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!