november/december!

eeek so i haven't posted for almost 2 months! i know you have all been consumed with disappointment and boredom. i read some of victoria's blog today and was inspired by her endless amount of unbelievably lengthy and always amusing/informative posts...so i decided to make one post :) november was a pretty good month, i am tempted to say excellent but that's just because near the end of the month i was happy, and my feelings of frustration/exhaustion earlier in the month had largely faded. for my first few months here i think that i was kind of living in a state of euphoria/obliviousness because i was so excited to be in a new and unknown place...and out of the boring predictability and regularity of life in the states. i ignored the many things that tend to drive people CRAZY in yemen...the impossibility of getting anything done promptly/ever, the extensive incompetence, the laziness, the lack of various items/places of entertainment (you know what i'm sayin'), etc etc. but sure enough, it did eventually hit me and i basically a good chunk of time becoming annoyed at just about everything i saw/heard. from what i have both experienced and heard from others, i think that it's quite normal for foreigners to go through up and downs fairly regularly here...there are so many things amazing things about yemen, but there are equally as many things that can just make you a cranky, pissed off person. i really should have been posting more in the past couple months, and i will try to post more in the future, but since i'm feeling lazy (of course) and you probably don't want to read the longest post in the world, i will consolidate a bit. here are the last two months in a nutshell:

1. traveled to aden for the first time in early november to interview students for the YES high school exchange program that i run, and again in early december during eid al-adha holiday with alumni from the same program. the humidity made me quite happy that i'm living in sanaa, but it was nice to get out for a bit and go to the beach (i actually felt somewhat comfortable wearing my bathing suit at the nice hotel down there). my first impression of aden was that it appeared deserted, run down, and full of unfinished buildings, but that negative impression may have been intensified by the humidity and my resulting crankiness. either way, much prefer sanaa

2. had a fumigator come in in november to get rid of my bed bugs...wasn't quite sure if he would know what he was doing (and was very surprised when i initially learned that they have fumigators here), but i think that my problem is solved! my wonderful landlord bought me a new mattress, and i am no longer sleeping in my mufraj (living room with diwan cushions)!

3. my birthday fell on thanksgiving this year...wasn't sure at first whether i thought this was a good thing or a bad thing. as it turned out, it was an absolutely WONDERFUL day, almost certainly the most fun i've had in one day since i've been here. we had a big thanksgiving dinner at a foreigner house in the old city attended by around 15 people. lots of salad, rotisserie chickens, potatoes, gravy, roasted veggies, etc etc....delicious! hailey and paul, a very sweet couple who live in the house, baked brownies and an apple pie for my birthday with candles and everything! both quite scrumptious, and very touching. thennn the real party started, and after downing 3 bottles of wine and many, many vodka & lime juices we somehow made our way to the russian club where we danced for about 4 hours straight. my friend laura and i were insistent that we should head out to the russian club around 8 or 9 when we hit tipsiness, but luckily the others convinced us that it was not the best idea (drinks at the russian club are around $10 i think). we ended up going around 11, and essentially took over the dance floor for the remainder of the night :) i should also mention that the day before my birthday, the YES alumni threw me a wonderful party at one of the student's houses and then took me out for shisha/food at a very nice restaurant...pretty good birthday all in all, considering that i had only been here a few months and wasn't really sure what to expect :)

4. also, in late november my closest yemeni friend (mohammed's) sister painted (?) naqsh on my hands and lower arms. not sure if you say painted, but it is somewhat like henna but black, and yemeni women have naqsh done for weddings and other special occasions. it was quite beautiful, you can see some pics on facebook!

5. in VERY exciting news, i will be traveling home in january for 2 weeks!!!!!!! i'll be in pittsburgh from jan. 7-17, and then in DC for a few days before heading back to yemen. i am very much looking forward to this, especially because i've been getting fed up a bit lately and need a little break so that i can appreciate yemen more when i return. and of course am SO EXCITED so see my family and friends, who i miss a ridiculous amount!!!!! also very grateful since i didn't think i would be returning at all this year :) i will be escorting a group of YES exchange students to DC, and basically my responsibilities end once we arrive in DC and i can go straight home!

6. dad and micah will be coming to visit YEMEN in january as well....crazy!!!! very glad that i had a dad/brother crazy enough to do this :) they'll be here for a week beginning jan. 27th, and i will show them around sanaa and hopefully take them on a short trip to the mountain village of manakha, my favorite place so far in yemen. micah will probably be writing some sort of report about yemen and volunteering at AMIDEAST a bit, in exchange for his school letting him take the week off. soooo basically january will be a GREAT month!!! :)

i'm sure that i'll have more to report soon, especially since i have quite a busy schedule this weekend including a christmas dinner and various yemeni parties/weddings/meals, but i will leave that for my next post (hopefully to be made sooner than 2 months from now...)

love and miss you all, and hope to see you in january if you're around!!! :)

x