this past week. the festivities in yemen will extend through tomorrow, a national holiday which marks the establishment of the yemen arab republic in north yemen in 1962. i will return to work on sunday, the 27th, and then i guess i'll (hopefully) see what it feels like to have a normal schedule in yemen...

alright well this post is already getting a bit long (for me) with this schedule thing, so i will leave our trip and my new apartment (!!!) until next time. i will say that i moved into my new apartment yesterday, and it is BIG and beautiful and fully furnished!! however, jared also left yesterday, so i am very sad but also excited for him and eager to see how he likes qatar. i also hope to visit him sometime during the coming year inshallah!

hope everyone is doing well, love and miss you!!
xo

Old City, Sana'a!!

Jared somehow managed to capture this little scuffle near Bab al-Yemen (the main gate into the old city) on his iphone, which was was a disagreement over the purchase of the shawl. next we ran into a man who was quite excited to see us and immediately asked if we were fasting (although i didn't realize what he said at the time). the streets are actually even more crowded than this oftentimes, and the Bab is usually almost impossible to get through without some serious shouldering action. if you come visit, mom, i'll only take you here in the mornings!! :)

blog recommendations (and UN-commendations)

1. if you would like to see a more informative and extremely (perhaps ridiculously) productive blog about yemen (and soon qatar as well), please visit jared's blog at alajnabi.blogspot.com. it's actually quite interesting and relieves me of the obligation to make similar posts myself, at least until he leaves for doha. :(

2. do not visit victoria's blog, as it is clearly inferior to my own both in quantity and quality.

i promised aunt susan...

i know you have all been waiting for this moment throughout the past week, and i have finally decided to relieve the suspense :) my first week in sana'a (i've actually been here about 11 days now) has been very very good...i'm not sure if i can say great, as there were of course difficulties here and there, but pretty close. having jared here has helped me to skip over much of the initial culture shock/loneliness that i experienced (albeit briefly) both in beirut and damascus, so i've been free to enjoy my initial explorations and appreciate my first impressions of sana'a. while i have done plenty of traveling in my time, i must say that sana'a is very different from any place i've ever been. even though i of course knew that yemen is a third world country and (as jared, always filled with information and statistics, has told me) the poorest arab nation, i was and am still sometimes shocked by what i see...and i am of course living a relatively high life.

i guess i should start by saying that there are almost no traffic rules, aside from cops who stand in traffic kiosks in the middle of the largest intersections "directing" traffic...there are stop signs and stop lights littered sporadically throughout the city, perhaps for decorative purposes, i'm not sure. motorcycles (most of them taxis) are constantly squeezing through traffic everywhere they can, and often where they cannot. there are small children running everywhere, especially in the old city, most without shoes or much supervision. electricity cuts are the norm, usually for a total of about 8-10 hours a day, and while many places have generators you often have to ask before they are turned on (for instance in my hotel in the mornings and at a fairly nice, pricey restaurant we went to last night). i won't comment on bathrooms, as i have managed thus far to avoid using any restrooms other than those at amideast, my hotel, and jared's apartment...but there is very much a reason for this.

i think the novelty of being here has made these things more exciting for me than anything...basically knowing what to expect at all times living in the states can get a little boring. i don't mean, of course, that i actually become happy or excited when the water stops running in the middle of my shower or the electricity goes out right as everyone is preparing iftar (the meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan), but just life in general is less predictable and extremely new and different. i have thus far managed to avoid actually becoming angry (except for the water cut thing...apparently expecting water at your hotel is a bit too demanding), and hope to continue doing so as much as possible by limiting my expectations to...essentially nothing.

there are of course many many GOOD exciting things about living here as well. the food is often delicious, and always interesting, and CHEAP. when i have to pay more than $2 for a meal, it's pretty pricey. same goes for a taxi ride, maximum $2 to go most of the places that i frequent around Sana'a. i've been starting to think more in riyals of late, and as a consequence 1000 riyals ($5) is starting to seem like a lot of money. the vast majority of the people who i've met, mostly at work or through jared, have been extremely nice and welcoming and i'm really hoping to befriend more yemeni women once i figure out where i'll be living. people watching is extremely interesting here, especially in terms of clothing. most women wear the niqab (which covers all but the eyes) and some even have a veil over the eyes. some older women wear extremely colorful fabrics in place of the normal black niqab...i'm not sure if they come from different backgrounds or if it's just something that older women do sometimes. men will wear anything from typical western clothing (no shorts, of course), to suit jackets paired with shirts and wraps, to man robes (thoubs). they often have some kind of cloth wrapped or perched on their heads (i'm always curious as to how it stays on there) and a dagger (jambiyya) in their belts. these jambiyyas, along with the chewing of qat (you will see the qat cheek beginning around 7-8 and throughout the night during Ramadan), are considered to be the two most important signs of manhood.

well, i'm getting a bit tired of writing so i think that i'll leave my discussions of amideast, my daily routine, etc for next time...and hopefully i will have an apartment by then! be sure to check out my pictures on facebook if you want. while the pictures of Sana'a are still somewhat limited i do have pictures up of Dubai and our trip to the Wadi Dhahr valley outside of Sana'a as well.

cheers!

I'm here!!

So, after traveling for about...let's say 2ish (exhausting) days, I finally arrived in Sana'a yesterday morning!!! My mom dropped me, and my old roommate Victoria (who was visiting from NY before I left), off at the airport in Pittsburgh around 430 am (yuck) on August 31st, and I arrived September 2nd around 10 am Yemeni time...sooo, however long that is. After flying from Pittsburgh to JFK, I had a 12+ hour flight to Dubai, which was of course somewhat unpleasant but relatively comfortable because I was flying Emirates. I slept a bit, watched 4 movies on my personal screen (nice!!), and ate some always delicious airplane meals. I then had a 23 hour layover in Dubai, which I had chosen over a shorter layover because I knew that I would be provided with a hotel room by Emirates and wanted to explore and see Dubai. Despite feelings of extreme laziness and exhaustion, I miraculously overcame my original inclination to spend those 23 hours asleep/ordering room service in my hotel and embarked upon a mini-adventure after napping for a few hours (I had arrived around 8 am Dubai time). I found out that my hotel had a 4-hour tour from 4-8 pm that was only $30, so I decided to do that. It was a pretty interesting tour and basically gave me what I wanted, just to get a glimpse of Dubai and see some of the crazy, ridiculously over-the-top structures/man-made islands/etc. that you always hear about. We saw what is now the tallest building in the world (the Burj Dubai, still under construction), the only man-made island (in the shape of a palm tree) visible from space, a 7 star hotel (Burj al-Arab) in the shape of a sail on a man-made island (partly underwater), air-conditioned bus stops, a man-made indoor ski resort, the man-made creek that runs through Dubai...among other things that I probably can't remember. I left the tour group a bit early to meet up with Samer, a friend of mine and American University of Beirut graduate who I was introduced to by a mutual Georgetown friend while in Beirut last summer. He currently works as a consultant in al-Ain, a city close to Dubai...and thanks to Facebook, I knew he was there! We met at the Dubai Mall, of course the biggest mall in the world, where we wandered around in awe, saw the biggest aquarium I have ever seen--which holds a billion little fishies, different species of shark, manta rays (maybe...or maybe some other kind of enormous ray), and also the biggest fish I have seen in my life--along with a group of scuba divers, saw an amazing fountain show (which I took a video of and will soon upload), and walked past all of the most expensive designer stores you have ever heard of. We did not see the ice rink unfortunately, but of course they have one. And thennnn, last but certainly not least, we ate at Zaatar wa Zeit, an AMAZING Lebanese chain whose food I crave at all times...I think that I rudely interrupted Samer and shrieked with joy when I saw it. Eventually the time came when I was on the verge of falling asleep even when standing up, and I finally decided that it was time to retire to my hotel. However, I only ended up sleeping 4-5 hours because I got home around 11 pm and had to wake up to prepare for my flight to Sana'a at 4 am. That flight was pretty short, only 2 hours, and we arrived in Sana'a yesterday (about an hour late) a little before 10 am Yemeni time. After spending a little too long passing through immigration, Jared met me at the airport exit, and I was infinitely overjoyed and relieved when I saw him and immediately relinquished all responsibility for what I had to do/where I had to go. The AMIDEAST driver took us to my hotel in the new city, where we were greeted by no towels, no toilet paper, and a TV that didn't work...hooray. But I do have a relatively large suite, which is nice, with 3 beds and a living room area, and we had the towel and toilet paper issues resolved fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I had begun to feel sick sometime between my short night of sleep at the airport hotel in Dubai and my flight to Sana'a, and by the time I arrived I was feeling pretty achey and nauseous...remarkable that I was already sick before I arrived in Yemen, but 2 days of traveling will do that to you. After a long nap at my hotel, we proceeded to Jared's house (which he is currently sharing with one other guy) in the old city of Sana'a (which is what it sounds like, the oldest part of Sana'a, with some buildings up to 400 years old...thanks Wikipedia). I will write more about the old city later on and post photos of course, but it is a very overwhelming and beautiful place, with crowded markets, narrow winding roads, and very unique architecture. I spent most of the afternoon napping as well, and we were fortunate enough to have limited electricity cuts throughout the afternoon/evening and to have the water delivery truck return to pump water into the house's tanks around 11 pm (after it had tried to do so earlier and then given up and left once the power went out)...yay water!!! Jared had been without for 3 days or so prior to my arrival, so it was quite a relief. In the evening, I met Jared's friend Muhammad, who enjoys helping and hanging out with foreigners in Sana'a in his spare time (he was the one who facilitated the water delivery, and will most likely help me to obtain a cell phone card today and to find an apartment in the coming week). This morning, I woke up feeling significantly better and with quite an appetite, although still slightly weak, and am hoping that by tomorrow I will be all better. :)

Sorry for the giant one-paragraph post that is perhaps not terribly well-organized, but I am still feeling a bit disheveled and strange. I miss everyone, and I will continue to keep you updated in the next couple of days as I explore Sana'a for the first time and undoubtedly encounter unexpected difficulties and surprises, before starting work on Saturday.

Cheers!