Sana'a Sana'a Sana'a

It's been a few days since I've updated so I feel there's some catching up in order. School's been going great. They actually know how to teach Arabic here. The text books used back in the States are Awful. Why in the world would you teach words like United Nations, the same and literature in the first chapter; translation, specializing and admissions in the second chapter; Family words aren't introduced until the third chapter and words related to your house (like room, bathroom, and kitchen) don't show up until chapter 14. It's just a poorly written book for teaching anyone how to speak Arabic. Instead it teaches you Arabic grammar. Grammar that native speakers with college degrees don't even fully comprehend. Anyway, the point is, I'm liking learning here A LOT more then I did back in Utah or even Egypt. Don't get me wrong, I still love Egypt I just feel that the teaching here is better. I'd love to stay longer, I'd learn so much more. I just can't afford it right now. Blah.

So class has been good and the city has been fun and I've been getting to know some other people here too. My roommate is from England and is currently living in Tel Aviv getting her Masters. Her name is Shoshana and she's pretty nice. There are very few Americans at this school. In my class of 6 students I am one of 2 Americans. The others are from England, Italy, Germany and Poland. There are other people here from Armenia, France, Norway, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and Spain. I think that's it, mostly Europeans.

On Wednesday the school had a welcome bar b que. The food was ok. I wasn't sure about the "hot dogs" or hamburger patties but the chicken looked good so I ate that. Then some people started to dance. Just so you know, you have not lived until you've seen a Yemeni do the Electric Slide. This is a video of two of the teachers dancing for us the way Yemeni dance. My teacher is the one with the tan coat on. (FYI: it may be kind of boring)


Here are a couple of pictures I took in a few blocks from where I live on Wednesday night when it was raining. I think I looks beautiful with the rain.



Then on Thursday I finally had a day to sleep in. YAYYY!!!! Thursday in Yemen (and most of the Middle East) are what Saturdays are to the rest of the world. Friday is the Muslim holy day, Sunday to us. So on Thursday I slept in and then went to lunch with a group of people. The restaurant was this hole in the wall that had great food. There were about 6 tables in there and we took up 2. It was SOOOO hot inside there. They had no air conditioning, just like everywhere else I've been in Yemen and the food was prepared right there over open flames. Also, the gas line was quite visible and ran right in between the guests and the cooks. Safety is a word I feel is synonymous with Yemen. After lunch I came back to the Center and did some laundry. Lucky us, we have working washing machines here and clothes lines. There was also a Quat Chew on Thursday. Quat is this leaf that EVERYONE in Yemen chews. After hours of chewing it you're supposed to get something similar to a caffeine high, by higher. Apparently it wakes you up and makes you more alert. I tasted it once and that was enough for me.

Saturday evening I went walking around Old Sana'a with Guilia (Italy) and Alexander (Germany) and got dinner. Old Sana'a is amazing! I just cannot say anything else about it. We were walking around I just felt like I had been transported back in time. I can imagine what life was like there 1000 years ago there. Old Sana'a was all built before the 11th Century and it has been inhabited for over 2500 years. It's just a remarkable, humbling place to be. It's also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here's some pictures I took that night, (the quality is only so-so).



And here's a couple pictures of the outside of Old Sana'a during the daytime.